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.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Season 7 opener breaks records (part 1)
To be honest, I started getting a little worried during season six that the alure of the league was fading a little and people were getting tired of the same old "show up, drink beer, eat pizza, give CMoney your cash". We needed two things to break the cycle - fresh blood and better participation. The key to making sure that one person doesn't dominate is variance. The more players who enter combined with new playing styles makes it tough to win tournaments consistently.
I'm happy to welcome our three newest members: Woody, HowieMandel, and BreadWinner. Why these names? Well, a Woody by any other name is still a Woody. HowieMandel - I'm not married to that but I'll be damned if he's not the spitting image. And BreadWinner? Well she's Chuckles' wife who managed to equal his winnings over 12 tournaments in a single underground to earn her way into the league. Impressive. Would that solid play backed by a crazy run of pocket aces carry it's way into the league opener?
As per usual, switching to 3rd person so I can write about how well I played from a totally unbiased point of view.
Two records were broken this night. Fourteen suckers with visions of the championship dancing in their heads arrived, the most ever in a single tournament. The DDR league points system puts a lot of weight on this number so it was already sure to be historic. Combine that with another record - a $900 total prize pool and we were off and running to create the largest first place cash (and points) ever seen.
The rebuy period started with fireworks on the first hand. CMoney limped from the small blind with J8o and watched the flop come down J84. Motown decided to make a play with a bare 8 and CMoney doubled up to 8K in chips. A few hands later he took two more players down with AKs versus two AJ hands (note to all, AJ isn't a great showdown hand. More to come on that in a bit). Within 10 minutes CMoney's stack swelled to 17K and the rest of the table looked on in quiet desparation. The three time champ was looking to strike fear into the new players, all three of which ended up at the red table to start.
Over on the green table the rebuys were also coming fast and furious. It seemed like every 3 hands someone was taking the walk of shame over to the rebuy pile and plunking down yet another $20 in the hopes that this time it would work out better.
When the dust settled after the rebuy period there had been 17 rebuys and all 14 players took the add-on swelling the prize pool to a robust $900. After taking out the bonus money ($50 bounty, $50 champion pool, $20 DD bonus), winning the tournament would earn one of these players $390. The previous record was set in November 2009 when 13 players built a $820 prize pool. In that event we saw Mojo take down first place and $350.
It was either the end of the rebuy or right at the beginning of the "real tournament" that DiceMan was dealt deuces and flopped two more for quads. Nothing was going to take that $20 from his hands, although I'm told that the board showed 22AA on the turn which is actually an interesting situation. If someone were holding any ace, an ace on the river would actually make this a bad beat hand in most card rooms (quads over quads). It's so rare that at a place like Tulalip DiceMan would end up with $20,000 or more depending on how much time has passed since the last bad beat.
SlimChance, the only league member who showed up late, decided that four "early retirement" achievements just isn't enough for his taste. With A6s CMoney called his small raise from late position. The flop came down AK6. SlimChance bet out about half the pot, and CMoney raised the minimum. SlimChance called and a 7 came on the turn. SlimChance slowed down this time and checked. CMoney, knowing that SlimChance loves to bet when anybody shows weakness checked behind. The river brought another A, giving CMoney what felt like his 10th full house of the night. SlimChance threw out his typical "you're weak so I bet some of these purple chips" type bets. CMoney pushed behind having him well covered and for whatever reason SlimChance decided to call with KT. Given that he still had a ton of chips and the blinds were so low, I'm baffled by this call. The only thing he could really beat is a stone cold bluff or a bare king... but even KQ/KJ has him beat. SlimChance out in 14th place, earning that 5th early retirement which ties Motown for the league record (don't worry Canuck, you're only one behind!).
Busting painfully in 13th place was Jodizzle. Painful because:
1. She flopped a set of aces
2. She was up against her nemesis CMoney
3. In 34 tournaments, she's NEVER missed a final table
The hand went down like so many top set beats. Coming in from early position at an aggressive table she decided to limp with AA. CMoney was in the small blind with Kd3d and was playing a monstrous stack. The big blind came along and we looked at a Ad9d4s flop. With the perfect preflop setup, she bet out T600. The reason this play is so damn good is that a lot of people in this tournament will limp with bare aces (AT-A5 type hands). Since she didn't raise preflop, her aces are completely hidden. The 7d came on the turn to give CMoney the nuts. He decided to bet into Jodizzle to disguise the strength of his hand. A check-raise here likely won't get paid off because it's pretty obvious that the draw hit. Instead a half pot bet of T1200 made sense. Jodizzle min-raised to T2400. After 10 or 15 seconds of Hollywooding, CMoney pushed all in. This play is confusing because of the initial bet. It's easy to put CMoney on a bluff, or even a weak ace here because once again, there's no way he can put her on aces because of the preflop play and the fact that he has so many chips. Ultimately she couldn't lay them down (most people wouldn't) and called. The board didn't pair and she busts in 13th place, by far the worst finish she's ever had.
Since the first two busts came at the red table, it was time to move someone from the other table. TheCanuck ended up being the guy to make the move. Not having seen the destruction is no excuse - the 40K stack sitting in front of CMoney should have been enough warning to stay away. No sooner had he sat down did he find himself in a terrible spot against CMoney on the river, who had hit yet another full house and was betting out about half of TheCanuck's stack. After a short ponder he decided to call and shipped another big pot to CMoney. Soon after that he found himself all in with KQ called by one of the new players - Woody who showed AT. The flop came AQT giving TheCanuck a few outs, but none came. Out in 12th.
StillNotFat was welcomed back into the league with a severe bad beat from Mojo. I don't feel so bad about my river 6 from season five any more after hearing about this one. I don't have the specific details on preflop action, but StillNotFat saw a miracle 7 on the turn holding 77 after a 8T8 flop. It turns out Mojo was in there with T9, ahead on the flop but way behind on the turn. They ended up getting all the chips in and it looked like Mojo was going to be crippled and start another season in the gutter. Low and behold, another 8 came on the river giving Mojo a bigger full house. StillNotFat's 91% hand turned into an 11th place.
Now down to 10, it was time for the final table bubble to burst. Motown, who had a mostly frustrating night so far with CMoney's big stack on his left decided it was time to welcome two of the new players into the league with a nice early night of rest. This hand still baffles me - all three players seemed to experience temporary insanity. I'm going to go on a long rant here because this hand was played so strangely by all involved.
From the button with blinds at 200-400, Woody raised to 3x the big blind. BreadWinner pushed her stack in immediately from the small blind, around 7,700 chips. Even though she's new to the league, she's already known as a fairly tight, good player after taking down $407 in the July underground. Motown shows me his AQo and mumbles something about "I can't fold this". He decides to call. Let's pause for a moment. One of the biggest mistakes DDR league members make is to forget about the other person still in the hand. If the plan is to isolate the all in player, only a re-raise here makes sense. Woody, who still has 17K chips can always re-raise BreadWinners bet. Here's the thing: Motown is already committing almost half his stack to the pot. If Woody raises, will he fold? Probably not. If you're already deciding you "can't fold", the only play here is to re-push and try to get Woody out of the hand. In tournament poker it's always favorable to isolate one player for a big pot preflop.
Instead, Motown calls. To me this is a blunder because it helps narrow his hand range quite a bit. It is very likely a big ace or a medium pair. To add to the confusion, Woody decides to flat call the raise as well, putting half HIS stack into the pot. Since Motown will act first on the flop, this is a dangerous play because it's so easy to get bluffed out when the flop comes coordinated. Personally I've only seen this kind of thing done with AA or KK. It's sort of a "hey, I'm not folding these aces. I might as well just flat call here and let Motown hang himself on the flop." Don't forget that BreadWinner is still eligible for this entire pot so if you're either Motown or Woody you have to be pretty sure you've got her beat to make these calls.
