The Tie That Binds
2007-04-30 11:08:45
By: Gene Bromberg
It was legendary Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant who once said, "A tie is like kissing your sister". One of the more, ah, uncomfortable quotes in the history of athletics. Not one that invites closer examination. Oh, you'll get some wag who'll say "Depends on what your sister looks like!" when, in fact, it doesn't.
But let's change the subject as quickly as possible. Athletes and sports fans alike don't like ties, because they don't resolve the conflict they've spent all day warring over--who's the WINNER. We either want the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat, not the sister-kissing unease of a tie. And most sports removed ties from the equation long ago. Baseball goes extra innings, basketball has it's overtimes. Even sports that traditionally tolerated ties have done away with them in recent years. Hockey now holds shootouts if the two teams can't resolve the matter after a 5-minute overtime, and even Bear Bryant's college football eschews the tie and instead has the teams take turns trying to score from the 35-yard-line. Integrity of the game be damned--will somebody WIN already?
Poker is not a game that lends itself to ties. If you play a tournament, it ain't over until one player has all the chips. Even if that means you play until well after the sun comes up (just ask Chip Reese and Andy Bloch about that). Still, there are times when ties play a part in poker, and they can be as maddening as they are in other games.
The final table of last night's $200,000 Guaratneed Tournament was a rather friendly, relaxed affair. Loeppenthin arrived at the final table as our chip leader after what was apparently a sick run of luck. The other players were commenting on this streak when J0hnyRingo asked, "Loep, say something to prove you're not a bot"
And after a pause Loeppenthin said "Bzzzrr bzzzzr", and a chorus of "lol" followed. Nice, friendly table. Which looked like this:
;)
And the good humor continued all the way to the end. When we were down to three-handed Loeppenthin still held the lead, but Wachovia and POPMONSTER weren't far behind. Loeppenthin was crippled, though, when he moved all in after a board of Kd-Kc-2c and was called by POPMONSTER, who held pocket sixes to pip Loeppenthin's pocket fives.
A number of times it looked like Loeppenthin would finally be put to the sword, but he managed to bob and weave and outflop his opponents...including one hand where he was in bad shape but survived when the board made a straight and allowed him to chop the pot. In this case a tie definitely suited Loeppenthin, and he crawled back from the dead to amass a substantial stack.
But sometimes you use up all your luck scrabbling back from the brink, and that's what happened to Loeppenthin. After a raise and then a re-raise by Wachovia, Loeppenthin moved all-in with QQ and was called by Wachovia's A-7. The flop of 10c-7c-2s gave Wachovia some extra outs...but the Ace of hearts on the river was enough on it's own to put the tough beat on Loeppenthin and knock him out in 3rd place.
The heads-up match took quite a long time--not that Wachovia and POPMONSTER weren't willing to put their chips in the middle. But on TWO occasions all the money went into the middle, the players turned over their cards...and then were holding the same hands. There was a preflop battle where both held A-8 and neither flopped a flush draw, and another time where they both held Q-9 and flopped top pair. The players' good-natured banter continued through the heads-up battle and they were able to find the humor in chopping a pot that might've meant a $18,500 difference in prize money.
POPMONSTER finally seized control and built up a sizable chip lead before the final confrontation. And he held a hand that doesn't lend itself to ties--pocket Aces. After a king-high flop POPMONSTER check-raised and the pot-committed Wachovia called with pocket threes. The turn and river did not reveal a third three, and POPMONSTER was our champion and $45,000 richer. And as our runner-up Wachovia took home $26,500.
;)
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