Defending Champ…Armando

The Big O is hosting a rebuy tournament… Friday, June 1st at 7:00pm. Hope to see everyone there.

CONFIRMED (bold names qualifies for bonus chips):

1. Armando
2. Clara
3. Henry
4. Carol
5. Jim
6. David
7. Greg
8. Justin
9. Todd
10. Toby
11. Scott
    

DATE: Friday, June 1st

TIME: 7:00PM

BUYIN: $10 (10,000 chips)

FORMAT: NLHE with rebuys and add-ons

• Unlimited $10 rebuys for the first four levels. (10,000 chips. Must be at 5,000 or below to rebuy)
• Optional add-ons at the first break. $5 for 5,000 chips or $10 for 10,000 chips

BLINDS: 20 minute blinds

BLIND STRUCTURE
* Level 1 - 100/200
* Level 2 - 200/400
* Level 3 - 300/600
* Level 4 - 400/800
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 7 - 500/1000
* Level 8 - 600/1200
* Level 9 - 800/1600
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 10 - 1000/2000
* Level 11 - 1500/3000
* Level 12 - 2000/4000
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 13 - 3000/6000
* Level 14 - 4000/8000
* Level 15 - 5000/10000

BONUS CHIPS:

• Confirm by Wednesday, May 30th and get 2,500 bonus chips
• Be in the poker room by 7:00PM on Friday, June 1st and get 2,500 bonus chips

As we’ve mentioned a few times over the past month…we are taking the month of May off from hosting tournaments at the Big O. This will give us a little time to catch up on our rest…and sanity…and recharge the batteries.

We’ll be back to hosting the weekend of June 1st.

See everyone then…

Check out this list of New Online Casinos With Poker.

Defending Champ…ScottMc

Here are the events for the rest of April 2007, be sure to leave a comment or email me to reserve a spot.

————————————————————
Thursday, April 26th - $50 Big O Freeze Out Tournament
Time: 7:00pm
Buyin: $50, no rebuys or add-ons
Format: Each player starts with 25,000 chips and we’ll use the usual blind structure
Note: We must have at least 10 players signed up in order for the tournament to run.
Bonus chips: Sign up by Wednesday, April 25th for 1,500 bonus chips. Show up by 7pm on Thursday, April 26th for 1,500 bonus chips.

CONFIRMED:

1. Armando
2. Clara
3. Henry
4. Carol
5. Toby
6. Jim
7. Stacey
8. Michael
9. Rico
10. Rocky
11. Mellissa
12. Justin

————————————————————
BLINDS: 20 minute blinds

BLIND STRUCTURE
* Level 1 - 100/200
* Level 2 - 200/400
* Level 3 - 300/600
* Level 4 - 400/800
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 7 - 500/1000
* Level 8 - 600/1200
* Level 9 - 800/1600
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 10 - 1000/2000
* Level 11 - 1500/3000
* Level 12 - 2000/4000
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 13 - 3000/6000
* Level 14 - 4000/8000
* Level 15 - 5000/10000

Initially 21 people signed up to play the $20 bounty/rebuy tournament ($10 went to the prize pool and each player had a $10 bounty on themselves). We added another table to the poker room planning for 7 players at each table. I was anxious and excited to have the first tournament with the newly installed projector on the ceiling.

As I typed the player’s names into Tournament Director, I paused and smiled while I typed in M-i-a-m-i-D-o-n-k. Mr. Rogers, LobsterDon and now MiamiDonk…nice. We had a last minute cancellation which left us with 20 players but still went with 3 tables.

Each player started with 10,000 chips with blinds starting at 100/200 going up every 20 minutes. There was 4 rounds of unlimited rebuys. Once a player’s stack hit 5,000 or below they could rebuy…$10 for 10,000 chips. We were looking to break the Big O rebuy record of 23. With the lineup of donkeys we had I knew the record was going down.

I started at a table with Jim, Scott R., MiamiDonk, JJ, Steve and Justin. Within minutes I pulled my first donk move of the evening doubling through Jim when my QJ turned two pair to crack his KK. Not too long after that I padded my stack when AK held up against Justin’s flush draw.

My stack was growing quickly however that all changed when I flopped a straight with 85o on a 9h 7h 6h board. I check-raised Don all in and he beat me to the pot with the MOOOOOOOK…T8. Doh! beaten by my own hand. His hand held up and he doubled through me bringing me back to the pack.

