Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Jarrod Washburn Waiver Claim Classic

For the first time since April 2, there was a two-table tournament for the Jarrod Washburn Waiver Claim Classic at 52 Irving as 10 players decided they had nothing better to do on a beautiful Wednesday night in the summer time.

There were some early storylines. Dave Bearman was back, surprisingly without the Cockney/British/Scottish/Irish accent everyone thought he would have being out of the country for over a month. Newest researcher Greg Dohmann made his first trip to the 52 Irving Poker League, registering a quick 10 AB in his quest to get to the needed 50 for the year-end tournament. Vince Masi was back after taking a few tournaments off. He has to show up considering he won the previous 2-table tournament in April. And last but not least, the other storyline can be summed up in two words, Chris ... Lees.

The cards were drawn and it would be Masi, Bearman, Chris Fallica, J-Mac and Matt Willis heading upstairs while Dohmann, Lees, Clutch Renno, Yinz Conlon and Brett Edgerton were left to battle it out in the basement.

Unfortunately for Dohmann, his fate would be set much like the previous newcomers before him. With 10-8 suited, he would go all in against Renno, who had pocket threes. On the flop, Renno would trip his threes, but Dohmann received a spade and then another on the turn, leaving him one card away from the flush. However, a harmless club (written on the box score) would send Dohmann home. The good news for Dohmann -- he becomes the 22nd member in the 52 Irving Poker League, but his 1-for-10 score puts him in last place.

The upstairs table would claim the next victim. From the small blind, J-Mac went all in with pocket 10s. He was called by Masi, in the big blind, with pocket queens. The flop would eliminate J-Mac as a Queen came, sending J-Mac out with two points.

The tables would then be merged after the next player was eliminated and that came from the basement. Edgerton goes all in with K-3 and he was called by Conlon, who had a strong A-9 hole card set. The flop added to Conlon's lead as a nine came with two other meaningless cards. The turn would give Conlon the check as an Ace came, sending Edgerton out with three points.

Seven players would join the air-conditioned basement final table. And it wouldn't be long before the next player would be eliminated. Conlon raises with a strong pocket 6 pair. Lees came over the top with an all-in play, which Conlon called. The flop came K-K-10 -- no real help for Lees. However, an 8 on the turn gave Lees a flush draw, but a third King eliminated Lees, giving him four points, leaving him to nothing but watching the Red Sox game and analyzing the "cup of coffee" Edgar Renteria had with the Red Sox.

Some mixing and meddling would go on until Willis saw a chance to gain some chips with A-Q of hearts, prompting him to go all-in after a flop 52J with two hearts. Clutch called with a pocket-5 set. A five on the flop gave Renno trips, but two hearts gave Willis some hope. But the hope would be short-lived as an Ace and 6 of clubs would eliminate Willis with five points.

Conlon, involved in some interesting all-in scenarios earlier in the night, went all-in with pocket 8s (one of them diamonds. Masi, sensing some revenge from being eliminated by Conlon the last time he played, called with K-J. Much like the last time these two faced off with elimination on the line for one, the flop helped both players. K-J gave Masi two pair but the flop were all diamonds, giving Conlon a flush draw. Masi would finish off Conlon with two cards which were not diamonds, giving Conlon six points and keeping in seventh in the overall standings.

That would leave four players, one elimination away from cashing. Bearman and Fallica would battle it out with Bearman taking down Fallica, guaranteeing him a fourth straight cash in his first tournament since July 2.

The remaining three players would be guaranteed an extra point, but Bearman, Renno and Masi aren't going to just settle for that. Bearman tried to take advantage when a flop came A-K-6, so he went all in, even though he had J-8. Renno would call and would flip over A-K. A 2 on the turn was no help and a K on the river clinched another heads-up battle for Renno while giving Bearman nine big points.