The flop comes down ten high. Motown checks and Woody goes all in. Let's pause again. What range can we put him on at this point? He's betting into a dry pot (an all in player is eligible for the entire pot, so you should have a hand that can beat the all in player to make this bet). My range for Woody here is approximately AA (40%), KK (40%), QQ (18%), AK (2%). If I'm Motown, I'd be thinking... hold on... I would not have even called BreadWinner's original all in so I can't put myself in this situation. But now that he's in this situation, I have to put Woody on a hand that has AQ completely crushed. Motown doesn't have a pair, or even a draw. Again we hear "I can't fold this". Since I've seen his hand, I can't believe what I hear... "call".
I'm in total shock when I watch Woody and BreadWinner turn over the same hand, AJs. It might be time for me to dust off the old poker books, because I would have guessed wrong on all three of these hands. Blanks on the turn and river, Motown takes down a HUGE pot, busts BreadWinner in 10th place by virtue of starting the hand with less chips than Woody, who finishes 9th.
The crazy thing here is that neither Motown nor Woody had to play this hand. With around 50 big blinds in their stack, it's nowhere near time to be taking this kind of risk. Motown gets away preflop with around 20K and Woody can easily fold to BreadWinner's all in with his 17K left. Guys, this is a tournament not a cash game. I actually like BreadWinner's all in here, because it stands to take down a pot that already represents 20% of her stack and she knows Woody can be raising from the button with a very wide range of hands that will likely fold to pressure.
We head to the final table 8-handed with Motown taking the tournament chip lead. Stay tuned for part 2...
I'm happy to welcome our three newest members: Woody, HowieMandel, and BreadWinner. Why these names? Well, a Woody by any other name is still a Woody. HowieMandel - I'm not married to that but I'll be damned if he's not the spitting image. And BreadWinner? Well she's Chuckles' wife who managed to equal his winnings over 12 tournaments in a single underground to earn her way into the league. Impressive. Would that solid play backed by a crazy run of pocket aces carry it's way into the league opener?
As per usual, switching to 3rd person so I can write about how well I played from a totally unbiased point of view.
Two records were broken this night. Fourteen suckers with visions of the championship dancing in their heads arrived, the most ever in a single tournament. The DDR league points system puts a lot of weight on this number so it was already sure to be historic. Combine that with another record - a $900 total prize pool and we were off and running to create the largest first place cash (and points) ever seen.
The rebuy period started with fireworks on the first hand. CMoney limped from the small blind with J8o and watched the flop come down J84. Motown decided to make a play with a bare 8 and CMoney doubled up to 8K in chips. A few hands later he took two more players down with AKs versus two AJ hands (note to all, AJ isn't a great showdown hand. More to come on that in a bit). Within 10 minutes CMoney's stack swelled to 17K and the rest of the table looked on in quiet desparation. The three time champ was looking to strike fear into the new players, all three of which ended up at the red table to start.
Over on the green table the rebuys were also coming fast and furious. It seemed like every 3 hands someone was taking the walk of shame over to the rebuy pile and plunking down yet another $20 in the hopes that this time it would work out better.
When the dust settled after the rebuy period there had been 17 rebuys and all 14 players took the add-on swelling the prize pool to a robust $900. After taking out the bonus money ($50 bounty, $50 champion pool, $20 DD bonus), winning the tournament would earn one of these players $390. The previous record was set in November 2009 when 13 players built a $820 prize pool. In that event we saw Mojo take down first place and $350.
It was either the end of the rebuy or right at the beginning of the "real tournament" that DiceMan was dealt deuces and flopped two more for quads. Nothing was going to take that $20 from his hands, although I'm told that the board showed 22AA on the turn which is actually an interesting situation. If someone were holding any ace, an ace on the river would actually make this a bad beat hand in most card rooms (quads over quads). It's so rare that at a place like Tulalip DiceMan would end up with $20,000 or more depending on how much time has passed since the last bad beat.
SlimChance, the only league member who showed up late, decided that four "early retirement" achievements just isn't enough for his taste. With A6s CMoney called his small raise from late position. The flop came down AK6. SlimChance bet out about half the pot, and CMoney raised the minimum. SlimChance called and a 7 came on the turn. SlimChance slowed down this time and checked. CMoney, knowing that SlimChance loves to bet when anybody shows weakness checked behind. The river brought another A, giving CMoney what felt like his 10th full house of the night. SlimChance threw out his typical "you're weak so I bet some of these purple chips" type bets. CMoney pushed behind having him well covered and for whatever reason SlimChance decided to call with KT. Given that he still had a ton of chips and the blinds were so low, I'm baffled by this call. The only thing he could really beat is a stone cold bluff or a bare king... but even KQ/KJ has him beat. SlimChance out in 14th place, earning that 5th early retirement which ties Motown for the league record (don't worry Canuck, you're only one behind!).
Busting painfully in 13th place was Jodizzle. Painful because:
1. She flopped a set of aces
2. She was up against her nemesis CMoney
3. In 34 tournaments, she's NEVER missed a final table
The hand went down like so many top set beats. Coming in from early position at an aggressive table she decided to limp with AA. CMoney was in the small blind with Kd3d and was playing a monstrous stack. The big blind came along and we looked at a Ad9d4s flop. With the perfect preflop setup, she bet out T600. The reason this play is so damn good is that a lot of people in this tournament will limp with bare aces (AT-A5 type hands). Since she didn't raise preflop, her aces are completely hidden. The 7d came on the turn to give CMoney the nuts. He decided to bet into Jodizzle to disguise the strength of his hand. A check-raise here likely won't get paid off because it's pretty obvious that the draw hit. Instead a half pot bet of T1200 made sense. Jodizzle min-raised to T2400. After 10 or 15 seconds of Hollywooding, CMoney pushed all in. This play is confusing because of the initial bet. It's easy to put CMoney on a bluff, or even a weak ace here because once again, there's no way he can put her on aces because of the preflop play and the fact that he has so many chips. Ultimately she couldn't lay them down (most people wouldn't) and called. The board didn't pair and she busts in 13th place, by far the worst finish she's ever had.
Since the first two busts came at the red table, it was time to move someone from the other table. TheCanuck ended up being the guy to make the move. Not having seen the destruction is no excuse - the 40K stack sitting in front of CMoney should have been enough warning to stay away. No sooner had he sat down did he find himself in a terrible spot against CMoney on the river, who had hit yet another full house and was betting out about half of TheCanuck's stack. After a short ponder he decided to call and shipped another big pot to CMoney. Soon after that he found himself all in with KQ called by one of the new players - Woody who showed AT. The flop came AQT giving TheCanuck a few outs, but none came. Out in 12th.
StillNotFat was welcomed back into the league with a severe bad beat from Mojo. I don't feel so bad about my river 6 from season five any more after hearing about this one. I don't have the specific details on preflop action, but StillNotFat saw a miracle 7 on the turn holding 77 after a 8T8 flop. It turns out Mojo was in there with T9, ahead on the flop but way behind on the turn. They ended up getting all the chips in and it looked like Mojo was going to be crippled and start another season in the gutter. Low and behold, another 8 came on the river giving Mojo a bigger full house. StillNotFat's 91% hand turned into an 11th place.
Now down to 10, it was time for the final table bubble to burst. Motown, who had a mostly frustrating night so far with CMoney's big stack on his left decided it was time to welcome two of the new players into the league with a nice early night of rest. This hand still baffles me - all three players seemed to experience temporary insanity. I'm going to go on a long rant here because this hand was played so strangely by all involved.
