Chris Wins, Steve Qualifies, Poke-off Looms

There was a late rush of attendees for event #5, with much still to be decided heading toward the Tournament of Champions. Who would finish atop the table and gain free entry? With four players assured a spot, how will the other four spots fill up? Can the likes of Aran, James or Steve make a last-tournament charge to qualify? Most of those questions were answered on Thursday, but there is still some open-ended qualification to be determined.

With ten attendees, we started with two tables of 5. Table assignments got heated when several players seemed more interested in having a view of the Olympics on TV rather than concern about the poker at hand.

Coming into the final tournament in a tie for sixth place, Tyler was hoping his spot might already be clinched. After taking a nice pot early, he called Steve's all-in with a pair of 6s and an ace kicker only to see Steve flip over a 5-6 which gave him two pair. A player in contention for the top spot, MattG, bled some early chips, then took a major hit when he rivered a set of 9s only to be beaten by Chris' nut-flush. The #1 spot coming in was now down to 900 chips with 9 players still in the tournament.

One of MattG's major competitors for the top spot was Ben who arrived late, played just a few hands and received a similar beat when his trip-10s were beaten by Aran's flush. Ben had pushed and he was out in 9th. We were down to one table.

With his small stack, MattG knew that he would have to pick his spot and push. He did so twice in three hands and split the pot both times, increasing his stack enough to have some wiggle room. With a similarly dwindling stack, Dave pushed with A-J and was called by Aran's suited K-7. The 7 came on the river and Dave was out in 8th, leaving him in a potential dangerous spot as he remained stuck on three points for the season.

After hanging on with a big win a few hands prior, James decided it was time to push and was beaten by Chris' trip-Jacks. His response was, "Alright, I gotta go work out anyway" and then he slammed his beer and headed for the door with a 7th place finish.

This put us in a one-point bubble situation as the top-5 would earn a point. MattG was calculating that if he got the one point, he would only have a threat to his top spot by Tim winning the tournament. So he was delighted when Tim went head to head with Steve and get crippled when Steve took the pot while shouting, "Give it to me, Daddy." A few hands later, Tim pushed with his 400 chips and revealed his opportune pocket rockets that held up so he tripled up to 1200 for some life.

Moments later it was a raise by Brett, followed by an all-in by Aran which put Tim at risk for all his chips. Brett folded and Tim's k-10 was dominated by Aran's k-q. Aran made a full house and Tim went out in 6th. The top spot was now guaranteed to MattG as he got his point and was far enough ahead of Chris to not be caught.

With the joy of this realization, MattG loosely pushed with a-7 suited and was taken out by Brett's a-10 to finish fifth. Continuing on a theme of river trips getting beaten by flushes, Steve took out Brett in the same manor. Brett rivered a third seven, but that gave Steve the diamond flush and Brett was out in 4th, leaving him tied for 7th with Tyler and Dave.

Aran pushed on Steve, who called and won with his 10s to Aran's 8s and the third place finish ended Aran's run at qualification. It also solidified Steve's spot in the big game.

After a number of hands back and forth, Steve pushed on a nut-flush draw only to see that Chris already had a made hand and won with the heart-flush. Chris' victory was his first tournament win, which is hard to believe given how many times he's in the final three in tournaments.

So that leaves us with MattG getting free entry to the TOC and a three-way tie for 7th which will be settled via a Poke-Off before the Tournament of Champions. Three men enter and when one goes out, the other two will move into the big game. We need to work out the location and date of the TOC, but it will likely be March 12. Location tbd.

Update: Tournament of Champions will be held Friday, March 12 at Dave's (thanks Dave!).

Event #5 Standings:
1) Chris
2) Steve
3) Aran
4) Brett
5) MattG
6) Tim
7) James
8) Dave
9) Ben
10) Tyler