Singer Wins Caesar's Poker Classic
David Singer (Credit: Full Tilt Poker)
The 2007 Caesars Palace Classic drew the pros in. The No-Limit Hold'em Championship, which began on Monday, October 22, 2007, had a $10,000 buy-in. Lee Watkinson, and Michael Mizrachi made bank in the event, although both players missed out on the final table. Sitting pretty at that tough final table were Justin Bonomo, Scott Fischman, Kido Pham and David Singer. Pham had the chip lead as the action got underway. However, with large blinds and big antes, the action moved fast. On hand number 11, Vivek Rajkumar hit the felt when his J,10 failed to fill in the open-ended straight draw. George Unich took eighth place, not bad for a dude who won his seat in the event for winning a high-hand jackpot promotion held by the host casino. He received over $81,000 for his efforts. Jose Valdes was KO'ed in seventh place with his A,Q. His opponent, Tony Cousineau used his seven to fill in a nine-high straight…with a little help from the board, of course. Alex Bolotin left the table next. He also held A,Q. The board provided him little love. The pocket jacks of Justin Bonomo sealed his tournament fate. It took about twenty hands more for Bonomo, aka “ZeeJustin”, to hit the rails. During the previous knockout and the next one, Singer, a Full Tilt sponsored pro, made his move, doubling up through Bonomo, directly leading to the youngster's fifth-place elimination. ZeeJustin, who plays primarily live action events these days, collected a payday of $163,693 for himself so it's all good. Cousineau and Fischman would sing their swan songs in fourth and third place, leaving Kido Pham and David Singer to battle for the title mano a mano. Singer had the lead as the match-up began with 3.25 million chips to Pham's 1.05 mil. Despite the more than 3-to-1 lead Singer had, Pham fought for two hours, never once doubling up or going all-in in the 100 plus hands the duo played. On the final hand, Pham moved all-in preflop with pocket cowboys. Singer made the call with A,9. Pham appeared to be in good shape until Singer hit the straight on the river. Ouch! Here are the final results: 1) David Singer - $1,000,000 2) Kido Pham - $480,167 3) Scott Fischman - $245,540 4) Tony Cousineau - $190,976 5) Justin Bonomo - $163,693 6) Alex Bolotin - $136,411 7) Jose Valdes - $109,129 8) George Unich - $81,847 9) Vivek Rajkumar - $54,564