Glenso showed us again why he is such a respected opponent in tournament play, posting his fourth Holdem Affair victory. He wasn’t the chip leader when we sat down to the final table, that was rshocker He wasn’t even the chip leader when we got down to the money table, that was Takechances. But when the final hand was finished, Glenso was the only one left. Takechances was the heads up foil this week. Gjones was third, rshocker had to settle for fourth. And a new name appeared at the final table this week when coop1 finished out the money table.
There were 37 players this week. A good size for the regular Holdem Affair. Let’s shoot to get everyone back for the birthday bash November 4. We had 100 last year, let’s beat that this year.
I’m afraid I missed the early part of this week’s event. I was playing in a home game and didn’t get back until the final table had been seated. Oh, just for you who might wonder, I took second in our little home game. Jewelcard took me in the heads up match when he spiked a queen to take down my pocket jacks. At least we kept it in the Holdem Affair family.
It must have been quite a match – the final table wasn’t seated until 3 hours into the match. Your final table looked like this.
rshocker = 8580
Takechances = 6990
xgames4me = 6795
gjones = 6025
Coop1 = 5730
Dissident11 = 5590
Mellow Yellow = 4910
Glenso = 4895
Divinetiger = 3865
VegasSno = 2120
Look at that. All of them had workable stacks. With the blinds 150/300, only VegasSno went into the final table remotely short stacked and even he had enough to play with. This was shaping up to be a good final table and it didn’t disappoint those of us on the rail.
They danced for the first four hands, feeling each other out. Then on hand 5, VegasSno in the big blind, called the min-raise from rshocker. When the flop came 2d 9h 8h, VegasSno immediately pushed. Rshocker made the gutsy call holding just Ac Qc, two over cards. He made the right play, VegasSno turned over Qh Js. With only the gut-shot straight draw, I guess you could say Vegas had made a semi-bluff. It cost him this time when the board finished up 8h, 2s and the ace from rshocker held up.
Hand 14 and we are at it again. This time Dissident11 opened for 900 and it was xgames4me that looked him up. The flop was 7s 2c 8h, xgames bet 1950 and Dissident pushed the rest of his 4090 stack into the middle. Dissident11 showed Jd Qd and xgames4me showed Kd 5d. That’s a lot of chips on total bluffs, guys. The turn hit Dissident11 with the Jh and the river clobbered xgames4me with the Kc. Dissident was gone in 9th place. That one haunted Dissident for the rest of the night and boosted xgames into the chip lead.
That lead didn’t last long, just seven hands later Takechances doubled up off xgames4me when his pocket tens bested the pocket sixes. That hand put Takechances in the chip lead but also was the beginning of the melt down for xgames. Hand 29 five people see the cheap flop fall 5h 5c 2s. xgames4me bet 700 and Takechances was the only caller. The turn brought the 3h, xgames bet 1400 and Takechances made the simple call. When the river brought the Ac, xgames pushed for 3695. You can’t fault xgames for the play. The ace is definitely a scare card the way the hand played out and a steal at that point should work against anything but a made hand. Unfortunately for xgames, Takechances held pocket fours and the ace had filled his wheel straight. Xgames4me had gone from chip leader to out in 8th place in just eight hands.
We cruised to hand 42 and now we had antes of 50 and blinds of 200/400. Mellow Yellow was desperate but the others had solid stacks. All folded to Glenso in the small blind who raised to 1550. Divinetiger pushed in his 5340 on the re-steal. Glenso isn’t above stealing with any two cards in that spot so pushing with king deuce suited isn’t a bad play. But one of the reasons that you try the steals with smoke even though you will have to lay it down if you have any resistance is to set up the times when you do have a hand. This was one of those times. Glenso happily made the call and turned over Ad Qh. That, alone would have been enough but the flop brought the Ac just to seal the deal. Divinetiger was gone in seventh place.
Hand 44 and Mellow Yellow just couldn’t wait it out any longer. With only 835 before he anted 50 and posted the 400 big blind, he was forced to push it all to see the flop along with gjones and Glenso. They checked it down to see the board fall 3s 5d 4s 4c 9s. All three held an ace but gjones held the king for top kicker. Mellow Yellow was out on the bubble this week.
Our money table was set, with Takechances in the lead with 18125 followed by Glenso, rshocker, gjones and Coop1. Coop1 was feeling short by hand 51 when he posted the big blind and saw the cheap flop pair his ten. His kicker was just the 2c but he pushed the Js 9h Th. Rshocker made the call holding Qh 9c. Oops, second pair versus third pair. Looking good for Coop. But, as happens so often in these races, the river card was the decider and it was the Qd this time that sent Coop1 to the rail.
They battled for the next fifty hands. I didn’t see any wild or big hands, just the steady bump and grind of good solid tournament poker. This is really where Glenso won the tournament, in my opinion. He won more of the small pots and was successful more often with his steals. By hand 101 he had most of the chips, with 25920. Takechances was running with him at 15250. gjones and rshocker were getting the worst of it dwindling to 7025 and 7305 respectively. The antes were now 100 and the blinds 400/800.
The blinds caught up with rshocker on hand 103. Glenso and Rshocker saw the flop come 8c Jd 4d. Rshocker fired 2400 and Glenso called. The turn was the 7h and that was good enough for Rshocker to fire again for the rest of his stack. Rshocker turned over Kh 4c for bottom pair. That pair was good though. Glenso made the call holding Ad 9d. He had a straight draw and a flush draw but nothing when he called. But he had a lot of outs and one of them showed up on the river in the form of the Th for the gut-shot straight. Rshocker was sent to the lounge in 4th place.
We are down to three and gjones is noted for his short stack play. He didn’t disappoint his fans but just couldn’t make a come back this week. Hand 133 found him posting the 1200 big blind with just 2675 left in his quiver. Takechances opened to take him all-in and he really was forced to call holding a meager Js 7c. TC showed Ad 5d. The board actually flushed Takechances and gjones settled for third place money this week.
Heads up and the stacks are both solid. Glenso with 30300 and Takechances with 25200. Takechances took the first three pots and captured the chip lead by hand 137. Glenso took it back by hand 141 by just 1000 chips. That set up hand 142. TC raised to 5100 and Glenso pushed. Takechances called and turned over Td 6c only to see Glenso was holding Ad Ks. The flop hit TC with 8s Th 3c and he looked like a genius. But the turn Kh was all Glenso needed to put this one in the books. Glenso had entered the final table in eighth place but ended up claiming his fourth Holdem Affair title.
Another great week. I wish I had been able to play.
Don’t forget the BIG BASH – NOVEMBER 4TH.
Peace
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