Okay, on to something more interesting - tournament 3. Ten players showed up ready for action. Noticeably absent again was DoctorLove, who's missed an unprecedented five consecutive tournaments. DiceMan had some family in town and was forced to sit this one out.
The rebuy period was relatively quiet and when it was all said and done, the prize pool was a paltry $560. An interesting pattern has emerged in the tournament lately. The rebuy period seems to be filled with tight, non-aggressive play. After the rebuy ends, nobody wants to fold and the aggression factor goes way up. If I had to pin my recent successful run in the tournament to any one factor, this would have to be it. Players, listen up - the rebuy period is the time to build monster stacks and make marginal (and sometimes flat out wrong) plays because the risk is almost nothing. Think of a four-way all in pot. At worst you are going to lose $20, and at best you'll be sitting with 16,000 in tournament chips.
Tip #1: Play fast and loose during the rebuy period, tighten up after.
Alright, back to the action. From the end of the rebuy period into the "real" tournament, it looked like Cobalt was channeling Stu Ungar. Hitting sets, full houses, and rivering two pair were all common place. Shortly after the rebuy period he put a huge hurt on SlimChance when he pulled a straight flush out of his bag of tricks and took 70% of SlimChance's stack.
First to fall in 10th place was Motown, who's been on a horrific run as of late. He's been bluffing off a lot of chips and I think the league has started doubting him every time he puts chips into a pot. It's about time to shift gears - the last thing you want as a player is to establish a predictable pattern. The last of his chips were taken by Chuckles who called with K6 against the A2 of Motown. An ace on the flop looked like it would give him new life, but was quickly followed by K, K. A brutal end to a pretty brutal evening. Motown earns his 4th Early Retirement achievement.
Speaking of bad runs - the man who earlier in the evening pulled his 4th deuce deuce bonus moving him into second place all-time busted in 9th. Coopzilla went out as only Coopzilla knows how - with a huge stack and a weak ace. In one of the hands of the night, Chuckles showed aggression from early position followed by a re-pop from SlimChance in late. Coopzilla looked down at his AT. It looked back at him and said "hey, fold man! fold! This hand is no good against two aggressors! You can't possibly be ahead! Someone has AK or AQ at worst! Please don't put your chips in!" Against his card's wishes, Coopzilla says "all in". Chuckles gets his chips in quick, and SlimChance has a tough decision. He finally puts the rest of his chips in and shows QQ. Chuckles is way ahead of everyone with KK, and Coopzilla needs a lot of help. The flop came down J98. That's about the worst flop imaginable for Chuckles. Coopzilla is loving it, and it looks like it might be another night where he pulls some magic from nothing. SlimChance is in the worst shape - if he actually catches his Q he'll lose to Coopzilla's straight. A blank on the turn and then disaster on the river... the T to give SlimChance the straight and eliminate Coopzilla in 9th. Chuckles is crippled.
Shortly after that monstrous hand TheCanuck finished off Chuckles. It seemed unfair, as Chuckles was forced all in with J9 and TheCanuck had the KK monster. The poker gods don't care about "fair" and the KK that cost Chuckles all his chips now eliminates him in 8th place.
Quick note here - Cobalt and SlimChance were the two big stacks, and the biggest hand of the night occurred without an elimination. SlimChance hit the 2nd nut flush and got all his chips in. Unfortunately Cobalt had made the straight flush and took a huge pot. The fact that SlimChance didn't bust here is important, as Cobalt would eventually fall one short of a Terminator achievement.
Holding on with a short stack and finally finding a hand worth pushing it all in with, Jodizzle open pushes with ATs. Cobalt, with his mountain of chips, was more than happy to call with QJ. The jack-high flop was enough to eliminate Jodizzle in 7th.
In a massive four way pot, both CMoney and SlimChance got all their chips in with AK against TheCanuck with T9 and someone else (can't recall) with some other junk hand. Surprisingly the AK's both held up and the main pot got split while the side pot went to CMoney. TheCanuck busts out in 6th place (but in Canada that's like winning!).
Next to go was Mojo who's stack had been taken on the usual roller coaster all night. Crippled and down to only a few big blinds, he pushed the rest in with A9. CMoney on the button had to call with any two cards, this time holding Q7. The flop came down KQx and Mojo was out in 5th. Mojo has been busted by CMoney in every tournament this season. I'm just sayin'.
At this moment the newest player in the league decided it was time to take control and single-handedly wipe the rest of the field out.
First to go, finishing on the bubble was SlimChance. Still hurting from the earler straight flush smack down, he got all his chips in with A6o. Cobalt looked down at a monster, TT and happily called. It held up and SlimChance made his exit. His 4th place finish wasn't enough to take any cash, but it put him in 2nd place overall in the league.
When the dust settled three players were left in contention: Cobalt, CMoney, and HumpinHorses. CMoney was immediately crippled by HumpinHorses when he raised preflop, CMoney pushed all in with AK and HumpinHorses called with QJ. The Q on the turn doubled up HumpinHorses and left CMoney with only 7 big blinds. It looked like a third place finish was inevitable for CMoney... until on the very next hand HumpinHorses raised it to 3X and Cobalt came along from the big blind. The flop fell 553, and HumpinHorses was loving his 88. When it was checked to him he insta-pushed, and Cobalt called, showing J5. Amazing, but not really considering he had been putting the hurt on opponents all night. HumpinHorses needed a miracle and his prayers weren't answered - out in 3rd place.
In the most lopsided chip position heads up match I can recall in the history of the league, CMoney brought his 8,500 chips up against the nearly 140,000 chips in Cobalt's stack. With blinds at 1500/3000 there was no hand I could fold. I pushed from the small blind with a worthless J3 and Cobalt had to call with QT. The T on the turn was overkill and the heads up match ended in a single hand.
Cobalt wins in only his third tournament in the league, and takes the bounty on top of that. That's amazing considering there are folks who have played many more and never won: Chuckles (8), DiceMan (15), and last but not least, our friend DoctorLove who's played an unbelievable 25 tournaments without a win.
Cobalt also earns five achievements in a single tournament:
- Winner
- Podium
- Revenge (CMoney)
- Money Maker
- Bounty Hunter
With four eliminations, he was one away from getting a Terminator. He also finished 2nd to last in the previous tournament, and had he finished last would have been only the second player in history to get a Worst to First.
Congrats to Cobalt, who's put himself in prime position to make a run at the championship. He's in third place, trailing SlimChance by less than 20 points. He's also a proud new daddy, his wife giving birth to a healthy baby girl this past Friday.
See you all next time around, when I expect Cobalt to earn yet another achievement: First to Worst.
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