Forty-two sat down to play this week. I’m sorry that I was not one of them. It was my birthday and my wife took me out to dinner and the symphony. I had a great evening and got home just in time to catch the final table. Here is the final table leaderboard.
- Hazy Cat = 23680
- slick63 = 8480
- Bigmiko = 8310
- msrinny02 = 5895
- SilentKnight = 4595
- VegasSno = 4130
- Bugman22j = 2580
- Dissident11 = 2410
- johnfitz52 = 1860
- Agro = 1060
Do I see a couple of new names on that list? Welcome to SilentKnight and johnfitz. We are glad to have you with us. Hazy Cat was dominant as you can see. I’m told that chip lead started with the first orbit of the Holdem Affair. Dang Hazy – how can we compete with that?
Agro was our short stack going into the final table but he doubled up on the fifth hand and was now in the game. VegasSno was our first casualty when he was all-in pre-flop with Ah Js only to get melted by Bigmiko with the pocket rockets on hand 11. Bummer Sno.
Newcomer johnfitz52 was making a good effort when he ran into Bigmiko on hand 15. Again all-in pre-flop, this time with Johnfitz holding Kc Qs and Bigmiko with big slick. Word of warning to the newcomers – beware of Mike. These two knock outs put Bigmiko solidly into second place. At this point he and Hazy Cat controlled about 2/3 of the chips between them.
Hand 24 and it is Bugman22j and msrinny02 putting all in the middle when the flop came 3c 9d Jd. What can they find in that flop that appeals to them? Bugman turned over pocket tens but msrinny held Kh Js. Bugman was betting that rinny missed the jack but he guessed wrong this time. That was the fatal error for bugman22j and he was sent to the rail in 8th place.
The very next hand SilentKnight open pushed for 3970 holding pocket queens. Msrinny looked him up and turned over Ah As to back her up. The aces held up and SilentKnight had to settle for 7th lace in his first Holdem Affair. Good job SilentKnight, this event isn’t easy.
Hand 26 and Dissident is all-in when the flop comes 7s 5s Ks. Hazy Cat didn’t believe him and made the call with top pair – Kd 4h. But Dissident wasn’t bluffing this time – he turned over Qs Ts for the flopped flush. That was a huge pot of 11680 that slid over to Dissident and he was now very healthy even if it didn’t knock Hazy Cat out of the chip lead. The race was getting tighter now. Four of these players were now bunched with stacks from 17560 to 11680. We had ourselves a race.
Hand 36 and it is time for Agro to make his stand. He started the hand with only 1345 with the antes 50 and the blinds 200/400. Kd Td – hmmm – looks good enough to make a stand. Three folds and Dissident raised to 3000, two more folds and Agro made the call. Dissident had a hand this time. He doesn’t always when he opens but this time he held the two sentries – Jc Js. The flop brought Agro the Th but Dissident hit his set with the Jh. No miracles for Agro and he was forced to settle for bubble boy honors this week.
We were paying five this week so we now had our money table. Time for the shorties to climb the ladder. Hand 45 and the ladder was there for slick63 to climb out of his short stack. Ad 8s – not the strongest hand around but when you are down to 2590 posting the 400 chips big blind it looks good enough to call a Dissident small blind push. How can you believe Dissident in the small blind when he makes a play like that. And Slick was right as he learned when Dissident showed Ks 9c. But the flop came 9s 3d Qh. That missed Slick but hit Dissident for second pair. The turn and river missed them both and Slick63 was gone in 5th place. I hate that when you make the right call in the big blind only to lose on the flop. That happens to me all too often.
The four danced for the next 12 hands then hand 57 and we have some real action. With the blinds 300/600 – Msrinny opened for 120 UTG. That should have raised an eyebrow – Rinny doesn’t play any trash UTG. But Dissident re-raised to 4200 and Msrinny made it 7200. Dissident pushed the rest of his chips into the middle and rinny came along for the ride. Now they have my interest. What do these two have for cards?
Dissident11 showed Qh Ad.
msrinny02 showed As Jh.
Okay, now I understand. The flop came Qc Td 5c giving Dissident top pair but rinny a gut shot straight draw. The 8s on the turn gave rinny four more outs with the double gut. But the 8h came on the river and Dissident had doubled through rinny.
That was the beginning of the end for msrinny02. Down to the short stack she had to make her stand just five hands later. She made a good play against Hazy Cat when she was all-in pre-flop with Ah Td against Hazy Cat holding Jc 8c. But the flop hit our mouser hard with a jack and two clubs. The Th on the turn wasn’t enough and msrinny was gone in fourth place.
Hazy started to really apply the pressure now. He won eleven of the next twenty hands. Dissident11 finally made his stand on hand 84 when he looked down and saw pocket queens smiling back at him. Hazy Cat chased him into the middle as they were all-in before the flop. It was easy to see why when Hazy Cat turned over pocket kings. The flop came 3h 3s Kc and our contrary one was done for the night in third place.
It was a big task ahead for Bigmiko. Hazy Cat had 52400 chips and Bigmiko only 10600 but with the blinds 300/600 there was some room to play post flop. Mike made a good run at it bringing his stack up to 21000 but the final hand was a heartbreaker. Bigmiko had the better of it when the chips went into the middle before the flop. Ah 4s against Kh Th for Hazy. A classic race and that is what heads up is all about. But the flop hit Hazy Cat with 3d Td 9c. The turn was the Jc and the river Qd gave Hazy Cat the straight and the win.
An excellent final table as is usually the case. Even when you go into the final table of the Holdem Affair with a big chip lead it is never easy. This week was no exception. Great play from everyone. I’m glad I made it home to see it.
See you next week.
Peace,
Sunbob
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