Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Latest Winners of Trip to WPT Venice
Earlier this month Bwin held their Sunday WPT Venice qualifier one of their many daily poker tournaments. 61 players sought to join previous qualifiers skburke, KristapsK3, Speezebre, barolmay, Ilawa, Kicker Keni, jojojoxx, claystig1, and_Perbaad_Are at the WPT Venice event. The top three would join bwin's roster.
As the field got whittled down to the bubble these five players remained: indrich (~77k), RipCheaer (~70k), 010peter (just short of 100k), King_Dirk (one of two short stacks with about 31k) and Nikos7714 (the shortest stack at almost 28k). With three prize packages to be award with a value of $7,700 the action was tense.
You might recognize a couple of names on here from my posts about the Aussie Millions. By playing in bwin's poker tournaments, they each won a trip around the world. Once there, King_Dirk, went deep and cashed in a side event, and indrich gave a strong showing but didn't make the money. Once again, they were close to the finish line, and this is the reason the play poker tournaments online, as each was hoping to enjoy another poker trip on bwin with a chance to win a fortune.
The short-stack Nikos7714 held on for as long as he could. He got eliminated when his A9 ran into veteran indrich's A10 suited. This moved indrich to the chip lead at 117k. Of course he knew he didn't need to win all the chips, he just need to avoid elimination and hang on to a top three spot in this online poker tournament.
RipCheader and 010Peter chipped down a bit, with RipCheader being shortest at 43k. 010Peter had 87k and King_Dirk had improved to 56k. The stacks would continue to swing until King_Dirk looked, ironically, at two black Kings.
At this point RipCheader had regained a chip advantage on him. He had AK suited and King_Dirk got all his chips into the middle pre-flop. Like most online poker tournaments, in fact, like any poker tournaments, starting with the best hand doesn't mean you'll finish with it.
King_Dirk, knew if an Ace came, he'd be drawing slim to the case King. It didn't take long for the painful news to be delivered as the flop was Ace high.
Congratulations to 010Peter, indrich, and RipCheader for winning the $7,700 prize package and their trip to the WPT Venice event.
As the field got whittled down to the bubble these five players remained: indrich (~77k), RipCheaer (~70k), 010peter (just short of 100k), King_Dirk (one of two short stacks with about 31k) and Nikos7714 (the shortest stack at almost 28k). With three prize packages to be award with a value of $7,700 the action was tense.
You might recognize a couple of names on here from my posts about the Aussie Millions. By playing in bwin's poker tournaments, they each won a trip around the world. Once there, King_Dirk, went deep and cashed in a side event, and indrich gave a strong showing but didn't make the money. Once again, they were close to the finish line, and this is the reason the play poker tournaments online, as each was hoping to enjoy another poker trip on bwin with a chance to win a fortune.
The short-stack Nikos7714 held on for as long as he could. He got eliminated when his A9 ran into veteran indrich's A10 suited. This moved indrich to the chip lead at 117k. Of course he knew he didn't need to win all the chips, he just need to avoid elimination and hang on to a top three spot in this online poker tournament.
RipCheader and 010Peter chipped down a bit, with RipCheader being shortest at 43k. 010Peter had 87k and King_Dirk had improved to 56k. The stacks would continue to swing until King_Dirk looked, ironically, at two black Kings.
At this point RipCheader had regained a chip advantage on him. He had AK suited and King_Dirk got all his chips into the middle pre-flop. Like most online poker tournaments, in fact, like any poker tournaments, starting with the best hand doesn't mean you'll finish with it.
King_Dirk, knew if an Ace came, he'd be drawing slim to the case King. It didn't take long for the painful news to be delivered as the flop was Ace high.
Congratulations to 010Peter, indrich, and RipCheader for winning the $7,700 prize package and their trip to the WPT Venice event.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Send them to Poker School
Last week, I played in a micro-limit online poker cash game. The stakes were modest, but enough in these difficult times I was cautious. It was an odd table with several competent players but there were also the donators who were anything but competent. Those guys clearly needed to go to poker school.
