Coming Soon - Heads-up Hold'em

Season 1 Ends - Bearded Mike Takes TOC

The TOC went almost four hours before the first player busted out (Chris with aces-up in five card draw). Side game action started at the same times as the tournament and built a following throughout the day, until it faced competition from beer pong. Tim pulled double duty as both dealer and chef, cooking up a hearty pile of pork ribs. Oh, and some drinking went on now and then.

Sean went out on the bubble, barely missing his fifth cash of the season. Bearded Mike called both Sean and Baklava's all-ins in deuce-to-seven TD and hit the nuts after one draw. GPT Spring 2006 Player of the Year Hank Silf took third, cashing for the 11th time this season.

Heads-up was a back-and-forth battle between Phil McGroin and Bearded Mike. The tournament nearly ended on hold'em when Bearded Mike called Phil's all-in on the flop, but Phil caught a two on the river to beat 7s. Bearded Mike then went AI short-stacked in Omaha and amazingly won when a pair of tens stood up. Finally, both got AI in hold'em - AQ vs. KQ - and ace-high took it for Bearded Mike.

Thanks again to everyone who made the season a great success, and to those who brought stuff and contributed to the party atmosphere at the TOC. See ya next season...

What it's all about, Bitches

Saturday, April 22, 2pm.

Keith and Sean HORSE Around

The third chop in a row brought an anti-climactic end to the season. Brandon had a shot at overtaking Keith, but he couldn't outlast him in HORSE, and the Final 8 was unchanged:

Hank
Bearded Mike
Baklava
Jim
Phil
Sean
Chris
Keith

Hank ran away with the point lead, but the accomplishment of the season may be Chris qualifying while playing in half the tournaments. In a 21-tourney season, Chris played 10 tournaments and cashed in half. Always the bride's maid and never the bride, he scored three runner-up spots. Keith played the next fewest among qualifiers with 13.

Number 10 on Greenstein's list of how to make money in tournaments - play a lot of tournaments...

Down to the Wire

Brandon has the best shot at catching Keith for the number 8 spot - he's three points behind. With about half as many tournaments (seven vs. 13), Tim isn't quite in range for a weeknight game at 13 points behind.

T-Bone and Bearded Mike Chop A to 5

The send tourney in a row ended in a chop. Thanks to Table 2, the amount of chips in play relative to the blinds was pretty ridiculous, T-Bone had more exciting places to be, and Bearded Mike wanted to get into the drunken side game. With 500/1000 blinds T-Bone had about 67,000 chips to Bearded Mike's 27,000. At this stage in the season, the points were inconsenquential. The pic at the bottom shows how Bearded Mike managed to outlast Phil's huge chip lead - a six against the nuts 3-way usually is trouble.

But they weren't for Keith, who finished dead balls last. He's now catchable for those who can attend HORSE.

Baklava and Bearded Mike are Stud 4s

Baklava and Bearded Mike chopped Stud-8 after a half hour of heads-up play because they're so evenly matched that they could 1) play all night at Hank's and keep his poor girlfriend away, or 2) raise the blinds to the point that it would be a luck-fest. Given the relative rankings, it didn't affect anyone's standings. The website will say Bearded Mike was first, but that's only because he uploads the computer standings. The tournament was Baklava's third title and Bearded Mike's fourth.

The current Top 8 are:
Hank-----------------233 points
Bearded Mike---------186 points
Baklava--------------160 points
Jim------------------141 points
Phil-----------------133 points
Sean-----------------120 points
Chris----------------113 points
Keith----------------99 points

Brandon, Gracie, Pablo, Dan, and Tim are all within seven points of each other, and between 14 to 21 points behind Keith.

This Sunday's Ace-to-Five title likely will be worth around 20 points.

Note: I found the problem with the points from Tournament 18 - this is what happens when people show up late. The points above and on the site reflect the revisions.

Dougie Fresh Takes Deep Stack

Doug doubled up on the second hand of the tournament and didn't look back. In fact, I think he won that hand and the tournament with the same two cards - five/deuce. Defending Hold'Em champ Baklava came up just short of a repeat with a second-place finish. Jim represented the A3 crowd with a third place finish.

Hank's eighth-place finish was good enough to essentially lock up the points title for the season, but there's still plenty of room to change the final eight in the last couple of weeks.

I Want You - For Deep Stack Hold'em, Sucka

12 Noon Sharp - Saturday April 8

Hank Wins KCL Like It's His Job

After stumbling around early, Hank came back to take the KCL title, after finishing 2nd in the first KCL tourney. After pondering calling a re-raise early with KQ8XX, Brandon finished second. Keith squandered a huge chip lead to finish third. Baklava played solid throughout and finished fourth.




