Bay 101 Shooting Star - Live Updates

It's all over and Steve Brecher has won the 2009 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star.

Brecher raised, Kathy Liebert shoved and Brecher made the call with A♣ 9♥.

Liebert had Q♠ T♠ and although the 6♠ 6♥ 2♠ flop gave her a flush draw, the 2♣ turn and 4♣ river ended it all.

Liebert grabs $550k for second, but Brecher, a retired software developer, gets the trophy, the $1,025,500 first-place prize and the $5k bounty on Kathy's head.

Check out what the champ had to say in the following video:

#Video:wpt/wpt_2009-03-21-080251.flv#

The record for the number of hands played at a WPT final table was just broken as they passed the 304-hand mark.

Strangely, the record was just set at the LAPC last month, breaking the previous mark set earlier this season at Foxwoods.

Should this trend keep up, PL.com may consider dropping WPT coverage altogether. Yawn!

Steve Brecher had ground Kathy Liebert down here heads-up before making a standard preflop raise to 110k moments ago.

Kathy shoved, Brecher made the call with Q♥ T♥ and Liebert was racing for her tournament life with pocket fours.

A queen came on the flop, but so did a four and when the turn and river left Brecher hanging, Liebert had doubled up.

She's back to around 1.4 million to Brecher's 6.4 million.

Kathy Liebert is on fire here heads-up.

She picked up pocket aces only to see Steve Brecher fold the button.

However, she got them again the very next hand, earning a small pot in the process.

She then flopped a full house and got paid off by Brecher, and while she's not exactly even yet, if this keeps up it won't be long before she gets there.

Steve Brecher has stacked Chris Moore and we're finally going heads-up for the title.

Moore's money went in on the flop with an unconnected big slick and Brecher on a flush draw.

Brecher hit his flush; Moore hit the rail and while he heads to the cage to collect $291,500 for third, Kathy Liebert will join Brecher in a death match with the title and $1 million on the line just moments from now.

Brecher will bring over 5 million in chips to heads-up, a rather sizable advantage over Liebert's 2 million.

Kathy Liebert is picking up some steam here at Bay 101.

She made it 120,000 and got the call from Chris Moore. After an ace-high flop Moore checked, Liebert c-bet 150,000 and Moore flatted.

The turn brought the 3♣, and both players checked, allowing the dealer to turn over the 3♦ river.

Moore fired away, making it 275,000, and Liebert made the call with an ace.

Moore had a missed open-ender and while he fell to around 1 million, Liebert pushed up to 1.4 million.

After making it 110k to see a flop and getting the call from Chris Moore, Kathy Leibert flopped a set of kings and decided to check it all the way until the board showed three spades.

Moore bet 150k on the end and Liebert just called, collecting a pot that probably could have been bigger when Moore mucked.

Moore's slide continued the very next hand when he made it 130,000, Steve Brecher reraised to 440,000 and he called.

The flop came ace-high and both players checked it all the way down until Moore bet 500,000 on the river.

Brecher called with an ace; Moore showed pocket eights and now finds himself down to 1.7 million.

Brecher has 4.6 million and counting.

Things slowed down to a crawl here at Bay 101.

Then suddenly, heads-up with Kathy Liebert, Chris Moore pushed all-in on a K♦ 8♥ 3♠ flop, putting Liebert to a decision for her tournament life.

Liebert tanked forever, but folded.

She now has under 1 million as the crawl continues.

After Steve Brecher's disgusting suck-out, Kathy Liebert seemed hell-bent on getting her chips in the middle shoving twice and picking up small pots preflop.

She's picked up a few more chips since and moved herself up to Chris Moore's level, around 1.8 million.

It appears Brecher is simply sitting on his 4.4 million stack waiting for one of these two to blow up as we move past the 200-hand mark here at the Bay 101 final table.

Steve Brecher and Kathy Liebert get themselves into a preflop raising war until Brecher moves all-in and Liebert calls.

It's A♥ Q♠ for Brecher and he's absolutely crushed by Liebert's A♠ K♠.

The crowd goes nuts as the K♥ J♦ 5♣ flop comes out.

However, when the T♠ turn makes Brecher a straight, the once-raucous group is suddenly hushed.

The river brings the 7♠ and Brecher shocks the world with a sick suck-out to double up.

He's now got over 4 million and the chip lead, while Liebert falls well under the 2 million mark.

Seconds after Level 26 began Chris Moore picked off a Kathy Liebert bluff to chip away at her massive lead.

She check-raised him on a flop with two jacks and two spades, fired again on a brick of a turn and when they both checked down the A♠ river, Chris revealed bottom pair.

Kathy mucked and Moore is now on 2.1 million to Liebert's 3.6 million.

Just behind is Steve Brecher with 1.9 million.

Even the crowd seems a bit subdued here in San Jose as not much has changed over the last little while.

Steve Brecher had moved a little closer to Kathy Liebert until Chris Moore used two pair to drag a 600k pot from him.

Moore is now second in chips with a little over 2 million.

Brecher has 1.7 million and Kathy seems content to sit on her massive 4 million stack right now.

In what is shaping up as the battle to get heads-up with Kathy Liebert, Chris Moore got it all-in preflop with 6♠ 6♦ against Steve Brecher's A♥ K♦.

The flop rolled out Q♠ 9♥ 7♠ and Brecher picked up a gut-shot on the J♣ turn.

However, the 8♣ river ensured Moore would double up, and now both players are sitting on around 1.7 million.

We're into Level 25 at Bay 101 now and not much has changed.

Kathy Liebert has about 1 million more chips than Steve Brecher and Chris Moore combined, so this thing is hers to win.

