The Final Season of a Dynasty, or The One Chuckles Wins

With the season championship entirely wrapped up, I don't think anyone was seriously looking forward to Tournament 6.  2 players, Coopzilla and Motown, had bailed out for the evening, and unseasonably sunny Seattle weather had caused yet another night of sluggish evening traffic.  With my recent run of terrible finishes (2 recent last place finishes, a 5th and a 6th) frankly, I just wanted to get my drink on and forget, and I brought a 15 year old Glenfiddich to the party to help me do precisely that. CMoney had promised to open up his wallet and release some of the twenties that he'd taken from all of us, which nobody took seriously.

Still we pressed on.  HumpinHorses regailed us with stories of HR complaints against his fashion sense.  TheCanuck mentioned ever more stories about how Canada is different from the states, and Cobalt excitedly awaited the start of our match, eager to test his mettle and take down the 2nd place season prize.  Finally, the shocker of all, we were all able to welcome DoctorLove for a final time, after 6 consecutive no-shows.

9 players sat down to start what turned out to be one of the most lucrative rebuy periods I've seen in quite a while.  With the first hand of the evening, we started a massive 3-way allin, SlimChance busting both TheCanuck and Chuckles (who had AsJs and AhKh, respectively) with the 22.  On a Ten-high board, the deuces held, giving Slim a 12K chipstack to start the second hand, as well as the deuce deuce bonus.  The next 4 hands kept up the 'festival' of all in.  Slim, emboldened by his first hand victory kept giving in to temptation, and soon, ended up busting himself, having spread his chips to DoctorLove, Chuckles, and even a little back to TheCanuck.

I described the rebuy period as lucrative: in pure numbers terms, we're typically averaging about $58/player per tournament.  The prize pool of S6T6 averaged near $76 per player.  Allin folks weren't 'surviving', at all.  They were fattening a solid prize pool, which created our highest 9-player first place prize of $308.  Even during a season where all members KNOW something must change in our league, we still manage to blow money on terrible hands.

The rebuy ended with bruises dealt out to all sides, but mainly to CMoney and Slimchance.  DoctorLove played similarly to the way he always does... like he was in a cave, and the only thing that could roust him out was Aces, and as such he got away from the rebuy period without a single rebuy.  Stacks were largely even, and although we could easily see some folks (HumpinHorses stepped out of the rebuy period with no chips to his name) with smaller stacks, there wasn't a clear 'chip leader.'

TheCanuck began the rebuy period playing with a force that is becoming both aggressive and irritating, soon building up a substantial stack of chips.  DoctorLove, tired with all his folding attempted to stand against the forces of Canadian evil.  DoctorLove made an early position call with A7, and when TheCanuck raised with AQ, the Doctor was happy to come along.  The flop came Canadian-friendly, AQ5, and DoctorLove check-called TheCanuck's bet.  The turn was a 7, which practically sealed the Doctor's fate.  He check-called again, and on the river, check-called all his chips away to take 9th place.  The Canadian had the bigger two pair, and sent away our Doctor for what's likely to be another extended vacation.

A pause to remember DoctorLove:

In Season 1, T3, he took 2nd to me, when I beat his pair of Jacks with an A5 that turn an Ace, and in T4, he earned his first Terminator achievement, yet failed to turn the corner, dropping to Coopzilla in the end.

In Season 2, he had a single paying finish, a 3rd.

Season 3 dealt him a little more cash, with 2 paying finishes.

Season 4 got him the most money, and the nearest to a Season championship, only 70 points away from the top spot.

Season 5 turned out to be his 'rough season', taking no paid places, no bounties, and only a single $20 deuce deuce bonus.

Though he was technically in Season 6, he'd only shown up for this last one... so this one will be another 'rough season' for him.

You will be missed, DoctorLove.  Your Q2 against CMoney's 72 in season 1 is a classic for the ages, and your inexplicable inability to beat Coopzilla in the final season 1 tournament (you easily had a 10:1 chip advantage in the final minutes!) which cost me the championship, endears you to me in a sort of maddening way.  We will all miss our tiny PhD, the marathon running chain-smoker.  Our enigmatic Dhalsim. Pardon me, I'm getting misty...

Ahem...