Along the way people were rebuying left and right with most of the rebuys coming from table 2 which had ScottMc, Carol, Rico, Stacey, Bern, Mark and Anna. Table 1 was right behind them and included Michael, Henry, Mrs. Mookie, Josh, Weak and April.

During the last level of rebuys our table went crazy with Don leading the way by moving all in blind multiple times. Many others followed suit but instead of creating more rebuy situations we basically just passed chips back and forth.

By the end of the rebuy period we had easily surpassed the rebuy record with 26 rebuys. ScottMc, Henry and Carol led the way with 3 apiece. Nearly everyone took the optional $10 add-on for 10,000 chips creating a nice prize pool of over $800 including bounties.

Throughout the tournament my sister was passing shots of Patron to both Don and JJ at my table and others at the other two tables. Don was drinking them like water earning himself another nickname for the trip…Donny Patron!

ScottMc started level 5 (blinds at 500/1000) with only 20,000 chips but went on a heater sending Carol to the rail in 20th place. He was feeling bulletproof and made a loose call against Rico and got there on the river to add another bounty to his collection. It was about this time we noticed one of the reasons why people call bloggers ghey…JJ and Jim wore almost identical shirts. Awww how cute….twinkies!

Down to 18 players, we broke down to two tables. Don won his first ever bounty at the Big O when his JJ held up against Steve’s TT. April knocked Josh out in 17th while I collected a bounty when I won a race against Mark.

Weak amassed a nice stack early but ran KK into AA and was on a shorter stack midway through the tournament. He ended up being another victim of ScottMc’s finishing in 15th when his Hammer was cracked.

Henry’s night was ended when his pair of Jacks fell to Anna’s AK when she went runner-runner flush. Stacey was crippled when she lost a big pot to Scott and was knocked out soon after by her own hubby Jim in 13th place.

The blinds continued to climb while my stack stayed stagnant. Every pot was raised preflop and I waited for a spot to shove. JJ raised in EP to 15K with KQ and I jammed my 30K stack with AJ. He called and the King on the flop meant it was time for me to leave the table in 12th place. Who said AJ was gold?

I was of course besides myself after being eliminated. I managed to steal JJ’s phone when he wasn’t paying attention and called his wife explaining everything that had happened. She felt sorry for me and agreed to email me a picture of JJ from his college days. Come to find out he put himself through college by stripping for cash…they used to call him “Lil’ Cubbie”.

Revenge is a bitch my friend. Welcome to the Hall of Donks.

Anna was the next to go after she managed turn to a straight only to get rivered by ScottMc who ended up with Broadway. By this time ScottMc’s stack was overflowing with chips.

Nothing was stopping his run as he added even more to his stack after he got all in with KK against April. Suck, re-suck. Two pairs for April on the flop but the river brought a King and a set for ScottMc. April finished in 10th place and on the final table bubble.

With 9 players remaining the final table was formed. Here were the final table players and their chipcounts:

1. ScottMc - 299,000
2. JJ - 88,000
3. Bern - 62,000
4. Justin - 43,000
5. Mrs. Mookie - 37,500
6. MiamiDonk - 34,500
7. Jim - 30,000
8. Scott R. - 29,000
9. Michael - 18,500

Before the final table action began April got in touch with JoeSpeaker for our first dial-a-shot of the evening. I managed to get a few words in with him before passing the phone around to the rest of the group. Good times. A few minutes later Donny Patron got in touch with a very drunk AlCantHang and another round or three of dial-a-shots went down.

Just how drunk was Al? After the dial-a-shots, I took the phone and we talked for a good 10 minutes before he asked me to put Mookie on the phone. Mookie? This is Mookie!

With the blinds at 2,000/4,000 and ScottMc holding nearly half the chips in the play the rest of the final table faced an uphill climb. I was away from the table when it happened but Bern got mixed up in a hand with JJ and finished in 9th place.

A very short stacked Michael was eliminated at the hands of Jim and ended up being the bubble because the Big O’s biggest chop ever took place. For being the bubble boy Michael won an Iron Cactus gift card compliments of Henry and Carol.

The chop…Let me first start by saying MiamiDon is one smooth talker. I think he must have been a used car salesman in a former life. No one gets the nickname MiamiDon without being a “friend of ours” or a car salesman. With barely enough chips to post the next round of blinds he helped orchestrate a chop that saw ScottMc give up 6 of his bounty cards to the others while taking 1st place money outright.

