Day 1A

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, Day 1A Recap

There's an old saying in multi-day tournaments: "It's impossible to win on day one." That's true, because most major tournaments don't award any prizes until the field busts the money bubble, which usually occurs with about 10% of the entrants remaining.

But the Shooting Star tournament at Bay 101 is different, offering bounties and bonuses that can add up to more than a money finish. Even though the money bubble won't burst for another two or three days, Day 1A chipleader Brandon Cantu has already cashed for $20,000 - double the $10,000 entry fee.

This is possible because each table starts with at least one "Shooting Star" -- a notable pro that carries a bounty. Anyone who busts a Shooting Star receives $5,000 (the bounty) and a unique t-shirt with the busted player's picture (the trophy). If a Shooting Star never busts (that is, they win the tournament), then they collect their own $5,000 bounty and keep the t-shirt.

In addition to the bounties, there are $10,000 bonuses for the players with the most chips after Day 1A, Day 1B, and Day 2.

Brandon Cantu gained momentum in the middle of the day by eliminating Bill Edler, claiming his chips and the $5,000 bounty. Edler's empty seat was filled with early chipleader John Juanda, who still had a big stack. But it wasn't big enough to withstand an unsuccessful race against Cantu - Juanda's ace-king never improved, and Cantu picked up his second bounty of the day.

In the final level of the day, tournament director Matt Savage gave chip count updates on the big stacks as they vied for the additional $10,000 prize for the Day 1a chipleader. In the final half hour, only Thanh Che and Cantu had more than 200,000 in chips. Thanh Che is a name we aren't familiar with (yet), but he collected the $5,000 bounty on Chad Brown on his way to the chip lead, about 10,000 more than Cantu.

With less than five minutes remaining, Cantu busted one more player. The player wasn't a Shooting Star, so there was no bounty. But the pot was more than enough to give Cantu the chip lead at the end of the day, finishing with 242,300 to receive the $10,000 chipleader bonus. Thanh Che had to settle for second place on the leaderboard (no prize for that) with 215,700.

Day 1 chipleaders often fail to finish in the money, much less reach the final table. But Brandon Cantu has already had a profitable trip, likely cashing for more than some players who will finish in the money. (Details on the prizepool will be released tomorrow after registration closes.)

Of the 146 players who started Day 1A, only 47 survived with an average chip stack around 62,000. Of the 24 Shooting Stars who started on Day 1A, only five survived (see the list below). There will be a fresh batch of Shooting Stars on Day 1B, including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Mike Matusow.

Here are the top five chipleaders, along with the remaining Shooting Stars:

1.  Brandon Cantu  -  242,300
2.  Thanh Che  -  215,700
3.  Paul Britto  -  188,500
4.  Chanh Pham  -  159,900
5.  Zack Felder  -  150,500

Shooting Stars
8.  J.C. Tran  -  115,600
16.  Layne Flack  -  63,100
30.  Miami John Cernuto  -  34,600
40.  Kathy Liebert  -  18,500
46.  Men "The Master" Nguyen  -  6,200

Day 1B begins tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10:30 am PT.

Day 1B

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, Day 1B Recap

While Day 1B of the Bay 101 Shooting Star had a weaker-than-expected turnout, Day 1B had nearly 100 more players, adding 230 to the total field size. That number includes another 26 "Shooting Stars" (notable pros that carry a $5,000 bounty), including defending champion Ted Forrest.

Even with a larger field of opponents looking to bust them, these Shooting Stars fared much better than yesterday's group. Jennifer Tilly was the first Shooting Star to bust on her starting day - just like last year. This just hasn't been Tilly's event. Kristy Gazes followed her out less than 10 minutes later. Interestingly, both players got all in after the flop with pocket aces when they were behind. Tilly faced a set, while Gazes faced a flush (but she had the suited ace with outs to a higher flush). By the end of the day, 11 of the Shooting Stars survived.

When registration finally closed, the official numbers were released. The total field had 376 entrants, and the top 45 will finish in the money. First prize is $1,000,000, and everyone who reaches the WPT Final Table will earn at least $135,000.

Day 1A may have started with a smaller field, but it finished with two players above the 200,000-chip mark. Nobody on Day 1B reached that mark. There was another close battle for the end-of-day chip lead (and the $10,000 bonus that goes with it). With 15 minutes left, Clonie Gowen had about 165,000, and Blair Hinkle had about 170,000. Hinkle picked up some more chips to extend his lead, and he looked like a lock to win the chipleader bonus. But he risked the bonus to play an all-in hand against a short stack - and he lost. Tournament Director Matt Savage had to count down both stacks to verify, and Hinkle had kept enough of his chips to clinch the $10,000 bonus. Hinkle finished with 170,800, and Gowen with 163,300.

Ted Forrest, who defeated J.J. Liu in a dramatic marathon heads-up battle last year, faced a few all-ins of his own late in the day. He not only survived, but thrived, finishing the day in the top 10 with 118,600. He'll return on Day 2 to continue his title defense.