SlimChance's initial lucky stroke couldn't seem to be rekindled.  Hands weren't holding up, and he couldn't seem to catch a break.  A family pot flopped 877, while he held K8.  No one had bet the flop, and on the turn 3, Mojo bet out $1500 into a $1600 pot.  With his dwindling stack nearing $6K at the time, SlimChance figured he was either good, or good to go.  Pushing his $6K into the pot, all folded except Mojo, who'd caught a lucky big blind with 97o.  SlimChance out 8th.

TheCanuck remained true to brutalizing form, raising many pots and keeping it expensive for smaller stacks to play.  Bigger stacks like Jodizzle, Chuckles, Mojo were easily able to duck the raised pots, but CMoney was getting the lord's comeuppance, both in cards and in luck.  See, you can only make fun of the religious so often... eventually, you get smited.  TheCanuck rolled off a ballsy bluff with AQ on a Jack-high flop, which CMoney called with his JTo.  The turn came a 4, and TheCanuck bet more than half CMoney's stack.  For CMoney, It was put up or shut up time.  If he folded, he'd be left with a meagre $7100 chips left, during the $200/$400 rounds.  He couldn't believe himself to be ahead, but if he'd won, the pot of roughly $17000 would have definitely given him some wiggle room.  CMoney decided to push.  That left TheCanuck with a ridiculous situation, where he had $2000 to call, into a $17000 pot, but he only had Ace high.  Feeling like he had no choice, he made the call.  CMoney's Jacks were ahead, and the table felt a sinking 'God damnit Canuck... why give that guy more chips?' feeling when the Lord, as he tends to do, smited the smug Atheist and dropped an Ace on the river to finish CMoney in his worst place finish since September of 2009.

It's this time we have to really think about TheCanuck's turn bet there.  I don't think anyone has the right to question the strategy itself, as it looks a lot like TheCanuck made a great read of one of our harder players to read.  TheCanuck read CMoney to be weak on a draw-friendly board, and did what anyone should do with a big stack.  He put CMoney to an extremely tough decision.  In the end, CMoney made the right decision, but it was a tough decision to make.

What we need to question is the SIZING of the TheCanuck's bet.  TheCanuck couldn't immediately see how many chips CMoney had, only that he had a very small stack.  CMoney's raise ended up being a call that TheCanuck didn't actually want to make.

TheCanuck was in a bind, and it was a bind he'd created for himself.  Had the Canuck made a single $500 or $1K bet, it would have been significantly easier to get away from a raise, but that $500 or $1K bet wouldn't have ever worked as a bluff.  Clearly, in order for the bluff to be a better 'bet', he needed to bet more.  A simple all-in bet there is the best decision.  1) It gives CMoney one single move... either call all your chips, or fold.  2) It has the added benefit of not forcing you to make a bad decision (forcing you to call when you know you shouldn't.)

If I can say anything instructive about this hand, it's that, when in doubt, bet a little more than you think is necessary.  For the pot size, a $4K bet was ideal, but given the stack sizes, it was awful.  Better to not put yourself in a 'I have to make a shitty call' situation, but instead to force CMoney to make that decision.

Still, goodness and light rained down upon the poker table, and even munchkins were singing 'the wicked witch is dead' as CMoney sulked his way in 7th place, complaining that it would totally suck that TheCanuck might win the bounty on himself, because the true bounty (Motown) had bailed on the evening.  TheCanuck had built up a huge stack, having nearly a third of the chips with 6 players to go.

I want to bitch about how HumpinHorses sucked out on my AA now... he had 44 in the 400/800 rounds, in the small blind with a small stack. I had AA under the gun.  We end up all in and whine-whine-whine, he flops a 4, and doubles up.  As much as I'd like to bitch about it, it's probably the first time I've ever seen him suck out on a hand... and his luck has been dogshit for quite a while.  Still, Humpin sucks. 

The next small stack to go was Cobalt.  Cobalt had a few hands hold up, but not enough of them, consistently having to fold out on flops regularly.  Chuckles had proven himself to NOT be the punching bag of the evening, consistently hitting monsters, and he rolled over Cobalt's KdTd with an AQ, even with 2 diamonds on the flop.  Cobalt's 6th place finish with TheCanuck still in the game ensured him a place outside the final 2.  With near 300 in winnigs for the season, a hearty congratulations goes out to our new friend Cobalt.

