Anyway, the final table for this event included main-stays Jocko (2 final tables) Julio (3), MH62 (2), Justin (2 for 2), and Fat Tony (2 for 2 as a proxy). Tony was playing for DMT, who was in
Jocko was first to go out, having to shove on the microstack. I cannot recall who got the kill, but Jocko finished 9th. Play continued, with Faith driving a lot of the action with large preflop raises that stole the blinds. Many of the players had less than $20k, so she did well with the big stack to raise to $8k-12k preflop. Lesley got whittled down by a combination of bad cards and lack of aggression. She and MH62 were eliminated by James a short while later in the same hand. Lesley was in the BB with 8-2 and was essentially pot committed due to her stack size. MH62 raised it up significantly with AJ, and James called with AK, followed by Lesley’s shove. There was an A and a 2 on the flop. MH62 bet out, and James raised. I’m not sure if MH62 was committed to that pot, but he must have thought so, because he pushed all in, and was quickly called by James. No one improved, so James KO’d 2 players and became a huge stack. In terms of the push with AJ, I really don’t like it. I have made that mistake countless times in tournaments. James is a tight player, so what is he calling your raise with? You might be best, but if you’re reraised, you’re probably no good…
Later on, I had my double-up through Julio (who became the short stack with Justin), then my KO by Fat Tony (which I’m sick of talking about… haha). I finished 6th, and Julio busted in 5th. That meant Justin (back to back cashes), Tony (back to back cashes as a proxy), Faith, and James were the Final 4. Justin was the extreme short stack, Faith was strong, and Tony and James were sitting on around 90k-100k in chips each. As I mentioned, Tony was playing aggressively, raising many pots. Specifically, he stole Faith’s BB 6-10 times, which I doubt she appreciated. Soon after the bubble burst, Tony raised on the button with 6c-7c, and Justin reraised all-in for like 6k more with AK, and Tony had to call. Tony flopped a flush draw and turned his flush to eliminate Justin in 4th. Another beat in a tournament full of outdraws and suckouts (10’s lost 4x, Shawn got busted with JJ against A-3, I lost a hand with Q’s, plus the 2 AK losses).
Down to 3, Tony continued his assault on the blinds, but Faith really started playing back against him, shoving all in over the top of his raises several times to take down some nice pots. James also sprung into action as the blinds climbed. Tony was by far the most active, but he got into some trouble when he raised preflop with KJ (a fine play 3-handed) and got called by James (who held J-10). They both flopped a J on the flop. James check-called Tony's raise, then turned an up and down straight draw, and doubled up when he hit his straight on the river. Tony was essentially crippled, but he was able to battle back from the short stack 2 or 3 times. Finally, with the blinds about to go up to 7,500/15,000 and the players pretty much even in chips, Faith, Tony, and James agreed to a 3-way chop of points and cash for 1st-3rd. The result: $915 each.
It really was a good and exciting final table, which was preceded by a pretty tough tournament field. The new kids on the block (including Dan H, who busted in 14th) and the grizzled veterans really make these tournament fields difficult to navigate. Surely EMHD #4 on February 21 will be a great event. I cannot be there, so I will depend on The Hulk to provide a report.
I guess I'm on the hook to make it off the first table this time.
ReplyDeleteJames didn't check call the flop. He bet out, I went all in over the top, and he debated, called, turned the up and down straight and flush draws, and made me cry on the river. At that point, I was at two big blinds, and coming into the big blind. I spent the rest of the tournament trying to get into a position where we could chop. Was pretty lucky to make it, too. The last hand we played, I doubled up with JJ versus John's A-9. At that point, I was at 68,000, Faith was at 88,000, and John was at about 84,000. It was definitely time for a chop.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, I call James John twice in my comment... oops
ReplyDeleteBTW...if we have at least 16 players in EMHD 4 we will be over the amount for the grand prize. So technically we are not there yet but that is a foregone conclusion at this point so there will be second place money as well.
ReplyDelete