After ten levels, there were 91 players left. Here are the top five chipleaders from Day 1B, along with the 11 Shooting Stars that survived the day:

1.  Blair Hinkle  -  170,800
2.  Clonie Gowen  -  163,300
3.  Paul Wasicka  -  140,600
4.  Ralph Perry  -  136,900
5.  Thanh Phung  -  135,600

Shooting Stars
9.  Ted Forrest  -  118,600
25.  Isabelle Mercier  -  61,200
31.  Joe Hachem  -  52,600
35.  Phil Laak  -  47,000
41.  Erick Lindgren  -  42,700
45.  Jennifer Harman  -  40,800
49.  Barry Greenstein  -  38,900
57.  Mike Matusow  -  33,500
60.  Cyndy Violette  -  29,300
73.  Allen Cunningham  -  19,700
91.  Scotty Nguyen  -  7,200

Day 2 is scheduled to begin Wednesday morning at 10:30 am PT.

Day 2

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, Day 2 Recap

The final 10 minutes of Day 2 were fateful at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star. Play was scheduled to end when the field reached the final 36, and with 38 players remaining, everyone was waiting for two more eliminations so they could go home for the night.

There were still six Shooting Stars left in the field: defending champion Ted Forrest, Layne Flack, Joe Hachem, Jennifer Harman, Isabelle Mercier, and J.C. Tran. Even though the money bubble had burst at 45 players, these Shooting Stars still faced additional attacks because they carried $5,000 bounties.

There were also five women still in action: Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Harman, Serena Liu, Isabelle Mercier, and Anna Wroblewski. That's an unusually high number for this late stage of a tournament (representing 13.1% of the field), and it continues the trend from the WPT Celebrity Invitational, where four women finished in the top eight, and Van Nguyen was the first woman to win a WPT title in a mixed event.

Like the previous two days, there was a $10,000 bonus on the line for the player with the most chips at the end of the day. Only two players were in serious contention: Mike Baker (about 800,000) and Dan Morris (about 700,000). Nobody else in the field had more than 500,000 or so. If Morris (or anyone else) was going to catch Baker, they were running out of time.

Serena Liu was eliminated in 38th place by Shooting Star Joe Hachem, leaving the field one spot away from the end of the day. It was at this point that a big pot developed between chipleader Mike Baker and Shooting Star Isabelle Mercier that would tie all these loose storylines together.

With four diamonds on the board, Baker bet, Mercier moved all in, and Baker called with [10h10s] for a set of tens. Mercier showed [AdJs] for the ace-high flush, and she was a 77% favorite to win the hand.

The pot was a big one, and if Mercier's hand held up, she would catapult to sixth place on the leaderboard, while Baker would drop down to second - potentially losing the $10,000 chipleader bonus. If the board paired to give Baker the pot, he would not only be a lock to win the $10,000, he would also collect the $5,000 bounty on Mercier. He'd also head into Day 3 with nearly a million in chips, and the fan-friendly field would be down to five Shooting Stars and three women.

Tournament Director Matt Savage came over to announce the fateful hand, though most listeners were only focused on whether or not a player would bust. Baker and Mercier both knew the stakes, and silently waited for Savage to give the okay to deal the fateful river card - Mercier displayed quiet confidence while Baker seemed ready to accept the loss with dignity. With a nod from Savage, the dealer put out the final card.

It was the [Qc], which paired the [Qd] from the flop to give Mike Baker a full house to beat Mercier's flush.

That left 36 players to celebrate the end of the day while Mercier disappeared from the table for a minute to let off some steam. Savage delivered $15,000 to Baker for the bounty and the chip lead, and Mercier returned to the table to congratulate Baker and autograph her t-shirt for him.

With that, the field of 36 players was set for Day 3, and Baker dominated the field. With the average chip count around 210,000, here are the players above the 300,000 mark, along with the five remaining Shooting Stars:

1.  Mike Baker - 952,500
2.  Dan Morris - 701,000
3.  Jason Gray - 528,000
4.  John Phan - 495,000
5.  Noah Jefferson - 396,000
6.  Clonie Gowen - 326,500

Shooting Stars
15.  J.C. Tran - 183,500
16.  Jennifer Harman - 164,500
25.  Joe Hachem - 100,000
29.  Layne Flack - 89,000
32.  Ted Forrest - 64,500

As you can see, all of the Shooting Stars are below average in chips, making it a tough road for any of them to reach the final table. Defending champion Ted Forrest still has a shot (though it's a long one) to become the first player in WPT history to win the same event in back-to-back years.

Day 3 is scheduled to begin at 10:30 am PT.

Day 3

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, Day 3 Recap

Day 3 of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star started with 36 players, but only one of them seemed to have destiny on their side - Brandon Cantu. Even the remaining Shooting Stars were falling to the Cantu juggernaut.

Cantu began his fateful Day 3 run by busting Shooting Star Joe Hachem on a bad beat. With one card to come, Hachem was all in with top pair against Cantu's second pair. Hachem walked away from the table so he wouldn't have to look at the final card, but the crowd reaction immediately told him he lost. Cantu had rivered two pair to bust Hachem in 20th place and collect his fourth $5,000 bounty of the tournament.

