Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Monday, August 25th

Lacking intensity, drama, and even a name, Monday night's tournament was a short, mostly forgettable affair. 6 players gathered in the basement at 52 Irving for the event.

Pots in the 1st half hour were mostly small until a short-stacked Nick Loucks failed to improve on his A10 and fell to Willis' pocket 9s. The next competitor eliminated was Chris Lees, the early surprise of the tournament who had built a sizable stack of chips. Vida called Lees all-in move preflop with AK, and Lees (A10) did not receive any help from the board. Clutch, who folded a pair of 6's pre-flop, would have won the biggest pot of the night to that point if he would have stayed in.

Chris Fallica exited next after he re-raised Vida's bet, then called when Vida put him all in. Fallica flipped a pair of 5's, but Vida's KK held, giving him a sizable chip lead. Vida was then content to let Clutch and Willis participate in the next showdown, as Clutch moved all-in with 88 and was called by Willis (A10). The flop paired Willis' ace and ended Clutch's streak of consecutive cashes. Starting heads-up play, Vida had nearly a 2-1 chip advantage over Willis, but frittered it away over the next half-hour as the two traded small pots. After a short drink break, Vida, trailing in the chip count, won several consecutive pots, building a 5-1 chip lead quickly. On the final hand, the flop fell 224. Willis checked, Vida bet, and Willis called. The turn brought another 4, and Willis led off with a strong bet. Vida countered by putting Willis all-in, and Willis called. Vida flipped K4, for 4's full of 2's. Willis' (26) 2's full of 4's didn't hold up, and Vida took home the title in a tournament that lasted less than 2.5 hours. It was his 2nd consecutive win.

The only participant to move up or down on the leaderboard was Vida, who jumped up 6 spots to 2nd place with the win.

6th place - Loucks(1 point)
5th place - Lees (2 points)
4th place - Fallica (3 points)
3rd place - Clutch (4 points)
2nd place - Willis (6 points - 5 for 2nd, +1 for cash)
1st place - Vida (8 points - 6 for 1st, +1 for win, +1 for cash)

Pct H/AB Wins Cashes Movement
1) Clutch: .850 164/193 10 15 --
2) Vida: .793 23/29 2 2 +6
3) J-Mac: .763 142/186 6 11 -1
4) Masi: .726 82/113 4 7 -1
5) Bearman: .702 73/104 1 6 -1
6) Paul Carr: .683 41/60 2 3 -1
7) Kenton: .682 45/66 2 3 -1
8) Conlon: .669 81/121 2 4 -1
9) Willis: .627 104/166 2 5 --
10) McCrystal: .611 22/36 0 1 --
11) Edge: .592 90/152 1 4 --
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: .431 31/72 1 1 --
17) Lundblad: .417 5/12 0 0 --
18) C-Lees: .352 19/54 0 0 --
19) McKean: .333 5/15 0 0 --
20) Loucks: .306 15/49 0 0 --
21) Stu: .150 3/20 0 0 --
22) Dohmann: .100 1/10 0 0 --

