Big Stax 300: Recap

Big Stax III - Big Stax 300 ($300 + 30 NL Hold'em)

$150,000 Guarantee

(Left To Right) Himmelbrand, Zimmerman, Firing, Petrella

"August is our month," was the quote from Ari Mizrachi (Senior Director of Table Games and Poker Operations), and he isn't joking.  The turnout for the opening trophy event of this Big Stax III series was more than anyone could have expected, and just fell short of being the largest tournament field Parx has ever hosted.  After five days of tournament poker, and 1,316 total entries, it came down to the "final four." Travis Firing (Northhampton, PA), Seth Zimmerman (New York, NY), Edmond Petrella (Lumberton, NJ), and Greg Himmelbrand (Queens, NY) decided that the value in chopping was just too good as they sat pretty even in stacks.

The structure of the tournament was so good that when they were down to four players, the chip average was still between 80-90 big blinds.  That is one of the main reasons we saw the turnout we did, the players love this structure and the amount of play available.  We saw Justin Liberto fresh off his $400,000 cash in the WSOP Millionaire Maker, as well as Brian O'Donoghue who was heads up for a bracelet in July.  We had players from all over the area in the field, and those who even travelled from North Dakota and California to play in the event.  There weren't many appearances as notable as Mike "Little Man" Sica (East Brunswick, NJ), who played his first tournament in months since starting his treatment for cancer.

We saw 185 players make it through the combined Day 1's, with 144 of those players making the money when they returned on Sunday.  The chip leaders from the Day 1's began to give way to names like Joshua Gordon and Paul Vogel, as they assumed monstrous stacks during Day 2.  The cashes were fast and furious once the money bubble had burst, and it was clear they final table was not going to be reached by the end of night.  We were left with 23 players by the end of Level 23, so once again they would bag and tag and return on Day 3 to finish things out.  Some of the players that reached Day 3 included Joseph McKeehen, David Inselberg, Mike Linster, and Sam Taylor.

Day 3 began at 1:00pm on Monday and the players were prepared for a long day, as the action started off slowly.  The chip leader coming in (Joshua Gordon) took a huge hit in the early stages of the day, and would eventually end up departing in 15th place ($3,338).  Other players to miss out on the final table included WPT Best Buy Jacksonville champ Mike Linster (19th Place - $2,700), Joseph McKeehen (17th Place - $3,000), and David Inselberg (16th Place -$3,000).  The action began to pick up and we reached the final table after only four hours of play, right as the players we taking their dinner break.

Sam Taylor came into the final table with the chip lead, but would be cold decked as his K K ran into the A A of Greg Himmelbrand.  The pot was worth 13,000,000 and would completely change the landscape of the table, sending Taylor home in 9th place ($4,051).  The same exact situation occurred only minutes later with Himmelbrand knocking out Keith Chin (8th Place - $5,251) with aces versus kings.  Greg looked poised to steamroll the table holding over 50% of the chips in play with seven players remaining.  Some of the shorter stacks were eliminated (Scott Davis, Alex Brody, John DiBella), and four players were left fighting for the trophy.  Himmelbrand watched his massive chip lead disappear after losing a huge pot to Travis Firing, and the chip counts among the foursome were basically even.  The players took some to discuss the financials and eventually decided to chop the tournament and restructure the payouts.  Travis Firing would be declared the winner of the event, and have the trophy to take home for the mantle.  It was a great tournament from the moment the doors were opened, and each of our "winners" at the end couldn't be happier and were chumming it up while waiting to get paid out.  They even had a little needle for Edmond Petrella, who was reading an instructional tournament poker book throughout the final day (this was his first live tournament ever).  The trend continues during this Big Stax Series, as the four players who chopped the tournament were all in the event for one bullet.  We will look out for all of the players who final tabled (and cashed) this event in our next trophy event beginning this Thursday (Big Stax 500).

Final Table Results:

1. Travis Firing (Northhampton, PA) $47,000
2. Edmond Petrella (Lumberton, NJ) $44,275
3. Greg Himmelbrand (Queens, NY) $43, 457
4. Seth Zimmerman (New York, NY) $38,904
5. John DiBella (Eastchester, NY) $12,715
6. Alex Brody (Staten Island, NY) $9,864
7. Scott Davis (Wayne, PA) $7,501
8. Keith Chin (Vorhees, NJ) $5,251
9. Sam Taylor (New York, NY) $4,051
10. Ben Butler (Williamsport, PA) $3,676