In one pivitol hand, the player first to act fires out a 6 times the Big Blind bet. This guy had a small stack. Clearly, not someone offering the implied odds of trying to hit a big hand and felt him. In fact, his stack was so small he barely had a third of the chips of the second smallest stack. On top of that, this guy was playing very tight.
Typically an early raise has induced a lot of folding as the table was playing conservatively. This time the second shortest stack on his left calls and everybody follows suit.
Seems everybody wants to get their virtual chips into play. This was atypical I could only imagine each successive call being weaker than the first. I hold the titanic hand of 4h3h. I of course am considering a steal.
I say considering because there are a lot of variables at play here. The tightish player, first to act, demonstrated a real hand with that large opening bet. If I do raise to isolate, I’ll know where I stand pretty quick on the flop cause my outs probably aren’t his. The second to with his shortish stack showed a willingness to play and has to have a hand of some strength. A raise might give me three way action and I have a hand that plays very easily after the flop. A big problem is my raise and two calls might induce the others to get into the pot, or simply shove all their chips into the center.
Yet, I have no idea what to raise. Too little, and surely I’m just creating a much bigger 6 way pot with a 34 in my hand OR encouraging and giving someone the opportunity to pound it. Too much and they could move their stacks in and I just have 34 in my hand.
What if I just call? My hand plays well in a multi-way pot. I’m going to be a dog but I’m not that bad of shape. My hand had implied value, though my position cut down on my implied odds of getting paid if I nailed it. Still, needing to call 5x with 31.5x in the pot is definitely worth sticking around especially with suited connectors.
Flop comes out 6s5h2h. That's what I was hoping for. Somebody gets an ace or king high flush two of their 9 outs give me a straight flush. A player with 78 could get bold and unable to relinquesh their hand. Even if they hit, I'd have flush outs. .
I check, praying somebody will have a piece and want to fire out a bet for me. I don't have to wait as the initial preflop raiser fires. Even better the next to act raises 2.5x the bet.
Folded around to me. Again, I have to decide to raise or call. UTG looks like he’s going to call the other guy's bet. Do I risk raising and losing him or do I just smooth call and then push on the turn and tie the UTG player to the hand.
I decide wrong and raise. I bet more then either has.
UTG folds after some thought. Thought he might have an overpair like queens or jacks. The other player calls immediately. He's also got the straight. Sure enough the screen reveals 3d4d.
Fortunately, I river a heart.
I wonder how mad he was to lose a big pot when he flopped a straight. I think for once there is some justice in poker. He mangled a bad holding from start to finish and lost his stack because of it.
Let's start from the top when he calls preflop he has no idea how strong or weak the rest of the table is. He calls a raise from early position by a tight player and all he has is 3d4d. Not a terrible decision in general, though probably on its own merits maybe not a profitable one long run. In this situation I don't like it. The opening bettor's stack is so small there is no reward for the risk.
If say, the stack could double you up and it's cheap relative to your stack to see the flop it's a good play. However, there is none of that extra reward at play here. Even worse he only had position on three players (two of whom were in the blind and might not even go to the flop). Then he still had the risk the rest of the table could raise him. Potentially, he could easily flop best and still have to give up on the hand.
When my flush hit, I knew my opponent got what he deserved. Maybe he should take some classes in poker school in the future.
In one pivitol hand, the player first to act fires out a 6 times the Big Blind bet. This guy had a small stack. Clearly, not someone offering the implied odds of trying to hit a big hand and felt him. In fact, his stack was so small he barely had a third of the chips of the second smallest stack. On top of that, this guy was playing very tight.
Typically an early raise has induced a lot of folding as the table was playing conservatively. This time the second shortest stack on his left calls and everybody follows suit.