Masi and Renno would be almost in a virtual tie for the lead when we had the hand that sealed our winner. Renno was holding a 220-chip lead when he went all-in with A-K. Masi called with K-9 suited diamonds. The flop turned a diamond. Masi's hand improved when another diamond came on the turn. Then a 10 of diamonds gave Masi a commanding lead with a flush.
After a few wins by Renno, he would go all-in with 8-5 and was called by Masi with his A-3. The flop came 6-3-K, all hearts. Another King would come on the turn, but a harmless Queen would give Masi his fourth win of the season and made him 2-for-2 in two-table tournaments.

Standings analysis:
-Clutch still owns the overall lead, but J-Mac's hold on second is slipping a little as he fell under .800 Wednesday.
-We have four players who have joined "The 700 Club". No they aren't best friends with Pat Robertson and they won't be appearing on the show anytime soon. Clutch, J-Mac, Masi and Bearman all have percentages of .700-or-better.
-The top 3 in wins represent the top-3 in percentages. The top 4 in cashes represent the top-4 in percentages.
-Paul Carr and Kenton Wong dropped one spot in the standings without playing. Ryan McCrystal was the only player to improve without playing.

10th place - Dohmann (1 point)
9th place - J-Mac (2 points)
8th place - Edge (3 points)
7th place - Lees (4 points)
6th place - Willis (5 points)
5th place - Yinz (6 points)
4th place - Fallica (7 points)
3rd place - Bearman (9 points - 8 for 3rd, +1 for cash)
2nd place - Clutch (10 points - 9 for 2nd, +1 for cash)
1st place - Masi (12 points - 10 for 1st, +1 for win, +1 for cash)

Pct H/AB Wins Cashes Movement
1) Clutch: .856 160/187 10 15 --
2) J-Mac: .763 142/186 6 11 --
3) Masi: .726 82/113 4 7 +3
4) Bearman: .702 73/104 1 6 +1
5) Paul Carr: .683 41/60 2 3 -2
6) Kenton: .682 45/66 2 3 -2
7) Conlon: .669 81/121 2 4 --
8) Vida: .652 15/23 1 1 --
9) Willis: .613 98/160 2 4 --
10) McCrystal: .611 22/36 0 1 +1
11) Edge: .592 90/152 1 4 -1
12) Randall: .579 55/95 0 3 --
13) Ketaineck: .571 64/112 1 5 --
14) D-Rose: .567 38/67 2 2 --
15) ELIAS: .541 20/37 0 2 --
16) Fallica: .424 28/66 1 1 +1
17) Lundblad: .417 5/12 0 0 -1
18) C-Lees: .354 17/48 0 0 --
19) McKean: .333 5/15 0 0 --
20) Loucks: .326 14/43 0 0 --
21) Stu: .150 3/20 0 0 --
22) Dohmann: .100 1/10 0 0 --

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

July 29th Recap

Before we begin the next recap, a reminder that the next poker game will be Wednesday, Aug. 13th at 7:30 PM. GET IN!

8 players hopped in for the affair including one Ryan McCrystal who hadn't played much since before the NFL Draft. Joining McCrystal was roommate Brett Edgerton, Matt Willis, Kevin Conlon, Clutch, JMAC, Matt Ketaineck and the reigning champion Kenton Wong.

However the champion found rough waters as he was sent to the rail first. He was crippled when Clutch had KK vs his A7 of hearts. After the two-hearted flop came both players were all-in but Kenton could not catch the heart and was eliminated a hand later when three players called his all-in and he was out first.

A flop of J105 prompted an all-in by McCrystal and after some questionable deliberation Conlon called the all-in with AA and had Ryan dominated when he flipped over KJ. The turn and the river came blanks to send McCrystal home with a disappointing 7th place finish that would significantly hurt his Poker Batting Average.

Clutch (small) and Edge (big) were getting down in chips when Clutch moved all-in preflop and Edge called. Clutch flipped over A4 while Edge flipped over K10 to give him to live cards to stay alive. But a flop of AQ8 followed by two blanks sent Edge to the rail in 6th place.