4 of the final 5: TheCanuck, HumpinHorses, Jodizzle and Mojo were still in the hunt for the elusive 2nd place season prize.  Only Chuckes was the spoiler.  In 10th place points, there was no way a 9 player tournament (even one as lucrative as this one) could generate enough points to overtake all 4 of us.  Still, lady luck had kicked the living shit out of Chuckles for 5 tournaments.   In the prior tournament, he'd folded away quads, and had them flopped against him.  One would almost call him cursed.

But cursed no more.  5 way action, TheCanuck was a clear chipleader, but being the spoiler gave Chuckles some spirit.  In a ballsy move, Chuckles needled TheCanuck into pushing allin with JJ, while Chuckles held AK.  The classic tournament race flopped a K which Chuckles rode all the way home, and with that loss, TheCanuck went into a downward spiral of doom.  In terms of chips, the table was closer to even, Chuckles having a smallish lead, but you could clearly see the flicker of light fading in our Canadian friend's eye, as TheCanuck took a few hands to compose himself.

During this composing, Humpin, enlivened with a sense of spirit decided to attempt a stone cold bluff maneauver.  Jodizzle had raised preflop during the 500/1000 rounds, and showing nerves of steel, Humpin pushed all-in (with a total of nearly 18000) with 84o.  It was a brilliant move, which really just came at the wrong time.  If Jodizzle had AJo or worse, she's folding almost everytime.  She almost folded the Jacks she actually had.  The flop was unfriendly to 84 offsuit (it typically is), and Humpin left in 5th place.

4 way action went quickly.  Hands were typically raised preflop, and soon Jodizzle and Chuckles started dominating, hitting hands left and right.  TheCanuck ended up on the ropes in blind trouble.  He ended up pushing all in with A7, and found a caller in Chuckles, who decided to give The Firedrill (K2) a try.  The flop came T72, but the Canuck, who lives by the suckout, died by it when a 2nd 2 came on the turn.  Chuckles took the $50 bounty, and TheCanuck ended out in 4th place.

With Humpin's exit in 5th place, Mojo was just another spoiler.  TheCanuck's 4th place finish almost assured him the 2nd place prize.  Only by Jodizzle winning could she take it away from him.  Frankly, Mojo and Chuckles did their best to allow her the opportunity.  A combination of hands hitting and aggression turned her into the clear chip leader.

Mojo attempted his standard short-stack aggressive play, but being half-inebriated, his aggression never worked to generate anything from 'dizzle.  She consistent rolled over him, until eventually calling him down with a K on a K high flop to bust him into 3rd place for the evening.  Mojo's 3rd place finish was enough to net him $84 for the effort (a profit of $4 for the evening, I'm proud to say.)

Chuckles and Jodizzle ended as the final two for the evening, and the smart money was on Jodizzle.  She was about a 2.5-1 chip favorite, and her aggression wasn't letting up.  Chuckles was getting visibly tired, and a little confused by the heads-up format.  Still, for some reason, he had her number.  They needled at each other for 15 hands, before eventually Chuckles pushed into a losing spot.  The flop was raised, and came 952.  Chuckles came firing into the pot with K5, and Jodizzle caught top pair again with Q9.  With a raise, Chuckles pushed all in, and unhappily witnessed Jodizzle's call.  Chuckles knew he was on the short end of the stick, when a King fell on the turn, giving him two pair.  Those of us paying attention saw Joddizle's sidelong glance at CMoney... a sort of look that said "See, this is why I prefer bowling."

A 9 didn't come on the end, and Chuckles ended up with the chiplead.  A situation he built up consistently, almost sheerly out of boredom  After 20 more hands, and nearly a 4-1 chip advantage, Jodizzle made a valiant stand with 55, and Chuckles called her down with K8 suited.  A king came knocking on the door card, and Chuckles, who's nickname was close to being 'ThePunchingBag', became our S6T6 winner.  With the 1st place finish, and the bounty, he ends up with near $400 taken away on the season, Jodizzle's 2nd place finishe put her 50 points away from TheCanuck, who squeeked by as the runner up season champion.

And so, another Season ends in the history books.  Although we still live under the rule of a terrible champion, his 7th place finish gives all good people hope.  The next month should bring us an underground tournament, which is a great time for us to bring in new blood.  Let's all do precisely that, because I'm tired of being dead money :)

Good luck all!

- Mojo