7.25.2015

Eric Bandy - Water Tank Champion February 2007

Water Tank Championship 2/22/07 

(photo from our home games)



On Thursday 2/22, 42 out of 64 qualifiers came prepared to play one long five hour game where blinds were slower, stacks were deeper, and skill was more of a factor in making the final table than a good run of cards.  The big story was chip leader Eric Bandy, starting the final table of 8 with 310,000 -- nearly HALF the chips in play.

The competition was tough however with Jay Hayley and Daniel Vaughn at the table, both quiet and dangerous and both having finished as top 10 point leaders this session.    Also present were tight/solid players Kyle Picone, Mike Wheeler, and Garrett Bary.  Then there were the ATC wildcards Patrick Morgan and Shawn Brown who could easily take it should the cards cooperate.  Only the top 4 would get a piece of the $300 prize pool, with $200 for first.

Starting chip counts:
Patrick Morgan – 90,000
Eric Bandy – 310,000
Kyle Picone – 60,000
Mike Wheeler – 60,000
Daniel Vaughn – 90,000
Garrett Bary – 80,000
Jay Hayley – 60,000
Shawn Brown – 10,000


Action was fast with two eliminations on the very first hand.  With the blinds at 10/20k, Shawn was already all in in the bb for 10k and his tournament life.  Patrick moved all in under the gun for 90k, and Kyle also moved in for 60k behind him.  Shawn showed AKh, Kyle had pocket QQ and Shawn turned over 75o.  The board came A J T 3 7, and Kyle and Shawn were both eliminated by Patrick’s “top top”.  He was now up to 160k in chips.

He would lose most of what he made on the next hand when he and Eric engaged in a battle of the blinds.  Everyone folded to Patrick in the sb who limped, Eric checked the bb.  The hand was checked to the river, the board showing 2 2 3 Q 6.  Eric fired 50k into the pot on the river.  After thinking about it, Patrick called with K7o showing King high, but Eric turned over a bb special 24o for flopped trips!

Mike Wheeler is the king of the chip and a chair theory.  After folding through the blinds Mike was left with 10k.  On hand #6 he chose to move it in with A8o on the button.  Daniel completed the sb and Garrett checked.  They checked to the river with a board of 6 T T K J.  Daniel turned over 92o, Garrett show Q9 for a rivered straight, eliminating Mike Wheeler in 6th place.

It was clear Daniel couldn’t get much in the way of cards either at the final table.  Having been whittled to 30k, he pushed in with A8 on hand #9 and was called by Patrick and Eric in the blinds.  The board came A T J K 5, and the blinds showed QJ and Q2 for a four card straight.  Daniel’s top pair wasn’t enough to keep him from being the bubble boy.  We now had our 4 money finishers!

On hand #10 Jay, who had steadily worked his stack up, pushed all in utg for 210k.  Eric and Garrett both called; Eric having Jay covered and Garret looking to triple his 80k.  Garrett took his chances with QJ and it paid off when Jay and Eric both showed AK and the board came J 9 2 5 5.  It was now anyone’s game.

On hand #11, Patrick pushed all in for 80k with the blinds now at 20/40k and Jay called.  Patrick showed QTo and Jay K9d.  Neither player connected with the 7 7 8 2 3 board, and Jay’s King high eliminated Patrick Morgan in 4th place ($20).

The next few hands were a lot of shoving all in preflop to take the blinds, or checking the flop down.  It wasn’t until hand #20 that Garrett pushed in for 100k with J8o on the button that we saw a significant pot.  Eric after thinking for a minute, called with Q5o in the bb.  The board came Q 5 4 Q 9 and even though he didn’t need it, Eric’s turned full house sent Garrett to the rail in 3rd place ($30).

Going into heads up Eric had Jay outchipped by roughly 2 to 1 so all it would take is one double up for Jay to take the chip lead away from Eric for the first time.  However, with the blinds at 40/80k there wasn’t much wiggle room and all the chips were in preflop no more than 10 minutes into the match.  Jay limped on the button and Eric pushed all in.  Jay beat him into the pot to show KQ, but Eric was in a commanding position with AK!  The board didn’t improve either hand and Jay was eliminated in 2nd ($50), while Eric took down the big $200 first place prize with A high.

Congratulations again to Eric Bandy, and to all the players for qualifying!


Final Results:
1)      Eric Bandy - $200
2)      Jay Hayley - $50
3)      Garrett Bary - $30
4)      Patrick Morgan - $20
5)      Daniel Vaughn
6)      Mike Wheeler
7)      Kyle Picone
8)      Shawn Brown
9)      Patrick Roney
10)  Sherri Frost
11)  Bill Wofford
12)  Yvonne Breone
13)  Jason Porter
14)  Paul Rowe
15)  Sabrina Delisle
16)  Archie Mckonnen

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