Seems everybody wants to get their virtual chips into play. This was atypical I could only imagine each successive call being weaker than the first. I hold the titanic hand of 4h3h. I of course am considering a steal.
I say considering because there are a lot of variables at play here. The tightish player, first to act, demonstrated a real hand with that large opening bet. If I do raise to isolate, I’ll know where I stand pretty quick on the flop cause my outs probably aren’t his. The second to with his shortish stack showed a willingness to play and has to have a hand of some strength. A raise might give me three way action and I have a hand that plays very easily after the flop. A big problem is my raise and two calls might induce the others to get into the pot, or simply shove all their chips into the center.
Yet, I have no idea what to raise. Too little, and surely I’m just creating a much bigger 6 way pot with a 34 in my hand OR encouraging and giving someone the opportunity to pound it. Too much and they could move their stacks in and I just have 34 in my hand.
What if I just call? My hand plays well in a multi-way pot. I’m going to be a dog but I’m not that bad of shape. My hand had implied value, though my position cut down on my implied odds of getting paid if I nailed it. Still, needing to call 5x with 31.5x in the pot is definitely worth sticking around especially with suited connectors.
Flop comes out 6s5h2h. That's what I was hoping for. Somebody gets an ace or king high flush two of their 9 outs give me a straight flush. A player with 78 could get bold and unable to relinquesh their hand. Even if they hit, I'd have flush outs. .
I check, praying somebody will have a piece and want to fire out a bet for me. I don't have to wait as the initial preflop raiser fires. Even better the next to act raises 2.5x the bet.
Folded around to me. Again, I have to decide to raise or call. UTG looks like he’s going to call the other guy's bet. Do I risk raising and losing him or do I just smooth call and then push on the turn and tie the UTG player to the hand.
I decide wrong and raise. I bet more then either has.
UTG folds after some thought. Thought he might have an overpair like queens or jacks. The other player calls immediately. He's also got the straight. Sure enough the screen reveals 3d4d.
Fortunately, I river a heart.
I wonder how mad he was to lose a big pot when he flopped a straight. I think for once there is some justice in poker. He mangled a bad holding from start to finish and lost his stack because of it.
Let's start from the top when he calls preflop he has no idea how strong or weak the rest of the table is. He calls a raise from early position by a tight player and all he has is 3d4d. Not a terrible decision in general, though probably on its own merits maybe not a profitable one long run. In this situation I don't like it. The opening bettor's stack is so small there is no reward for the risk.
If say, the stack could double you up and it's cheap relative to your stack to see the flop it's a good play. However, there is none of that extra reward at play here. Even worse he only had position on three players (two of whom were in the blind and might not even go to the flop). Then he still had the risk the rest of the table could raise him. Potentially, he could easily flop best and still have to give up on the hand.
When my flush hit, I knew my opponent got what he deserved. Maybe he should take some classes in poker school in the future.
Monday, February 23, 2009
LAPC
With almost 700 players, the WPT L.A. Poker Classic is proof poker is dead.
The fad, that is poker, could barely eke out just short of 700 runners in a $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. The end must be nigh.
The Commerce Casino in Southern California played host to the event. After some stellar day 1 tournament poker play highlighted by Daniel Negreanu surging near the top of the leaderboard the field has slowly dwindled. Antonio Esfandiari made a run up the leaderboard on day three only to fall back to pack a little bit later.
Just before the money bubble, the magician had finished his disappearing act and headed for the rail. His AK got bested by AQ... of course. Negreanu also got knocked out when he rivered trips and lost to a Broadway straight. Both players will probably fire up their laptops on the way home to play poker tournament back.
A progressing story is the run made by amateur Kofi Farkye. He finished the second day on the heels of the Magician but it wasn't long until he took over the chip lead. Several of these names on the leader board are probably more recongizable when they play online poker tournaments, but the online handles weren't listed with their generic real life names.
The field is being slowly whittled and it's still anybody's game. More updates to come. Looking to play an online tournament of your own. Bwin has some action here.