From the button with blinds at 200-400, Woody raised to 3x the big blind. BreadWinner pushed her stack in immediately from the small blind, around 7,700 chips. Even though she's new to the league, she's already known as a fairly tight, good player after taking down $407 in the July underground. Motown shows me his AQo and mumbles something about "I can't fold this". He decides to call. Let's pause for a moment. One of the biggest mistakes DDR league members make is to forget about the other person still in the hand. If the plan is to isolate the all in player, only a re-raise here makes sense. Woody, who still has 17K chips can always re-raise BreadWinners bet. Here's the thing: Motown is already committing almost half his stack to the pot. If Woody raises, will he fold? Probably not. If you're already deciding you "can't fold", the only play here is to re-push and try to get Woody out of the hand. In tournament poker it's always favorable to isolate one player for a big pot preflop.
Instead, Motown calls. To me this is a blunder because it helps narrow his hand range quite a bit. It is very likely a big ace or a medium pair. To add to the confusion, Woody decides to flat call the raise as well, putting half HIS stack into the pot. Since Motown will act first on the flop, this is a dangerous play because it's so easy to get bluffed out when the flop comes coordinated. Personally I've only seen this kind of thing done with AA or KK. It's sort of a "hey, I'm not folding these aces. I might as well just flat call here and let Motown hang himself on the flop." Don't forget that BreadWinner is still eligible for this entire pot so if you're either Motown or Woody you have to be pretty sure you've got her beat to make these calls.
The flop comes down ten high. Motown checks and Woody goes all in. Let's pause again. What range can we put him on at this point? He's betting into a dry pot (an all in player is eligible for the entire pot, so you should have a hand that can beat the all in player to make this bet). My range for Woody here is approximately AA (40%), KK (40%), QQ (18%), AK (2%). If I'm Motown, I'd be thinking... hold on... I would not have even called BreadWinner's original all in so I can't put myself in this situation. But now that he's in this situation, I have to put Woody on a hand that has AQ completely crushed. Motown doesn't have a pair, or even a draw. Again we hear "I can't fold this". Since I've seen his hand, I can't believe what I hear... "call".
I'm in total shock when I watch Woody and BreadWinner turn over the same hand, AJs. It might be time for me to dust off the old poker books, because I would have guessed wrong on all three of these hands. Blanks on the turn and river, Motown takes down a HUGE pot, busts BreadWinner in 10th place by virtue of starting the hand with less chips than Woody, who finishes 9th.
The crazy thing here is that neither Motown nor Woody had to play this hand. With around 50 big blinds in their stack, it's nowhere near time to be taking this kind of risk. Motown gets away preflop with around 20K and Woody can easily fold to BreadWinner's all in with his 17K left. Guys, this is a tournament not a cash game. I actually like BreadWinner's all in here, because it stands to take down a pot that already represents 20% of her stack and she knows Woody can be raising from the button with a very wide range of hands that will likely fold to pressure.
We head to the final table 8-handed with Motown taking the tournament chip lead. Stay tuned for part 2...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Season 7 about to begin
After six seasons, 34 tournaments, and more than $21,000 in total prize money awarded the gang is ready to gather again this evening for the start of season 7.
Two players are taking a leave of absence, an original league member makes a triumphant return, and three newbies are ready to join the fray.
Folding: HumpinHorses, DoctorLove (seriously guys, what's more fun than the DDR tournament? Show up, play cards, drink beer. Last I checked neither of you is married or has any kids...)
Returning for more: StillNotFat
Newbies: Three people who need nicknames
Predictions for the season:
CMoney
StillNotFat
Mojo
TheCanuck
Good luck everyone, let's shuffle up and deal!
Two players are taking a leave of absence, an original league member makes a triumphant return, and three newbies are ready to join the fray.
Folding: HumpinHorses, DoctorLove (seriously guys, what's more fun than the DDR tournament? Show up, play cards, drink beer. Last I checked neither of you is married or has any kids...)
Returning for more: StillNotFat
Newbies: Three people who need nicknames
Predictions for the season:
CMoney
- Chuckles' wife will finish ahead of him in league points
- Mojo will come up with an inappropriate nickname for Chuckles' wife
- Coopzilla will take down at least one tournament
- SlimChance will finish top 3 in the league (unless he doesn't show for a tournament, in which case all bets are off)
- At least two "Terminator" achievements will be earned
- The three new players will all finish in the top 10 for the season
- Dark horse prediction for winning the league: Motown (dependent on 1. he shows up for all events and 2. I hit a really shitty run of luck like seasons 1 and 2). This will help offset his fantasy football losses this season.
StillNotFat
- Mojo will go on a mid-tourney tear when he realizes kid #4 is on the way and those diapers aren’t buying themselves
- StillNotFat will return to DDR triumphantly to take down both Coopzilla & CMoney with 9/5, forever breaking the intrinsic power of the birthday hand
- Through some stroke of magic and manipulation, Michigan and Ohio State will meet in the National Championship game causing SlimChance and Motown to simultaneously implode at the poker table after an evening of binge-drinking and angry-betting. On a related note, CMoney will win the largest pot in DDR history and blog mercilessly about the victory.
Mojo
- Jodizzle will win the first tourney, basically by folding.
- Chuckles' wife will win 2 tourneys, and end up our first woman Season champion, yet will only take down $990 for the season (coming just short of that elusive 'grand')
- CMoney won't take a paying place, but will win the deuce deuce bonus 3 times.
- SlimChance will earn a 'gratuitous scalping' achievement.
- Coopzilla will take 3 consecutive last place finishes.
- Motown will take 2nd place, 3 times. He'll newly be dubbed 'the new DoctorLove', or 'the bridesmaid.' He'll take 2nd place Season Champion.
- TheCanuck will spend >$500 over the season, and only take a bounty home with him.
- Chuckles will take two small paying places.
- Woody will win 1, show in 3, and be Chuckles' wife's primary competition for season champion, only to come in last place in the last tournament
- Mojo will take 4 bounties, but won't score more than 400 points on the season.
TheCanuck
- Chuckles' wife will come on strong but will end up middle of the pack
- CMoney thinks he has it in the bag but will end up being behind the Canuck this season
- SlimChance and Coopzilla will stay consistent and come top 3 or bottom 2 all season
Good luck everyone, let's shuffle up and deal!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
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
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
Sunday, May 1, 2011
S6 Tournament 5
It started innocently enough with a simple coin flip to decide whether we'd split into two tables or start the game 9-handed. With DiceMan out sick, SlimChance out of town, and DoctorLove non existent again, we'd start the night with just nine. Mojo flipped a coin and it came up tails, which on this evening meant we'd one-table.
By the end of the night we'd see one emerge victorious in the biggest heads-up comeback in the history of the league. Switching to third-person as per usual because it makes the writing easier.
Surprisingly, the rebuy period did not lack in aggression, all-ins, and what seemed like a rebuy on every hand. In a particularly brutal hand, CMoney picked off a massive bluff by Coopzilla with the board showing AJJT2. With only around 3,000 in the pot Coopzilla made a massive overbet, pushing all in with his 14K stack. CMoney with A6o eventually made the call based mostly on the size of the bet. In this situation, all-in either means "nothing" or "quads". Coopzilla didn't have quads, and showed 77. By the end of the rebuy period, CMoney was the overwhelming chip leader. But don't forget folks, his last two wins came after ending the rebuy with zero chips and starting the late rounds with the minimum. The big stack rarely wins, and that trend would continue. One other thing of note during the rebuy - HumpinHorses was dealt deuces twice but didn't bank the DD bonus, getting picked off both times.
Not to worry though, because he'd get pocket deuces not once, or twice more, but THREE more times during the night. It's no surprise then that he ended up taking the $20 bonus on either the third or forth time it was dealt.
