The Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, in the South Pacific, was the site of the Baccarat Challenge. One hundred and thirty players showed up to participate including many women players. This event was the fifth and final Baccarat Challenge for the year.

The final table of the challenge held ten players four of which were female. Players who finished fourth and up earned quite a large cash prize, while the lower six received $1,000 each. Miyazaki Mina of Japan won $8,000 for a fourth place finish while a Ms. Park of Korea took third winning $15,000.

Players had to pay an entry fee of $1,000 that would include a three night hotel stay, airfare reimbursement, transfers between Saipan and Tinian, food, tournament beverages and gift items. Preliminaries began on Saturday with five tables holding ten people each, all playing three heats. Each player received 5,000 starting chips and thirty hands were dealt during each heat.

At the end of the thirty hands, the three players with the most chips qualified for the semifinals. A total of 42 players made it to the semifinals. At the end of the third heat, those left could enter a wildcard draw. Three names were chosen from a barrel and those three were added to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, each player received 5,000 chips but the wild card players only received 2,500 chips. After thirty hands the two players with the most chips qualified for the final ten. Out of the final ten, Kanemoto Mitsuhiro from Japan won the Challenge and took home a large first place prize of $80,000.


- 2008-10-21