The fad, that is poker, could barely eke out just short of 700 runners in a $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. The end must be nigh.
The Commerce Casino in Southern California played host to the event. After some stellar day 1 tournament poker play highlighted by Daniel Negreanu surging near the top of the leaderboard the field has slowly dwindled. Antonio Esfandiari made a run up the leaderboard on day three only to fall back to pack a little bit later.
Just before the money bubble, the magician had finished his disappearing act and headed for the rail. His AK got bested by AQ... of course. Negreanu also got knocked out when he rivered trips and lost to a Broadway straight. Both players will probably fire up their laptops on the way home to play poker tournament back.
A progressing story is the run made by amateur Kofi Farkye. He finished the second day on the heels of the Magician but it wasn't long until he took over the chip lead. Several of these names on the leader board are probably more recongizable when they play online poker tournaments, but the online handles weren't listed with their generic real life names.
The field is being slowly whittled and it's still anybody's game. More updates to come. Looking to play an online tournament of your own. Bwin has some action here.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Champion Chip Results
The recently concluded and now weekly ChampionChip online poker tournament on bwin saw xxxlolitaxxx win the title. An interesting name to say the least but most importantly it was a winner's name. The action concluded when xxxlolitaxxx turned a straight as his opponent turned two pair.
The straight held as as none of the four cards to make a full house came. That final piece of drama followed up a great tournament as 1642 players logged in to play online poker. Unfortunately for 1641 of them first place wouldn't be theirs that day. For that one, xxxlolitaxxx he got bragging rights and more importantly $55,065 in prize money.
The total prize pool to be divvyed up was over $300,000. Sure enough, xxxlolitaxxx got off to an early start. In short order he was behind a mountain of virtual chips. As they edged closer to the final table xxxlolitaxxx held a 2 to 1 chip advantage over second place.
Once there the chip tallies were: phantomaup, seat 1, $355,273; NeilMc, seat 2, $286,140 (who played for bwin at the WSOP last year); Tlick777, seat 3, $253,712; gregg937, seat 4, $148,654; RioFish, seat 5, $161,435; skwiik, seat 6, $254,518; Oodges, seat 7, $254,967; xxxlolitaxxx, seat 8, $1,447,851; Keiler513, seat 9, $566,128; and barapengar, seat 10, $376,322.
Gregg937 started off as a short stack and would be an unlikely opponent for xxxlolitaxxx in heads up action but sure enough he got there. Players slowly fell by the wayside as RioFish, Oodges, and Tlick went out. Barapengar, NeilMc, and skwiik were next out. barapengar cashed out for $12,579 in fifth place. skwiik nabbed 4th place who won $18,719.
That left the last three eying each other over the virtual felt. xxxlolitaxxx with $2,655,832 in chips only need to get by phantomaup with $577,566 in chips and gregg937with $817,602. The action was fleeting as the tournament wrapped up 12 short hands after phantomaup was eliminated.
phantomaup's A10 didn't improve and the former short stack gregg937's pocket jacks held. The aforementioned turned two pair vs. turned straight followed shortly later and Gregg937 had to be happy with his improbable run to second and $37,438 for second place. Third place phantomaup won $24,958.
The straight held as as none of the four cards to make a full house came. That final piece of drama followed up a great tournament as 1642 players logged in to play online poker. Unfortunately for 1641 of them first place wouldn't be theirs that day. For that one, xxxlolitaxxx he got bragging rights and more importantly $55,065 in prize money.
The total prize pool to be divvyed up was over $300,000. Sure enough, xxxlolitaxxx got off to an early start. In short order he was behind a mountain of virtual chips. As they edged closer to the final table xxxlolitaxxx held a 2 to 1 chip advantage over second place.