First to bust was Mojo. CMoney sent him on his way with nothing to show for it but a 2nd Early Retirement achievement. From the big blind CMoney was priced into the pot with Q7o and Mojo showed 44. The flop came AA5. He survived the flop, but the paired aces is bad news for an underpair as it can be counterfeited easily. The ace on the turn didn't change anything, but the 7 on the river gave CMoney the edge and the stack (however small and pitiful). The 7 on the river would be a theme of the night, being pivotal in two more hands before it was over.
Next to go was HumpinHorses who has been on a decent run lately, cashing three consecutive before not cashing in the last two events. With the board showing TT88 he put in a bold bluff all in and TheCanuck made a ballsy call with a bare ace. With the board paired, HumpinHorses would need to show a T,8, or pair bigger than 8 to be ahead. He had 44 and was drawing thin, needing a 4. The river was a 7 (hmmm... strange), and he's out in 8th.
Shortly after that, the pivotal hand of the night came down between CMoney who was still enjoying the chip lead, and Motown who was playing his usual aggressive style. Looking down to find QQ, CMoney raised from mid position. With a stack size about 60% of CMoney's, Motown re-raised. This is just the type of situation the chip leader hates to put a lot of chips in the pot. With the third best starting hand, however, it was time to put Motown to the test. CMoney re-raised all in and Motown called fairly quickly. Usually not a great sign, but in this case he flipped over 77 and the queens were looking good. Motown was on his phone, one foot out the door when a miracle 7 landed on the river to give him a huge pot. It's probably good the queens didn't hold up - CMoney's stack would have been insurmountable.
Falling out in 7th was Jodizzle after a relatively quiet night. Getting short stacked she decided to make a stand with JT. Behind her with a monster stack was Motown, happily calling with AQ. The board ran all blanks and Jodizzle's chips added to the growing army sitting in front of Motown.
A funny hand happened around this time that is worth mentioning (if for no other reason than making fun of a Canadian). In a hand that was raised by TheCanuck, Cobalt re-raised. One person folded and as TheCanuck said "I call" and started putting chips in, Cobalt accidentally showed his hand. Aces. Now, interesting situation - because TheCanuck has already called and we're going to the flop with an exposed hand. I had gotten a peak at his hand, which was JTs. This hand was all but over, until the flop came down AJT. Remember, the entire table has seen Cobalt's aces, and knows he just flopped top set. I have seen TheCanuck's hand and assume he'll be folding as soon as is humanly possible. Not so fast. With top set, Cobalt bets 4,000. TheCanuck decides to call. What? At this point I knew that either: 1) TheCanuck doesn't realize he's basically drawing dead. Any J or T will give them both full houses, but give Cobalt a bigger full house. Or 2) He's going to try to bluff him if the turn is scary. I definitely don't advise action #2 against Cobalt, who's definitely not folding no matter what comes. The turn, in fact, came K which is a really scary card for Cobalt because now any queen makes a straight. If any "bluff worthy" card was to come, that was it. He went all in this time and TheCanuck was forced to fold. It was obvious later that he was in camp #1 and assumed a J or T would give him the win.
Remember folks, when you flop a set with a high pocket pair, you don't really have to worry about under pairs, under two pairs, or under sets unless quads or something crazy comes. If you're up against top set with two pair - run as fast as you can to the nearest exit. One more bit of advice. This is illustrative how important it is to watch the action on the table. If Cobalt had not exposed his hand, this certainly would have shown down. TheCanuck would not have folded JT after that flop, and would have busted in 6th. Cobalt would have had a much bigger stack to play with.
Motown would start using the big stack and a good run of cards to make short work of the rest of the field. Up first was a double bust hand. Chuckles (who endured another unbelievably bad night of watching his pocket kings go down TWICE to underpairs, and even folded JJ preflop only to watch two jacks fall on the flop), was severely short stacked and put all his chips in preflop. Cobalt came along for the ride, as did Motown. The flop came two hearts and was checked around. The turn was a blank, checked around again. The river had another heart. Cobalt decided it was time to make a play, and pushed all his chips into the pot. Motown couldn't have been loving life more, stating "I call with the nuts!!" and showing Ah7h. Chuckles started the hand with less chips and ends up 6th, while Cobalt goes out in 5th.
With four players left Motown had a huge stack, followed by TheCanuck, then CMoney and with a somewhat short stack Coopzilla. After a lot of four-handed play CMoney looked down at AhKh and decided it was time to make a stand. Before he could get a chance, TheCanuck pushed all in. CMoney happily called, and much to his dismay Coopzilla decided to call.
Before going forward, let's break this down for a second. TheCanuck has CMoney out-chipped, so if his hand holds up, CMoney busts in 4th. Coopzilla automatically makes the money, guaranteeing at least a third place finish. When he decides to call in this situation, it would have to be a very big hand (AA/KK/QQ/AK) given that two people in front of him have already pushed.
The hands are revealed. TheCanuck shows JJ, followed by the AhKh of CMoney, and a sheepish K2o from Coopzilla. I don't know if he was tired, or just decided to play the hand in honor of Quin and Tony (only funny if you worked at K2 Information Services). Two hearts on the flop gave CMoney a ton of outs, but nothing came. This hand made two consecutive eliminations where multiple players went out at once. Coopzilla, starting the hand with less chips gets the 4th place (and bubble achievement), while CMoney lucks his way into third place by virtue of Coopzilla making an "interesting" call with K2 against two all in opponents. TheCanuck takes down the $50 bounty for busting CMoney.
The largish pot gave TheCanuck plenty of ammunition to go up against Motown's stack. Having finished 2nd in the previous tournament, TheCanuck was ready to take down a victory. The heads up battle seemed to be going quickly at first, with TheCanuck chipping away at Motown's stack. There was a huge hand that I didn't write down for some reason. All I know is the stacks were basically even and the chips went in on the flop. When the dust settled, TheCanuck won the hand and Motown couldn't bear watching his chips being counted down. He went to the bathroom and when he returned, found 4,500 in chips left in front of him.
And thus would begin the biggest comeback in DDR tournament history. Facing a massive chip deficit (4,500 - 125,000) and blinds at 1000-2000, it was time for fast action. I wish I had chronicled all of these hands, but frankly at the time this tournament seemed over with only a few inconsequential hands remaining. TheCanuck was forced to play any two cards against Motown's tiny stack. Motown doubled up. Now at 9,000 chips, it was still do or die time and another all-in happened immediately. TheCanuck correctly called any two cards again, and Motown's hand held up and he was moved to 18,000 in chips. He opted to fold the next hand, but pushed again after that. There was a short period of time when neither player wanted to call the other, and Motown was winning most of those battles. TheCanuck was a little shell-shocked that this thing hadn't already ended.
Motown worked his stack to the 24K range and made another stand. TheCanuck came along for the ride and Motown survived again, now moving to nearly 50K in chips. This was already an insane comeback, and Motown was only a few chips away from taking a chip lead. What started two hours earlier with a river 7 over CMoney's pocket queens continued into the "hand heard round the world."
With close to 50K, Motown raised to 6K preflop with 96o. He was playing his aggressive style and not letting many cheap flops fall. TheCanuck re-raised to 12K. Deciding that 96o and position were good enough to roll with, he called. The flop came down KT9. I had been watching Motown's hole cards and knew that he'd have a tough time folding (even though it was only bottom pair, he hadn't seen a lot of pairs lately). TheCanuck pushed all in without much thought and Motown went into the tank. All I could think was "you have to fold here - he's got you beat." But Motown knew something I didn't, and calls. TheCanuck shows about the worst hand you could be up against, KT for a flopped top two pair. It was a great comeback, and he almost made it, but this appeared to be the end for Motown. A seemingly innocent 8 fell on the turn. Nobody really paid attention to the fact that this gave Motown a few more outs. When a seven fell on the river, Motown back-doored his way into an ass-ended straight but it was good enough to take down the top two from TheCanuck.
