The G-Man Strikes Back!

There was a lot of drama heading into the final tournament of the fall/winter poker season. MattM, Ben, Steve, Beast and Chris had already secured spots at the final table, either previously or by showing up for the final event. That left three spots to fill.

Leading contenders were Adam, Brett and MattG - all tied for sixth. As long as nobody below them placed, they were in the tournament of champions by showing up.

So the event began, in an unusual one-table 11-man style that saw the blinds raising twice before the deal even made it around the table once thanks to all the heated chatter on various non-poker topics.

The big hand early on was shown by Brett whose pocket 3s turned into quads after the flop. He smartly slow played until someone bet late and he cleaned it up giving him an early chip lead. Another player hot out of the gate was Tim, who had yet to make it to any poker event and who would fail to qualify for the final table even if he won the event. He played well early on and was in the top-2 chip stacks for quite a while.

Then people started to go out. First it was Steve, followed shortly after by Adam who was beat with his best hand of the night (A-K). Co-leader in points on the season, MattM, was next to go. That left 8 players and the action was getting intense.

That intensity was elevated substantially by three (or was it four?) consecutive mis-deals by Brett (who earlier accidentally pulled in the chips from a pot that turned out to be a split). One of those mis-deals included having to pull back pocket Aces from the host who was the low stack.

After a tough beat to Ben, MattG was potentially on tilt when he pushed with A-Q suited, only to luckily see Ben fold a hand that would have been the winner had it played out. MattG took this momentum and started to set his sights on knocking out any player he could. First, he took out Beast and Hill on the same hand. Next was revenge vs. Ben for his earlier tough beat. This action was followed quickly by an all in that took out Brett and Tim in one shot (his A-Q made a straight on the turn).

The last win leaving Dave, Jon and MattG as the final three and securing a spot for himself and one of his final opponents. At this point, if MattG were to go out first, both Jon and Dave would secure the final two slots at the Tourney of Champs. Adam and Brett had a big interest as that scenario would knock them out of contention completely. Only Matt finishing in the top-2 would at least guarantee a playoff for the final spot at the table (aka the Poke-Off).

MattG had the early big stack, but quickly bled it away to Jon who took control. Dave was on the verge of going out, but made a massive comeback, eventually knocking Jon out (and setting up a three-way satellite to qualify for the final spot in the TOC between him, Adam and Brett).

So we went head's up and MattG took a big pot off Dave to take a sizeable chip lead when his K-5 got him two pair after the turn to Dave's pair of Qs (one on the board). The final blow came when MattG made a hasty call of Dave's all-in only to find himself dominated. MattG's A-8 was clearly a huge underdog to Dave's A-10. But the flop revealed nowt and the turn gave MattG his 8 to take tournament #5.

Final standings are below. Check the standings on the right for the Tournament of Champions race. The top-7 are assured a place, but the 8th spot is a three-way tie which will be determined via the Poke-Off to be played earlier in the evening on the night of the TOC.

Event #5 Results:
1) MattG
2) Dave
3) Jon
4) Tim
5) Brett
6) Ben
7) Chris
8) Beast
9) MattM
10) Adam
11) Steve

Simon Says, "See ya at the Tourney of Champs"

Despite missing out on two of the first three events of the current season, Beast made his presence felt with a massive win at Jon's house (great chili, I heard, I wasn't hungry) last Thursday.

The result was a bit of a surprise given Beast's poor attendance record at poker events and the fact that he finished dead last in his first attempt to break onto the Camel Cup Poker Tour scene.

But in the end, he rallied to take out Ben (who twice held a substantial chip lead) and the (not so) rusty Dave to win the money and put himself in position to qualify for the Tourney of Champs.

I'd now like to tell some clever stories about big hands, bad beats or boneheaded maneuvers, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, so I'll leave it at this. With just one event left (Feb 19), the race for the final 8* is heating up and will go down to the wire. Take a look at the updated standings on the right and you'll see that spots 4-11 are separated by a whopping two points. Anything could happen...

Here are the results from Feb 5 at Jon's:

1) Beast
2) Ben
3) Dave
4) Jon
5) MattG
6) MattM
7) Chris
8) Brett
9) Steve
10) Aran

* I say final 8 but there has been talk of letting whomever wants to play, play...we'll sort it out, but if two players tie for 1st, note that their "free" entry to the TOC will be split.