Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas NV:
Million Dollar Blackjack Tournament III Finals, May 2005

Reported by Joe Pane

The Final Table of Million Dollar Blackjack Tournament III at the Las Vegas Hilton was the culmination of a year's worth of monthly qualifiers and a hard-fought battle between the 200 finalists. The competitors have been narrowed down to the 7 players seated at the final table.

Starting in seat 1, they were Vincenzo Abate, Sammy Vaughn, Fred Lee, John Grever (Wild Card), Steven Presberg, Roger Shull, and Robert Gookin.

The final round has 28 hands, with each player being issued $5000 in non-negotiable chips. Betting limits are $100 to $2500 in increments of $100. Late surrender is allowed.

We'll pick up the action on hand 24, just after the countdown.

Seat		Player	Bankroll	Bet	Cards	Value	Win/Loss
Hand 24
1		Abate	$7150	$100	9 4 Surr	Surr	$-50
2	==>	Vaughn	$5850	$100	3 2 3 8	16	$-100
3		Lee	$5600	$100	T 4 A 9	Bust	$-100
4		Grever	$4400	$1700	T 9	19	$1700
5		Presberg	$4550	$500	T 6 Surr	Surr	$-250
6		Shull	$7450	$100	9 7 9	Bust	$-100
7		Gookin	$6900	$700	T T	20	$700
		Dealer		Upcard 7	7 T	17
Hand 25
1		Abate	$7100	$2500	T 2 9	21	$2500
2		Vaughn	$5750	$2500	T 6 A	17	$0
3	==>	Lee	$5500	$300	T T	20	$300
4		Grever	$6100	$1700	T 4 5	19	$1700
5		Presberg	$4300	$1000	T 8	18	$1000
6		Shull	$7350	$400	A 6 2	19	$400
7		Gookin	$7600	$400	T 9	19	$400
		Dealer		Upcard 7	7 T	17
Hand 26
1		Abate	$9600	$100	T 5 Surr	Surr	$-50
2		Vaughn	$5750	$2500 + $2500	T 2 Dbl 2	14	$5000
3		Lee	$5800	$300	T 7	17	$300
4	==>	Grever	$7800	$1700	9 2 6	17	$1700
5		Presberg	$5300	$1500	T 2 A T	Bust	$-1500
6		Shull	$7750	$2500	T 8	18	$2500
7		Gookin	$8000	$2400	T 9	19	$2400
		Dealer		Upcard T	T 6 T	Bust
Hand 27
1		Abate	$9550	$2500	T 2 T	Bust	$-2500
2		Vaughn	$10750	$2500 + $2500	4 5 Dbl T	19	$5000
3		Lee	$6100	$2500 + $2500	T 8 Dbl T	Bust	$-5000
4		Grever	$9500	$100	T 2 4	16	$100
5	==>	Presberg	$3800	$2500 + $1300	6 8 Dbl T	Bust	$-3800
6		Shull	$10250	$2500	A J	BJ	$3750
7		Gookin	$10400	$2500	4 3 3 T	20	$2500
		Dealer		Upcard T	T 6 T	Bust
Hand 28
1		Abate	$7050	$2500 + $2500	T 3 Dbl 7	20	$5000
2		Vaughn	$15750	$2500	T 8	18	$2500
3		Lee	$1100	$1100	T 9	19	$1100
4		Grever	$9600	$2500	9 4 4	17	$0
5		Presberg	$0	$			$
6	==>	Shull	$14000	$2500 + $2500	A 5 Dbl T	16	$-5000
7		Gookin	$12900	$2500	8 4 Dbl 5	17	$0
		Dealer		Upcard 7	7 T	17

Final Standings
Player	Final Bankroll	Place	Prize Money
Sammy Vaughn	$18,250	1st	$1,000,000
Robert Gookin	$12,900	2nd	$40,000
Vincenzo Abate	$12,050	3rd	$25,000
John Grever	$9600	4th	$15,000
Roger Shull	$9000	5th	$10,000
Fred Lee	$2200	6th	$5,000
Steven Presberg	$0	7th	$3,000

The dealer's last five hands were 17,17,Bust,Bust,17. So much for the low!