Council Bluffs, IA—Before the start of the $5,000 WSOP Circuit championship at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Jovan Sudar confidently predicted he would win. Even when he was low-stacked with 18 players left, his confidence never lessened.
He began building his way back, amassed a tremendous chip lead at the final table, lost it briefly and then roared back to score a resounding win. First place officially paid $95,455, though a couple of deals between the final 10 players lessened his actual payout. It was still his largest tournament cash ever. Victory also brought him the diamond-and-gold trophy ring and a $10,000 buy-in to this year’s WSOP Main Event.
Sudar, 27, was born in the former country of Yugoslavia and came to Omaha, Nebraska 12 years ago. He is both a senior leasing agent for the Biltmore apartment complex in that city as well as a pro player. He has numerous cashes and final tables, his prior biggest cashes being $29,190 for sixth in a Bellagio Cup/WPT event, and $27,315 for second in a Doyle Brunson/WPT tourney.
But this is his first tournament win.
“I’ve been close so many times,“ he exclaimed jubilantly. "This thing is off my back now.”
Sudar, who plays mainly tournaments, also plays $25-$50 No Limit at the Bellagio, regularly tangling with the biggest names in poker.
He plays strictly No Limit Hold’em because he feels it takes the most skill of any game: maybe 85 percent skill to 15 percent luck.
His edge, he said, comes from his ability to read players, play position and knowing when he’s beat.
He also had wins here in $500 and $100 buy-in satellites. This event had 46 players and a $212,100 prize pool. Day One ended at 2:30 a.m. The 10 remaining players returned for final-day action with, Derek Masek in front with 166,700 chips.
Bernard Lee, who had led the field for much of Day One, ran into bad luck in late going and now had a little more than half average entering the final table.
We also had a husband and wife pairing, Jerry and Kathy Walter, both winning their seats via satellites.
Here were the chip counts for the final 10:
|
Seat |
Name |
Chip Count |
|
1 |
Jerry Walter |
138,600 |
|
2 |
Jack Do |
75,100 |
|
3 |
Mike Sortino |
159,300 |
|
4 |
Bernard Lee |
54,200 |
|
5 |
Jeff Banghart |
45,400 |
|
6 |
Jeff Bryan |
103,200 |
|
7 |
Phil Mader |
98,300 |
|
8 |
Derek Masek |
166,700 |
|
9 |
Jovan Sudar |
63,600 |
|
10 |
Kathy Walter |
15,000 |
Play started with 200 antes and blinds of 1,000-2,000, a full hour on the clock.. The first called all-in didn’t come until the next level, with 300 antes, 1,200-2,400 blinds. Lee had pocket jacks, hit a spade flush and doubled up against A-K.
10th place: It took nearly two hours to get down to nine. Phil Mader was crippled when Sudar made a king-high flush to Mader’s queen-high. On the following hand Mader’s last 17,000 went in. Sudar finished him off when his A-10 held up against Masek’s K-7.
9th place: Jeff Banghart left after pushing in with pocket 5s. Jack Do called with pocket 10s and filled when the board showed K-K-3-10.
8th place: Jeff Bryan went out next when he moved in with K-Q. Jerry Walter called with pocket 6s. Bryan paired his king when the flop came 2-6-K, but he was pretty much dead against Walter’s set of 6s.
7th place: We now saw three-way action. Kathy Walter, who had earlier survived with pocket aces, was all in again with A-7 against Mike Sortino’s A-10 and Sudar’s pocket 7s. The board came K-3-A-5-Q, and Sortino’s aces with a better kicker left Walter in seventh place.
6th place: Lee was next out. He moved in with pocket 10s and found himself up against Sortino’s pocket kings. Nothing changed when the board came 3-Q-J-5-3, and we were now down to the official final table of five. Had no deal been made, Lee, whose numerous poker endeavors include his own radio show, writing for the Boston Herald and ESPN, and official spokesperson for the Foxwoods poker room, would have walked off empty-handed instead of getting an unofficial $12,798.
Here were the final table chip counts:
|
Seat |
Name |
Chip Count |
|
1 |
Jerry Walter |
205,900 |
|
2 |
Jack Do |
69,000 |
|
3 |
Mike Sortino |
227,600 |
|
4 |
Derek Masek |
194,200 |
|
5 |
Jovan Sudar |
216,400 |
Play resumed with blinds of 2,000-4,000 and 400 antes. Do, lowest-chipped, soon doubled up when he made an ace-high flush to Masek’s 10-high flush. Players took a dinner break and returned to 500 antes and 2,500-5,000 blinds. Sudar had now increased his lead to a bit over 300,000.
5th place: Halfway through the level, Sortino moved in with , up against Jovan’s . A board of gave Sortino hopes for a diamond flush, but he missed and cashed fifth for an official $10,605. Sortino is from Omaha and is retired. He finished fourth in an earlier 6-handed No Limit event here.
On the next hand, Sudar raised to 80,000 with , and Masek called all in with . A flop of also gave Masek hopes of a diamond flush (larger than Sudar’s.). This time a diamond turned and Masek doubled through.
Blinds were now 3,000-6,000 with the same antes. A very big hand came down when Walter raised with A-K, Do moved in for 140,000 with pocket 10s, and Walter called. They were close to even in chips. The board missed both players. Do doubled, and Walter was down to about 35,000. But he wasn’t ready to leave yet. He won one pot, then doubled up when his Q-10 made a straight on the river to outrun Masek’s trip 4s.
4th place: The biggest pot of the night now developed. After a raise by Do and then an all-in re-raise by Sudar, Do committed all his 260,000 chips holding pocket queens. Sudar had pocket kings and flopped a set when the cards came K-9-10. Two 6s then filled him as he took a huge lead. Meanwhile, Do, a nail technician from Dakota Dunes, Dakota, cashed fourth for an official $21,210.
The three finalists returned from break to blinds of 3,000-6,000 and 1,000 antes. A rough count found Walter with about 120,000 chips, Masek 140,000 and Sudar, 690,000.
3rd place: Just 10 minutes into the new level, Masek went all in with pocket 10s, facing Sudar’s . Sudar won the coin-toss match when the board came 9-6-Q-3-9 as his queens and 9s left Masek in third place, paying an official $31,815.
2nd place: Heads-up, Walter had under 100,000 to more than 800,000 for Sudar. Amazingly, Walter started playing catch-up, then doubled through twice, the second time with a full house, and pulled into the lead. Sudar got it back when he moved in with pocket kings after Walter raised with pocket 8s, making a bigger full house when three queens hit the board.
Very low-chipped again, Walter was all in again on the next hand, holding to Sudar’s . The ace-high was good enough, but Sudar also made a straight when the board came 4-Q-7-8-5 to nail down his first win.
Walter, collecting an official $53,025 for second, is from Granville, Illinois, is 53 years old,and has been a plumber for 33 years. This was his first final table. –Max Shapiro