And Our Champion Is...
2006-12-11 02:45:17
By: Gene Bromberg
It took nearly ten and a half hours of poker to determine the champion of the Main Event of the UltimateBet Online Championship. And as you might expect, during the final table we saw some brilliant play, some gut-wrenching suckouts, and some hands where all you could do at the end was shrug and say, "That's poker".
One of those hands came early during the final table action, when ThrillsnKills ran AQ into RMB31's pocket kings. Those kings held up, and ThrillsnKills took home an even ten grand for his tenth-place finish.
; "tenth")
Fred420 and Maria Nuccia each won $168,450 for their fantastic play today. But it was Maria Nuccia who won the bracelet and the Final Event of the UltimateBet Online Championship.
It took us awhile to lose our next player, long enough for a minor mystery to develop. Some of the folks chatting during the tournament said that E Tyme was in fact the screen name of former World Champion Dan Harrington. During his broadcast Phil Hellmuth challenged E Tyme to identify the company that "Action" Dan runs. E TyMe gave the correct answer (Anchor Loans) and even referred to Hellmuth as "Phillip", which Phil said only Harrington does.
However, it turned out that E Tyme ISN'T Dan Harrington. He called in and talked to Phil and Nick and said that someone started the rumor that he was Harrington, but he didn't know why. A friend watching him play game him the name of Harrington's company, and when Phil asked "Why did you call me Philip?", well, that turned out to be just one of those weird coincidences.
E Tyme called in after he was knocked out by A_theKevlar_2, whose AK beat E Tyme's A-10. And for his ninth-place finish E Tyme won $17,000.
; "ninth")
There was also a rumor floating around that toetagU was the screen name for professional James Van Alstyne, but in this instance Phil wasn't able to provide conclusive evidence either way. The hand where toetagU was knocked out foreshadowed some of the later play in the tournament, as toetagU pushed with the AJ of hearts and was called by Fred420's KQ. Fred gave that call a lot of thought, and during the commentary Hellmuth didn't seem to care for that call too much, but a king spiked on the river and toetagU didn't get any help the rest of the way. He finished in the eighth spot and collected $22,500.
; "eighth")
Several of the players at the final table were super, ultra, mega-aggressive, but Phil pointed out that Maria Nuccia, the table shortstack, had barely played a pot. He (and Maria is indeed a he) raised one hand to win the blinds...and didn't really get involved in another hand until he called RMB31's all-in raise with KK. The kings held up and RMB31 finished in seventh place and won $32,000.
; "seventh")
Maria Nuccia quickly doubled up again, but lost a big chunk of those chips during a massive 3-way pot. breitling996 raised and Maria Nuccia re-raised to isolate. But A_theKevlar_2 called all-in and when the cards were shown breitling996's Q-9 of diamonds were in bad shape against A_theKevlar_2's pocket queens and Maria Nuccia's pocket eights. The flop gave A_theKevlar_2 a set, but the two diamonds opened the door for breitling996. A door that slowly drew shut, as no other diamonds fell, and breitling996 ended as our sixth-place finisher, winning $42,000.
; "sixth")
Zmona arrived at the final table as our chip leader but couldn't get anything going. He doubled up Maria Nuccia and not long after pushed with the A-6 of clubs. Maria Nuccia called with pocket eights, and though Zmona hit a six on the flop he didn't get any help after that. For his fifth-place finish Zmona won $52,500.
; "fifth")
A_theKevlar_2's stack fluctuated wildly during the final table, and he lost a big pot to Fred420 when a king hit the flop and he raised Fred all in. Fred gave it some thought before calling with KQ, a hand that dominated Kevlar's KJ. But he fought back and, thanks to that big three-way hand where breitling was knocked out, clawed his way back.
But then he and Fred420 got involved in another big hand. After the flop came down Qc-7d-4c, Kevlar led out with a bet. Fredr420 re-raised all-in, a massive raise, and A_theKevlar_2 made the call with the KQ of diamonds. Fred420 had a pair of nines, giving him two lonely outs...and incredibly he promptly hit a nine on the turn. But it was the nine of diamonds, giving Kevlar a redraw to the flush...but the river was the five of clubs. A brutal way to get knocked out, but he sounded in good spirits when he called in to talk to Phil and Nick about the tournament.
We learned that A_theKevlar_2 is a student at the University of Illinois at Champaign, and the $65,000 he won for finishing fourth will buy a lot of beer. Or textbooks, what college student doesn't love spending money on textbooks? Uh-huh.
; "fourth")
Down to three-handed I had a feeling that PMJackson21 was going to win it all. He'd been down to the felt at the final table but doubled up on 2 consecutive hands when he held pocket sixes and then pocket nines. Plus, earlier on I saw him win two filthy hands to stave off elimination. He won with 8-4 against KQ when he rivered a gutshot straight, and he also won a hand where he bluffed at a pot with 5-3, was called by AK, and hit a five on the river to win THAT hand. Seemed like he had a date with Destiny to me.
But it also looked like Fred420 had a date with Destiny, and she's not the two-timing kind. PMJackson21 went all-in with pocket deuces and was called by Fred420's AJ, and when Fred flopped an ace that was that. PMJackson21 finished in 3rd place and won $87,500.
; "third")
When we started heads-up play Fred420 had about a 6-1 chip lead, but Maria Nuccia had already proved he knew how to overcome a deficit. He won a few nice pots to reduce the margin, and then doubled up when he went all-in on a board of 5-Q-J with AJ and was called by Fred420's KJ.
That put the players nearly even in chips, meaning one bad beat, one cold deck, could mean the difference between winning $221,500 and $125,400. It's hardly a surprise that the players started talking about making a deal, and as they chatted back and forth Phil talked to them through the audio commentary about what they needed to do to consummate the deal. They agreed to chop the money and play for the bracelet. "That's what I always focus on, the bracelet," Phil said, and once the money was settled, that's what our final two players did.
The hand that truly decided the contest came when Fred420 made a straight on the river while holding 9-10...only to find after all the chips went in that Maria Nuccia had a higher straight with AK. That gave Maria Nuccia over a 10-1 chip lead, and after Fred420 managed a split pot when he and Maria Nuccia both held an ace and little card, they again got their money in while each held an ace. Maria Nuccia had a seven-kicker, Fred420 a three, and a seven on the flop ended whatever drama was left in this long, long day.
; "finalhand10")
Fred432 and Maria Nuccia each won $168,450 for their incredible play today. But it was Maria Nuccia who won the bracelet, and is the champion of the Final Event of the UltimateBet Online Championship.
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