This hand tipped the scales way in Motown's favor, now holding a nice 4:1 chip lead. From there he was able to grind TheCanuck down enough to put him at risk for all his chips in a dominated situation, 87 vs 75. The flop couldn't have been more interesting, A86. No straight came for TheCanuck and the miracle was completed. Motown, down to his last card at least three times during the evening takes down his 2nd win in DDR history. Given his extremely bad luck during the last three or four, it was good to see some cards finally fall his way. He also earned his second Worst to First achievement after finishing last in the previous tournament. Amazingly, he's the only player in the league to ever achieve this, and has done it twice. TheCanuck goes home one shy of the win for the second straight tournament, but puts himself in prime position to vie for 2nd place in the league championship.
With a 600 point cushion, CMoney won't be caught for the championship, but 2nd place an another $100 is up for grabs. TheCanuck took over 2nd place in points, but Cobalt is hot on his trail. There are at least four players with legitimate shots at taking 2nd, with one or two more having outside shots.
Just like SlimChance did in the previous season, Motown is showing that in the end money is what matters. Winning a single tournament can make all the difference in a season. Even at 10th place overall in the points standings, he stands in 4th place on total money won.
Stay tuned for the season finale, and watch for an underground to be scheduled in June. Congrats Motown on the win, and TheCanuck on a decent run including the bounty. For the rest, gear up for the next round in May.
By the end of the night we'd see one emerge victorious in the biggest heads-up comeback in the history of the league. Switching to third-person as per usual because it makes the writing easier.
Surprisingly, the rebuy period did not lack in aggression, all-ins, and what seemed like a rebuy on every hand. In a particularly brutal hand, CMoney picked off a massive bluff by Coopzilla with the board showing AJJT2. With only around 3,000 in the pot Coopzilla made a massive overbet, pushing all in with his 14K stack. CMoney with A6o eventually made the call based mostly on the size of the bet. In this situation, all-in either means "nothing" or "quads". Coopzilla didn't have quads, and showed 77. By the end of the rebuy period, CMoney was the overwhelming chip leader. But don't forget folks, his last two wins came after ending the rebuy with zero chips and starting the late rounds with the minimum. The big stack rarely wins, and that trend would continue. One other thing of note during the rebuy - HumpinHorses was dealt deuces twice but didn't bank the DD bonus, getting picked off both times.
Not to worry though, because he'd get pocket deuces not once, or twice more, but THREE more times during the night. It's no surprise then that he ended up taking the $20 bonus on either the third or forth time it was dealt.
First to bust was Mojo. CMoney sent him on his way with nothing to show for it but a 2nd Early Retirement achievement. From the big blind CMoney was priced into the pot with Q7o and Mojo showed 44. The flop came AA5. He survived the flop, but the paired aces is bad news for an underpair as it can be counterfeited easily. The ace on the turn didn't change anything, but the 7 on the river gave CMoney the edge and the stack (however small and pitiful). The 7 on the river would be a theme of the night, being pivotal in two more hands before it was over.
Next to go was HumpinHorses who has been on a decent run lately, cashing three consecutive before not cashing in the last two events. With the board showing TT88 he put in a bold bluff all in and TheCanuck made a ballsy call with a bare ace. With the board paired, HumpinHorses would need to show a T,8, or pair bigger than 8 to be ahead. He had 44 and was drawing thin, needing a 4. The river was a 7 (hmmm... strange), and he's out in 8th.
Shortly after that, the pivotal hand of the night came down between CMoney who was still enjoying the chip lead, and Motown who was playing his usual aggressive style. Looking down to find QQ, CMoney raised from mid position. With a stack size about 60% of CMoney's, Motown re-raised. This is just the type of situation the chip leader hates to put a lot of chips in the pot. With the third best starting hand, however, it was time to put Motown to the test. CMoney re-raised all in and Motown called fairly quickly. Usually not a great sign, but in this case he flipped over 77 and the queens were looking good. Motown was on his phone, one foot out the door when a miracle 7 landed on the river to give him a huge pot. It's probably good the queens didn't hold up - CMoney's stack would have been insurmountable.
Falling out in 7th was Jodizzle after a relatively quiet night. Getting short stacked she decided to make a stand with JT. Behind her with a monster stack was Motown, happily calling with AQ. The board ran all blanks and Jodizzle's chips added to the growing army sitting in front of Motown.
A funny hand happened around this time that is worth mentioning (if for no other reason than making fun of a Canadian). In a hand that was raised by TheCanuck, Cobalt re-raised. One person folded and as TheCanuck said "I call" and started putting chips in, Cobalt accidentally showed his hand. Aces. Now, interesting situation - because TheCanuck has already called and we're going to the flop with an exposed hand. I had gotten a peak at his hand, which was JTs. This hand was all but over, until the flop came down AJT. Remember, the entire table has seen Cobalt's aces, and knows he just flopped top set. I have seen TheCanuck's hand and assume he'll be folding as soon as is humanly possible. Not so fast. With top set, Cobalt bets 4,000. TheCanuck decides to call. What? At this point I knew that either: 1) TheCanuck doesn't realize he's basically drawing dead. Any J or T will give them both full houses, but give Cobalt a bigger full house. Or 2) He's going to try to bluff him if the turn is scary. I definitely don't advise action #2 against Cobalt, who's definitely not folding no matter what comes. The turn, in fact, came K which is a really scary card for Cobalt because now any queen makes a straight. If any "bluff worthy" card was to come, that was it. He went all in this time and TheCanuck was forced to fold. It was obvious later that he was in camp #1 and assumed a J or T would give him the win.
Remember folks, when you flop a set with a high pocket pair, you don't really have to worry about under pairs, under two pairs, or under sets unless quads or something crazy comes. If you're up against top set with two pair - run as fast as you can to the nearest exit. One more bit of advice. This is illustrative how important it is to watch the action on the table. If Cobalt had not exposed his hand, this certainly would have shown down. TheCanuck would not have folded JT after that flop, and would have busted in 6th. Cobalt would have had a much bigger stack to play with.
Motown would start using the big stack and a good run of cards to make short work of the rest of the field. Up first was a double bust hand. Chuckles (who endured another unbelievably bad night of watching his pocket kings go down TWICE to underpairs, and even folded JJ preflop only to watch two jacks fall on the flop), was severely short stacked and put all his chips in preflop. Cobalt came along for the ride, as did Motown. The flop came two hearts and was checked around. The turn was a blank, checked around again. The river had another heart. Cobalt decided it was time to make a play, and pushed all his chips into the pot. Motown couldn't have been loving life more, stating "I call with the nuts!!" and showing Ah7h. Chuckles started the hand with less chips and ends up 6th, while Cobalt goes out in 5th.
With four players left Motown had a huge stack, followed by TheCanuck, then CMoney and with a somewhat short stack Coopzilla. After a lot of four-handed play CMoney looked down at AhKh and decided it was time to make a stand. Before he could get a chance, TheCanuck pushed all in. CMoney happily called, and much to his dismay Coopzilla decided to call.
Before going forward, let's break this down for a second. TheCanuck has CMoney out-chipped, so if his hand holds up, CMoney busts in 4th. Coopzilla automatically makes the money, guaranteeing at least a third place finish. When he decides to call in this situation, it would have to be a very big hand (AA/KK/QQ/AK) given that two people in front of him have already pushed.
The hands are revealed. TheCanuck shows JJ, followed by the AhKh of CMoney, and a sheepish K2o from Coopzilla. I don't know if he was tired, or just decided to play the hand in honor of Quin and Tony (only funny if you worked at K2 Information Services). Two hearts on the flop gave CMoney a ton of outs, but nothing came. This hand made two consecutive eliminations where multiple players went out at once. Coopzilla, starting the hand with less chips gets the 4th place (and bubble achievement), while CMoney lucks his way into third place by virtue of Coopzilla making an "interesting" call with K2 against two all in opponents. TheCanuck takes down the $50 bounty for busting CMoney.
The largish pot gave TheCanuck plenty of ammunition to go up against Motown's stack. Having finished 2nd in the previous tournament, TheCanuck was ready to take down a victory. The heads up battle seemed to be going quickly at first, with TheCanuck chipping away at Motown's stack. There was a huge hand that I didn't write down for some reason. All I know is the stacks were basically even and the chips went in on the flop. When the dust settled, TheCanuck won the hand and Motown couldn't bear watching his chips being counted down. He went to the bathroom and when he returned, found 4,500 in chips left in front of him.
And thus would begin the biggest comeback in DDR tournament history. Facing a massive chip deficit (4,500 - 125,000) and blinds at 1000-2000, it was time for fast action. I wish I had chronicled all of these hands, but frankly at the time this tournament seemed over with only a few inconsequential hands remaining. TheCanuck was forced to play any two cards against Motown's tiny stack. Motown doubled up. Now at 9,000 chips, it was still do or die time and another all-in happened immediately. TheCanuck correctly called any two cards again, and Motown's hand held up and he was moved to 18,000 in chips. He opted to fold the next hand, but pushed again after that. There was a short period of time when neither player wanted to call the other, and Motown was winning most of those battles. TheCanuck was a little shell-shocked that this thing hadn't already ended.
Motown worked his stack to the 24K range and made another stand. TheCanuck came along for the ride and Motown survived again, now moving to nearly 50K in chips. This was already an insane comeback, and Motown was only a few chips away from taking a chip lead. What started two hours earlier with a river 7 over CMoney's pocket queens continued into the "hand heard round the world."
With close to 50K, Motown raised to 6K preflop with 96o. He was playing his aggressive style and not letting many cheap flops fall. TheCanuck re-raised to 12K. Deciding that 96o and position were good enough to roll with, he called. The flop came down KT9. I had been watching Motown's hole cards and knew that he'd have a tough time folding (even though it was only bottom pair, he hadn't seen a lot of pairs lately). TheCanuck pushed all in without much thought and Motown went into the tank. All I could think was "you have to fold here - he's got you beat." But Motown knew something I didn't, and calls. TheCanuck shows about the worst hand you could be up against, KT for a flopped top two pair. It was a great comeback, and he almost made it, but this appeared to be the end for Motown. A seemingly innocent 8 fell on the turn. Nobody really paid attention to the fact that this gave Motown a few more outs. When a seven fell on the river, Motown back-doored his way into an ass-ended straight but it was good enough to take down the top two from TheCanuck.
This hand tipped the scales way in Motown's favor, now holding a nice 4:1 chip lead. From there he was able to grind TheCanuck down enough to put him at risk for all his chips in a dominated situation, 87 vs 75. The flop couldn't have been more interesting, A86. No straight came for TheCanuck and the miracle was completed. Motown, down to his last card at least three times during the evening takes down his 2nd win in DDR history. Given his extremely bad luck during the last three or four, it was good to see some cards finally fall his way. He also earned his second Worst to First achievement after finishing last in the previous tournament. Amazingly, he's the only player in the league to ever achieve this, and has done it twice. TheCanuck goes home one shy of the win for the second straight tournament, but puts himself in prime position to vie for 2nd place in the league championship.
With a 600 point cushion, CMoney won't be caught for the championship, but 2nd place an another $100 is up for grabs. TheCanuck took over 2nd place in points, but Cobalt is hot on his trail. There are at least four players with legitimate shots at taking 2nd, with one or two more having outside shots.
Just like SlimChance did in the previous season, Motown is showing that in the end money is what matters. Winning a single tournament can make all the difference in a season. Even at 10th place overall in the points standings, he stands in 4th place on total money won.
Stay tuned for the season finale, and watch for an underground to be scheduled in June. Congrats Motown on the win, and TheCanuck on a decent run including the bounty. For the rest, gear up for the next round in May.
Monday, February 21, 2011
S6.T4. The championship all but wrapped up.
"Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more"
- Shakespeare, Henry V
With a heavy heart, I (Mojo) begin this recount of the fourth tournament of season six, a season which once again, CMoney seems to walk away with everyone's cash. This tournament was a painful teaser, with CMoney buying in for an amazing $140, getting beat down over and over in the rebuy period, only to walk away the tournament winner. What's worse, Motown bought in for the exact same amount, and walked away in dead last. So begins this recount of a clear evening in February, where I begin to speak in the 3rd person, if only because I think it suits the writing style.
The evening began as it typically does, late, with CMoney bitching about SlimChance not telling him whether or not he'll show up. The black table included TheCanuck, Motown, CMoney, Cobalt, and Jodizzle, and the red had HumpinHorses, Chuckles, SlimChance (who showed up late), DiceMan, and Mojo. Diceman popped the rebuy cherry on the red table and (who else) Motown on the black. The black table seemed to be the hot table, and TheCanuck the hot hand of the evening, taking down every pot over and over. Chuckles was the man to beat on the red table, busting us 4 times without even sweating. After the break, it became obvious we'd had a pretty rebuy-heavy night, ending with a $700 prize pool. First place was taking down a hefty $319 for the evening, which ain't too shabby for a 10 player game. The rebuy period was over, and after the addons were taken, it appeared that TheCanuck was the absolute favorite to win. With most stacks in the 12K-14K range, his whopping 41K tower seemed destined for greatness.
It seems only natural now to write the following: "First out was Motown." For the second time in a row (which has only happened once, ever, in our history) Motown was 'the guy who joined the tables.' With his middle fingers raised in a salute to us all, Motown walked to the living room to watch a few minutes of basketball, and drown his sorrows in beer and pizza. The only remains, the AT laying wasted on a K high board against Jodizzle's QQ.
The tables merged, with SlimChance having taken a recent beating. He was low chip stack after another brush with Chuckles, and within about 5 hands, bowed out when he ran up against TheCanuck and his superstack. Trying to buy a cheap few blinds with A5, SlimChance ran squarely up against TheCandian, who called with QJ. The flop started well enough, giving Slim a 5 for his troubles, but both turn and river sealed the fate, with a running Q and J. Slimchance exits.
A quick aside: The first two exits came fairly quickly in the early-post rebuy rounds, it took nearly 3 rounds for the next player to leave. In that time, the following things happened. 1) CMoney complained, and 2) Jodizzle wasn't paying attention. Naturally, since this never happens, I thought I'd mention it.
Late in the 300-600 round, Mojo's 'fucking around for fucking around's sake' attitude with the chips got him 3 callers on his late position bullshit preflop raise to 2500 with T8o. The flop came T32, and both HumpinHorses and Diceman both check. Mojo fired another bullet into HumpinHorses and Diceman, betting near 6000, which appeared to pot commit both his opponents. HumpinHorses muttered something indicating a combonation of annoyance and disbelief, while Diceman quietly called, leaving himself only around 4000 chips remaining. The turn came a 4, and Diceman once again checked to Mojo. Mojo bet his remaining chips, and Diceman made the call with A4. The turn was no help, and Diceman was out 8th.