The other 6 each got a bounty card to go along with whatever bounty cards they had collected throughout the evening and then chopped 2nd-5th place money.

Congratulations to ScottMc on the dominating performance and his first Big O victory. What a comeback from only 20,000 chips at the first break.

After the tournament we decided to get a $50NL cash game going with .25/.50 blinds and a mandatory live straddle. The lineup was tough and over the course of the night/early morning included April, Don, Weak, ScottMc, Scott, Jim, JJ, Michael, Mark, Steve and yours truly.

Everyone decided on a couple of rules at the beginning, play everyone hard and no hard feelings. What a tough, intense game it was for such small stakes. Although I felt outmatched at times and lost a couple of big pots early I managed to escape with just a $5 loss.

ScottMc kept the momentum by running over the game at times. He was in a lot of pots and kept the pressure on while building a nice stack. Pride was more at stake than the actual money as no one wanted to be outplayed.

This was by far one of the toughest $50NL games I’d seen mainly due to the fact that everyone was playing like thousands were on the line. I probably learned more in that game than I have over the last year.

Play finally winded down after 3AM and most people left while Don, Jim, JJ and I hung in the poker room until 4AM talking about all kinds of things. When we could barely stay awake we said our good-bye’s and this ended the Weekend at Mookie’s.

I want to first thank Mrs. Mookie for putting up with me over the last few weeks preparing for this weekend. She puts up with a lot of crap from me and this weekend was no different. Thanks to everyone who made it out for the weekend. It was a lot of fun and it was great meeting JJ for the first time and seeing Don and Weak again.

Later this year I’ll begin planning the next Weekend at Mookie’s which will probably take place in April 2008.

————————————————————

Weekend at Mookie’s Part I

Weekend at Mookie’s Part II

Weekend at Mookie’s Part III

Defending Champ…Michael

Here are the events for the rest of April 2007, be sure to leave a comment or email me to reserve a spot.

Saturday, April 21st - Weekend at Mookie’s

Time: Golf-10am, BBQ-5pm, Poker-7pm

BBQ: We will provide the meat (hamburgers, hotdogs and fajitas). If you plan on attending please sign-up to bring a side dish, snacks, cokes, or desserts.
Golfers: I need to get your handicaps ASAP so I can start making the teams and pass this information to the golf course. We won’t be using any modified scoring system, I’ll try to split up the teams as even as I can.
Poker: $20 buyin bounty/rebuy tourney with $10 rebuys. There will be a $10 bounty on each player. Cash games will start as soon as a table opens up.

GOLF

We have moved the venue to Lago Vista Golf Club due to course conditions at Crystal Falls.

Directions: Go HERE for a the golf course address and directions.

Cost: $45+tax/person which covers green fees, golf cart rental, unlimited range balls, and lunch (hamburger and fries)

Prizes: If everyone kicks in $5 we’ll pay $80 to the winning team. We’ll also have prizes for closest to the pin and the longest drive.

Teams:

• Guppies
  • Godfrey
  • Arnie
  • Scott M
  • Mark
• Trout
  • Bubba
  • Rocky
  • Henry
  • Carol
• Goldfish
  • Rico
  • Jim
  • Steve
• Donkeys
  • Don
  • Jeff
  • Armando

BBQ SIGN-UP:

• Armando/Clara/Don/Aaron/Jeff - hamburgers, hot dogs, fajitas
• Henry/Carol - drinks/chips
• April - dessert
• Michael - cookies
• Jim/Stacey - baked beans/macaroni salad
• Anna
• Scott M
• Mark

POKER

1. Armando
2. Clara
3. Henry
4. Carol
5. Jim
6. Stacey
7. Scott R.
8. Scott M.
9. April
10. Justin
11. Zach
12. Josh
13. Mark M.
14. Don
15. Aaron
16. Steve
17. Jeff
18. Michael
19. Anna

————————————————————

Thursday, April 26th - $50 Big O Freeze Out Tournament
Time: 7:00pm
Buyin: $50, no rebuys or add-ons
Format: Each player starts with 25,000 chips and we’ll use the usual blind structure

CONFIRMED:

1. Armando
2. Clara
3. Henry
4. Carol
5. Toby

————————————————————
BLINDS: 20 minute blinds

BLIND STRUCTURE
* Level 1 - 100/200
* Level 2 - 200/400
* Level 3 - 300/600
* Level 4 - 400/800
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 7 - 500/1000
* Level 8 - 600/1200
* Level 9 - 800/1600
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 10 - 1000/2000
* Level 11 - 1500/3000
* Level 12 - 2000/4000
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 13 - 3000/6000
* Level 14 - 4000/8000
* Level 15 - 5000/10000

You know how I know you’re gay? You say things like this:

“…then my mom asked me if I’m gay. When I said no, she asked if I’m bi-sexual…” spoken by a half-drunk Big O regular whose name rhymes with cycle.

