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Posts Tagged ‘Aces’

“Seems like everyone at this table is trying to win, that’s no fun!” exclaimed Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu near the sixth hour of play and holding a sizable stack going towards the money bubble of 117 places paid. Indeed PLO8 is not for the faint of heart nor timid betting if a final table, five figure scores, or WCOOP bracelet is in your future. While the betting is restricted to pot limit, big bet poker plus skillful players like Team PokerStars pro Nuno Coelho trying to make it back to the final table as he did last year finishing 4th for $ 27K, there was no easy money to be had despite Daniel’s pleas.

907 players total would drop into Event #51′s $ 320 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low tournament, meaning the PokerStars guarantee of $ 175,000 was not needed once again as the $ 272,100.00 prize pool would provide funds for 117 players to enjoy, including $ 48,978.00 for the champ.

Another final tablist from last year, Brazilian caprioli, would head into the sixth hour with chips along with Team PokerStars pros Marcin “Goral” Horecki, Bryan Huang, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and Team Online’s Anders “Donald” Berg who was trying to notch his seventh cash of the WCOOP 2011 series (but behind his teammates ElkY with eight cashes, and Negreanu with nine). However, being in fifth place in the WCOOP Player of the Series race starting tonight and of course his runner-up finish last night nearly notch his record breaking fourth WCOOP bracelet after capturing his third win in Event #16 , Berg was standing the tallest of all the Red Spade holders being just a runner-up finish from catching 2FLY2TILT in the overall series race and holding three WCOOP bracelets overall.

No final table for the Norwegian as Berg would meet a quick end to his tournament after the 15 minute break finishing outside the money in 139th place along with Mike “SirWatts” Watson in 141st place who nearly made a final table in Event #27 Badugi and was seen last year heads-up in SCOOP 2011′s Event # 34-Medium but falling just short of the championship watch. Negreanu, Grospellier, Horecki, and Huang would cross the bubble safely, as would Finland’s villepn who notched his 12th cash of the series and was looking to add a bracelet to the SCOOP watch earned in 2010′s Event #14-High.

Of the four Team PokerStars pros ElkY would be the first to get scooped as he tried to get his small stack of 12,299 chips with blinds at 1,250/2,500 in the middle preflop with a pot size raise. Called only by mickeyknox7 in the small blind, the Triple Crown winner was unable to match up with the board after throwing in the rest of his stack post-flop as mickeyknox7′s pair of sixes would take it down and Grospellier collected $ 680.25 in 73rd place. Bertrand was followed closely by Bryan Huang on the rail as the Singapore pro was also short on chips failing to salvage half the pot after flopping the nut flush draw as his opponent Pokerccini (late night poker playing pizza topping?) would scoop the 24,162 chip pot with a straight and nut low ending Huang’s night in 71st place ($ 734.67).

Horecki saw the cruelness of aces cracked in PLO8 when mnstrkll reraised the Polish pro until all of Marcin’s stack was in the middle holding [Kc][7h][Ac][As]. mnstrkll held a decent two-way hand [Kh] [5c] [3h] [Ad] that turned into a monster as low cards kept coming off the deck [9h] [7s] [4c] [6h] [2s] giving mnstrkll a seven-high straight to go with the nut-low and a tidy 141,736 chip pot eliminating “Goral” in 58th place ($ 789.09).

At the ninth hour break and four tables left, Daniel would still be in the running for the bracelet holding his own with 87,428 chips and blinds at 2.5K/5K. But, ImaLucSac, currently tied for 10th on the Player of Series leaderboard was sitting two his right with double of the 150K average chip stack. The shortstack would bobble up and down a bit before going underwater with the blinds at 4K/8K in a battle of the blinds with akkenny the two would see a [Kh] [4d] [7h] flop with 48,000 chips already in the middle. Immediately akkenny shoved out a pot bet which covered Negreanu’s stack, and holding two pair [Qs] [Kd] [3s] [7d] Daniel made the call hoping to fade the low draw to scoop a much needed 126,824 chip pot. [5h] locked up half the pot for akkenny and in runner-runner fashion, the [Js] stole the high end as akkenny’s set of jacks knocked out Kid Poker in 21st place ($ 1,251.66).

Marcin Horecki was not the only Polish player to make it deep tonight. lukro8, who has a SCOOP 2011 watch from taking down Event #33-High NLO8, would nearly miss the final table after busting in 14th place ($ 2,312.85).