Cantu's destiny to dominate Day 3 continued with 15 players remaining. Ed Fernandez flopped trip deuces, but his decision to slow play would cost him. Cantu picked up a gutshot straight draw on the turn, and semi-bluffed with a reraise. Fernandez flat called, allowing Cantu to complete his straight on the river, when all the money went into the pot. Fernandez was eliminated in 15th place, and the hand gave Cantu the chip lead - a lead he never lost.

This tournament features six-handed tables on Day 3, so when the field reached 12, they were at the final two tables. At Table 1, Brandon Cantu won the last hand of Level 19 with a preflop reraise over Jennifer Harman. Nobody knew at the time that they were witnessing the start of one of the most amazing streaks in major tournament history.

When Level 20 began, Cantu won the next 12 hands at his table, culminating in the elimination of David "The Big Dragon" Tran in eighth place. There was a short break to combine the final seven players into one table, and the others were hoping the new table would break Cantu's momentum.

It didn't.

Tournament Director Matt Savage was announcing the action for each hand, finishing with the phrase "Brandon Cantu has won 15 pots in a row." "Brandon Cantu has won 16 pots in a row." "Brandon Cantu has won 17 pots in a row."

That's where Cantu's streak ended - and it took pocket aces to do it.

After Cantu called a raise from John Pham, Steve Sung reraised with a short stack. Pham, and Cantu both folded, and the huge crowd of spectators actually booed, because they didn't want the streak to end. Steve Sung showed [AdAh] to let Cantu off the hook.

Cantu came down to earth to win a mere mortal three out of the next seven hands, the last of which finished the day. Five players saw the flop, and Shooting Star J.C. Tran moved all in with a short stack. Cantu and Mike Baker both called to see an ace on the turn and the king on the river. J.C. Tran held [KdKs], and the king on the river must have given him fresh hope of tripling up with a set. He showed his hand, and the crowd gave a cheer - until Cantu showed his [AcAd] to win with a higher set. While the crowd was on Cantu's side earlier, they were sorry to see fan favorite J.C. Tran bust out on the TV bubble after a painful loss.

Cantu claimed his fifth bounty of the tournament, for a total of $25,000, along with five autographed t-shirts as trophies. Add to that the $10,000 bonus he received as the Day 1A chipleader, and he's made a nice haul - so far. At this point, he is the favorite to win the $1 million first prize as well.

Here are the official counts for the WPT Final Table:

1.  Noah Jefferson - 842,000
2.  John Phan - 374,000
3.  Brandon Cantu - 3,323,000
4.  Steve Sung - 474,000
5.  Jennifer Harman - 541,000
6.  Mike Baker - 1,964,000

Brandon Cantu leads with 44% of all the chips in play, and Mike Baker is the only player who's even close. There are three short stacks with less than half the average of 1.25 million in chips, though the blinds are still relatively low: 4,000-8,000 with a 1,000 ante.

Will Cantu's great fortune on Day 3 carry over to the final table? Will he claim his sixth bounty by busting Jennifer Harman, or will she collect her own bounty by winning the tournament? Return to WorldPokerTour.com at 4:00 pm PT for complete hand-by-hand coverage of all the action.

Final Table

Cantu Leads Wire-To-Wire From Day 1 to Take the Title

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 in the final table:

Seat 1: Noah Jefferson - 842,000
Seat 2: John Phan - 347,000
Seat 3: Brandon Cantu - 3,323,000
Seat 4: Steve Sung - 474,000
Seat 5: Jennifer Harman - 541,000
Seat 6: Mike Baker - 1,964,000

Cantu came into the final table with five bounties to his credit and the temptation to score his sixth cost him a bit to start the final table. He raised from middle position to 30,000 and Harman made the call on the button. Baker also called from the small blind and the flop came [9h6c4c]. 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 [10c2c]. Harman showed [6d6s] 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 [10d9s] and she doubled up to an even million in chips.

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 Jefferson looked him up from the big blind. Phan turned over [Qd8d] and was relieved to be racing as he saw Jefferson’s [6c6d]. The board ran out [Kh3c2c6s3s] and Phan was sent to the rail in sixth place. Phan earned $135,000 for his finish.

After Phan’s elimination the play of Baker turned bizarre, and his elimination hand had the whole room wondering what he was thinking. 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 [Qs10d2d]. 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 [AhAd] but his jaw dropped when Baker revealed his [Kd3d] for a flush draw. The turn and river came [5s5c] 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 Sung. Jefferson raised to 110,000 on the button and Sung moved him all in. Jefferson instantly called showing [AdKd] and Sung revealed his [7d7h]. The board bricked out and Jefferson was eliminated in fourth place taking home $265,000.

Three-handed play belonged to the guys and 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 [AhKd] and needed to connect with the board to stay alive. The flop came [KcJs9c] 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:

Brandon Cantu - 6,133,000
Steve Sung - 1,385,000

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