December 26 2004
2004 OPT After Christmas Poker Classic
Finally the last major of the year was upon the Oregon Poker Tour. The final open tournament of the OPT saw 29 players throw down $5 at the chance of grabbing that last seat in the OPT Championship. Holding the top spot of the OPT Leaderboard, Dugan was going to be in the Championship game, but if he won this game, Luke Shortridge would take the wildcard spot in the Championship. But with so many players in the tournament, who would take it?
Twenty-nine players quickly busted down to the final table of eight players:
Seat #1 |
|
Cory Stevenson |
$1,743 |
|
Seat #2 |
|
Stephen Howard |
$861 |
|
Seat #3 |
|
Steve Nehls |
$3,492 |
|
|
|
Seat #6 |
|
Sarah Pirolli |
$293 |
|
Seat #7 |
|
Jenell Armstrong |
$850 |
|
Seat #8 |
|
Brent Pirolli |
$1,040 |
|
The final two from the Halloween Challenge reached the final table. Would it come down to Jenell and Dugan again? Would the Pirollis take over the table? Would Greg's ring bring Cory the luck he needed? Would Stephen "Stringy" Howard or Josh Cowan be able to overcome their chip deficit to come out on top? Or would Steve ride his massive chip lead to victory?
Finally, the game was over. This one lasting almost two hours less than the Halloween Poker Challenge with eight more players. Even with his biggest fan, Luke, dealing, Dugan still couldn't stop himself from bubbling out of the tournament in fifth place. For a while, it looked like Brent and Jenell would go heads up for the win, but a duce put Brent out of the tournament, giving all of his chips to Steve. After another huge hand, Steve was left with less than $1,000 in chips with over $10,000 in play, with Jenell holding the rest. With Jenell already having a seat in the Championship, Steve would be awarded the seat, outcome notwithstanding. At this point, it was all about the money.
Fourth Place ($7.00) |
|
Sarah Priolli |
|
Third Place ($15.00) |
|
Brent Pirolli |
|
Second Place ($20.00) |
|
Jenell Armstrong |
|
|
|
The Winner ($100.00)
Steve Nehls |
| PLACE |
Name: |
Busted By: |
| 29 |
Jason Abbas |
Silas Tsang |
| 28 |
Luke Shortridge |
Silas Tsang |
| 27 |
Jerry Pickering |
Cory Stevenson |
| 26 |
Jeff Hartman |
Jocelyn Hasenbalg |
| 25 |
Emily Bean |
Stephen Howard |
| 24 |
Matt Braun |
Sara Ritter |
| 23 |
Drew Wood |
Stephen Howard |
| 22 |
Chris Rutkowski |
Kristi Coe |
| 21 |
Silas Tsang |
Steve Nehls |
| 20 |
Sarah Nadeau |
Christina Zimmerman |
| 19 |
Greg Krumnow |
Steve Nehls |
| 18 |
Tony Hartford |
Ray Welch |
| 17 |
Eric Kolbe |
Cory Stevenson |
| 16 |
Jeremy Zunk |
Cory Stevenson |
| 15 |
Kristi Coe |
Ray Welch |
| 14 |
Jenni Crispen |
Jenell Armstrong |
| 13 |
Ben Day |
Cory Stevenson |
| 12 |
Christina Zimmerman |
Josh Cowan |
| 11 |
Jocelyn Hasenbalg |
Tim Dugan |
| 10 |
Ray Welch |
Steve Nehls |
| 9 |
Sara Ritter |
Tim Dugan |
| 8 |
Josh Cowan |
Tim Dugan |
| 7 |
Stephen Howard |
Cory Stevenson |
| 6 |
Cory Stevenson |
Brent Pirolli |
| 5 |
Tim Dugan |
Brent Priolli |
| 4 |
Sarah Pirolli |
Steve Nehls |
| 3 |
Brent Pirolli |
Steve Nehls |
| 2 |
Jenell Armstrong |
Steve Nehls |
|
After going all-in on almost every hand to rebuild a stack, Steve finall overcame Jenell's chip lead and busted her out, winning the 2004 OPT ACPC.
And with that, the final game of 2004 was completed. On January 2, 2005, the next time the players would gather, only five players would be in the game, and that game would be for the $109 Championship Fund, and the title of Oregon Poker Tour Champion.
