On Saturday, April 29th, 2000, at the poker room of the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 7th annual TARGET poker tournament was held. TARGET stands for The Annual Rec.Gambling Entry Tournament and is a multi-table or super-satellite for the World Series of Poker.
TARGET was started by Ken "QB" Kubey, who wanted to hold a tournament among friends and hopefully put the winner into the $10,000 Championship event in the World Series. The original idea was for the $1010 prize to be used to enter a single-table satellite for the Championship event. That was changed to allow the winner to choose to use it to enter super-satellites instead.
If any TARGET winner makes it into the Champship event and made it into the money, the remaining TARGET entrants would split up 15% of the winner's take.
In 1998, the winning prize money was increased to let the winner(s) directly enter a $2000 or $2500 World Series event, although they could still choose to use it to try to win a seat in the Championship event. If they played in one of these non-Championship events, the percentage that the remaining TARGET players might be adjusted.
For this year, 33 players signed up for the tournament. The game is no-limit Texas hold-em. This year's prize pool had two $2070 and one $1010 prize that fell under the usage restrictions and no deals for these prizes could be made. The winner would also get a qualification for the Tournament of Champions.
The entry fee for TARGET is very modest ($200), and yet there are smaller satellite tournaments that have been held in which the prize is a TARGET entry. This year there were three such satellite winners participating. Entrants came from all across the country.
The tournament director this year was Keith Bronson from the Canterbury Park card room. He did an excellent job in setting up the room and smoothly running the tournament. After a player's breakfast buffet, the players gathered at noon and began.
First out was Alan Bostick, who received a $10 Sahara coin and a bag of Lifesavers. He then joined the local crowd in the 1-5 stud game. As more players were eliminated, they started up a 4-8 HORSE (Hold-Em, Omaha/8, Razz, Stud, Stud/8) game.
At around 2:15 the final table was set. It consisted of the following players:
1. Tom Gorman
2. Roger Park
3. Robert Sadowski
4. Chuck Weinstock
5. Paul Stine
6. Lee Jones
7. Bill Chen
8. John Davis
9. Chris Colby
I began recording hands after about 1 or 2 orbits. The hands are numbered from when I started taking notes.
Blinds are at 500-1000.
Hand 5: Small Blind: Chuck. Johnny makes it 5,400 all-in. Paul thinks and folds, showing J-J. Johnny shows A-Q of spades.
Hand 12: Small Blind: Roger. Lee, Johnny, Chris, and Roger all limp and Robert raps. The flop is 9d-Td-2c. It is checked to Lee who bets 6,200 all-in. Johnny calls. Lee shows K-K, Johnny J-T off. The turn and river are running 5's and Lee wins with Kings over 5's. Johnny Davis is eliminated in 9th place.
Hand 16: Small Blind: Lee. On the button, Paul makes it 4,000. In the big blind, Bill re-raises Paul another 800 to put Paul all-in. Paul calls. Bill shows 4's but Paul has Jacks. The board is 6d-9h-2s-6s-6c, giving Paul 6's full of Jacks and doubles him up.
Hand 17: Small Blind: Bill. Roger makes it 4,000. Chuck calls 1,700 all-in. Roger has Ad-4d, but Chuck has Ah-Jc. The board is 7h-Qs-Qh-6c-3s and Chuck's kicker plays. He too has doubled up.
Hand 19: Small Blind: Tom. Lee makes it 3,000. Roger calls 2,300 all-in. Lee has Ad-Jd, Roger has Ac-4c. The board is 5d-9h-As-Jh-Qd, and Roger Park is eliminated in 8th place.
Hand 30: Small Blind: Paul. Chris makes it 3,000. Paul reraises all-in for 5,600 total and Chris calls. Paul has Kd-Qd, but Chris has 6's. He still leads after the Tc-4h-3s flop, but Paul turns the Kh and the river is the Jc. Chris is crippled and down to 2,400.
Hand 31: Small Blind: Lee. Chris puts in his 2,400 all-in. Bill calls. Chris is not on tilt and he shows down Ac-Kd. Bill has only Kc-3c. Bill pairs on the flop of 3d-6c-4d and Big Slick doesn't improve with the remaining 9s-4c. Chris Colby is eliminated in 7th place.
There is a break after hand 35. The chip count is:
1. Tom Gorman 500
3. Robert Sadowski 6,500
4. Chuck Weinstock 2,000
5. Paul Stine 13,000
6. Lee Jones 19,500
7. Bill Chen 24,500
With only six players remaining and five making the money, it seems certain one of the short stacks will be quickly eliminated. To borrow a phrase, "That's why they play the game!"
The blinds are now 1,000-2,000.
