"I was proud to be the youngest person at the table," Christine Rebarto, 21, wrote on her bio sheet. She was also the luckiest. Playing in her first tournament, she started the ladies $200 no-limit event with only 16,000 of the 600,000 chips in play, went all in six times and survived each time before finally taking all the chips in the eighth event of the Harrah's WSOP Circuit at Harrah's Atlantic City. The victory brought her $12,800 and a diamond-and-gold championship pendant.
Rebarto is an office coordinator in her family's in-home design business. She is from Norristown, PA, married, learned poker from her dad, and has been playing for four years, until now just in home games. Her other hobby is soccer.
It took close to two hours for the last 10 players to get down to the final nine, just as the $1,000 no-limit hold'em final table from the day before came to an end. It was fortuitous timing, sparing this writer the grief of trying to cover two tables simultaneously.
Seats and Chip Counts
SEAT 1 Judy Prichason 65,000
SEAT 2 Connie Krause 157,000
SEAT 3 Kathryn Atkinson 31,000
SEAT 4 Christine Rebardo 16,000
SEAT 5 Roslyn Quarto 46,000
SEAT 6 Sallie Stohler 38,500
SEAT 7 Ruth Munk 130,000
SEAT 8 Rafaella Caruso 31,500
SEAT 9 Chrissie Eyster 109,000
Play began with 3,000-6,000 blinds and 500 antes, 21:22 left. With 157,000 chips, Connie Krause was the chip leader...for one hand. On a flop of 7-2-2, Ruth Munk, starting with 130,000, moved in with pocket aces, and Krause called with pocket 10s. A bullet on the river filled Munk, and Krause was down to 27,000.
The first lady to be excused left on hand 10 in four-way action after blinds went to 4,000-8,000 with 1,000 antes. First, Krause moved in for 13,000. Next, Kathryn Atkinson went all in for 16,000, and then Munk and Rafaella Caruso also called. The board of Ad-9c-2c-6c-8s was checked down by Munk and Caruso. Krause, with an Ac-Jc, quadrupled up with a nut flush, while Caruso, with A-7, took the side pot, and Atkinson finished ninth, which paid $800.
Atkinson, from Morrisville, Pennsylvania is 28, works in human resources and learned poker from her fiancé, whom she will marry on 7/7/07 (lucky 7). She's been playing for two years, has a 10th place finish in the third event here, and also made her second final table this week.
On the next hand, Sallie Stohler was all for 6,000 with A-J. and was chased down by Munk with K-5 and Caruso with A-7. When the board came 7-6-3-Q-4, Munk, with a straight, bet 40,000. Caruso called all in, and the straight knocked out both players. Caruso, with fewer chips, finished eighth, worth $1,200, while Stohler got $1,600 for seventh.
Caruso, 32 is an office assistant from Lyndhurst, New Jersey. She learned poker from her family three years ago. Tonight she was down to her last 1,000 before climbing up and making the final table.
Stohler, 35, is a political consultant from Washington D.C. and has been playing hold'em only nine months.
Judy Prichason went out sixth on the 14th hand when she was all in with Jd-10d and lost to Munk's A-9 when the board showed 5-4-2-A-8. Prichason is a psychotherapist from Edison, New Jersey who loves her cats, travel and playing poker. Her poker highlight was "spanking the young guns" in cash games. She is the domestic partner of Roslyn Quarto, who was also at the final table. Sixth place paid $2,000.
Now going on a tear, Munk also disposed of Krause when her pocket 4s held up. Five players were now gone in only 17 hands. Krause, 44, is a material handler from Reading, Pennsylvania who learned poker from friends 20 years ago. Her poker highlight was bluffing her husband "with his own bluffing hand, 6-5." Fifth place paid $2,400.
Going all in again, Rebardo had 8-4 to Munk's J-9, outdrawing her when a board of 6-5-3-7-6 gave her a straight. On the next hand she did it again. With only 14,000 left, she moved in with A-10. Munk had only 6-3, but said "How can I not call?" Munk took the lead with two pair when the flop came A-6-3, only to see Rebardo make a bigger two pair when a 10 turned.
"That was exciting," Munk said, which nicely illustrates the different mindset of women's poker. If it was a man who had been so badly outdrawn, he would be more likely to say something getting him a 10-minute penalty.
On hand 24, Rebardo pushed in for 20,000 and was called by Quarto, with 19,000 and K-Q. "Not much of a hand, but what the hell," Munk said, also calling with Q-8. Rebardo turned up pocket aces, won and tripled up. Quarto, an attorney playing poker for a year and a half, finished fourth, worth $2,800. She has seconds in two prior ladies tournaments this year, a Circuit event at Caesars and in the U.S. Poker Championship. "I only play for fun and will stop playing if I stop having fun," she wrote on her bio sheet.
The count now stood at 62,000 for Rebardo, 397,000 for Munk and 141,000 for Chrissie Eyster. Blinds became 6,000-12,000 with 2,000 antes.
Munk took a bad hit when she opened for 100,000 with Q-7, losing when Eyster called with pocket treys and flopped a set. Eyster now had about half the chips in play. With four minutes left in the round, Rebardo went all in for the sixth time, for 98,000, beating Munk's pocket 10s by turning her A-J into two pair, leaving Munk with about 75,000.
Soon after blinds went to 8,000-16,000 with 2,000 antes, Munk went out on a stone bluff. The board showed 10-7-5-10-A with three hearts, and she moved in for 60,000 with just a 6-3. Rebardo called with 9-7, and her paired 7s knocked Munk out in third place, which paid $3,600. Munk, a homemaker whose other hobbies are singing and acting, learned poker from her husband eight years ago when he was in medical school. On her bio sheet she noted that in 2002 she was the number one winning female tournament player at the Mirage.
Heads-up, Rebardo had 370,000 to 230,000 for Eyster. Eyster moved closer on a hand where her 9-8 outran Rebardo's J-8, but Rebardo began picking up more chips until the 10th hand heads-up. Rebardo moved in with Jc-9h, and Eyster called for her last 180,000 with 8c-4c. The board came Kd-9c-2d-6s-9d, and Rebardo's trip 9s won it all.
Eyster, a 31-year-old executive secretary from Lexington, Kentucky, collected $7,040 for finishing second. She's played for three years, learning at house parties, and made a final table at a WPT ladies event in 2004. —Max Shapiro
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