So Close, And Yet So Far
2008-02-18 17:22:53
By:
Gene Bromberg
We had 984 players in last night's $200,000 Sunday Guaranteed Tournament, and thanks to a last-second surge we very nearly cracked that golden 1,000 player limit. I was listening to
Big Poker Sundays over at
PokerRoad.com this morning and they were saying that yesterday may have been the biggest tournament day in online poker history. Just about everyone was running a huge event and people came out in droves to play in them. When the UIGEA was passed back in October of 2006 it looked like online poker might be down for the count. Nothing could be further from the truth. People all around the world LOVE to play poker, and in this challenging enviroment they're still finding ways to enjoy the game. When the United States (and a few recalcitrant EU nations) decide to rejoin Western civilization...on that blissful day we will attain Poker Nirvana. And everything will be beautiful.
That's the future--what about the past? Specifically, last night's $200K Guarantee. When we reached heads-up play HarrisMP had about a 2-1 chip lead over cushmaster. At least he had a 2-1 lead when we reached the final hand of a very long night. Now, when you're on the wrong end of a 2-1 chip distribution, there's no need to panic. A reversal of fortune is but one hand away, and no doubt cushmaster thought just that when he was dealt pocket Kings. A monster at a full table, a pair of cowboys is a
Cloverfield-caliber behemoth heads-up. You want to find a way to induce your opponent to get all his chips in the middle...but how best to go about it?
cushmaster didn't get super-tricky--with the blinds at 15,000-30,000 (and a 3,000 ante) he raised to 70K---enough to seed the pot, but small enough to entice HarrisMP into calling with all but the crappiest hands. HarrisMP made the call, and our finalists saw the flop come Q-2-9...all hearts.
A flop that couldn't have thrilled cushmaster, as he didn't have the King of hearts. Then again, if he wanted to double up this was a hand for it--no Ace on the flop, and if HarrisMP had a big heart (literally, not figuratively) it stood to reason that the money was goin' in. Which is what happened. HarrisMP checked and cushmaster didn't mess around--he pushed. And when he did cushmaster probably wasn't too unhappy about it.
Because a player holding two suited cards will only flop a flush around 1.3% of the time. Unfortunately for cushmaster, this was one of those times. HarrisMP held J-4 of Hearts and, well, that was that. To win cushmaster needed to make a runner-runner full house and when the 7 of diamonds fell on the turn that ended whatever drama might've been left. HarrisMP took down the Sunday Guaranteed and his biggest-ever cash (an even $45,000) and cushmaster was left with $26,500 to console himself and his two embarassed cowboys.
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