Hand 38: Small Blind: Bill. Tom is all-in for 500 in the big blind. Lee make it 2,500. Bill calls. The flop is 4s-3c-Qs. With a Qd-5c, Lee bets and Bill folds. The turn and river are Ah-2c, giving Lee a wheel. However, Tom has a 6c-5c and rivered a higher straight.
Hand 39: Small Blind: Tom. After posting the small blind, Tom is back down to 500. Chuck and Lee limp and Tom mucks. Robert raps and the action is checked down. The board is Kh-4c-Kd-4s-3h. Lee has 7h-5h, Robert 9h-8s. Chuck has Jd-8d and his Jack is the highest kicker.
Hand 41: Small Blind: Chuck. After having 7,000 two hands ago and losing 4,500 when his 4's lost to a Q-T pairing a T, Chuck is down to 2,500, of which 1,000 was posted. The action is folded around and Chuck limps. Paul taps Chuck for his remaining 500. Paul has 4's, but Chuck has rockets! The board is 8d-Ts-Td-Kd-Js and Chuck survives.
Hand 44: Small Blind: Bill. Tom is again all-in for 500 in the big blind. Paul makes it 8,000 and gets heads-up with Tom. Paul has Q's, and Tom has As-9c. The flop is 6s-Ks-5d. Paul is still ahead. The turn is 5s. Paul is still ahead, but Tom has turned a backdoor flush draw. The river is 3s (6d-Ks-5d-5s-3s), and Tom has rivered a flush to survive again.
Hand 50: Small Blind: Bill. Guess what? Tom is all-in for 500 in the big blind. Lee and Bill limp. They both check down to the river, hoping that one of them can eliminate tenacious Tom. Tom has 6d-2d, Bill has 8s-6h, and Lee has 4-3 off. The board is Jh-4s-7c-6c-Th. Tom and Bill both have a pair of 6's, but Bill's 8 plays, and Tom Gorman is finally eliminated in 6th place. Ater 15 hands, one of the short stacks is gone.
Hand 52: Small Blind: Robert. Now Chuck is all-in for the big blind. Lee, Bill, and Robert all limp. The flop is Ts-Ad-9h. Lee bets 7,000 and gets heads-up with Chuck. Lee has Ac-7c, Chuck Kd-6c. The turn and river are 4h-Qd, and Chuck Weinstock is eliminated in 5th place.
Hand 56: Small Blind: Bill. Paul limps all-in, as does Lee, and Robert raps. Lee has 8c-3c, Robert has Js-6s, and Paul is ahead with Ac-Qd. The flop is 3s-5c-4c. Lee has a pair of 3's and a flush draw, Robert has an open-ender, and Paul has a gutshot with two overcards. The flop is checked and the turn is 2d, making the board 3s-5c-4c-2d. Paul has hit his gutshot, but Robert has a higher straight. Lee now needs a club for his flush. Everyone checks again and the river is a 3h. The board is 3s-5c-4c-2d-3h. Robert's 6-high straight wins and Paul Stine is eliminated in 4th place.
After the next player is eliminated in 3rd place, the tournament will be over and the winner determined by chip count. The chip proportions are roughly: Robert 3, Bill 2, Lee 1.
Hand 60: This is the final hand. Small Blind: Robert. On the button, Bill folds. Robert makes it 7,000. Lee re-raises all-in, and Robert calls. Lee has Ac-8d, Robert has Ks-Ts. The flop is Tc-As-Jh, pairing both. Lee is still ahead, but Robert has a gutshot draw to Broadway. The turn is 6s, so Robert picks up a backdoor flush draw and has 17 outs. The river is the Qd, and Lee Jones is eliminated in 3rd place.
Robert wins the tournament by chip count. The final money total is:
1st: Robert Sadowski $2070 + TOC qualification
2nd: Bill Chen $2070
3rd: Lee Jones $1010
4th: Paul Stine $500
5th: Chuck Weinstock $290
6th: Tom Gorman $40
Lee lives in San Jose, CA and mostly plays hold-em. Lee played in three $220 satellites and one $330 satellite. He narrowly missed winning any lammers, coming in 4th place once, and 3rd place twice.
Bill lives in San Leandro, CA and mostly plays stud at levels ranging from 6-12 to 30-60. Bill added $510 of his own money to play in the $2500 stud event (the TARGET players had only 12% of Bill). He played for about 9 hours, but had a wired pair of aces lose.
Robert lives in Las Vegas, NV and mostly plays 20-40 or 30-60 stud. Robert played in the $2000 NLHE event (which had a total of 396 players) and finished around 50th when his flopped pair of jacks was cracked by Presto! hitting a set on the river.