It was a day when another minnow of the poker gold thrust himself into the limelight as Jim Anderson walked away with the $10,000 2010 WSOP Circuit Hammond Regional Championship in title after defeating a group of tough poker players in the final table on 28th October, 2010. The final table of this World Series of Poker Circuit event included poker professionals Gabe Patgorski, David Sands, Bernard Lee, Shannon Shorr, Curt Kohlberg and Brandon Adams as well as some lesser known faces in the form of Jim Anderson himself, Anthony Hartmann and Mark Owens. Apart from this desirable title, Jim walks home with a little over half a million dollar prize, to join his previous career earnings of $50,000.
Jim Anderson went into the final table with a chip count of 345,000 which was way off the leader Gabe Patgorski who was far out in front with 2,263,000. In fact, the closest to him was second placed David Sands with 1,360,000. Given the vast online poker success of Sands and with Patgorski so far out in front, who would have thought the man from Wooster, Ohio with only $50k worth of winnings to his name in his career would gatecrash the party to steal the plaudits?!
It was a win that really saw Anderson fulfill his potential in the heads up. Patgorski had played a safe game throughout and surprised no-one by reaching the heads up but he was in a slightly worse position than he had been. Anderson had done well to grab the chip lead and was ahead on a 2:1 ratio which was remarkable considering the position he had been in at the start of the day compared to Patgorksi.
Throughout the final table Anderson kept chipping away at his opponents with the odd win here, the odd win there. The pivotal moment came when Anderson lost a call to third placed Bernard Lee. This helped Lee to double up and, in turn, gave him the confidence to take on the big fish, Gabe Patgorski less than 15 minutes later. Lee had a pair of 10s whilst Patgorski had an Ace and King. As fate would have it, Patgorski hit the King on the turn and wiped Lee from the game.
Patgorksi did his best to make up some ground but it only took roughly an hour for Anderson to polish off a perfect final table performance to seal a victory in poetic fashion with a pair of Aces. Patgorski will no doubt be disappointed with his finish to the tournament. He had propelled himself into such a fantastic position before faltering at the final hurdle. He did well to make the heads up but he was fighting a losing battle against a man who was playing poker like he was possessed.
If Anderson can continue this form for a prolonged period we might well have one of the most exciting players in a generation on our hands. For now, he can revel in what has to go down as one of the most impressive final table performances in the history of the World Series of Poker Circuit.