This was just one of the many funny conversations that took place Friday night at the Big O. The best part about playing a home game especially at the Big O is taking a seat amongst friends after a long week of work and shooting the shit while trying to steal each others chips.

The poker room was packed as 20 players showed up for the rebuy/bounty madness. The rebuy period lasted one hour and I spent most of that time out of my seat processing a Big O record 24 rebuys.

Before the rebuy period ended Mike Baaa called Mrs. Mookie’s all in on the flop with KJ while she had AK. Mike wasn’t able to find a miracle on the turn or river and decided to call it night finishing in 20th place.

I couldn’t build my stack at all since I was consistently sitting on 2nd best hands and became a POD…Pay Off Donkey. I limped into the first break and after taking the add-on I was well below average with only 24,000 chips.

Late in level 5 (500/1000) David raised in late position and was called by Justin and Skip. The flop was JJx and David pushed all in and Justin pushed all in behind him. Skip had both players covered and called with J5. David had AK and Justin was way ahead with AJ. Nothing crazy happened on the turn or river and Justin tripled up while knocking David out in 19th place.

Brad knocked Scott out next and Rocky took the remaining crumbs of Skip’s stack. Mellissa eliminated Toby in 16th place while Bubba took out Carol.

Audie had started the evening off slow and wasn’t able to amass any chips. After the break things started to turn around for him and he started making some hands. He won his first bounty of the night sending Greg to the rail in 14th place.

Mrs. Mookie was running short on chips and went to the races with AJ against Brad’s TT. The Tens held up and a dozen players remained. Brad continued to roll by knocking out Bubba and we were on the final table bubble.

I was very short on chips sitting on less than 20K. With blinds at 1500/3000 Audie raised it up big UTG and it folded around to me in the BB. I thought about just calling blind since I was short, but decided to look…QQ. I threw in the rest of my paltry stack and Audie insta-called with AK. Things were looking great for me until the nasty river brought an Ace. Ouch. Out on the final table bubble, breaking my streak of 5 straight final table finishes. I guess it wasn’t so bad getting knocked out by a great American hero…

Here were the final table finishers and their chipcounts:

.

.

1. Michael - 175,000
2. Brad - 114,000
3. Audie - 101,500
4. Justin - 65,000
5. Rocky - 49,500
6. Henry - 45,500
7. Mellissa - 36,000
8. Jim - 33,500
9. Rico - 24,000
10. Lee Anne - 15,500

Since I was out of the tournament I turned my attention to the cash game and didn’t see any of the final table action. Rocky started things of quickly by knocking out Lee Anne and then Mellissa.

Brad sent Rico to the cash game and they were getting close to the money. Play continued for almost another hour when Henry knocked Brad out in 7th place. This put the final 6 on the bubble but they made a save making Brad the unfortunate bubble boy.

Rocky ended Jim’s night in 6th and Audie knocked Henry out in 5th. This was about the time Michael started trying to tilt Audie by repeatedly calling him Audie Murphy. Justin was the victim of Audie’s wrath and bowed out in 4th place.

Down to three players with even chipstacks play slowed down a bit and it would be another 30 minutes before an elimination. Rocky and Michael got all in on a flop that gave Rocky a pair and Michael an OESD. The turn brought the necessary straight card for Michael and Rocky’s bid to become the first multiple winner of 2007 fell short.

Heads up Michael held the chiplead but this matchup lasted nearly 40 minutes as the lead shifted back and forth. There were a couple of suckouts for each side but in the end Michael was able to pull out the win. Congrats !

Defending Champ…Rocky

The Big O is hosting a bounty/rebuy tournament… Friday, March 30th at 7:00pm. Hope to see everyone there.

