Season 7 Opener (Part 2)

When I left of last time, we were about to head to the final table 8-handed after Motown took down a monster pot with an insane Ace-high call of two all in players on the flop.

First to fall at the final table was Cobalt.  Somehow he saw a flop with Q4 - I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since I don't actually recall the hand and assume he was in the big blind.  He felt good enough to push all in on a flop of KQ7 only to see a snap call by HowieMandel holding KQ.  No miracle 1% running 4's came and Cobalt is bounced in 8th place.

After a few tournaments away, Diceman came back to the fold and had a decent showing, busting in 7th place after pushing with a short stack with A4 and called by Motown with T9.  At this point Motown had the "I can eliminate the entire field" mentality and wasn't folding too much.  The flop came down KQ9 and the 9 held up.  Diceman out in 7th.

At this point we were heading towards the bubble, full steam ahead.  With the record-setting 14-player field, a bubble finish would be especially painful for the poor son of a bitch who found himself in that unfortunate position.  Having gained his first bust as an official league member a few minutes earlier, HowieMandel was ready to give it another try.  His intended victim this time would be none other than the elusive Coopzilla.  With pocket 9's he flopped a monster when it came down Q93.  Coopzilla was ready to play for all his chips when he found himself in a great spot with JhTh.  With two hearts on the flop, he's a favorite against most hands.  Unfortunately a flopped set isn't one of them.  In a 60/40 hand, HowieMandel had to sweat two cards and avoid any King, 8, or heart that didn't pair the board.  The turn came blank and the river was the 2c giving him the pot and bouncing Coopzilla in 6th.

This was it, the next player out would be "bubble boy".  Approximate stacks when we got five handed looked something like:

Motown:  90K
Mojo: 55K
HowieMandel: 40K
Chuckles:  15K
CMoney: 9K

With blinds at 500/1000 it wasn't looking great for CMoney.  Important to note that Chuckles was the bounty and the $50 bonus was definitely an influence on some interesting plays made for his stack.  For the most part he came out on the good side of those hands because others were willing to try to bust him for the extra cash.

One hand in particular is worth discussing.  By now everyone in the league knows that we play with two decks that look a lot alike.  With a fairly short stack Chuckles limped into a pot.  The sharks smelled blood in the water and were ready to pounce on that $50 bounty.  When it got around to Mojo, he raised enough to put Chuckles all in for the isolation play.  HowieMandel decided to come along for the flop to take a shot at the bounty.  Chuckles had been shuffling the deck from the previous hand to get it ready.  When Mojo pushed all in after flopping a mid pair, HowieMandel (who was dealing) folded.  Before anyone knew what happened, Chuckles picked up his deck and dealt out the turn and river.  Mojo was scooping the pot and reaching for the $50 when Chuckles uttered a little "oh shit".  By now the cards from deck #1 were already gathered and put into the wrong deck.  At this point Mojo stepped up and did the only thing that seemed fair given the situation - gave all the chips back to Chuckles and pretended the hand never happened.

Sometime while we were five handed a big transfer of chips happened between Mojo and HowieMandel.  After they took a flop of 963 (two diamonds), they got in a raising war.  Eventually all the chips went into the middle and HowieMandel showed K9 for top pair while Mojo had Qd6d for middle pair and flush draw.  Another exact coin flip hand, both players having a 50% chance to win.  This is what tournament poker always comes down to - a couple guys trying to survive a coin flip.  No love for Mojo and HowieMandel takes down a huge pot leaving Mojo crippled.

Eventually it was HowieMandel who capitalized on the deck blunder from earlier when he was happy to call Chuckles' tiny stack all in with J6s.  He had Chuckles dominated when he showed 96o and made it even more out of reach when the flop came down J6x.  The huge favorite held and Chuckles goes out on the bubble and hands the $50 bounty over to HowieMandel.

The remaining players were now in the money and it was time for the short stacks to start making some moves.  CMoney was first to take a stand with 33.  Motown had an easy call with AJ and a huge stack.  The flop came down jack-high and it held up.  CMoney busts in 4th for $78.  Motown and CMoney also extend their league rivalry to 11 busts (7-4 in favor of CMoney), the largest in the league.  In for the minimum, CMoney nets $38.

Motown wasn't done there, he decided to take matters into his own hands and call Mojo's all in with KT.  Mojo showed Q4s - a desparate play with a short stack.  The board came five blanks and Motown ended up with another scalp, officially earning his second Terminator achievement.  Mojo goes out in 3rd and picks up $117.  According to the new and improved tournament tracking software we're using, Mojo was in for three rebuys and the add-on, a total of $100 - net $17.

The heads up game went fast and furious.  Both players seemed ready to risk all their chips with a wide range of hands.  After 10 minutes of back-and-forth, Motown sealed the deal with KT.  After the flop came king-high, he bet the minimum.  HowieMandel came along with Q6s.  The turn came 6 and all the chips went into the pot.  The river came down K and Motown takes down the biggest prize ever taken in a league tournament.

HowieMandel has a great showing in his frst league tournament, taking down $195 for 2nd place and the $50 bounty.  With one rebuy, he was in for $60 and nets $185.  He earns three achievements - On the Podium, Money Maker, and Bounty Hunter.

Motown grabs $390 for first and a whopping 440 league points.  He was in for $80 and nets $310.  Along the way earns no less than four achievements including the Terminator.  He becomes only the third league player with two or more of those.

So far my pre-season dark horse prediction is off to a great start.  I'll predict something else right now: the next tournament will likely be played during an NFL football game.  This is a great recipe for an early retirement for Motown - he can't possibly focus on cards when there's a game on.

Tournament 2 is going to be pivotal - if we continue to have full participation the prize pools and points will continue to grow and everyone will have a great chance to make a move at any time for the championship.

Thanks everyone, see you in September.