JOSH HAMILTON SMACK-DOWN CLASSIC

Before we get started, according to last night's e-mail, the next event in the 52 Irving Poker League will be Thursday at 8:15 pm. Due to no title being out there yet, it will be referred to as the Art Linkletter House Party.

The 52 Irving Poker League got an unexpected game Monday night at the double-decker bachelor party, appropriately titled the Josh Hamilton Smackdown Blow-out. Neither of the honored guests sat down on the felt, but 8 of the league's finest gathered around the felt for a poker throwdown. No one knew the drama and inspiration that would follow.

Early in the action, it was All-Yinz Conlon betting on a flop of 10-7-3. Matt Ketaineck, the only other player in the hand, pushed out the rest of his chips and got an insta-call from Conlon. Ketaineck turned over A-10 for top pair-top kicker. Conlon showed pocket 7's and had Ketaineck drawing to 2 outs. The 9 of diamonds on the turn gave Conlon a Kamalakin-makin draw on the turn, and he hit it with the 4 of diamonds on the river, unnecessarily improving to a flush.

Play continued with 7 players for quite time until a big hand took replace. With Clutch and Nick Loucks already all-in, Kenton Wong looked down at pocket queens and made the no-brainer call. Clutch, the short stack, had A-J of clubs, Nick had A-5 of diamonds and had the other two players covered. The flop came out K-8-7, with 2 diamonds, giving Nick a flush draw. The turn 10 gave Clutch a straight draw. But Kenton's queens held up, with a blank on the river. Kenton had over 1,000 chips, Nick was crippled, and Clutch eliminated in 7th.

J-Mac, having nursed his dwindling chip stack long enough, pushed all in with pocket 8's. Kenton, from the big blind, was priced in with K-4. The flop was eye-opening, K-Q-Q. J-Mac gained a glimmer of hope on the turn with another queen, giving him one out to a chop with similar full houses. However, another king came on the river, giving Kenton kings full and left J-Mac playing the board.

Kevin Conlon was running short on patience and chips, when he pushed all-in with his pocket 5's. Kenton again made the call with pocket jacks, leaving Yinz hoping for a miracle. The board bricked out, and Kenton had knocked out his 3rd consecutive player and extended his chip lead even further.

With 4 players left, Kenton raised, and Nick committed the rest of his chips, getting a call from Kenton. Wong flipped over A-6, and Nick had a Q-9 of diamonds. Things were looking up when the door card was a queen, but an ace followed right behind on the flop. Another ace on the turn sealed the deal, and robbed the drama of a river 9, giving Nick two pair, and the 2nd-best hand.

Play was down to three players, with Kenton's monster stack dwarfing both those of Brett Edgerton and Matt Willis, both of whom quietly accumulated chips and wisely stayed away from Kenton. After laying down pocket deuces to Willis's all-in move (later revealed to be kings), Edge was barely afloat, and called Kenton's raise for the rest of his chips with K-3 of clubs. Kenton had a suited A-10, and a 5-6-8-9-8 board meant Kenton had knocked out his 5th straight player and gave him about a 3700-300 lead going into heads-up play.

52 Irving Poker was looking for a fairy tale experience, a heroic effort to inspire them in their day-to-day lives, and Matt Willis did his best not to disappoint. As expected, early heads-up play was an all-in fest, without many confrontations. Willis doubled up his meager chip stack once, and then got near even when his K-10 suited (proven time and time again to be nearly unbeatable) turned a full house. That led to the biggest hand of the tournament.
Kenton raised and Willis called to see a 4-J-8 flop. Willis liked the flop and pushed all-in, getting a call in record time from Kenton. Willis turned over 9-10 suited for an open-ended straight draw, and Kenton showed his bullets, a couple of aces. Kenton was a 2-1 favorite after the flop, but a turn 10 gave Willis 5 more outs, but left him as a 70-30 underdog. The river was paydirt, though, a queen gave Willis the straight, shorted out the brand new 52 Irving Cash-O-Meter and gave hope to the masses.

Now with his own dominating chip lead, Willis surrendered a couple of blinds, but then pushed all-in, getting a call from Kenton's A-10. Willis turned over 2-7 suited and laughed as his blind-steal came at a bad time, but with 2 live card left him only as a 63-36 underdog (1 percent chance of a chop). The deuce came as the first card out of the deck, and the rest of the board read 9-Q-4-8.

Church bells rang and choirs of angels sang down from above as Willis pulled off the greatest comeback in 52 Irving history, giving him his 2nd win of the season.

Results
8th - Matt Ketaineck (1 point)
7th - Clutch Renno (2 points)
6th - Jason McCallum (3 points)
5th - Kevin Conlon (4 points)
4th - Nick Loucks (5 points)
3rd - Brett Edgerton (6 points)
2nd - Kenton Wong (8 points)
1st - Matt Willis (10 points)
52 Irving Poker Standings - Through 7/14

H/AB Wins Cashes +/–
1) Clutch: .828 140/169 9 13 -
2) J-Mac: .802 130/162 6 11 -
3) McCrystal: .714 20/28 0 1 -
4) Kenton: .692 36/52 1 2 +5
5) Paul Carr: .683 41/60 2 3 -
6) Bearman: .681 64/94 1 5 -
T-7) Conlon: .680 70/103 2 4 -3
T-7) Masi: .680 70/103 3 6 -
9) Vida: .652 15/23 1 1 -1
10) Edge: .641 82/128 1 4 -
11) Willis: .610 83/136 2 4 +2
12) Randall: .579 55/95 0 3 -
13) D-Rose: .567 38/67 2 2 +1
14) Ketaineck: .551 54/98 1 4 -3
15) ELIAS: .541 20/37 0 2 -
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: .143 2/14 0 0 -