It was shortly after this beat that one of the strangest hands in 52 Irving Poker League took place. With the blinds 30/60, Yinz called, JMAC called and Clutch checked his option in the big blind. In what appeared to be a fairly innocent flop of 775 had everybody checking around. A flop of a King, got the betting going as Yinz bet 60, JMAC called as did Clutch leading for some to believe we might have a blood bath happening. But another King hit on the river and after Yinz bet 100, JMAC was quoted as saying "I can't believe I'm going to have fold this hand" as he threw them near the muck. Clutch also folded and said "No wait until you see what I folded...". Yinz took down the pot in an apparent Kings full of Sevens full house. JMAC then showed his 55 for the group to see as he showed his frustration for flopping a full house. Clutch then chuckled as he showed his 75 as he had flopped a bigger full house that had the 2nd king not come out, he would have almost assuredly sent JMAC packing as neither would have been able to get away from the hand.

In the worst beat of the night, JMAC moved all-in AQ and Willis called with K10. After a great flop of Q36, JMAC was over an 85 percent favorite to double up but Willis caught runner-runner J9 to hit his straight to take the chip lead and sent JMAC home in 5th place.

With the blinds getting high and his frustation higher, Kevin Conlon made his worst read/play in his 52 Irving Poker career as he called an all-in made by Clutch with 106 of diamonds. Frustrated by Clutch stealing his blinds all night, Conlon figured he just might have Clutch beat but when Clutch flipped over AK, he was only a 38 percent favorite to stay alive but he had two live ones. Clutch was convinced he would take the proverbial card/cock in the ass but when the cards came 77384, Clutch got healthy in chips and Yinz was gone in 4th place.

At this point, Willis had a solid chip lead over Ketaineck and Clutch. A couple of wild swings led Ketaineck to taking over a solid chip lead and Clutch the small stack. At one point Clutch went all-in from the small blind with 25 of clubs and Willis called with AQ. Clutch got up and was ready to leave but a flop of 67J with two clubs gave Clutch some outs and then a turn of 4 gave him even more outs until a 5 on the river game him a pair living Clutch elated and Willis reeling.

Clutch would finish off Willis a few hands later when Willis went all-in with K2 spades and Clutch looked down at pocket rockets and made the easy call. Nothing helped Willis and he was sent to the rail in 3rd place.

It didn't take long for the fireworks to get started as Ketaineck and Clutch went heads-up and in less than 5 minutes, we had ending hand. Both players limped in and a flop of 1023 led Ketaineck to bet out 300 and Clutch raised to 700. Almost immediately Ketaineck went all-in and Clutch quickly called. Ketaineck thought Clutch was bluffing but he wasn't as he flipped over the top 2 pair in 103 leaving Ketaineck to draw to two outs as he flipped over 62. It didn't come and Clutch picked up his 10th win of the season.

8th place - Kenton Wong (1 point)
7th place - McCrystal (2 points)
6th place - Edge (3 points)
5th place - JMAC (4 points)
4th place - Yinz (5 points)
3rd place - Willis (6 points)
2nd place - Ketaineck (8 points- 7 for 2nd +1 for cash)
1st place - Clutch (10 points - 8 for 1st + 1 for win +1 for cash)

52 Irving Poker League Standings, Thru 7/29 H/AB Wins Cashes + or –
1) Clutch: .847 150/177 10 14
2) J-Mac: .795 140/176 6 11
3) Paul Carr: .683 41/60 2 3 +2
4) Kenton: .682 45/66 2 3 -1
5) Bearman: .681 64/94 1 5 +1
6) Masi: .680 70/103 3 6 +1
7) Conlon: .677 75/111 2 4
8) Vida: .652 15/23 1 1 +1
9) Willis: .620 93/150 2 4 +2
10) Edge: .613 87/142 1 4
11) McCrystal: .611 22/36 0 1 -7
12) Randall: .579 55/95 0 3
13) Ketaineck: .571 64/112 1 5 +2
14) D-Rose: .567 38/67 2 2 -1
15) ELIAS: .541 20/37 0 2 -1
16) Lundblad: .417 5/12 0 0
17) Fallica: .375 21/56 1 1
18) C-Lees: .342 13/38 0 0
19) McKean: .333 5/15 0 0
20) Loucks: .326 14/43 0 0
21) Stu: .150 3/20 0 0