After Barseggg and YaaGy both earned $ 2,857.05 in 12th and 11th place respectively, the shortstacks were anything but weak with several all-ins on both tables and ten players go for the win versus eeking out another step on the pay scale. With only a little more than four big bets left, PKgrower managed to get most of those chips in the middle preflop with a pot bet as only Burkolo made the call from the button. [Js] [6c] [2c] flop and PKgrower was all-in as Burkolo called and hit the flop hard with a nut low/nut flush draw [3d] [5c] [Ac] [3c], PKgrower however was wilting with a lot of nothing [5s] [9s] [As] [7h]. Flush on the turn [Qc] and PKgrower was down to three deuces in the deck for a quarter and a sliver of life, but the [7d] river closed the book on PKgrower in tenth place ($ 2,857.05) opening the final table below:

Seat 1: Kanolio (782812 in chips)
Seat 2: akkenny (504899 in chips)
Seat 3: Cloudag88 (306384 in chips)
Seat 4: mnstrkll (1070566 in chips)
Seat 5: Burkoló (840026 in chips)
Seat 6: dev209 (242944 in chips)
Seat 7: ImaLucSac (285718 in chips)
Seat 8: nccarvalho11 (345421 in chips)
Seat 9: IRLMedic (156230 in chips)

And a lovely lady was there waiting for the final nine to be seated as Team Online’s Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome welcomed our players to the table.

Blink and you would think we started with eight

No, tonight’s Event #51 final table started with a full table of nine but IRLMedic would bust from the table like there was an emergency to attend to as on the final table’s second hand 352,460 chips would be scooped by mnstrkll. With the blinds at 8K/16K IRLMedic would trade raises with mnstrkll until the shortstack’s very strong double suited ace-deuce was exposed [2s] [7d] [6s] [Ad]. mnstrkll turned up a high hand with a low possible [3s] [Kd] [Js] [Ah]. King on the flop and nine on the turn locking out any possible low [Qh] [6h] [Kc] [9h] left IRLMedic in need of some poker CPR with a two-outer. No six on the river [Qd] and IRLMedic flatlined in ninth place ($ 3,401.25).

Trying to knock out the entire table?

One might ask mnstrkll this after the hand shown the video below:

Cracking aces in Omaha is not the same as doing so in Hold Em’ but nccarvalho11 probably does not want to hear that after mnstrkll’s [6d] [Ac] [2c] [Js] found on a couple of jacks on the flop [Jd] [4s] [Jh] [5s] [Kd] smashing nccarvalho11′s [Ad] [9h] [Kh] [Ah] heart-broken aces into $ 5,578.08 for eighth place.

Shoot to strkll

As the blinds moved up twice to 12.5K/25K mnstrkll continued to dominate the final table and got a little stronger after pushing akkenny all-in after the lighter stack tried to pot raise from the button while the chip leader sat in the big blind. Both with strong aces and two-way hands, akkenny holding [Ts] [3s] [Ah] [Jc] and mnstrkll [Ad] [5d] [4d] [Ks] as akkenny would jump out to an early lead flopping two pair [3d] [9c] [Td]. But, akkenny’s two pair were made with diamonds and sure enough by the river a third one would appear [8c] [6d] knocking out akkenny in seventh place ($ 8,271.84) for mnstrkll’s third straight elimination.

Who’s going to tell mnstrkll there’s no bounty for taking out players?

Nine players to start and shortly before the 12th hour 15 minute (8 minutes after a consensus to keep the tourney moving) break there would only be five heading out to grab a quick bite to eat, run a marathon, or whatever one does after twelve intense hours of high stakes poker. With the blinds at 15K/30K once again the resident bulldozer, mnstrkll, would flatten another player. After a min raise UTG, mnstrkll would call Cloudag88′s shove to 153,019 chips total showing [Qh] [Kd] [8s] [Ah]. Cloudag88′s tournament life would be floating on double suited jacks and tens [Jc] [Jd] [Td] [Tc]. However the wispy Cloudag88′s hand would turn into vapor after a turned ace [9s] [6h] [2h] [Ad] [8h] giving mnstrkll yet another non-bounty as Cloudag88 collected $ 10,992.84 in sixth place.