Once there the chip tallies were: phantomaup, seat 1, $355,273; NeilMc, seat 2, $286,140 (who played for bwin at the WSOP last year); Tlick777, seat 3, $253,712; gregg937, seat 4, $148,654; RioFish, seat 5, $161,435; skwiik, seat 6, $254,518; Oodges, seat 7, $254,967; xxxlolitaxxx, seat 8, $1,447,851; Keiler513, seat 9, $566,128; and barapengar, seat 10, $376,322.
Gregg937 started off as a short stack and would be an unlikely opponent for xxxlolitaxxx in heads up action but sure enough he got there. Players slowly fell by the wayside as RioFish, Oodges, and Tlick went out. Barapengar, NeilMc, and skwiik were next out. barapengar cashed out for $12,579 in fifth place. skwiik nabbed 4th place who won $18,719.
That left the last three eying each other over the virtual felt. xxxlolitaxxx with $2,655,832 in chips only need to get by phantomaup with $577,566 in chips and gregg937with $817,602. The action was fleeting as the tournament wrapped up 12 short hands after phantomaup was eliminated.
phantomaup's A10 didn't improve and the former short stack gregg937's pocket jacks held. The aforementioned turned two pair vs. turned straight followed shortly later and Gregg937 had to be happy with his improbable run to second and $37,438 for second place. Third place phantomaup won $24,958.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Mr. I Play Online Roulette
I played a session with a guy that annouced to our table in the chat box feature he was an inexperienced poker player.
Oh really?
First you have to ask yourself if the guy was just advertising and about to hustle some chips.
Not a gambler? I ask.
He responded, I play strictly online roulette but I play poker with my friends. Thought I'd try it out online.
We started comparing poker to roulette and he said the tournament was fun because you got more value of time for your money.
Yes, I replied if your KK doesn't run into pocket AA on the first hand.
LOL. Yes, you have to option to lose your entire stack on a whirl in roulette, the wheel doesn't dictate decisions. That's a plus of roulette.
The rlette player on my right has revealed his inexperience so I'm not afraid of him. In fact, I'm busy trying to sell him on playing some cash on another table, because he seemed to be truly a weak tight player. He said he wanted to see how the tournament went and he repeated he preferred roulette to anything. He played like an inexperienced numbers guy. He was going to play good cards and good cards only. He knew the had a better chance of drawing a pot.
Some time passes and I've chipped up. A guy I've frequently played with put in a too large raise from the cut-off. I respect him as a player but he's shown a pattern where he bets a certain amount it's kind of a steal. That was the bet size. Mr. "I Play Online Roulette" called.
On the button I look down at AQ suited. The Roulette's player's stack was large but not quite as big as mine. I now had him covered and we were the two biggest stacks still in the tournament. I'm decide I'm pushing and stealing the pot with a shove of almost 20k.
The guy I've played with before almost times out and folds. He types out "Why so much." Drama Queen. Then Mr. "I Play Roulette Online" stewed again almost timing out. I think to myself what your thinking about while the other guy was thinking. I perked up a bit, he must be weak. I hoping for a weak ace. I'd much rather that then a pocket pair.
He calls. No drama queen this time, well there were two queens but they were both in his hand. Now I was drawing slim. What did I do wrong? Besides getting into too big a hand with AQ? Well, that mistake sums it up especially in light of my opponents. I just watched Mr. Online Roulette call a big raise but instead of remembering to play fundalmental poker and credit him with a hand I ignore his range.
I could argue I thought at worse I was in coin flip and had plenty of pot to justify flipping at that juncture but why not a call and a fold with the flop skipped me.
After I busted out, I decided to try out Mr. I Play Online Roulette's own game. Must say we both had better results at the other's discipline instead of own. And he was right in roulette I didn't have to put my whole stack at risk unless I wanted to. There was no rationale in my head to dictate it, except that I wante to gamble.
Oh really?
First you have to ask yourself if the guy was just advertising and about to hustle some chips.
Not a gambler? I ask.
He responded, I play strictly online roulette but I play poker with my friends. Thought I'd try it out online.