Hank On Board

5-Card Draw-Out

Bearded Mike won another game that he hates. Lee busted his cherry with a second-place finish. Tim scored his third cash with a third-place finish. Hank padded his lead on the season by cashing - barely.

Note: Travis is a Dreamboat

I mean, just look at that face:

The Shiren Song of Omaha 8

Scott bagged his first title in Omaha 8. Chris, always the bride's maid and never the bride, was runner-up for the third time. Bearded Mike took third and maintained second place for the year. Young Dan set a new record with $50 in total buy-ins, and managed to be first out once again. Phil was the only other person to not make the "final table," but he still holds third place for the season with a one-point lead over the dormant Baklava. The other members of the Top 8 are Jim, Chris, Sean, and Keith - whose job is poker, as we all now know.

In the final hand, Scott started as a 65% favorite - which is to say, a monster favorite for Omaha 8. As a further testament to the perversity of the game, Scott flopped top set and Chris improved. The flop of Kc Tc Qh also gave Chris an open-end straight flush draw. All the chips went in on the flop. The jack of spades would seemingly give Chris boat outs, but not really with Scott's top set, and he still had 14 outs - and put it right back at 65/35. God what a stupid game. The seven of diamonds fell on the river to end it.

Razz Sucks - Unless You're Bearded Mike

Nine for Razz. Baklava's Sweet Sixteen duties cost him the second-place ranking on the year. Hank cashed in "his" game, taking third, and Bearded Mike outlasted Gracie for first.

Stud Winners Doesn't Mean Studs...

Had to put these pictures up because they are funny and I think Phil actually looks like he is retarded...

Phil Wins Stud and Takes Third on Season

Dan went out first for the second tourney in a row. Baklava survived getting aces hit out on to take third and re-claim second place. After three second-place finishes a face-hairless Phil took his first title, and jumped to third place on the season.

Keith Claims First Title - Tournament 12

We had 12 for our second 2-7 TDL tourney of the season. Keith brough a huge stack to the final table from Table 2, and despite getting hit out on for a big pot, and crying about it for an hour, he still won. Jim managed his short stack well and outlasted Hank (4th) and Doug (3rd) to take second and 17 points.

The cash games have gotten so big that everyone was more interested in playing after the tournament than in taking pictures - so no pics this week. But then, if it's not Hank, Travis, or Dan, why bother?

There were several changes in the league standings. With Baklava on the road with the SEC Champion Gater basketball team, Bearded Mike snuck into second place by a point. Jim's second-place finish vaulted him to fourth for the year just ahead of Phil. Keith's win put him in the Top 8, and knocked Young Dan out of it.

While it doesn't have any affect on the Top 8, Doug now how more points in his first two entries during the last two weeks than four regulars/semi-regulars.

Young "Gus" Dan Wins Omaha

Subtitle: "Hank finally doesn't win." After winning three of the last four tournaments, Hank was finally defeated, going out fourth and still cashing. Gracie finished fifth and took home 15 points for her efforts. Sean finished third for the second time this season and added 21 points to bring his season total to 84, putting him sixth for the season ranking.

Young "Gus" Dan avenged his loss to Hank in a heads-up match two weeks ago (holding quads no less) by dominating play at the final table. He built a huge chip lead and used it to bully opponents, raising almost every pot he entered. Of course, if someone fought back with an all-in move he called as, at worst, a small dog. Gus played Big Stack Poker, battering the final table until getting Phil McGroid heads-up. Phil's 24 points for second gives him 100 for the year, and a virtual tie for third place on the season.

Despite a relatively early exit by Baklava he maintains second place on the season with 107 points. However, Hank's four titles and eight total cashes give him a huge lead with 162 points at the half-way point. We have now played every game in the rotation, and will have a big (bigger buy-in, no re-buy) Hold'Em tournament coming soon.

Finally, the post-tournament cash games have finally gotten some traction and we had an active late-night table for the third tournament in a row. Congratulations to Doug who, although busting out on the bubble, crushed the cash game despite thinking an 8-low was a pat hand in ace-to-five triple draw.

Tournament Update

A brand new keg has arrived for Saturday. Shuffle up and deal...

Tournament 11 - Omaha Hi Saturday March 4

Omaha Hi - $10 buy in $5 rebuys $5 add-on. This is the last game before we start the rotation over, so Hold'Em (with a bigger buy-in and no rebuys) is coming soon.

Bearded Mike's house.



This is what I think about Young Dan not showing up lately: