Season 4 Tournaments 2 and 3

I'm combining the posts for the previous two tournaments, since I can't really remember most of tournament 2 (probably because I busted first and sat on the rail for the duration). I will say that we witnessed a rare event we may never see again. Someone took down the triple crown of the deuce deuce league (win, DD bonus, and bounty in a single tournament).

I do recall the hand that MiniMuth busted me with. We were about 10 minutes into the "real" tournament (after rebuys) and I had already made a tough play against my nemesis Jodizzle to preserve some chips. I was in the big blind with ATo and called a raise from MiniMuth in early position. The flop came down T92. I bet about half the pot and was called. The turn paired the board with a deuce, which is always nice to see when you're playing a big ace that pairs because all other lower two pairs end up conterfeited. Confident that I had the best hand, I put out another bet. Mini immediately pushes all in... a shock to me since I figured I was good with his flop call. Could he really have played KK-JJ this way? I can't imagine just a flat call on that flop from Mr. TAG. I tank for quite a while - not wanting to end my night so early. Finally I decide he's either on a draw or has me dead and make the call. He shows QJs for the straight draw. As it turns out, he also has the overcard outs. Of course the J falls on the river to give him jacks up and I'm bounced in 12th.

For the rest of the tournament, all I have are the bust hands:

11th Canuck (AK) eliminated by MiniMuth (33) despite an ace on the flop, a nasty 3 hits the river

10th DiceMan (A5) eliminated by MiniMuth (KJ) all in on a AQT flop

9th StillNotFat (KQ) eliminated by Coopzilla (AK)

8th Motown (A6s) falls to Coopzilla (JJ) when a J on the flop seals the deal

7th Jodizzle (AJ) eliminated by HumpinHorses (AQ)

6th Mojo (QJ) eliminated by HumpinHorses (9d8d) when a 3rd diamond hits the board

5th SunshinesBitch (Q2) eliminated by HumpinHorses (KQ) [bounty taken]

4th DoctorLove (QJ) eliminated by MiniMuth (A6)

3rd MiniMuth (T6) eliminated by Coopzilla (K3)

2nd Coopzilla (A4) eliminated by HumpinHorses (TT) with a T on the flop

1st HumpinHorses

As previously mentioned, HumpinHorses is our first triple crown winner. About four hands into heads up play, he pushed all in from the small blind and got a fold, and showed the 22. He had already taken the bounty from SunshinesBitch earlier, and all that was left was to finish this one out. He played well heads up and took down the triple crown in dominating fashion, nabbing $370 total in the process.


Tournament 3

Tournament 3 was poised to be the biggest tournament ever, with 14 committed to showing up. A few last minute cancellations had us sitting at 12 contenders when we got underway.

I remember a few hands during the rebuy period from the red table, one in particular that's fresh enough in my mind to recall almost exactly. During the rebuy period I had some good fortune and worked my stack into the 18,000 neighborhood. One of my table mates, SunshinesBitch had done some fine work as well and was sitting near the same count. We were 5 or 6 minutes from the end of the rebuy period when I looked down at AKo from late position. SunshinesBitch had already raised from early position. I reraised the minimum hoping to see the blinds fold and get heads up against SB. To my surprise, MiniMuth re-raised over the top all in for a total of around 4500. SunshinesBitch decided to flat call that raise - a really dangerous play to make without aces or kings since I am still able to reraise behind, and had already shown strength by re-raising the initial raise. I shot him a smile and said "you're not worried about me, eh?" to which he replied "what do you mean?"... to which I replied "all in".

By now the pot was looking really good, and whoever won would be taking a lot of chips into the post-rebuy period. SunshinesBitch called and the hands shown were:

CMoney: AKo
MiniMuth: AKo
SunshinesBitch: JJ

He had to feel good about two of the aces and two of the kings being used already - but alas a King fell on the flop immediately dashing his hopes of taking down this monster pot. Great news for me since MiniMuth only entered the pot for around 4500 so I'd only have to chop a small portion of SB's chips. No help came on the turn or river and the final pot looked something like:

13,500 main pot (I took 1/2, MiniMuth took 1/2)
27,000 side pot (I get it all!)

I finish out the rebuy period with almost 35,000 and look good to go deep in the tournament. Ironically two hands later I folded 44 after seeing a raise and re-raise all in from Jodizzle which would have amounted to a flopped set and another 15,000+ pot.

The rebuy period ended and I was ready to rock with a big stack. In the back of my mind somewhere was the memory of MiniMuth busting me first in the last tournament on a draw that hit on the river. He had position on me, but I had a massive stack of chips. I was ready to put some soldiers out in battle and really try dominating the table. It didn't take long for us to get tangled up in a hand. From the big blind I called his EP raise with A9s. Not a monster hand, but with 6 at the table not a terrible hand either. The flop came ace high and I decided to bet to get a feel for where he was at in the hand. He flat called and we took a turn card that didn't seem to change much. I threw out another little token bet and once again to my surprise, he pushed all in. I really needed to think about this one - he could easily have me dominated. I can afford the call, but MiniMuth has been holding over my play for several tournaments and I don't want to let him have the pleasure of doubling up early. He has position and the last thing I want to do is hand him 1/4 of my chips to play with. Since Jodizzle hasn't beat me in a big hand for a while, I think MiniMuth may be my new nemesis.

I start chatting it up with him and he gives me enough information to make the call. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was, but he said something about his kicker being able to beat the board, which had the ace, and 7 high after that. Usually when someone makes that comment, they are ONE card better than the board. After all, why say that with AK/AQ? I decide there's enough chance he actually has A8 to make the call worth a shot. And indeed he turns over A8 and I take him out having him out-kicked by one card. Oh sweet revenge, MiniMuth out 12th.

Next to go was the reigning tourney winner. This marked the first time in DDR tournament history that the bounty player was eliminated before the tables combined, meaning that nobody from the green table even had a shot at the bounty (17th tournament). Short-stacked and needing some help, HumpinHorses found himself all in with ATo against TheCanuck with KQ. The T on the flop didn't change much, but the K on the river sent the bounty player to the rail and put $50 into the hands of TheCanuck.

Before getting to the next elimination, I really have to mention a hand from the green table that I witnessed. I happened to be walking by and saw this - something that could have big ramifications fo the season championship race:

Coopzilla is at the top of the leaderboard after two consecutive 2nd place finishes. Seems like every season this guy has an invisible shield around him, protecting him from busting early. Folks, here's a lesson in thinking "big picture". With blinds at 300-600 Coopzilla found himself with four black chips - not even enough to put in a full bet. He was in "ladder mode" about two hours too early. Everyone in the league should be aware that the current points leader is dangerously close to elimination, and doing what they can to send him packing as fast as possible. Here's what transpired... StillNotFat posts the small blind, Meatsock the big blind. Coopzilla looks down and decides this is the hand and calls off his last 400 (once again, not even enough to account for the big blind). SNF completes from the small blind, and Meatsock knocks the table for a cheap flop seen three-handed. The perfect situation! Two guys in with a chance to knock out the league points leader. Nothing in the pot worth fighting over, and this looks like the obvious check-down hand. The flop comes mostly high cards, KQ4. I guess we can hope the blinds have something, and that Coopzilla called with a hand like 88. Check-check from the brothers in the blinds. The turn comes an innocent 6. SNF checks and.... Meatsock bets? Hold the phone here - the points leader is all in and the entire league is hoping for an early bust. This bet means Meatsock is on a HUGE hand, something pretty much unbeatable... otherwise what's the bet for? SNF folds (and I get a peek at his hand wich is an offsuit ace of some kind). With that bet the hands are turned over and there is Coopzilla with a Q8... pair of queens. I figure Meatsock must have KQ or something of the sort and shows... 62. Six deuce! The pair of sixes was apparently strong enough for a bet, and a very painful ace comes on the river.

In case anyone is having a hard time following... if Meatsock checks down instead of betting the six, SNF catches the ace to eliminate Coopzilla in 10th place giving him very little points. Instead Coopzilla tripples up to 1200 and is very much alive. Is it possible that Meatsock has some piece of Coop to win the championship (after that hand, I'd say he should get at least 50% of the prize!)?

Alright, rant over - time to get back to the action. Coopzilla, you lucky bastard. As it turns out, the luck was just beginning for the league points leader.

Meatsock, perhaps reeling from the 62 bet decided to make his final stand with TT and was called by Motown with A8 after a flop of AKQ came down. A jack would have saved him, but it didn't come and he busts 10th.

We combine tables and start the 9-handed final table. I'm still looking good with close to 40,000 in chips. A lot of tight play at the final table had the blinds escalating, and with AQ SunshinesBitch made a stand, called by DoctorLove with AJ. A great spot to be in, until the J on the flop put him way behind and he never caught up - busting in 9th.

With 8 left I took my shot at Coopzilla. I look down at KK in late position and decide to raise Coopzilla's big blind. He pushes over the top all in and I call. He shows ATo and I'm feeling pretty good. I feel even better when the flop comes AK8. I'm not sure if Coopzilla realizes, but I'm winning this hand about 98.5% of the time. He has to catch runner-runner full house (or quads) to beat me, and that only happens about 1.5% of the time. The turn comes another ace, and he starts the celebrating early. Hold on there big fella, yer daddy just made a full house. You're going to need even more help. I was still feeling good about my 90% winner, until the 8 came on the river to fill him up with a bigger full house. Un-mother-fucking-believable Mr. Coop. The turn/river HAD to come either AA, A8, 8A, AT, TA. That's it... those are the only possible ways you win that hand. I still can't believe it.

DoctorLove continued his Jodizzle-busting skills in this tournament, when she picked AQ to push with and ran up against the QQ of DoctorLove - who definitely loves the ladies, especially when they hold up. Jodizzle out 8th.

Ironically, 7 is unlucky for Coopzilla. He raised before the flop and was called by Motown. A big flop came down, AKJ. A betting and raising war began, and it looked like we had two monsters on our hand (although Coopzilla could have been playing A2 here and waiting for the obvious running 2,2 on the turn and river). I kid, I kid... he was much stronger than that. When the chips finally went into the middle Coop showed the big AJ two pair, and Motown happily turned over his QT for a flopped broadway straight! In a strange, bizzaro-world type moment, Coopzilla didn't fill up this time and got knocked out 7th.

A very short-stacked Diceman looked down at 74s in the big blind. I had the revolver in mid position and figured I'd isolate him with the coin flip. I raised minimum to scare everyone else out and he was forced to call. The bonus had already been paid, so no love there - but the pair did hold up and Diceman busted in 6th.

Quietly, StillNotFat had taken down several uncontested pots and had started to build a little stack. He soon became a wrecking ball and took the tournament into his hands. First to fall victim was TheCanuck, who pushed with K8 on an 8-high flop and ran into SNF's TT. The pair held up and TheCanuck goes out 5th.

Next on the hit list was Motown, who hasn't had much luck lately in the tournament after being one of the consistent high finishes in the first three seasons of the DDR league. His A9s looked great, but not as good as SNF's AQ. With an ace on the flop and nothing else coming to save him, Motown busted in 4th.

The final three were DoctorLove, StillNotFat, and CMoney. I had been quiet for quite a while and my stack had dwindled. DoctorLove had let himself almost blind out and finally pushed all in with A3o. I was in the big blind with Q8 and his raise wasn't enough to push me off pretty much any two cards, so I called. An 8 on the flop was enough to send the 'docta out 3rd.

As heads up play began, StillNotFat held an overwhelming 8-1 chip lead. I decided I could survive a few hands before having to push, and I really wanted to keep the pots small preflop and use my post-flop skills as an advantage against the less experienced SNF. Well, he had other ideas and I have to say, he played heads up brilliantly. He wasn't letting me see flops. With blinds at 2000-4000 he was raising nearly every hand to 14,000. With only 30K in my stack against his 200K I couldn't play the junk I was being dealt. After about 10 hands and some stealing, I was sitting around 24K in chips. I raised to 9,000 from the small blind and got a call. I had Ks2d. The flop came 3d4d5d. This was enough for me to make a stand - the open-ended straight flush draw with the K over card presumably good if it hit, this was it. He checked to me and I pushed. Easy call for a man who had just flopped a straight with the non-ass-ended open ended straight flush draw - the 6d7h. Iwas in serious trouble, having only a single out, the ace of diamonds. Blanks came on the turn and river, and StillNotFat takes down his first ever DDR tournament win.

Congrats to StillNotFat - you played great down the stretch and completely dominated the heads up match. I picked up some much-needed 2nd place points to keep me alive in the hunt for the league championship. See everyone next time!