We started comparing poker to roulette and he said the tournament was fun because you got more value of time for your money.
Yes, I replied if your KK doesn't run into pocket AA on the first hand.
LOL. Yes, you have to option to lose your entire stack on a whirl in roulette, the wheel doesn't dictate decisions. That's a plus of roulette.
The rlette player on my right has revealed his inexperience so I'm not afraid of him. In fact, I'm busy trying to sell him on playing some cash on another table, because he seemed to be truly a weak tight player. He said he wanted to see how the tournament went and he repeated he preferred roulette to anything. He played like an inexperienced numbers guy. He was going to play good cards and good cards only. He knew the had a better chance of drawing a pot.
Some time passes and I've chipped up. A guy I've frequently played with put in a too large raise from the cut-off. I respect him as a player but he's shown a pattern where he bets a certain amount it's kind of a steal. That was the bet size. Mr. "I Play Online Roulette" called.
On the button I look down at AQ suited. The Roulette's player's stack was large but not quite as big as mine. I now had him covered and we were the two biggest stacks still in the tournament. I'm decide I'm pushing and stealing the pot with a shove of almost 20k.
The guy I've played with before almost times out and folds. He types out "Why so much." Drama Queen. Then Mr. "I Play Roulette Online" stewed again almost timing out. I think to myself what your thinking about while the other guy was thinking. I perked up a bit, he must be weak. I hoping for a weak ace. I'd much rather that then a pocket pair.
He calls. No drama queen this time, well there were two queens but they were both in his hand. Now I was drawing slim. What did I do wrong? Besides getting into too big a hand with AQ? Well, that mistake sums it up especially in light of my opponents. I just watched Mr. Online Roulette call a big raise but instead of remembering to play fundalmental poker and credit him with a hand I ignore his range.
I could argue I thought at worse I was in coin flip and had plenty of pot to justify flipping at that juncture but why not a call and a fold with the flop skipped me.
After I busted out, I decided to try out Mr. I Play Online Roulette's own game. Must say we both had better results at the other's discipline instead of own. And he was right in roulette I didn't have to put my whole stack at risk unless I wanted to. There was no rationale in my head to dictate it, except that I wante to gamble.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Big Bounty update
Spainer75 won the January Big Bounty online poker tournament run by bwin. He prevailed in a marathon heads-up duel after a ferocious final table of eliminations. Spainer his final table mates hdezdelorenz, MAE9690, Goldensbush,
Steko83, tommi7, menzengal1981, puggy82,and joop1387 will have the targets on their back for the february edition as the bounties.
Spainer prevailed after coming to the final table as the chipleader. A position he barely let go of, though in heads-up play he was the short stack for a while.
Steko83 and Joop1387 came in as the dogs but Steko83 managed to elude a knockout blow for some time. The $22,000 for first was an enticing carrot and the prize money drove the action early.
As the table convened the chips stacks were:
Spanier75 325,588 in chips
hdezdelorenz 299,729 in chips
MAE9690 206,882 in chips
Goldensbush 169,216 in chips
Steko83 52,015 in chips
tommi7 315,0264 in chips
Mezenga1981 174,200 in chips
Puggy82 295,873 in chips
joop1387 75,233 in chips
Puggy82, who came in as bit of a favorite was the second player eliminated. Puggy left the event $1,951 richer but had to have thought he had a chance to get another win. His pocket 8s met up with pocket jacks preflop.
MAE9690, 15 minutes into the event, looked at a giant stack of virtual chips on his screen below his name. He had to think he was good. As we know it was rare for Spainer not to be chipleader, so MAE's glory was short lived. MAE's 600,000 loomed over the table. Mezanga1981 was the short-stack shy of 30,000. Spainer for the moment was second with 386,000, hdezdelorenz close behind with 300,000 and Stek083 was hanging on with 160,000.