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

Friday, July 25, 2008

52 Irving History Made With First Chop

With Clutch out of town on vacation, the turnout was smaller than normal. 6 players showed up, including Stu! After pre-gaming by watching Coming to America, the cards were in the air. After watching the blinds go up a couple of times, Stu got in a pot with J-Mac. Upon seeing a flop of Jh, 10s, 7c, Stu pushed the rest of his stack in. J-Mac deliberated for a couple minutes, but then called, showing the Ah7h. As luck would have it, running hearts would come Kamalakin Makinning Stu out in 6th place, and giving J-Mac the chip lead.
A couple of rounds later, Graphics Producer Matt Ketaineck, splashed his GP money around from the cut-off, moving all in. Kenton called from the small blind, having about 300 more chips than Ketaineck. J-Mac deliberated calling both players down, but eventually folded 8-8 face up. It was a tremendous fold as Kenton flipped over 2 black aces and was up against Ketaineck's Ad2d. The board was no help, and Ketaineck was drawing dead after the turn and out in 5th place.
Brett "Quads" Edgerton manuevered through a few hands and gained the chip lead, while the rest of the players saw their stacks dwindle. Edge then min-raised from first position. Willis and Kenton both folded and J-Mac called to see a flop. The flop came down 5c 10h 8h. J-Mac moved all-in and was insta-called by Edge who flipped over KdKh. J-Mac turned over 10c8c. The turn was a 7c, limiting Edge's outs. The river was another 8, giving J-Mac 8's full of 10's in a pot slightly over 800 chips.
Edgerton, now on the shortstack, moved all-in. Willis and Kenton folded and J-Mac nearly folded after peeking and seeing a 3. After doing due diligence and looking at his 2nd hole card, J-Mac called, flipping up pocket 3s. The flop brought nothing, and a 3 on the turn sealed the deal, eliminating Edge in 4th place.
Shortly after, Kenton raised from the button. After J-Mac folded, Willis pushed all in. Kenton called flipping over AQ, Willis showed JJ. This set up the battle of the T-shirts as Kenton and his Johnny Chan shirt were up against Willis, wearing a very solid Tecmo Bowl shirt. The flop came down Ad Kd 8h, leaving Willis needing one of 2 remaining jacks or running straight cards to re-gain the lead. The turn brought the 2d, giving Willis the second nut flush draw, unfortunately for him, Kenton held the Qd and had the nut flush draw in addition to a pair of aces. Only a J could keep Willis alive. The river was the 3 of diamonds, giving both players a flush, but it was not to be for Willis who finished in 3rd place.
This set up heads up play between J-Mac and Kenton, with Kenton holding a 2-1 chip lead at around 11:20 pm Eastern time. J-Mac got short on chips, but then doubled back up when Kenton's open-ended straight draw didn't hit. J-Mac slowly drew even, and then took a chip lead. With 1000 chips remaining, Kenton called J-Mac's all-in with KQo, J-Mac flipped up K-9. The KQ held up, giving Kenton a 2-1 chip lead again. The very next hand, J-Mac moved all in and Kenton called with KJo, J-Mac flipped up Ace baby, which held up, returning a 2-1 chip lead to J-Mac. Kenton's stack dwindled further until he held only 751 chips. At this point Kenton moved all-in and was called by J-Mac, who flipped AJ offsuit. Kenton flipped Big Slick, which held up and gave Kenton a 1502 to 1498 chip lead. At this point, we had played 2 hours and 40 minutes of heads up. The 2 players decided to chop the pot and then played out a best of 3 hands to see who would get the 2 extra standings points. After splitting the first 2 hands, Kenton flopped 2 pair with J5, and after J-Mac's gutshut failed on the river, Kenton was on his way home to write the recap.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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 -

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Ringo Starr "All About the Hits" Classic

Before we get started let's remind everyone that the "Jessica Simpson - Adam Foote Showdown" will be held Thursday, July 10, at 11 AM sharp... let's get there on time people!

Ok so the Ringo Starr Classic drew 8 participants on Monday night, pretty good showing if I say so myself. Tournament leader Dennis Renno was your host with Scott Randall, Kevin Conlon, Kenton Wong, Brett Edgerton, Matt Ketaineck, Tom McKean and Vince Masi your participants.

This tournament got underway without much fanfare as nearly all players passed around blinds and were pretty even money through the first hour of play. Our first big hand came as Kentaineck put Edgerton all in holding a nut flush.. Edge immediately called and to Ketaineck's dismay Edgerton pulled a 5's over 4's full house.. and somewhere cousin Joey was smiling. Edge was left to play another day, and Ketaineck suffered a major chip loss.

Ketaineck would soon regain his lost chips as he made the first knockout of the tourney. When Ketaineck raised before the blinds, Scott Randall the big blind decided to go all-in in hopes that Ketaineck was simply trying to steal the blinds. Matty K called and Randall's Q10 was left behind Ketaineck's A9.... when an Ace came on the flop that was all she wrote for Randall, but all was not lost as he was home in time to see his beloved Dodgers get a near perfect game from some Janpanese guy.... oh and Randall had to make the Mr. Gurgles run..

Next to hit the door was everyone's favorite NASCAR young gun Tom McKean... McKean and Yinz went head to head as Conlon raised with a AQ and McKean called with K7.. when the flop showed A5K, McKean went all in and Yinz called... nothing came on the turn or river and Yinz had his first victim of the night, but certainly not his last...