Chuckles was the next to go in an epic fashion. Chuckles raised early preflop with pocket QQ, getting called by 3 players. Chuckles has a pretty tight image, and doesn't commonly raise without a solid hand. The flop came damn near perfect for him. Q6c4c. With an understated initial bet, his eyes grew wider when CMoney raised after him, saying 'All In.' With a small hesitatition (which once can only assume was a query in his head like, 'what could CMoney go all in with here, I have the nuts... what else is there?') he called, showing over the huge hand. CMoney showed 7c5c.
Some folks might wonder why CMoney would raise all in here... so allow me to take this moment to explain a bit here. If you'd like to skip it, go about 3 paragraphs down. CMoney was obviously on a draw here, and raising so drastically on 'just a draw' can be tough to understand. With a little mental math and some strategy to consider, I hope to make it a little easier to understand.
The first thing to consider is the odds math at play here. With CMoney's 75c, he's got 15 cards that will improve his hand. 9 clubs will make a flush, the 3 remaining 8s will make the 8-high straight (remember, one of those eights is a club, and therefore will make a straight flush, which I counted as simply a flush above), and 3 remaining 4s will make the 7-high straight (the same straight flush scenario counts for the 4 of clubs.) Without even considering what Chuckles may have, he's seemingly got 15 outs to make a winner here. Since he's got 15 outs twice, it runs as (15/47) + (15/46), which is nearly a 60% chance to make a flush, a straight, or a straight flush. Against many hands, (say, both Red aces), he's a favorite to win! There are a few, very specific hands he's not a true 'favorite' against (including Chuckles QQ, where he's a 60/40 dog) but they're relatively few and far between. Interestingly, against CMoney's hand, the best hand to have would have been Qc8c, taking away his 'standard flush' outs, as well as one of his 'straight flush' outs, leaving him with the remaining 8s, and the 4s. (He comes a 75/25 dog in that case!)
So, in light of the fact that against many many hands he's a favorite, CMoney had to make some other considerations. The next thing to consider, stack sizes. In this particular situation both players had about 25-35 blinds to deal with (Chuckles having nearer 25, and CMoney closer to 35). The pot was raised, but not drastically so, so Chuckles initial bet probably put the pot around 12 big blind's worth. Now, if they both had hundreds of BBs in their hand to play around with, a raise all-in would be less prudent (it would be correct, but less prudent.) Since they both didn't have a lot of room in thier stacks, the allin bet there was realistically the only bet with potential to knock out a lot of betting hands.
So, if CMoney was the favorite to win, why would he want to knock out hands? Because, a lot of the hands he's not a true 'favorite' against, will consider folding against the strong bet. Take the example of Qc8c given above. Even though Q8c is WELL ahead of 7c5c, it'd be an extremely difficult call to make for all your chips against a crafty player. However, the hands that are likely to call an all in bet are EXACTLY the kinds of hands you want to call there. Say, for example, the two red Aces. Aces would often call in that situation, yet as indicated above, be behind.
So, in the end CMoney's bet chases out hands that are mathmatically more likely to win and seduces hands he's typically on par with. A fantastic example of strategy and execution. All told, it was an instructive hand, with an unfortunate outcome. The turn gave CMoney an 8, and the river 2 finalized Chuckle's evening.
After a few more rounds and mistakes (a horrible misread against HumpinHorses critically wounded him) Brown attempted some trickery against TheCanuck on a King high board. Brown check-raised with a flush draw, misreading TheCanuck to be weaker than he was, and was brutally rebuffed. Brown's 56h didn't pan out against TheCanuck's KT, and Brown sat with only the 'standings' sheet in his hand, writing down the final hand.
Cobalt was a great deal quieter this time around, but placed in a strong 5th, after surviving allin against 4 opponents when his AK held up, yet as the blinds went up Jodizzle took him down in a simple pair vs. overcards race. Cobalts 44 fell against Jodi's AJ, when she turned a 2nd Jack. Cobalt out 5th.
The honor of the bubble achievement goes to HumpinHorses, who's consistent good play is enough to make one sick. Humpin got into a tussle with TheCanuck, J4 vs J9, on a J92 board. Humpin thought top pair was good, and when the turn gave him the case Jack, he walked square into a wall. TheCanuck ate him alive and Humpin was left to ponder the hand and help Mojo deal.
The final 3 started with the Canuck in a fair chip lead (probably near 65K), followed by Jodizzle (around 35K) and CMoney close to 25, but 3 handed is where CMoney excels. To be fair, it's more a testament to his skill that he does so well in that particular arena than in a full table. Anybody can raise with AK... it takes some skill to raise just as forcefully with K6. Finally, the simple felt-experience CMoney simply outmatches almost anyone. CMoney can sit playing poker for hours, without losing an ounce of clarity of thought. Nearing midnight, both Jodizzle and TheCanuck were running close to empty.
Humpin and Mojo dealt quickly as the larger rounds went by. Over the 1,500 - 3,000 round, time was a blur, but one could see CMoney's stack slowly rising, and TheCanuck and Jodizzle's stack shrinking. It was no suprise that in the 2,000 - 4,000 round, Jodizzle made her stand with A4, and was taken out by CMoney with a pair of 8s. No ace on the flop, but an 8 on the turn finished out her night. Jodizzle with her 3rd place finish took down $87.
Watching TheCanuck against CMoney was painful. TheCanuck was fighting with every breath, but couldn't seem to make a stand. For every 5 hands, CMoney'd take 3 or 4 of them, and when blinds are reaching 3,000-6,-000 it just became a matter of time. TheCanuck's stack got smaller and smaller, when eventually TheCanuck made a disgusted stand with 53d against CMoney's raised KJ. The flop came out nice for the Canuck, 32Q. The turn, came an A, and the river T finished him. TheCanuck takes 2nd, in one of his first paid finishes in 7 tournaments.
CMoney, once again the victor, as seemingly is unstoppable for a 3-peat on his championship. He's not mathmatically ensured the win right yet, but we'd need two last place finishes (or simply no-shows) for him to not win. Still, second place seems up in the air, with only a hundred points seperating the top 6 contenders.
See you all again in March!
- Shakespeare, Henry V
With a heavy heart, I (Mojo) begin this recount of the fourth tournament of season six, a season which once again, CMoney seems to walk away with everyone's cash. This tournament was a painful teaser, with CMoney buying in for an amazing $140, getting beat down over and over in the rebuy period, only to walk away the tournament winner. What's worse, Motown bought in for the exact same amount, and walked away in dead last. So begins this recount of a clear evening in February, where I begin to speak in the 3rd person, if only because I think it suits the writing style.
The evening began as it typically does, late, with CMoney bitching about SlimChance not telling him whether or not he'll show up. The black table included TheCanuck, Motown, CMoney, Cobalt, and Jodizzle, and the red had HumpinHorses, Chuckles, SlimChance (who showed up late), DiceMan, and Mojo. Diceman popped the rebuy cherry on the red table and (who else) Motown on the black. The black table seemed to be the hot table, and TheCanuck the hot hand of the evening, taking down every pot over and over. Chuckles was the man to beat on the red table, busting us 4 times without even sweating. After the break, it became obvious we'd had a pretty rebuy-heavy night, ending with a $700 prize pool. First place was taking down a hefty $319 for the evening, which ain't too shabby for a 10 player game. The rebuy period was over, and after the addons were taken, it appeared that TheCanuck was the absolute favorite to win. With most stacks in the 12K-14K range, his whopping 41K tower seemed destined for greatness.
It seems only natural now to write the following: "First out was Motown." For the second time in a row (which has only happened once, ever, in our history) Motown was 'the guy who joined the tables.' With his middle fingers raised in a salute to us all, Motown walked to the living room to watch a few minutes of basketball, and drown his sorrows in beer and pizza. The only remains, the AT laying wasted on a K high board against Jodizzle's QQ.
