WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Won By Moon Kim

Moon Kim has won the 2012 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, after overcoming a field of 364 players over five days to lift the title, and collect the  $960,900 first place prize.
As the final table of the $10k tournament got underway at the Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, Moon Kim was lying in 3rd place out of the six remaining competitors. It then took 113 hands or almost five hours before the first elimination took place, which was a WPT tournament record.
That player was Joseph Elpayaa, who finished in 6th ($128,200) after being sent to the rail by Andrew Badecker, who himself then became the next casualty of the competition. Badecker’s Ac-Kc was unable to out race Moon Kim’s pocket four and so he was out in 5th for $192,300.
Moon Kim now had half the chips in play, while start of the day chip leader Erik Cajelais had seen his stack dwindle until the seventh hour mark when he pushed his diminished stack with Ax only to be called in two spots by Ubaid Habib and Kim. Habib (Q-9) then made two pair to dispatch the Canadian in 4th for  $256,300.
Eventually, Joe Serock exited in 3rd ($320,400) after being dealt pocket nines and going all-in over the top of Moon’s (Kc-Qc) raise with a K subsequently falling on the turn, thus heralding-in the heads-up phase of the tournament
As the action got started, Moon held a 3 to 2 chip advantage over Ubaid Habib who struggled to gain any traction in the battle. Eventually 35 hands later and it was all over after Habib was dealt Q-9 to Kim’s Jd-7d. The 9d-4c-2d flop then saw all the chips going in, with the turn producing an Ac before the all important 8d on the river completed Moon’s flush.
Consequently, Ubaid Habib collected $570,200 for his runner-up finish, while Moon Kim picked-up a WPT title, as well as a $25,500 WPT World Championship seat.
The final results were as follows:
1st: Moon Kim – $960,900
2nd: Ubaid Habib – $570,200
3rd: Joe Serock – $320,400
4th: Erik Cajelais – $256,300
5th: Andrew Badecker – $192,300
6th: Joseph Elpayaa – $128,200