2008 LaToya Jackson Open

6 players convened at 52 Irving for the inaugural LaToya Jackson Open - the first tilt of a day-night doubleheader. The nightcap of the doubleheader will be recapped soon, but for your scheduling convenience, the next event - The Kenny G Classic - will be Thursday at 11AM SHARP. Get in.

The action started relatively slow as chips were passed around at a moderate pace for the first 45 minutes of play, but before long we had our first player to the rail...

C-Lees got into a pot with the chip leader Bearman and after a flop of Ad4d9c, Bearman decided to push and have the NASCAR warrior make a decision for all his chips. C-Lees saw no caution flag on his way to the finish line and made the call with pocket 6's. When Bearman flipped over A/Q, C-Lees needed a 6 to stay alive. No 6 came on the turn or river and C-Lees got a DNF - engine troubles...

Bearman was a pretty solid chip leader at this point, and Kevin "All Yinz" Conlon was stuck as the short stack. When he got dealt an A/3 he decided it was time to go all in, but J-Mac was up to the task and made the call with A/J. The board was all blanks, and Conlon was sent to the sidelines, dreaming about the Kamalakin Makin that did not come to pass...

A short time later we had the most memorable hand of the LaToya Jackson Open. Chris Fallica, who shockingly had avoided the weekly Kamalakin Makin bend-over, was short-stacked and went all-in. Bearman called with a healthy chip chip stack, and he was followed with a call by Matt Willis, who had silently moved into the chip lead. The flop came J/J/K and Bearman went all-in. Willis called pretty quickly and flipped over his A/K. But Bearman turned over A/J and Willis was dead to a King... Fallica, who started this whole mess, was left with an Ace, a nine and his racing forms in his hand. It was off to the horsies and the lazyboy for everybody's favorite gambler, who finished 4th as Bearman took a large chip lead by nearly tripling up.

Willis, who had been crippled by the previous hand, caught A/Q on the next deal and went all in. J-Mac, needing only 50 more to call from the big blind, made the call with A/6 and was dominated. The flop gave J-Mac a 6 - and so did the turn. Willis was done in by the mark of the beast and was left wondering if there was a God after going from a healthy stack to the rail in consecutive hands... consecutive hands in which he had A/K and A/Q...

We got down to heads up between J-Mac and Bearman, as the chips were relatively even to start things off. Bearman was wearing J-Mac down as the 11PM SC meeting was looming closer. J-Mac slowly waited for just one good hand to go all-in with, but the cards were cold. Whenever he tried to bluff, Bearman deftly went over the top and forced the fold.

When J-Mac caught a K/5 suited and the flop came 5/7/Q, he decided to go all-in after Bearman led out. Bearman eventually laid down his hand, which he later disclosed to be Q/2. This hand still left J-Mac at about a 750 chip deficit, but the next hand would turn the tide. J-Mac got pocket 3's and went all-in, and Bearman called with K/J of spades. The very first card on the flop was a 3, and J-Mac doubled up and took the chip lead with his set.

For a little bit, the chips were going back and forth with no big pots, as neither player could get a big hand. When Bearman asked dealer C-Lees for better cards, he was told "You'll get what I give you." Well, shortly thereafter, he was given J/10 and moved all-in from the small blind. J-Mac looked down at pocket Kings and it was a no-brainer. The flop came 8/7/6, leaving Bearman a gut-shot straight draw. But the turn was an Ace and the river paired Bearman's Jack - but it was not enough to overcome the Cowboys. J-Mac finishes 1st for his 5th win and 10th cash. Bearman's cash was his 4th, and he comes just shy of becoming the 6th multi-tournament winner at 52 Irving.

6th place - C-Lees - 1 point
5th place - Conlon - 2 points
4th place - Fallics - 3 points
3rd place - Willis - 4 points
2nd place - Bearman - 6 points (5 for 2nd, 1 bonus for cashing)
1st place - J-Mac - 8 points (6 for 1st, 1 bonus for cashing, 1 bonus for win)

Through Thursday, May 29th (LaToya Jackson Open)
52 Irving Poker League Standings

BA Hits-AB Wins Cashes +/-

Through Thursday, May 29th (LaToya Jackson Open)
52 Irving Poker League Standings
BA Hits-AB Wins Cashes +/-
1) Clutch .863 120/139 8 11 -
2) Jason McCallum .840 110/131 5 10 -
3) Dave Rose .744 29/39 2 2 -
4) Ryan McCrystal .714 20/28 0 1 -
5) "Quads" Edgerton .688 64/93 1 4 +1
6) Paul Carr .683 41/60 2 3 +1
7) "All-Yinz" Conlon .663 53/80 1 3 -2
8) David Bearman .655 57-87 1 4 +1
9) Vince Masi .654 53/81 3 4 -1
10) Matt Ketaineck .627 37/59 1 3 -2
11) Scott Randall .616 45/73 0 3 -1
12) Matt Willis .543 57/105 1 2 +1
13) ELIAS .541 20/37 0 2 -1
14) Kenton Wong .519 14/27 0 0 -
15) Tom McKean .429 3/7 0 0 -
16) Jeremy Lundblad .417 5/12 0 0 -
17) Jason Vida .375 6/16 0 0 -
17) Chris Fallica .375 21/56 1 1 +1
19) Chris Lees .273 6/22 0 0 -
20) Nick Loucks .257 9/35 0 0 -
21) Stu Mitchell .143 2/14 0 0 -

Poker Bonanza Pot: $350