Bay 101 Shooting Star - Season 2 - Mar 5, 2004

The Bay 101 Shooting Star is a very unique stop on the World Poker Tour. The event features a “bounty” on select poker stars, where the designer of their demise will collect $5,000. In addition to the exciting structure, the final table featured two high profile players; Chris Moneymaker (2003 WSOP Champion), and Phil Gordon, (announcer and face of “Celebrity Poker”).

Joining Moneymaker and Gordon, Suzie Kim, Mark Mache, Scott Wilson, and Masoud Shojaei converged in San Jose at the Bay 101 Casino on March 5th, 2004. With 243 players putting up $5,000 each, a prize pool of $1,240,000 was generated. In addition to the final table prize money, an extra $5,000 was up for grabs, as Moneymaker was one of the Shooting Stars.

The final hand was a first for the World Poker Tour, as two players were eliminated on the last hand. Phil Gordon was wielding a monster stack and had both Moneymaker and Masoud Shojaei well covered. A short stacked Shojaei pushed all in from the button with 10 7. Phil Gordon looked down at A 7 and called. Moneymaker says “Unless I get aces I’m folding” but then looked down at a pair of Jacks. After clarifying with the tournament director that if he got knocked out in this hand, he would finish higher that Shojaei (because he had more chip than him), he also pushed all-in for his last T455,000. Gordon also makes that call and catches an ace on the flop, eliminating both opponents and taking home the World Poker Tour title and the $360,000 first prize.