Tuesday, May 6th Recap

Before we get into Tuesday’s craziness, a reminder that the next event will be Thursday night at 8:15 PM. Get in…

Tuesday brought 8 players to the table, including newcomer Jason Vida. We got going at around 11:15 AM (not bad) and the action started early and often, but nobody could gain full control. About 45 minutes in, we had our first all-in as Paul Carr put all his chips in the middle and Matt Willis called. Paul flipped over his pocket Jacks and Willis let out a stream of laughter before flipping over his own pocket Jacks. The flop gave no flush opportunity and the pot was chopped. This would set the tone for the day. Shortly thereafter, Paul decided it was time for another all-in, and Vida stepped up to the plate with the call. Each man flipped over Ace/King – and another chop was in the works…

Conlon and Willis would soon tangle in a hand after both raised and everybody else stepped aside. The calls were made and the flop came A-Q-2. Conlon makes the move to go all-in and Willis thought about it for a while before folding. He made the cardinal error, however, of rabbit hunting and showing that he folded a Queen. Conlon was nice enough to show his A-2 for two pair, but the rabbit hunting gave us a Queen on the turn and Willis could only think what might have been…

The chips moved around for a while with no big moves, but soon the blinds escalated and eventually there was a short stack at the table. Like so many other times in 52 Irving history, that short stack was the newcomer. Jason Vida was all-in with his Queen/Jack and faced a call from Willis and his Ace/Jack. No pair or draw came on the board, and Vida was done in 8th place for the day.

We didn’t have a major move again until J-Mac – easily the short stack at the table – went all-in from the button with pocket sixes. When Randall called with pocket fives there was no improvement for anyone and J-Mac had doubled up.

The action continued and nobody was eliminated by the time the blinds reached their cap of 50/100. That means that 7 of 8 players survived 10 raises of the blinds. At 15 minutes per blind level, that meant that 7 players survived 2 and a half hours. Shortly thereafter, Vince decided it was time to make a move and put all his chips in the middle. J-Mac, who had built a moderate stack by that time, made the call. Vince turned over Ace/Ten and J-Mac flipped Ace/Jack. The flop came 3-3-4, and the turn came Queen. Vince needed the ten for a win or for the board to pair to get a chop. Continuing the theme of the day, a 4 came on the river and the pot was once again chopped after an all-in was called.

A couple of hands later, Randall got the itch and moved all-in with Ace/King and J-Mac looked at pocket Queens and quickly called. When a King came on the flop and nothing else came out to help J-Mac, Randall was doubled up. Not more than 3 hands later, Vince went all-in with Ace/Six and got a call from Bearman, who had Ace/Jack of diamonds. The flop gave no help to Vince – plus 2 diamonds to Bearman. The turn was a blank and then the hammer dropped as Vince got his miracle non-diamond Six on the river for a winning hand of a pair of sixes. Vince doubles up through Bearman, and the table would stay at seven players…

Things never really got quiet in this one from here on out, as only a few hands later Vince raised from the button and Randall decided to go over the top and move all-in. Vince called and showed Ace/Nine suited and Randall flipped over pocket Kings. Randall’s cowboys held and Vince was knocked out in 7th place after having won his two most recent entries…

Randall held a pretty solid chip lead after this pot, but was put to the test almost immediately as Conlon went all-in with a short stack and pocket sixes. The pair held and Yinz doubled up through the chip leader, who didn’t suffer a major dent to his stack.

Willis, who had suffered a tough run of luck and was virtually crippled, was forced to go all-in from the small blind to a total of 187, and it was only another 87 for J-Mac in the big blind to call. J-Mac had King/Nine and Willis flipped over 2/5. The better starting hand held when a King came on the flop and Willis was sent to the rail in 6th place.

Randall, sitting on a mountain of chips, soon raised all-in with A/8 of clubs and got a call from Bearman, who turned over his pocket Jacks. A Jack came on the flop to give Bearman a set, but a 4th club came on the turn to give the leader a possible flush. When the river did not give Randall his flush, he had doubled up Bearman’s stack.

Randall had a full head of steam coming out of his ears after doubling up Conlon and then Bearman… and when J-Mac went all-in with pocket sevens, he got a call from the steaming chip leader – albeit with a pretty solid hand. Randall flipped his Ace/Queen and it was a coin toss. But nothing came on the board to help Randall and he was sent packing in 5th place.

J-Mac didn’t have time to relax, as two hands later he raised with Queen/Ten and Conlon immediately went over the top for all his chips with Ace/Five. The table folded around and J-Mac was pot-committed to a bet he didn’t want to make but had to. The flop came J-J-9 and J-Mac had the open-ended straight draw. The turn was an 8 and the straight was there. Yinz was sent to the rail in 4th place.

Bearman, Paul and J-Mac remained and the chip stacks were almost completely even. Not much happened for the first few turns around the table but soon Bearman was dealt pocket tens and decided to make his move. After a raise and a re-raise, Bearman moved all-in pre-flop and got a call from Paul, who had Ace/Queen. An Ace came on the flop and for good measure, a Queen came on the river and Bearman was crippled while Paul doubled up. Shortly after, Bearman was forced to go all-in with Six/Seven and got a call from Paul. Once again, Paul caught his pair of aces on the flop and Bearman went down in 3rd place.

As we moved to heads up, the action did not stop. Paul was the first to act on the very first hand of heads up and went all-in with Ace/Six of diamonds. J-Mac couldn’t believe his eyes when he then looked at his hole cards and saw a pair of Aces and made the call immediately. The first card of the flop was the King of diamonds, but the flush was not to be as J-Mac doubled up and pulled about even with Paul.

Heads up continued for a while as each player chipped away and gave back, but Paul made his move with Queen/Jack when he was down in chips and J-Mac called with Ace/Eight suited. The flop, turn and river failed to help Paul and J-Mac recovered from two consecutive last-place finishes with his 4th win of the season. Paul finished in 2nd with his 2nd cash of the year and improved his batting average by more than 70 points. J-Mac leapfrogged Vince and Clutch into 2nd place in the standings, as the idle D-Rose moved back into the overall points lead due to Vince’s finish.

Here are final results from May 6:
8th place – Jason Vida – 1 point
7th place – Vince – 2 points
6th place – Willis – 3 points
5th place – Randall – 4 points
4th place – Conlon – 5 points
3rd place – Bearman – 6 points
2nd place – Paul – 8 points (7 points for 2nd, 1 bonus for cashing)
1st place – J-Mac – 10 points (8 points for 1st, 1 bonus for cashing, 1 bonus for winning)

52 Irving Poker League
Current Poker Batting Averages Thru May 6
BA H/AB Wins Total Cashes
1) David Rose .903 28/31 2 2
2) Jason McCallum .835 81/97 4 8
3) Vince Masi .828 48/58 3 4
4) Clutch .814 79/97 5 7
5) Ryan McCrystal .750 15/20 0 1
6) Scott Randall .695 41/59 0 3
7) Matt Ketaineck .667 30/45 1 3
8) Brett Edgerton .651 43/66 1 2
9) Paul Carr .638 30/47 1 2
10) Yinz .610 36/59 0 2
11) David Bearman .589 43/73 1 2
12) Kenton Wong .538 7/13 0 0
13) Matt Willis .513 39/76 0 1
14) ELIAS .433 13/30 0 1
15) Chris Fallica .405 15/37 1 1
16) Nick Loucks .222 6/27 0 0
17) Jeremy Lundblad .166 1/6 0 0
18) Stu Mitchell .143 2/14 0 0
19) Jason Vida .125 1/8 0 0