CONFIRMED (bold names qualifies for bonus chips):

1. Armando
2. Clara
3. Henry
4. Carol
5. Audie
6. Jim
7. Toby
8. Skip
9. David
10. Michael
11. Mike Baaaaa
12. Scott R.
13. Greg
14. Rico
15. Rocky
16. Mellissa
17. Bubba
18. Lee Anne
19. Brad
20. Justin

DATE: Friday, March 30th

TIME: 7:00PM

BUYIN: $15 (10,000 chips)

FORMAT: NLHE with rebuys and add-ons

• Unlimited $10 rebuys for the first four levels. (10,000 chips. Must be at 5,000 or below to rebuy)
• $5 bounty on each player
• Optional add-ons at the first break. $5 for 5,000 chips or $10 for 10,000 chips

BLINDS: 20 minute blinds

BLIND STRUCTURE
* Level 1 - 100/200
* Level 2 - 200/400
* Level 3 - 300/600
* Level 4 - 400/800
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 7 - 500/1000
* Level 8 - 600/1200
* Level 9 - 800/1600
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 10 - 1000/2000
* Level 11 - 1500/3000
* Level 12 - 2000/4000
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 13 - 3000/6000
* Level 14 - 4000/8000
* Level 15 - 5000/10000

BONUS CHIPS:

• Confirm by Wednesday, March 28th and get 1,000 bonus chips
• Show up on time by 7:00PM on Friday, March 30th and get 1,500 bonus chips

The Big O hosted another tournament Saturday night and 18 people showed up for Mrs. Mookie’s B-day tournament. We finished phase 1 of the poker room completing the painting, lighting and some of the pictures. The format was the usual rebuy madness and once again we had plenty of early action eclipsing the record with 20 rebuys.I ended up rebuying once when my straight and flush draw didn’t hit against ScottMc but then went on a nice run to chip up early before the break. It wasn’t by skill though as I got lucky in a pot against Mellissa when I called her all in with 99 while she had QQ. The flop brought a Queen but gave me straight draw that hit on the turn. The board didn’t pair and that was one of a few suckouts I was fortunate to hit.

We lost a couple of players before the first break with Zach and Mike Baaaaa hitting the rail in 17th and 18th place. After taking the add-on at the break I had a nice stack of over 60,000.

Rico took a couple of beats early on and was the first to fall after the break in 16th place. I don’t recall the hand and I was in it, but Justin was knocked out. Stacey raised on the button with TT, I pushed all-in from the SB having both she and Greg in the BB covered. Greg called with KJd and Stacey called as well. There was no paint to be found after the last card was dealt and Stacey more than doubled up while eliminating Greg in 14th place. This dented my stack bringing me down to around 40,000.

The birthday girl…Mrs. Mookie didn’t get one pocket pair the entire evening and tried to make an all-in move UTG with 92o only to run into Jim’s AK. ScottMc was riding a shortstack and pushed all-in PF with Ax and Henry moved in behind him with QQ. It was looking grim for Scott until the river brought an Ace and an F-bomb from Henry. This crippled Henry and he was eliminated a couple hands later.

With eleven players left and one more elimination until the final table a big hand went down at our table. With blinds at 1000/2000 ScottMc limped in on the button, Stacey called from the SB and I checked my option in the BB with Q5o. The flop was Q-7-5 with two spades and Stacey quickly lead out with a 6,000 bet. I made it 21,000 and ScottMc went into the tank. He ended up pushing all-in for right under 20,000 more and Stacey quickly called. I counted down my stack and then made the call leaving myself around 10,000 if I lost the pot. ScottMc had ATs for the nut flush draw while Stacey had two pair with 75. Somehow the turn and river were bricks and when the dust cleared I won a huge pot.

With the double elimination the final table was formed with the 9 remaining players.

1. Armando - 140,500
2. Scott R. - 105,000
3. Anna - 88,500
4. Rocky - 75,000
5. Toby - 48,500
6. Mellissa - 45,000
7. Jim - 37,000
8. David - 30,500
9. Carol - 13,000

I didn’t play a hand out of the blinds for nearly two orbits so when I raised in late position to 18,000 with QQ I figured I would probably just take down the blinds. That is until Rocky paused and min-raised me. I tanked for awhile and narrowed down his range to JJ-AA and seriously thought about just mucking the hand PF. I ended up calling and the flop was all babies which prompted him to quickly push all-in. Back to the tank and the more I thought about it I didn’t think he would make this play with anything less than KK or AA so I mucked and saw my stack come back to the field. It was AA so it was a good fold, although I probably should have just mucked the Queens PF.

