TOBIAS SHOWS 'HART' AT VICTORIAN FULLTILTPOKER.ORG STATE FINALS
2008-10-13 APL Team
On Saturday October 11th, 306 of Victoria's finest poker sharks made their way to one of South East Melbourne's favourite clubs - The South Oakleigh Club or 'SOC' to the regulars for the highly anticipated FULLTILTPOKER.ORG STATE FINALS powered by APL.
The day of reckoning had finally arrived and a record number of participants for a Victorian Final was a sure sign that these State Finals were to be hotly contested.
306 runners settled in for the chance to claim their stake in a monumental prizes pool of $25,000 in cash and prizes including 10 seats into the Wild Turkey Poker Classic.
This was a prize pool that had many of the expectant pit salivating with hope and encouraged the nervous tension in the room.
Victoria entered new territory with the event split into 2 heats, with some great reads and bad beats eventually dwindling our field down to just 180 for the final heat. Both heats had the added pressure of a large crowd to deal with as blind after blind passed by.
6.30pm saw the start of the Final Table and a strong and supportive crowd of 50 clambering for a better view of what was to unfold. Nat Dalia entered the fray with 360,000 as the deep stack and at 28,000 Barry Clarke came in looking very undersized.
Action at the final was fast and furious with Nat the second player to wave goodbye despite being well stacked early. By 7.15 it was down to Chris Rutledge (VLV) and Toby Hart (VLV) with Toby being short stacked and recovering by going all in 3 times in a row until heads up saw his 3/5 off suit complete a fantastic and fast paced day of poker with a well deserved victory.
Chris was a gracious loser who had managed to slip out with his partner during the break and buy a lounge suite – with the $2000.00 booty he claimed as second prize taking care of his purchase!
Toby Hart the winner has his older brother to thank for his biggest poker win after introducing young Tobias to the game 4 years ago.
Toby is a great supporter and believer in the APL team from VLV region and plays in venues in Bairnsdale, Traralgon and Moe.
He is a chef during his time away from the tables, and as well as dealing up hands of poker on a Friday night at the Moe Hotel he is also dealing up the food at this venue!
$3000 and a WT Poker Classic seat saw Toby leave the FullTiltPoker.org State Finals with a smile on his face, and the card shark is genuinely excited at the prospect of making the pilgrimage to Crown in February. Toby's APL CV continues to grow – he finished 11th in Player of the year last year.
Final 16
Tobias Hart - VLV
Chris Rutledge – VFM
Barry Clarke – VRD
Michael Tobias – VHB
Daniel Crawford – VCW
Nat Dalia – VLV
Allan Bath – VPS
Luke Venning – VMD
Ilisa Kerezovic- VKG
Phil Shambley – VGS
Peter Doyle – VGB
Boris Shapiro – VGB
Brett Crouch – VCW
Scott Feeney – VBA
Frank Morgan – VFM
On Saturday October 11th, 306 of Victoria's finest poker sharks made their way to one of South East Melbourne's favourite clubs - The South Oakleigh Club or 'SOC' to the regulars for the highly anticipated FULLTILTPOKER.ORG STATE FINALS powered by APL.
