New Orleans, LA (December 15, 2009) – "Tripp" Donaldson won the most recent Bayou Poker Challenge tournament held at Harrah’s New Orleans. The $300 (+40) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament attracted a rather modest-sized field size of 102 entries, which is considerably less than most of the events completed here so far. Indeed, this shows that it’s impossible to compete with the NFL’s hottest team at the moment, the 13-0 New Orleans Saints who were playing during same the afternoon of the tournament. Since the city’s beloved Saints were playing at the time this tournament started, many poker players decided to watch their favorite team on Sunday afternoon, instead of playing poker.
That did not dampen the enthusiasm inside the poker room, however. In addition to two tournaments being played on Sunday, the live section inside the poker room was packed, particularly after the football game ended. This was the fifth event out of 15 on this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge schedule. The two-day tournament generated a prize pool totaling $29,673.
This marked "Tripp" Donaldson’s first major tournament victory. He came close to winning a few smaller tournaments. But this marked his first time in the winner’s circle. It took Donaldson only about three hours of play at the final table to earn the victory. He pretty much dominated play from start to finish. The final two players cut a deal with Donaldson taking the top spot and the lion’s share of prize money. His cut of the prize pool officially amounted to $7,865.
Donaldson is a 49-year-old cash game player, who formally worked in a glass and metal fabrication shop before taking up the game full time. He is originally from Florida and now lives in Baton Rouge, LA. Donaldson also enjoys hunting and fishing when he is not sitting in a poker game.
Each of the tournament’s top 18 finishers (two tables) collected prize money. The top nine players were eliminated in the following order:
9th Place – Bobby Barbier, a 25-year-old college baseball coach from Tuscaloosa, AL finished in ninth place. He is on the athletic staff at the University of Alabama. Barbier went out only a few hands into the final table. He was short stacked and moved all-in with A-4, which ended up losing to pocket sixes. Barbier ended up with a payout totaling $816.
8th Place – Vince Frederick, a 47-year-old safety engineer from The Woodlands, TX ended up with an eighth-place finish. Frederick was eliminated about 30 minutes into play at the final table. He has an impressive tournament resume, with previous cashes in the 2006 WSOP Main Event (335th out of 8,773 entrants) as well as cashes in previous WSOP Circuit events played at Harrah’s New Orleans. Frederick received $964 in prize money for eighth place.
7th Place – Ivan Milicevic, a 42-year-old self-employed part-time poker player from Mandeville, ended up with a seventh-place finish. He ran into a bit of bad luck late, moving all-in with A-Q which was dominated and ultimately defeated by A-K. Milicevic failed to improve, resulting in a payout worth $1,187.
6th Place – Michael Sampognaro, a 26-year-old student from West Monroe, LA finished in sixth-place. The former U.S. Marine is currently studying to become a dentist. However, he was extracted from the final table about an hour into play. However, he ended up getting crowned with $1,484 in prize money for his impressive sixth-place finish. Sampognaro previously cashed at the WSOP Circuit in New Orleans back in 2007. He won an event in 2006 while serving in the military, which took place at the Okinawa Poker Tour.
5th Place – Angelo Vozzella, a 47-year-old salesman from Austin, TX was the fifth-place finisher. He lost a late race holding A-Q against pocket tens and made an unwanted exit. This was Vozzella’s first recorded cash in a major tournament. He picked up $1,855 for finishing fifth.
4th Place – Christopher "Ninja" Cardenas, a 39-year-old professional poker player from Dripping Springs, TX took fourth place. The former finance director went out with A-J, which lost to pocket queens. The Ninja managed to flop a jack, but that was as close as he came to doubling up. Ninja has several previous cashes in WSOP Circuit events, most recently a few months ago at Hammond Horseshoe and Southern Indiana (Caesars). For this finish he received $2,374.
3rd Place – Bobby Moon, a 44-year-old salesman from Elberton, GA finished in third place. He became low in chips late and tried to make a steal with his remaining stack. But Tripp Donaldson had a huge amount of chips and made an easy call with A-10. Donaldson caught an ace on the flop which essentially killed Moon’s shot at making a comeback. The Georgian’s payout for third place amounted to $3,042. Moon had previously cashed five times on the WSOP Circuit. However, this was his best finish ever.
2nd Place – Todd Etzel, a 28-year-old part-time poker player was the runner up. When heads-up play began, Etzel was outchipped by about an 8 to 1 margin. Tripp Donaldson tried to defeat his opponent as best he could without cutting a deal. But when Etzel won a key late hand and doubled up, Donaldson decided to offer him a deal, which was accepted. This was Etzel’s second final table appearance in New Orleans, so far – as one of only two players at this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge with two top-ten finishes. He finished seventh in Event #3. Nevertheless, Etzel could certainly be proud of another fine performance, officially worth $4,749 in prize money.
1st Place – Tripp Donaldson, a 49-year-old poker pro from Baton Rouge, LA was the winner. He collected $7,865 and bragging rights for his first major tournament victory.
The 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge, which is an official World Series of Poker Satellite location, continues for eight more days and will conclude on December 20th. There’s still time to make plans to come to Harrah’s New Orleans and join in the poker action. For more information, please visit: www.harrahsneworleans.com