It took awhile but Carol found an all-in hand and pushed in her stack with AJo. Jim was priced into calling from the BB with 52o and hit eliminating Carol in 9th place.

A few hands later Jim limped in EP and I found AK on the button and raised it up. Rocky gave me a glare and thought about at least calling but ended up folding. Jim finally pushed in his stack with KQh. His signature wasn’t kind to him and he headed to the cash table.

In a battle of the blinds…Mellissa pushed PF from the SB with AJ and a shortstacked David made a stand with JT. No lucky Ten and he finished in 7th. Toby couldn’t get much going at the final table and when he finally pushed all in PF, he got two callers including myself from the BB. I hit with crap and he was the next player to join the “big” cash game.

It was bubble time and we played on for 30 minutes before finally saving a few bucks for 5th place. A little later Scott got all in against Anna and finished in 5th place. Mellissa went into push or fold mode and this worked for awhile. Eventually she went into a hand against Anna and fell in 4th place.

We played three-handed for another 30 minutes and I couldn’t build my stack. It was feast or famine by way of cards and when I did have a hand I couldn’t get any action. I raised on the button with QJh and Rocky called out of the SB. The flop was Queen high and I pushed getting a quick call from Rocky. He had AQ and I didn’t suck out, which gave me 3rd place money to use at the cash game.

I think it was his outfit that threw me off…from now on he’ll be banned from wearing it again:

Heads up Rocky held the chiplead against Anna and was able to whittle her stack down. Anna managed to split a pot and then double up once but it wasn’t enough and in the end Rocky came away with the win. Congrats !

 

Defending Champ…Stacey

The Big O is hosting a rebuy tournament… Saturday, March 17th at 6:00pm. Hope to see everyone there.

CONFIRMED (bold names qualifies for bonus chips):

1. Armando
2. Clara
3. Henry
4. Carol
5. Jim
6. Stacey
7. Scott
8. David W.
9. Justin
10. Greg
11. Toby
12. Scott M.
13. Mike Baaaaaa
    
14. Rocky
15. Mellissa
16. Anna
17. Zach

DATE: Saturday, March 17th

TIME: 6:00PM

BUYIN: $10 (10,000 chips)

FORMAT: NLHE with rebuys and add-ons

• Unlimited $10 rebuys for the first four levels. (10,000 chips. Must be at 5,000 or below to rebuy)
• Optional add-ons at the first break. $5 for 5,000 chips or $10 for 10,000 chips

BLINDS: 20 minute blinds

BLIND STRUCTURE
* Level 1 - 100/200
* Level 2 - 200/400
* Level 3 - 300/600
* Level 4 - 400/800
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 7 - 500/1000
* Level 8 - 600/1200
* Level 9 - 800/1600
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 10 - 1000/2000
* Level 11 - 1500/3000
* Level 12 - 2000/4000
* BREAK - 5 minutes
* Level 13 - 3000/6000
* Level 14 - 4000/8000
* Level 15 - 5000/10000

BONUS CHIPS:

• Confirm by Wednesday, March 14th and get 1,000 bonus chips
• Show up on time by 6:00PM on Saturday, March 17th and get 1,500 bonus chips

After a long week of work I was looking forward to another tournament at the Big O on Friday night. We ended up with only 13 players but kept the newly changed structure of 4 rebuy rounds which has helped the prize pool. Yours truly was the defending champ and as always the action was fast paced during the rebuy period.

I was able to chip up early and started to build my stack until I ran AQ into AK on an Ace high flop. Towards the end of the rebuy period and with blinds at 400/800, I had around 13K and raised to 3,200 in EP with the Hammer. Todd was on my left and smooth called, Scott pushed all in for 6 or 7K more and then Michael pushed all in having us all covered. I decided to to obviously gamble and try to get lucky, lucky, lucky (plus it’s the mighty Hammer), so I called along with Todd. A four way all in pot PF with Todd holding Qc Js, Scott 8h 8d, Michael Ad Tc and me 7s 2s.

cards     win   %win    lose  %lose   tie  %tie     EV
Js Qc  323556  29.79  760839  70.06  1613  0.15  0.298
8d 8h  310088  28.55  774307  71.30  1613  0.15  0.286
Tc Ad  289579  26.66  794816  73.19  1613  0.15  0.267
7s 2s  161172  14.84  923223  85.01  1613  0.15  0.149