"I think somebody is going to make history tonight," yelled one woman from the crowd, referring to the fact Liebert could become the first female WPT title holder should she hold on to win.

JJ Liu actually got close two years ago, right here in San Jose, but lost to Ted Forrest heads-up.

Tony Behari open-shoved for his last 450k and after getting a count, Kathy Liebert reshipped.

The others mucked, and it turned out Behari had let it ride on K♥ 8♥.

Liebert's T♥ T♦ was the huge favorite and after the 7♦ 2♥ J♠ 3♣ 4♠ came kingless and rather unflushy, Behari was out fourth.

The pro-Liebert crowd went wild, especially considering she just bought a round of drinks for them, and while her lead continued to grow, Behari headed to the cage to grab $291,500 for fourth.

Tony Behari just dumped all his chips to Kathy Liebert, three-betting all-in on the turn with no pair, no draw after she check-raised him.

Unfortunately for Behari, he ran smack into Liebert's flopped full house.

A surprised Liebert had 5♣ 5♥ on the 5♠ 9♣ 9♥ 4♣ board, and was only too happy to call with Behari drawing dead on K♣ J♥.

After the 8♥ river, PokerKat moved into the chip lead chair with over 4 million.

Meanwhile, Behari goes from hero to zero with around 600k, and may very well be the next to go.

Obvious crowd favorite Kathy Liebert has moved back over the 2 million mark thanks to four-flushing Chris Moore.

They both had pocket threes when he bet the river on a A♥ Q♥ J♥ 5♥ Q♦ board.

However, she called with the 3♥ to get within striking distance of chip leader Tony Behari, a 32-year-old Bay Area resident who got here through a $1,025 satellite.

Moore is the short stack now.

Tony Behari inched up closer to chip leader Chris Moore, getting paid after making the big end of a straight with Moore on the smaller side.

They both had around 2.5 million as Level 24 began and then suddenly, Kathy Liebert started shoving preflop.

She did it once and got no callers, but the second time Moore looked down at T♥ T♣ and pulled the trigger.

Unbelievably, Liebert had A♣ A♥, and after the J♦ 9♠ 3♥ J♥ Q♥ board ran out, she jumped back up close to 1.6 million and Moore fell to around that mark as well.

After making trip sixes to drag a 600k pot from Steve Brecher, Chris Moore is pulling away from the pack a little here at Bay 101.

The 25-year-old Chicago native is no stranger to endgame strategy, having won the 2008 Wynn Classic one year after finishing third there.

He also came second to Vivek Rajkumar at the $10k LAPC Heads-Up event last month and seems to be applying the correct amount of pressure on his opponents here at the final table today.

He's playing more hands than anyone else, and it's working.

In the meantime, Kathy Liebert dumped a whole whack of chips to Tony Behari when he turned a flush against her, and she's now the shortest stack.

As we move into Level 23 things have slowed down four-handed.

Thanks to a 700k pot he snatched from Kathy Liebert's clutches making two pair, Chris Moore has really made this a four-horse race.

Steve Brecher, Tony Behari and Moore are all hovering around the 2 million mark and Liebert is just a couple hundred thousand behind.

The blinds this level increase to only 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 chip ante, meaning this is a seriously deep-stacked final four as well.

All four players are weaving themselves carefully in and out of pots; it appears no one is ready to take a big risk right now, and who can blame them?

After all, there is a $1 million first-place prize at stake.

After a raise and a reraise preflop, and a another bet and a call on the turn, Kathy Liebert and Thao Vu get it all-in on a 5♠ 2♥ 2♦ 6♠ board with Le's life at risk.

It turned out the money was destined to go in, with Liebert on aces and Le drawing very thin with Q♥ Q♣.

The 7♥ river was all it took to end the San Jose local's hopes and vault Liebert into a three-way heat with Steve Brecher and Tony Behari for the chip lead, all on around $2 million.

A 28-year-old manufacturing technician who was born in Vietnam, Le takes $180,000 for fifth and just that quickly, just four souls remain in contention for the Bay 101 crown.

A 38-year-old prop player at the Bay 101, Chau Vu came in as the short stack and has now gone home sixth.

He actually finished eighth here in 2005, but his 2008 campaign ended when he open-shoved with A♠ 8♦.

Tony Behari called him down with 8♣ 8♥ and although the KsT♣ J♦ flop gave Vu a gut-shot and the 9♦ turn gave him chop outs, the 3♣ river finished him off.

Born and raised in Vietnam, the San Jose resident managed to turn a seat won in a $100 rebuy into $135,000 payday today.

The energy in the crowd waiting get into the stands around the final table at the 2009 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star reached a fever pitch moments ago when TD Matt Savage went outside to give away a few tickets.

Without question the fans in San Jose are the best on the WPT - they are ready to blow the roof off this joint.

The final six will get going just minutes from now, and it starts out as the Kathy Liebert show.

This is her sixth WPT final table. She passed the $5 million mark in career tournament earnings earlier this year at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and since she's also the only Shooting Star left, she takes the stage in a starring role this time around.

Liebert has never won one of these things. Although she comes in fourth in chips, she's got a real shot this time.

The next-biggest name left actually has the lead.

Full Tilt pro Steve Brecher sits just ahead of local Tony Behari and with his having made a WSOP, USPC and WPT Championship final table before, experience may be on his side.

2008 Wynn Classic champ Chris Moore comes in third in chips and is a legitimate threat while two other locals, Thao Le and Chau Vu, round out the final six.

The players have come to the set and things are about to get started.

Saddle up kids - the 2009 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star final table is next!