DDR League Tournament #2

March 20th, 2008:

Eleven players showed up to witness poker history being made in tournament #2. Against better judgement I decided to jump into the fray half dead, having spent the past two days in bed with Pneumonia. My secret weapon was a dose of antibiotics, 1200mg of Mucinex, and 800mg of Tylenol. All the help I'd need to bust real quick.

The rebuy period was relatively quiet, with a few hands of note. My nemesis was back and ready to deliver more pain early. Five or six hands into the tournament I look down at KK from mid position and am happy to see Jodizzle raise the 100 big blind to 300 from UTG. I re-raise to 800 and it folds around. She re-re-raises to 1500. I push without hesitation and she instantly calls... and shows me AA. Ouch - no help on the board... now say it with me... "Rebuy!"

A significant hand at the "red" table right at the end of the rebuy period. With blinds at 100-200, Mojo raises to 800. Newcomer to the DDR League "StillNotFat" pushes all in for 2400 and is called. The cards turned over:

Mojo: A♦J♦
StillNotFat: K♥K♣

The first card out is the K♠ and SNF is already dragging the pot. But hold on, here comes the Q♣T♥ - Mojo flops broadway and SNF needs the board to pair. A harmless 2 on the turn, and 6 on the river sends SNF to the banker for a rebuy AND add-on (welcome to the league son!).

All eleven players take the add-on and the final prize pool is $600 (11 buyins, 8 rebuys, 11 add-ons). The reigning champion Coopzilla is looking good but now has a $60 bounty on his head. With $60 taken out for the league championship, and $20 set aside for the deuce deuce bonus, the payouts would be:

1st $255
2nd $140
3rd $70

We were only about 10 minutes out of the rebuy period before losing our first player. TheCanuck found himself in a tough spot on the turn, holding T7 with the board showing JT72. After some fairly heavy flop betting with Motown, he came out betting the turn with middle two pair only to be re-raised all in. Motown was already the big stack and was bullying the table, TheCanuck decided to make his stand here and call. Boys and girls, when facing fearless betting and re-raising on a board like that, ya gotta start thinking of all the hands that your opponent would play this way, and how many of them you can beat. Motown might be sitting there with 22, given the action. Everyone wants the deuce-deuce bonus, and it would even explain the heavy flop action (trying to bet TheCanuck out to collect the bonus). How about TT, 77... or even JJ? Not to mention all of the Jx two pairs (JT, J7, J2). Needless to say, Motown had the goods (JT) and busted TheCanuck in 11th place.

CMoney (yours truly) would go out next in a rather uneventful textbook hand. Short-stacked with blinds at 300-600 it's folded around to me and I look down at K8s. With Katt in the big blind, I decide to push all in on a steal (4400) against one of the tightest players in the game. He's gonna need a big hand to call there and wakes up with one (TT). No help for me and I'm out.

Before moving on, I'd like to throw this hand out there for discussion, I'm still confused about how it was played. This is the hand that really put me on tilt and crippled me somewhat. With blinds at 200-400 I have Q♣T♣ in the small blind. It folds around to Jodizzle who limps from the button. I complete, and Katt checks the big blind and we see the flop three handed:

T♦9♦8♠

Top pair with decent kicker so I decide to bet out... 1000. Katt calls, and Jodizzle comes along and calls. Lots of draws out there (diamonds... the three straight). I figure if either of them has QJ they'd be raising in fear of the diamonds. The turn comes somewhat awful:

Q♦

Now I have top two pair, but any J makes a straight, and the diamond flush came. I check it hoping to see a free river and try to fill up. Both Katt and Jodizzle check behind. Hmmm. The river comes 3♠.

I check again hoping for a free showdown, but Katt comes out betting 1000. I figure Jodizzle is either going to fold or raise here, but she flat calls. The pot has 6200, and it's 1000 to call. Getting better than 6:1 on my money, I still can't imagine being ahead so I decide to make the "smart laydown". Katt shows down the 97o (a pair of 9s), and Jodizzle mucks! WTF WTF?! The four-straight and three-flush on the board, call... pair of 9s good. When I asked her later about what she had in the hand: "I don't remember that hand". Argh...

Alright, back to the action. The rest of these are gonna be brief because I don't have all of the details (anyone is welcome to email me hand details to add).

SunshinesBitch took the "chip and a chair" theory to a new level, folding from the big blind at the 500-1000 level with only 1500 behind, and folding the small blind on the next hand leaving him a single 1000 chip. It would finally go into a pot two hands later in a multi-way hand featuring Katt and StillNotFat. With a flop of A96, SNF pushes all in and is called by Katt. Showdown:

Katt: A8o
SNF: 65s
SunshinesBitch: KJs

No help comes, and Katt takes out two more players. SunshinesBitch takes the 9th spot due to starting the hand with fewer chips, SNF busts 8th in his first tournament.

Next to go would be Mojo. I have almost no details on this hand, except that he was all in with 55 on a J high flop and called by J3 (don't know who). The jacks hold and Mojo is gone in 7th.

Shortly after that, Mini-Muth sent Manwhore to the rail with A4 versus KT. No idea what the board was on this hand.

Katt would continue his tradition of busting players next, when he wakes up with a monster. Mini-Muth raises preflop with AJ, called by Katt with AQ. The flop comes Q high, and when another Q comes on the turn, MM bluffs his chips off trying to represent the Q, but Katt has the goods and knocks him out in 5th.

With four left it was bubble time. Jodizzle finished on the bubble last time, and she found herself the short stack this time around. After 30 minutes of play, and with blinds at 1500-3000 she pushed all in from mid position for her last 14,000 chips with 55. Coopzilla calls with 88 and no miracle comes for Jodizzle, out on the bubble for the second consecutive tournament in 4th.

The three-handed battle seemed to last for hours. About 20 minutes into it, Coopzilla puts in a healthy raise preflop. Both Katt and Motown fold and he flips over the 22, good for the deuce deuce bonus ($20). Some time later, Coopzilla found himself in a great spot to double-up with Q♣6♦ versus Motown's Q♥5♠. Unfortunately the board was cruel and brought four spades, giving Motown the flush and sending the reigning champ to the rail in 3rd. Coopzilla follows up his win with a 3rd place to take a commanding lead in the point standings, while Motown collects the $60 bounty.

Heads up play looked to be a foregone conclusion, with Motown holding a commanding 10:1 chip lead over Katt. He'd played the big stack brilliantly all night, and there was no reason to think he wouldn't polish Katt off quickly. But Katt had other ideas. They battled back and forth trading blinds, and sometime during the battle Katt doubled up with a set of jacks. Eventually he took over the chip lead and was up 2:1 when the final hand came down. With A♣6♣ Motown pushes all in and Katt makes the tough call with KTo. The flop came down T high and no help came for Motown. Katt does the impossible and comes back from a huge 10:1 chip deficit, in addition to knocking out half the players in the tournament. The victory vaults Katt from 7th into 2nd in league points and makes him the top contender to take down big Coop. Tournament #3 is going to be pivotal... see you there!