WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star result

World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star, $10,000 No-limit Hold’em, San Jose, CA, March 16th-20th 2009

Entrants: 391
Buy-in: $ 10,000
Prizepool: $ 3,444,500

1. Steve Brecher, $ 1,025,500
2. Kathy Liebert, $ 550,000
3. Chris Moore, $ 291,500
4. Tony Behari, $ 230,000
5. Thao Le, $ 180,000
6. Chao Vu, $ 135,000

Full Tilt Poker Pro Steve Brecher won first place at the 2009 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, taking home more than $ 1 million in prize money and his first WPT Championship title. Brecher started the final table in third place, with over $ 2 million in chips and battled his way through the longest final table in WPT history – a record 319 hands dealt.

The key moment at the final table came during three-handed play, with Brecher all in pre-flop with A-Q versus occasional PokerStars Pro Kathy Liebert’s A-K. Though dominated, Brecher turned an Ace-high straight to win the pot and keep his championship hopes alive.

Entering heads-up play, Brecher held a better than 2-to-1 chip lead over Liebert, who would’ve been the first woman to win a WPT open tournament. The final hand came when Liebert’s pre-flop raise met a re-raise from Brecher. Liebert called all-in with her remaining chips and showed Q-10 versus Brecher’s A-9. The board fell 6-6-2-2-4, giving Brecher two pair with a better kicker and his first WPT Championship.

Brecher bested a field of 391 players, including several “Shooting Star” pros with $ 5k bounties on their heads. This is Brecher’s first major tournament victory. A former software programmer, his previous best finish came at the 2004 $ 25k WPT Championship, where he finished sixth for more than $ 225,000 in prize money. With this victory, Brecher also earns a seat at the 2009 $ 25k WPT Championship event.