The flop was decent for me but much better for Todd…Qh 5s 2d

cards  win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
Js Qc  456  55.61   364  44.39    0  0.00  0.556
8d 8h   72   8.78   748  91.22    0  0.00  0.088
Tc Ad  105  12.80   715  87.20    0  0.00  0.128
7s 2s  187  22.80   633  77.20    0  0.00  0.228

The turn was all the more exciting when the Ace hit…(Qh 5s 2d) Ac

cards  win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
Js Qc    5  12.50    35  87.50    0  0.00  0.125
8d 8h    2   5.00    38  95.00    0  0.00  0.050
Tc Ad   28  70.00    12  30.00    0  0.00  0.700
7s 2s    5  12.50    35  87.50    0  0.00  0.125

But the hammer wouldn’t let me down and a magical 7 appeared on the river to quadruple me up. I played the rush winning a race along with a couple pots here and there.

At the first break we counted up 13 rebuys which wasn’t too shabby considering the smaller field size.

After taking the add-on at the break I was sitting pretty with around 65,000 chips and blinds at 500/1000. Unfortunately I lost 10,000 within the first three hands after the break. Uggh.

We would play for three more rounds before we had our first elimination. Justin was the first player to find the rail when he read Rico as weak and pushed all in with 63o. Rico quickly called with AK and Big Slick held up leaving Justin out in 13th place.

David couldn’t get past Jim and was knocked out in 12th. In a battle of the blinds, Mike limped in the SB and Michael quickly pushed all in from the BB having Mike covered. Mike called with AA while Michael held TT. No lucky Tens for Michael and he was left with 9K with blinds at 800/1600.

A few hands later Todd went out with 2nd pair against Scott’s pair of Aces and then Michael’s A6 was no match for my AA.

Down to nine we headed to the final table and here were the chipcounts:

1. Mike Ba. - 73,500
2. Henry - 63,000
3. Me - 56,000
4. Jim - 53,500
5. Scott - 51,000
6. Stacey - 45,500
7. Zach - 36,500
8. Mrs. Mookie - 25,500
9. Rico - 16,500

I lost about 17,000 on the first few orbits and for the rest of the night was pretty much in push or fold mode. Rico tried to hang on as long as he could but eventually ran out of steam when he lost an all in pot to Mrs. Mookie.

MM looked to keep the momentum going when she was all in again preflop with TT against Stacey’s 22. But as her whole night had gone…the deuce was in the window on the flop and she was left with scraps. She was all in dark on the next hand and was called by a few people. Mike bet the turn with Queen high giving MM some protection, but she wasn’t able to pair either hole cards and Queen high was good.

After a raise preflop Jim and Scott saw a flop of A8x and got it all in…AQ for Jim but 88 for Scott. No lucky runner-runner for Jim and his night ended in 7th place.

After being blinded down to a shortstack, Zach pushed in and was called by me and Mike. A rivered straight gave the pot to Mike and we entered bubble territory. Henry offered we save a few skins for 5th and everyone agreed.

It wasn’t long after this that Henry doubled through Scott with trip deuces which sparked his rush of chips. He was able to knock Scott out a hand or two later when the flush didn’t materialize on the river for Scott.

Henry kept rolling along and accumulating chips while played slowed down a bit down to four players. I was still in push/fold mode picking up enough chips so that my all ins weren’t easy to call. Eventually Henry added the 2nd bounty to his collection when he eliminated Mike in 4th place.

Down to three players play would continue for another 30 minutes before I was all in against Henry with me holding AQs and he KK. No lucky suckouts for me and I was out in 3rd place.

Here is a picture of Henry proudly exclaiming…”I have the stamina of a mongoose !” Woa…ease up on the fanny pack…don’t know what’s worse, the pants, shirt or fanny pack. I think the fanny pack is one of the worse inventions ever. Someone needs to tell Mike Matusow he should shed his…maybe Change100 will have a fashion segment on fanny packs at the WSOP this summer.

Heads up Henry held a slim lead against Stacey (who was under the influence of Nyquil) and the matchup lasted another 30 minutes. Along the way Stacey doubled up with a slowplayed flush and picked up a lot of small pots with a barrage of all in moves. Henry wasn’t catching much in the way of cards and the final hand went down like this…

Both players checked a flop of KQ6, the turn was an Ace and they got it all in with Henry holding Ax and Stacey Q6. The river was no help to Henry and Stacey’s two pair held up for her first win on the season. Congrats !