Brandon Cantu Wins the Bay 101 Shooting Star

Brandon Cantu entered the final table of the Bay 101 Shooting Star with a monster chip lead, and when it was all over, he had collected $40,000 in bounties and bonuses and took home the $1 million first-place prize. Nearly everything went Cantu’s way and despite the extremely low blinds, Cantu was able to dictate a pace of play that had everything wrapped up in just under eight hours. Here’s how the chip counts looked heading into the final table:

Cantu came into the final table with five bounties to his credit and the temptation to score his sixth cost him a bit at the start of the final table. He raised from middle position to 30,000 and Jennifer Harman made the call on the button. Baker also called from the small blind and the flop came 9 6 4. Cantu continued with a bet of 100,000 and Harman thought for a bit before announcing all in for her last 448,000. Baker got out of the way and Cantu went into the tank. He thought out loud, and eventually decided to gamble to collect her $5,000 bounty, showing 10 2. Harman showed 6 6 for a set, and as she had done all tournament, she moved away from the table so she wouldn’t have to look. The turn and river were the safe 10 9 and she doubled up to an even million in chips.

John Phan came into the final table relatively short stacked and never really picked up a hand to fight back with. Eventually, he moved all in under the gun for his last 70,000 and Noah Jefferson looked him up from the big blind. Phan turned over Q 8 and was relieved to be racing as he saw Jefferson’s 6 6. The board ran out K 3 2 6 3 and Phan was sent to the rail in sixth place. Phan earned $135,000 for his finish.

After Phan’s elimination the play of Michael Baker took a turn for the worse. On his final hand, Baker raised under the gun to 25,000, and Cantu made it 75,000 to go. Baker reraised to 200,000 and Cantu tanked for two minutes before deciding to raise once more to 500,000. Baker made the call and the flop came Q 10 2. Baker checked and Cantu put Baker all in. Baker asked the dealer to spread the pot, and finally said, “Alright, let’s gamble. I call.” Cantu showed what he had been representing with the A A but his jaw dropped when Baker revealed his K 3 for a flush draw. The turn and river came 5 5 and just like that Cantu’s biggest threat chip-wise was gone, not to mention he now held nearly 75 percent of the chips in play. Baker took home $200,000 for his efforts.

As a result of the unusually low blinds the final four players then traded chips back and forth for nearly 100 hands before the action picked up again. Jefferson had been blinded down a bit and decided to put it all on the line against Steve Sung. Jefferson raised to 110,000 on the button and Sung moved him all in. Jefferson instantly called showing A K and Sung revealed his 7 7. The board bricked out and Jefferson was eliminated in fourth place, taking home $265,000.

Three-handed play belonged to the guys, as Harman was desperate for a double up to get back into contention. After a few hands she pushed all in from the button and Cantu moved all in from the small blind to isolate. Sung folded and Cantu showed down pocket nines. Harman turned over A K and needed to connect with the board to stay alive. The flop came K J 9 and for a brief moment it looked like Harman got her wish, unfortunately the nine on the flop meant that she was drawing slim and the turn and river failed to produce a miracle. Cantu collected his sixth and final bounty of the tournament and Harman walked away with $330,000.

A dragon led the way for the money presentation and the two remaining players sat down for what could have been a long and grueling match. Here were the chip counts when heads-up play began:

After taking a big pot off of Sung with a rivered set of jacks, Cantu had him on the ropes and it was just a matter of time before it was all over. On the final hand, Cantu called Sung’s all in with pocket fours and was more than relieved to see pocket threes across the table. The board rolled out safely and Cantu celebrated his new title and $1 million with friend Jeff Madsen in the crowd.

Sung earned $585,000 for his second place finish, putting him just shy of $1 million in lifetime earnings. Here are the final results:

1. Brandon Cantu – $1,000,000
2. Steve Sung – $585,000
3. Jennifer Harman – $330,000
4. Noah Jefferson – $265,000
5. Mike Baker – $200,000
6. John Phan - $135,000

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