Next to go was Jenton Wong... who you might ask..oh wait yeah Kenton Wong.... Kenton got excited to see a pair of J's dealt his way.. he quickly went all in but ran head first into a call from Yinz who was holding pocket A's... nothing came on the table and Yinz had number 2... it was Kenton's second big loss to Conlon on the day as earlier an IM basketball game ended with Yinz team over Kenton's 93-17....

Yinz next victim was Vince Masi, but this time he needed a bit of luck... Masi calls all-in with pocket 9's and Yinz with the chip lead calls with A10 suited.....the flop produced 78J, leaving Yinz just a 9 short of the straight... the turn came 3 so no help, but on the river the only card that Yinz needed for the win came as a 9 gave him the win with a straight over Vince's trip 9's...

A short dinner break ensued with some Mr. Gurgles buffalo pizza, and then it was back to action... with Conlon again locked in... Edge dealt pocket J's went all in immediately, and a smiling Yinz called again, this time with pocket K's....the flop left no help and Yinz beat his second pair of J's on the night...

So with 3 people left in the game Yinz and Ketaineck with high chips and a short stacked Clutch who had grinded his was all night... the big hand came when Yinz got pocket J's and went all-in... Ketaineck called with A5 and when nothing came to Matty K's aid, Yinz took home the pot... Ketaineck was left with 53 chips and was shortly eliminated by Yinz...

So Clutch and Yinz were ready to battle as long as it would take for the final, but it would only take one hand....Yinz gets A9 on the first deal and goes all-in with a huge chip lead... Clutch (partially tired and knowing he needed to be up for a little M&M) decides to call with Q2 and nothing comes to help... Yinz gets his second win of the season and proclaim's his happiness that he was able to talk his wife into letting him play.... here are the points....

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

52 Irving Poker League Standings, Thru 7/9
H/AB Wins Cashes + or –
1) Clutch: .857 138/161 9 13
2) J-Mac: .825 127/154 6 11
3) McCrystal: .714 20/28 0 1
4) Conlon: .695 66/95 2 4 +5
5) Paul Carr: .683 41/60 2 3 +1
6) Bearman: .681 64/94 1 5 +1
7) Masi: .680 70/103 3 6 -3
8) Vida: .652 15/23 1 1
9) Kenton: .636 28 44 1 1 -4
10) Edge: .633 76/120 1 4
11) Ketaineck: .589 53/90 1 4 +1
12) Randall: .579 55/95 0 3 -1
13) Willis: .570 73/128 1 3
14) D-Rose: .567 38/67 2 2
15) ELIAS: .541 20/37 0 2
16) Lundblad: .417 5/12 0 0 +1
17) Fallica: .375 21/56 1 1 +1
18) C-Lees: .342 13/38 0 0 +1
19) McKean: .333 5/15 0 0 -3
20) Loucks: .257 9/35 0 0
21) Stu: .143 2/14 0 0

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Lindsay Lohan Skins Game

Seven players showed up on Wednesday night at 52 Irving and things got going - and close to on time, too!

As per usual, the action started off relatively slow, with chips being passed around but nothing overly dramatic happening. About an hour or so in, it was D-Rose on the relative short stack. He was in on the action and called a pre-flp raise from J-Mac. The flop was A/A/2 and D-Rose bet 50, J-Mac called. The turn was a Q and D-Rose bet 50 and J-Mac called yet again. When the river brought another Q, D-Rose moved all-in and J-Mac called, flipping over A-10. D-Rose's pocket 2's (and his flopped full house) were cracked by aces full of queens, which J-Mac got due to runner runner on the last 2 cards. D-Rose went to the rail in 7th place.

Soon after, Ketaineck was in a pot against J-Mac and the flop came J/8/4, with the 8 and 4 of spades. Matt bet 50 and J-Mac called, and then the turn was the 7 of spades. Matt moved all-in with a jack-high flush, but J-Mac had the king-high flush and the night was over with a 6th-place finish for Ketaineck, who was stuck wondering out he had lost when he flopped top pair and a flush draw…

Only a few minutes later, Kevin “Shortstack” Conlon moved all-in for 199 chips with A/4 and J-Mac again was willing to oblige with a call. J-Mac flipped over pocket 9’s and when no help came on the board, Conlon was done with a 5th-place finish after a frustrating evening when he just couldn’t seem to make a hand.

