The Full 15 Rounds
2007-05-14 11:13:58
By: Gene Bromberg
The field for last night's $200,000 Guaranteed Tournament slipped a bit from last week's record of 1,008 entrants, but we still had 846 players battling for the $45,000 first prize. The reason for the decline was obvious--it was Mother's Day, and more than a few players were spending a little extra quality time with their Mater Dear. Not that the players who took to the virtual felt DON'T love their mothers, heavens no. But it's understandable that some folks had plans with Mom for later in the day that took precendent over the $200K Guaranteed. Perfectly understandable.
Just never let it happen again.
Ever.
OK, I confess that I returned to my flat a few hours into the poker event, and as the money bubble burst and the field boiled down to three tables I had trouble believing my eyes. Because, for the THIRD week in a row, Loeppenthin was atop the leaderboard! Loeppenthin of course finished third in our last two Sunday tournaments. And now he was making another deep run. Unbelievable. Could he actually make another final table and even win the thing this time around?
Alas, the answer to that question would be "No". I did not see the hand where Loeppenthin was eliminated in 21st place, but it must've taken a heroic effort to put the final nail in that particular coffin. A remarkable trifecta.
But our final table looked like this (yes, only 9 players, as both YoungSupremacy and OnlineProNGP were eliminated on same hand):
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When we reached three-handed play Dyzalot was the chip leader, thanks in part to a huge three-handed pot he managed to wrestle away. He found himself all-in with pocket sixes against JMellross's pocket Jacks and wagstbc's A-Q. And on the flop, a six, and Dyzalot knocked out two players and grabbed the chip lead.
He built up that lead when he found himself holding A-K after unclwhoopass pushed with A-8. A flopped king ended the drama and we entered heads-up play with Dyzalot holding about a 2-1 chip lead over the elegantly-named Tony Pisser.
And there, our story truly begins.
Because the heads-up match took an hour and a half to resolve. Both players had enough chips to play back and forth, to make a tough laydown and still have a viable stack. Dyzalot reduced Tony Pisser's stack to below $600K by moving all-in on a Queen-high board with 2 diamonds that, at the time, seemed to give him control of the match.
All was not as it seemed, however. Tony Pisser started coming over the top when his opponent re-raised his blind steals, and time and time again Dyzalot chose to let the hand go and not risk a cheap double-up. And neither player could connect with a flop. Time and time again both players checked down the hand, only to see bottom-pair beat Queen-high. Several times Dyzalot bluffed on the river and was called by Tony's middling hand, and over time this helped even out the chip stacks.
This wasn't two heavyweights trading all-in haymakers. Instead the match was a cautious pas de deux, both players husbanding their chips, neither making a big move that might turn out to be a big mistake. Slowly the tide turned, Tony Pisser seemed to get the better of the play, and he built up a 2-1 lead himself.
Then, at long last, Dyzalot went all-in with the nut flush draw and was called by Tony's open-ended straight draw. A spade on the turn brought that hand to an immediate conclusion, and once again brought the players nearly even in chips. And so, the match went on.
And on.
And on, deep into the night.
During a break both players said that this was one of the longest heads-up matches they'd ever played. And they still had a long way to go. Again Tony Pisser took the lead, in part when he won a nice pot with A-Q on a Queen-high board. And after building up a 2-1 chip lead Tony made an all-in raise with yet another open-ended straight draw. But he was called by Dyzalot's flopped two pair, and when the straight draw didn't come in we were, at the eight-hour mark, dead even at chips once again.
Neither player seemed to succomb to impatience, neither seemed to lose control and start pushing just to make an end of it. But with the blinds and ante slowly ticking upwards the play naturally become more aggressive. Still, even with both poker players now willing to commit their entire stack to win the blinds, neither could land a decisive blow.
But, as he had through most of the heads-up match, Tony Pisser got slightly the better of it and slowly built up his stack. A few times the course of action went raise, re-raise, all-in, fold, and a few big pots like that gave Tony a big enough lead that Dyzalot was forced into push-mode. He found a good hand to push back with in pocket fives, and he found himself flipping a coin against Tony Pissers' J-9. If the pair held up it would've given Dyzalot a new lease on life...but a Jack on the flop put Tony in the driver's seat. No five appeared on the turn or river, and after eight hours and nineteen minutes of play, Tony Pisser was the winner of the Sunday Guaranteed tournament. He didn't make as much per hour as some of our previous winners, but the $45,000 first place prize probably still made the time worthwhile. Dyzalot fought and fought and fought, and for that effort won $27,000 as our runner-up.
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