2012 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star

Many define poker as a sport and professional poker pros as athletes. A sport is defined "as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing ,hunting, fishing, etc." on Dictionary.com. On March 5 - 9, 2012, these athletes used their skills to compete at the World Poker Tour's Bay 101 Shooting Star poker tournament in San Jose, California. The 10K buy-in was reduced 15% and free private jet travel from Los Angeles and Las Vegas was provided by Bay 101 Casino, as appearance fees for big shot pros. Poker's big guns ranging from Daniel Negreanu to Mike "The Mouth" Matusow were among the 47 bounties in the 364 player field. 5K is awarded to those who bust out the bounties. All were knocked out and none made it to the final table! A first in WPT history.

These "athletes" seemed more concerned with tweeting and texting at their tables rather than concentrating on opponents and the game. Can you imagine Major League Baseball's outfielders and infielders tweeting in-between pitches? Or an amateur winning the U.S. Open at golf? It is no surprise underdog and overachiever, Bay Area local amateur Moon Kim, won and collected $960,900. Kim qualified through a 1K buy in at a Bay 101 satellite and captured the title the hard way; hard work and short-term good luck.

Howard Lederer and 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Chris Ferguson were among the missing at this year's Shooting Star. On September 20, 2011, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, filed forfeiture and civil money laundering charges against Lederer and Ferguson, alleging a "massive Ponzi scheme" against Full Tilt Poker's players.

Last year's tournament attracted 415 players compared to 364 this year. Bay 101 conducted satellites last year on Full Tilt Poker to attract players. The online site was shut down in the United States by the Department of Justice on "Black Friday", April 15, 2011. Bay 101 officials blame the DOJ closure for its lower participation of players at this year's WPT event.