Hdezdelorenze was the first to put a dent in MAE's armor with a double up. Spainer got back the chip lead when he took the newly fleeced MAE out with pocket 5s. MAE won $4,337 for fifth place. Spainer did not go easily into the night like MAE. In fact, he was just getting started.
Moments later he quickly busted two players. A set of Kings for Spainer meant Menzenga1981 could only console himself with the $6,506 for fourth place. Spainer than wielded a King high flush to oust Steko83.
Just as the final table started with Spanier in first, heads-up play began with him at a significant advantage. He held a little under a 2 to 1 advantage, so any slip up by his opponent could be the last mistake of the tournament. On the other side of the coin Hdezdelorenz take over the lead with a victory in an all-in situation.
Heads up play moved about as quickly as peanut butter drips out of jar. After a half-century of hands, Spanier lost his chip lead for the second time in the tournament. Now it would be the end of his night if he made an ill-timed all in.
Still, the action plodded on. 30 hands later Spainier was back in charge with the chip lead. When all the money got all in hdezdelorenz flopped an open ended straight and flush draw. Spanier held top pair and the top pair held as the turn and river were relative blanks.
Second place hdezdelorenz won $14,096. The final table will all be Bounties in the next installment this Saturday, February 15th. Go to the Big Bounty for more information.
Steko83, tommi7, menzengal1981, puggy82,and joop1387 will have the targets on their back for the february edition as the bounties.
Spainer prevailed after coming to the final table as the chipleader. A position he barely let go of, though in heads-up play he was the short stack for a while.
Steko83 and Joop1387 came in as the dogs but Steko83 managed to elude a knockout blow for some time. The $22,000 for first was an enticing carrot and the prize money drove the action early.
As the table convened the chips stacks were:
Spanier75 325,588 in chips
hdezdelorenz 299,729 in chips
MAE9690 206,882 in chips
Goldensbush 169,216 in chips
Steko83 52,015 in chips
tommi7 315,0264 in chips
Mezenga1981 174,200 in chips
Puggy82 295,873 in chips
joop1387 75,233 in chips
Puggy82, who came in as bit of a favorite was the second player eliminated. Puggy left the event $1,951 richer but had to have thought he had a chance to get another win. His pocket 8s met up with pocket jacks preflop.
MAE9690, 15 minutes into the event, looked at a giant stack of virtual chips on his screen below his name. He had to think he was good. As we know it was rare for Spainer not to be chipleader, so MAE's glory was short lived. MAE's 600,000 loomed over the table. Mezanga1981 was the short-stack shy of 30,000. Spainer for the moment was second with 386,000, hdezdelorenz close behind with 300,000 and Stek083 was hanging on with 160,000.
Hdezdelorenze was the first to put a dent in MAE's armor with a double up. Spainer got back the chip lead when he took the newly fleeced MAE out with pocket 5s. MAE won $4,337 for fifth place. Spainer did not go easily into the night like MAE. In fact, he was just getting started.
Moments later he quickly busted two players. A set of Kings for Spainer meant Menzenga1981 could only console himself with the $6,506 for fourth place. Spainer than wielded a King high flush to oust Steko83.
Just as the final table started with Spanier in first, heads-up play began with him at a significant advantage. He held a little under a 2 to 1 advantage, so any slip up by his opponent could be the last mistake of the tournament. On the other side of the coin Hdezdelorenz take over the lead with a victory in an all-in situation.
Heads up play moved about as quickly as peanut butter drips out of jar. After a half-century of hands, Spanier lost his chip lead for the second time in the tournament. Now it would be the end of his night if he made an ill-timed all in.
Still, the action plodded on. 30 hands later Spainier was back in charge with the chip lead. When all the money got all in hdezdelorenz flopped an open ended straight and flush draw. Spanier held top pair and the top pair held as the turn and river were relative blanks.
Second place hdezdelorenz won $14,096. The final table will all be Bounties in the next installment this Saturday, February 15th. Go to the Big Bounty for more information.
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