Council Bluffs, IA—Chris Ybarra is 26 years-old, had been an audio engineer, decided to turn pro just a couple of months ago and had never heard of Brent Carter, his final opponent.
Carter is a bit older, won his first tournament two years after Ybarra was born, has cashed in hundreds of tournaments for more than $3 million, and has now made a dozen WSOP Omaha final tables.
The betting would seem to be on Carter when the two got heads-up in Event 11 of the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Pot Limit Omaha. But after a back-and-forth battle, it was Ybarra who took first place, which paid $4,191.
Both played solid poker and Carter had a decent lead at one point. But the turning point came when Ybarra flopped a straight. Carter was crippled and busted out on the next hand. Ybarra, from Plattsmouth, Nebraska, until now has played mostly No Limit Hold’em cash games, with a little Omaha thrown in.
This $200 event had 60 participants and a prize pool of $11,640. The final table began with blinds of 1,500-3,000 and 19 minutes remaining. With 74.500 chips, Steve Hayes started with the lead.
Here were the starting chip counts:
|
Seat |
Name |
Chip Count |
|
1 |
Brent Carter |
46,500 |
|
2 |
Nick Janssen |
28,500 |
|
3 |
Chris Ybarra |
35,000 |
|
4 |
Steve Hayes |
74,500 |
|
5 |
Ivan Janssen |
43,500 |
|
6 |
Scott Erickson |
12,000 |
|
7 |
Frank Dukich |
11,000 |
|
8 |
Adrian Hernandez |
25,500 |
|
9 |
Ronald Grandgeorge |
15,500 |
9th place: On the very first deal, Scott Erickson’s hand contained two aces, and that was enough for him to re-raise all in for his last 11,000. Ybarra called holding two kings, turned a set, and Erickson cashed out ninth for $349. Erickson, 35, is a roofing contractor from North Platte, Nebraska. He’s played Circuits for six years and this is his first final table. Last year he finished 18th in the Main Event here.
8th place: A couple of beats later, the board showed A-3-3 and Ronald Grandgeorge, holding 10-8-5-3, bet his last chips on his trips and got two calls. When Carter bet the pot when a 4 turned, the other caller folded, and Grandgeorge muttered, “I’m pretty much toast.” He was, because Carter, with A-3-Q-8, had flopped a full house, and Grandgeorge left with $466 for eighth. Grandgeorge, from Papillion, Nebraska, is 53 and retired from the Air Force. He once finished 63rd out of 4,800 in a No Limit event in Vegas.
7th place: With blinds now at 2,000-4,000, a third player departed. This time Adrian Hernandez, short-chipped, was all in with J-Q-9-6, hit a queen, but couldn’t overtake Carter’s pocket aces and left seventh for $582.
By now Carter had increased his lead dramatically and was well in front of the field. Hernandez, 22, is from Hastings, Nebraska, playing mainly online, where he’s won a few tournaments.
6th place: Blinds became 2,500-5,000. There was quickly another all-in when Steve Hayes pushed in his last chips and Carter, holding A-A-Q-7, re-raised with all his chips to get heads-up. Hayes turned up 10-10-8-6. The board came 2-J-7-8-7.
Carter, trying to figure out the hands, asked Hayes, “Do you have a seven?” then realized that he had one. He took the pot as Hayes cashed sixth for $608. Hayes, 51, is from Burlington Junction. Missouri.
5th place: Nick Janssen went out fifth. He made a straight but lost to Frank Dukich’s 4s full of sixes. Janssen, 30, is a buyer from Farmington, Minnesota who is “just happy playing cards with my dad.” (That would be Ivan Janssen, who was next out.)
4th place: Blinds now were 3,000-6,000. On the first hand Ybarra hit a flush on the river to get close to the lead. Later, he moved in front with more than half the 300,000 chips in play by knocking out Ivan Janssen. On that hand, Ivan Janssen was all in with 10-10-A-2. Ybarra had A-A-9-8. The board came Q-5-3-J-10 as the river card gave Janssen a set but Ybarra a straight. Janssen, 56 is an auto salesman from Farmington, Minnesota.
3rd place: The match got heads-up when Frank Dukich, holding J-10-3-3, missed his straight draw after the flop came Q-9-7 while Carter would make aces and queens. Dakich is a 85-year-old retired newspaper pressman.from Carter Lake, Iowa. He has a prior win in a Limit Hold’em event here along with a second in Pot Limit Omaha.
2nd place: The turning point in the final match came when Ybarra, with A-10-9-8, flopped a straight when the board showed 6-9-7. Carter, with pocket kings, was still alive with a flush draw but missed. He was now down to 22,000 with blinds of 5,000-10,000.
Ybarra put the finishing touches on him the next hand, Carter had K-9-5-2, could only pair his 5 when the board came 5-6-4-8-J, and lost to Ybarra’s pocket 7s. Carter took an official $2,328 for second, though the two had earlier agreed to a $500 save. Carter, a veteran pro, is a retired harness race driver from Oak Park, Illinois.
As an interesting sidelight, for many years Carter has dressed as conservatively as anyone on the tournament trail. He just recently decided to change his image and tonight showed up in an incredible outfit that made him look like a cross between an Army desert soldier and a duck hunter, with pieces of loose fabric hanging all over and some sort of black hood-like thing in back.
“My new uniform,” he said. –Max Shapiro