The run continued for J-Mac as shortly, it was Brett “Quads” Edgerton who was on the shortstack. McCallum moved all-in pre-flop as Brett was in the big blind, and Brett made a good call considering his position – and flipped over Q/10 of diamonds. J-Mac turned over J/J. The flop gave J-Mac another jack, but it was the jack of diamonds, and when the turn came 9 of diamonds, Edge was a diamond away from doubling up – but it was not to be. The river was the 9 of clubs, which gave J-Mac the full boat, and Brett the 4th-place finish.

The remaining players were J-Mac, Bearman and Willis. J-Mac had about 2,300 of the 3,500 chips on the table. Our resident NASCAR aficionado had been hanging around with a dwindled (but not crippled) stack for a while, and when he was shortstacked and out of a hand, he perked up:

J-Mac raised pre-flop, and Bearman re-raised. J-Mac, feeling good from the steamroller performance he had put forth so far, moved all-in over the top. When he was called immediately, he didn’t even need to see Bearman flip his cards over. But Bearman did anyway, and J-Mac saw his pocket queens were up against pocket aces. When an ace came on the flop, it was over and J-Mac’s massive chip lead was reduced to a small one.

With his opportunity to sneak into the money all but gone, Willis was forced to become the aggressor. A couple of all-in moves allowed him to gather some blinds, but eventually one of those all-ins would be called. That’s what happened when Willis went all-in with K/7 and was called by J-Mac’s A/8. The board fired 5 blanks and J-Mac knocked Willis out with ace high. Willis finished in 3rd place.

Going into heads up play, J-Mac held about a 2,000 to 1,500 chip lead over Bearman, and he improved upon that in the first several hands. But soon the cards got cold for the leader and Bearman’s aggressive raises began hammering away at the chip lead. By the time we were 45 minutes into heads up, Bearman had earned the chip lead and was going strong.

The key hand happened a little more than an hour into heads up, as Bearman raised 300 preflop and J-Mac called. The flop came A/Q/8 with no matching suits and Bearman led out with another 300 chip bet. J-Mac went over the top all-in and it was decision time for Bearman. Thinking things over for a few minutes, Bearman said, “If you have the Ace, you’ve got me… if you have anything else, I’ve got you.” Eventually, he decided not to tempt fate and after folding, exposed his K/Q. J-Mac followed suit by exposing his own K/Q and raked in the pot, recapturing the chip lead. After that the cards got hot for J-Mac again and his pre-flop raises helped him establish a fairly healthy chip lead again. Finally, about 90 minutes into heads up play, Bearman moved all-in from the small blind and J-Mac called with A/Q. Bearman flipped over Q/9 of spades, and needed either a 9 or a spade draw to stay alive. The flop was blanks, and the turn gave J-Mac his ace to clinch the win. Bearman finishes with his 3rd straight runner-up finish, and J-Mac get his 6th win of the season.

Points awarded at the Lindsay Lohan Skins Game:

7th place: D-Rose (1 point)
6th place: Ketaineck (2 points)
5th place: Conlon (3 points)
4th place: Edge (4 points)
3rd place: Willis (5 points)
2nd place: Bearman (7 points, 6 for 2nd, 1 for cash)
1st place: J-Mac (9 points, 7 for 1st, 1 for win, 1 for cash)

52 Irving Poker League Standings, Thru 7/2
BA H/AB Wins Cashes + or –

1) Clutch: .850 130/153 9 12
2) J-Mac: .825 127/154 6 11
3) McCrystal: .714 20/28 0 1
4) Masi: .695 66/95 3 6
5) Kenton: .694 25 36 1 1
6) Paul Carr: .683 41/60 2 3
7) Bearman: .681 64/94 1 5 +1
8) Vida: .652 15/23 1 1 +1
9) Conlon: .644 56/87 1 3 -2
10) Edge: .643 71/112 1 4
11) Randall: .621 54/87 0 3
12) Ketaineck: .573 47/82 1 4 +1
13) Willis: .570 73/128 1 3 +1
14) D-Rose: .567 38/67 2 2 -2
15) ELIAS: .541 20/37 0 2
16) McKean: .429 3/7 0 0
17) Lundblad: .417 5/12 0 0
18) Fallica: .375 21/56 1 1
19) C-Lees: .342 13/38 0 0
20) Loucks: .257 9/35 0 0
21) Stu: .143 2/14 0 0