Return With a Vengeance
2008-02-25 13:43:00
By:
Gene Bromberg
Going deep in a poker tournament can be exhilarating. You've outlasted hundreds (or even thousands) of players who had the same goal as you--winning the damn thing. And now you've made the final table, maybe you're even among the last three or four left standing, and victory is so close you can smell it. Victory, and that first-place prize money. And it all smells so, so sweet.
But poker can be a cruel game. One mistake can cost you your tournament life. Sometimes it isn't even a mistake--you get all your money in with pocket Queens against A-K. You lose the race and you're out. Or you flop a set and trap your opponent...but he has a flush draw that hits on the river. And sometimes you're the victim of a terrible beat and there's nothing you can do but spew censored expletives in the chatbox as some idiot plays on with your chips. No matter how it happens, getting knocked out of a poker tournament when you're deep
hurts.
I'm not sure how geirto was knocked out of the $200,000 Sunday Guaranteed Tournament back on February 10th, but it's safe to say that he wasn't fully satisfied with his 4th-place finish. Winning $13,100 is nice and all, but after all those hours nothing but the top spot would've been fully satisfactory. But just two weeks later geirto summoned the strength to wield his virtual machete and again hacked his way through the field to make the final table. The final five. And, in fact, the final two.
With victory so close geirto built up a nearly 3-1 chiplead when he was dealt A-Q. A big, big hand heads up, and when Hulk25 made a preflop raise geirto didn't mess around. He moved all-in and Hulk25 quickly called, turning over A-8. With a dominating hand, geirto just had to avoid an Eight to make his return to the Sunday Guaranteed final table a triumphant one.
Both players whiffed the 10-K-7 flop. Perhaps geirto was calculating the odds on Hulk25 making a backdoor straight when the damned 8c fell on the turn. Just three cards in the deck that geirto didn't want to see and, pow, there it was.
But sometimes the Poker Gods like to have their fun. And just as Hulk25 lived by the three-outer, he died by the three-outer, as the Qc spiked on the river to re-turn the tables and give the hand, the pot, and the victory to geirto.
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