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April 28, 2006
Former dealer wins $3.76M in poker tour final
By RYAN NAKASHIMA
The native of San Diego, Calif., said he didn't think much of his chance at winning when he reached the final table at the Bellagio hotel-casino, but others around him sensed he had something on his side. ``Everybody around me was telling me I was going to win,'' Bartholdi said Tuesday. ``I changed my mind and decided to believe as well.'' Bartholdi clutched an unsuited nine-five going into the final hand Monday night against Davidson Matthew, a St. Johns, Antigua native from Canada who parlayed a $25 online buy-in tournament into a cool $1.9 million second-place finish. A flop of ace-nine-eight with two hearts showing gave Bartholdi a measly pair of nines. After successive raises and counter-raises, Bartholdi called Matthew's all-in bet. ``With all the info I had by how he had played previous hands, I didn't really think he had an ace,'' Bartholdi said. Matthew flipped over two hearts, a 10 and a four, with a chance for a flush. When the next two community cards were a deuce and ace of diamonds, Bartholdi's two pair won the tournament. Each seat at the tournament cost $25,500 although some players were sponsored by online poker sites. The most Bartholdi had ever won in tournament play was $71,445 at last year's World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas. He said he'll take his win slowly and seek out financial advice before making any big purchases. ``I'll file for taxes this year for sure,'' he said. Before the tournament, Matthew owed $80,000 to five credit card companies and missed most of the first day of play because he forgot which day it started. He said after coming in second he was going to give up his business operating some 100 automated cash machines in Toronto. ``I was at the point of total bankruptcy,'' Matthew said by phone from Toronto on Tuesday. ``It just came in at the right time.'' |
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