For the second week in a row we had a lucky number 13 for a tourney. Five card draw is always Hank’s tournament to lose as he’s the only GPT member who plays it online for money. Event 4 start predictably, with Hank crushing. Once again, Table 2 was the action table, which seems to happen no matter what the line-up. Table 1 had only three re-buys, making a move to table 2 practically a death sentence, although JD managed to survive the move and wind up at the final table, and on the edge of cashing.
Hank and Tim amassed huge chip stacks coming into the final table. After dispensing with some smaller stacks, the final eight was whittled down to five. JD survived a couple of all-ins but was finally forced to push with an AK draw and ran into Tim’s aces in the big blind. The previous perennial Bubble Boy knocked JD out after he failed to improve. Coming into the final four, Bearded Mike was short-stacked, and Shelley “The Heat” was slightly behind Hank and Tim.
Bearded Mike searched for a hand to move in with, and finally picked up aces facing a raise from Hank. After moving all-in he failed to improved, and Hank knocked him out with a dealt two-pair. Of course, he did so in his normal sportsmanlike fashion. Three-way, Hank was the chip leader and Shelley had a slight edge on Tim. And then time practically stopped. The three played for an hour before the blinds were frozen at 1000/2000, and Tim was whittled down to 10,000 and eventually forced to move in. He was knocked out by The Heat.
Heads-up didn’t last all that long. After Hank and Shelley got all-in before the draw, Shelley turned over a dealt straight and said “do what you want.” Seeing a five in Shelley’s hand, Hank broke his (monster) pair, and drew live to three hearts. The first card off was the fourth heart. The final card was the 3c and The Heat took down the title and the coveted GPT Champion’s Chip. And a few bucks.
With four tournaments in the bag, Hank has once again separated himself from the field with 71 points. GPT rookie JD is in second place with 58 points. Tim’s first cash of the season lifted him to third with 48 points. After that the race gets tight. Event 1 winner Baklava missed Omaha and was busted by Hank’s massive stack early in level four after he showed up five minutes before the end of the rebuy period. Nine points separate 10th place from Baklava’s fourth place spot.
Event 5, Kansas City Lowball, will be Sunday October 1 at 2pm.
Special bonus for website readers – post a comment that flames Hank, and post your name/nickname, and the House will pick-up the vig Sunday. Yeah, it’s only a dollar, but flaming Hank is fun too, so it’s win-win.