The tables merged, with SlimChance having taken a recent beating. He was low chip stack after another brush with Chuckles, and within about 5 hands, bowed out when he ran up against TheCanuck and his superstack. Trying to buy a cheap few blinds with A5, SlimChance ran squarely up against TheCandian, who called with QJ. The flop started well enough, giving Slim a 5 for his troubles, but both turn and river sealed the fate, with a running Q and J. Slimchance exits.
A quick aside: The first two exits came fairly quickly in the early-post rebuy rounds, it took nearly 3 rounds for the next player to leave. In that time, the following things happened. 1) CMoney complained, and 2) Jodizzle wasn't paying attention. Naturally, since this never happens, I thought I'd mention it.
Late in the 300-600 round, Mojo's 'fucking around for fucking around's sake' attitude with the chips got him 3 callers on his late position bullshit preflop raise to 2500 with T8o. The flop came T32, and both HumpinHorses and Diceman both check. Mojo fired another bullet into HumpinHorses and Diceman, betting near 6000, which appeared to pot commit both his opponents. HumpinHorses muttered something indicating a combonation of annoyance and disbelief, while Diceman quietly called, leaving himself only around 4000 chips remaining. The turn came a 4, and Diceman once again checked to Mojo. Mojo bet his remaining chips, and Diceman made the call with A4. The turn was no help, and Diceman was out 8th.
Chuckles was the next to go in an epic fashion. Chuckles raised early preflop with pocket QQ, getting called by 3 players. Chuckles has a pretty tight image, and doesn't commonly raise without a solid hand. The flop came damn near perfect for him. Q6c4c. With an understated initial bet, his eyes grew wider when CMoney raised after him, saying 'All In.' With a small hesitatition (which once can only assume was a query in his head like, 'what could CMoney go all in with here, I have the nuts... what else is there?') he called, showing over the huge hand. CMoney showed 7c5c.
Some folks might wonder why CMoney would raise all in here... so allow me to take this moment to explain a bit here. If you'd like to skip it, go about 3 paragraphs down. CMoney was obviously on a draw here, and raising so drastically on 'just a draw' can be tough to understand. With a little mental math and some strategy to consider, I hope to make it a little easier to understand.
The first thing to consider is the odds math at play here. With CMoney's 75c, he's got 15 cards that will improve his hand. 9 clubs will make a flush, the 3 remaining 8s will make the 8-high straight (remember, one of those eights is a club, and therefore will make a straight flush, which I counted as simply a flush above), and 3 remaining 4s will make the 7-high straight (the same straight flush scenario counts for the 4 of clubs.) Without even considering what Chuckles may have, he's seemingly got 15 outs to make a winner here. Since he's got 15 outs twice, it runs as (15/47) + (15/46), which is nearly a 60% chance to make a flush, a straight, or a straight flush. Against many hands, (say, both Red aces), he's a favorite to win! There are a few, very specific hands he's not a true 'favorite' against (including Chuckles QQ, where he's a 60/40 dog) but they're relatively few and far between. Interestingly, against CMoney's hand, the best hand to have would have been Qc8c, taking away his 'standard flush' outs, as well as one of his 'straight flush' outs, leaving him with the remaining 8s, and the 4s. (He comes a 75/25 dog in that case!)
So, in light of the fact that against many many hands he's a favorite, CMoney had to make some other considerations. The next thing to consider, stack sizes. In this particular situation both players had about 25-35 blinds to deal with (Chuckles having nearer 25, and CMoney closer to 35). The pot was raised, but not drastically so, so Chuckles initial bet probably put the pot around 12 big blind's worth. Now, if they both had hundreds of BBs in their hand to play around with, a raise all-in would be less prudent (it would be correct, but less prudent.) Since they both didn't have a lot of room in thier stacks, the allin bet there was realistically the only bet with potential to knock out a lot of betting hands.
So, if CMoney was the favorite to win, why would he want to knock out hands? Because, a lot of the hands he's not a true 'favorite' against, will consider folding against the strong bet. Take the example of Qc8c given above. Even though Q8c is WELL ahead of 7c5c, it'd be an extremely difficult call to make for all your chips against a crafty player. However, the hands that are likely to call an all in bet are EXACTLY the kinds of hands you want to call there. Say, for example, the two red Aces. Aces would often call in that situation, yet as indicated above, be behind.
So, in the end CMoney's bet chases out hands that are mathmatically more likely to win and seduces hands he's typically on par with. A fantastic example of strategy and execution. All told, it was an instructive hand, with an unfortunate outcome. The turn gave CMoney an 8, and the river 2 finalized Chuckle's evening.
After a few more rounds and mistakes (a horrible misread against HumpinHorses critically wounded him) Brown attempted some trickery against TheCanuck on a King high board. Brown check-raised with a flush draw, misreading TheCanuck to be weaker than he was, and was brutally rebuffed. Brown's 56h didn't pan out against TheCanuck's KT, and Brown sat with only the 'standings' sheet in his hand, writing down the final hand.
Cobalt was a great deal quieter this time around, but placed in a strong 5th, after surviving allin against 4 opponents when his AK held up, yet as the blinds went up Jodizzle took him down in a simple pair vs. overcards race. Cobalts 44 fell against Jodi's AJ, when she turned a 2nd Jack. Cobalt out 5th.
The honor of the bubble achievement goes to HumpinHorses, who's consistent good play is enough to make one sick. Humpin got into a tussle with TheCanuck, J4 vs J9, on a J92 board. Humpin thought top pair was good, and when the turn gave him the case Jack, he walked square into a wall. TheCanuck ate him alive and Humpin was left to ponder the hand and help Mojo deal.
The final 3 started with the Canuck in a fair chip lead (probably near 65K), followed by Jodizzle (around 35K) and CMoney close to 25, but 3 handed is where CMoney excels. To be fair, it's more a testament to his skill that he does so well in that particular arena than in a full table. Anybody can raise with AK... it takes some skill to raise just as forcefully with K6. Finally, the simple felt-experience CMoney simply outmatches almost anyone. CMoney can sit playing poker for hours, without losing an ounce of clarity of thought. Nearing midnight, both Jodizzle and TheCanuck were running close to empty.
Humpin and Mojo dealt quickly as the larger rounds went by. Over the 1,500 - 3,000 round, time was a blur, but one could see CMoney's stack slowly rising, and TheCanuck and Jodizzle's stack shrinking. It was no suprise that in the 2,000 - 4,000 round, Jodizzle made her stand with A4, and was taken out by CMoney with a pair of 8s. No ace on the flop, but an 8 on the turn finished out her night. Jodizzle with her 3rd place finish took down $87.
Watching TheCanuck against CMoney was painful. TheCanuck was fighting with every breath, but couldn't seem to make a stand. For every 5 hands, CMoney'd take 3 or 4 of them, and when blinds are reaching 3,000-6,-000 it just became a matter of time. TheCanuck's stack got smaller and smaller, when eventually TheCanuck made a disgusted stand with 53d against CMoney's raised KJ. The flop came out nice for the Canuck, 32Q. The turn, came an A, and the river T finished him. TheCanuck takes 2nd, in one of his first paid finishes in 7 tournaments.
CMoney, once again the victor, as seemingly is unstoppable for a 3-peat on his championship. He's not mathmatically ensured the win right yet, but we'd need two last place finishes (or simply no-shows) for him to not win. Still, second place seems up in the air, with only a hundred points seperating the top 6 contenders.
See you all again in March!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Season six, tournament 3
The three people who read this blog probably noticed that tournament 2 didn't get a writeup. CMoney won again.
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:
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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