Playing for second place

Apparently, mnstrkll is immune to fatigue and aces. Watch the video below for another pair of bullets falling to the unstoppable force known as mnstrkll:

Started like the previous cracking where mnstrkll opened with a min raise and a three-bet by the big blind, this time Kanolio both would gaze briefly at the [Ts] [3h] [Ks] flop. Kanolio wanted to no decision and shoved for 254,812 holding the aforementioned aces [As] [6d] [Ac] [6h] as mnstrkll flipped up a very dirty [Td] [Jd] [Qh] [7d] which held several outs to two pair and straight draws. [9d] on the turn brought the straight and a collective sigh from the rest of the table as mnstrkll scooped the 914,624 chip pot sending Kanolio home in fifth place ($ 13,713.84).

VERY costly jack

ImaLucSac, no not that one, the other one, would leap into second place in the Player of the Series standings with a win tonight. But, someone not named mnstrkll decided to ruin the party. With the blinds now at 20K/40K ImaLucSac would decide his fate preflop after trading raises with Burkolo till nearly one million chips sat in the middle to take on the massive stack of mnstrkll. Kings for ImaLucSac [Kc] [6s] [Kh] [8d] while Burkolo held jacks with a better low draw [5s] [Ad] [Jh] [Jc]. Flop was great for ImaLucSac nearly getting rid of the low with the [8c] [9s] [5h] flop. But, the jack on the turn [Js] could very well cost ImaLucSac that massive Player of the Series package as the [3d] fell limply on the river to hand $ 19,727.25 the Canadian in fourth place.

Yeah, I think we have seen this before

Personally this writer has played a lot of Omaha but cannot recall such a hating on aces in a short time. With the blinds still at 20K/40K in what is the theme of this final table, player gets aces, player gets aces all-in against mnstrkll, player collects $ XXXXX.XX in anything but first place. This time the victim was Burkolo for a huge 2.1 million chip pot as the script played out yet again. mnstrkll min raised, Burkolo three-bet, mnstrkll called. The flop [Jh] [2h] [3c] was big enough for Burkolo to continue pushing those aces [Ad] [Ac] [8s] [4d] but this time there was a redraw to a wheel and any non-pairing low card for a lock low as mnstrkll turned over top pair and a flush draw [Jd] [Td] [9h] [7h] and no possible low. Much like knowing someone’s about to get whacked in The Godfather when the violin music pipes up, the river delivered after a blank turn [Qd], as the [9s] gave mnstrkll the huge pot leaving Burkolo wondering what went wrong so quickly in third place ($ 26,393.70).

Cracking aces not necessary

dev209 tried to approach a deal with mnstrkll but Finnish turned down all requests politely, perhaps due to the roll those four cards in front that name was on. Despite the 807,577 to 3.7 million chip advantage, dev209 did not go meekly into the night or cower to mnstrkll’s domination of the final table. Six hands into heads-up play dev209 would show the spectators that mnstrkll was indeed human by getting a double up to 1.7 million.
But, seven hands later mnstrkll would have a WCOOP bracelet after the hand below laid on ace on the river:

All the money for the 3.7 million chip pot went in after the [3c] [9h] [5d] flop with dev209 hoping to hit with an open-ended straight draw [2h] [3d] [Kd] [4c] and a pair against mnstrkll’s top pair and gutshot. [7h] turn gave mnstrkll the low and a flush draw and the river ace [Ac] polished the new acquired bracelet for mnstrkll with a wheel to win the high, low, and $ 48,978.00 as the Event #51 champion!

If you wish to rehear the snap, crackle, and pop of aces tonight, check out WCOOP TV and WCOOP Radio for all the commentary and great prizes being awarded during the broadcast!

$ 175,000 guarantee WCOOP 2011 Event #51 Pot Limit Omaha High-low results (09-21-11)
1. mnstrkll (Finland) $ 48,978.00
2. dev209 (Germany) $ 35,373.00
3. Burkoló (Hungary) $ 26,393.70
4. ImaLucSac (Canada) $ 19,727.25
5. Kanolio (Spain) $ 13,713.84
6. Cloudag88 (Poland) $ 10,992.84
7. akkenny (Ireland) $ 8,271.84
8. nccarvalho11 (Brazil) $ 5,578.05
9. IRLMedic (Ireland) $ 3,401.25

It was a long weekend in Australia and what better way to celebrate the birthday of Her Majesty than with a friendly game of poker. It’s a game designed for royalty, as kings and queens were tossed around the felt with effortless precision this afternoon. Fifteen loyal servants came together, but they dropped away one-by-one until only one man remained. That man is Sammy Huang and he is now the King of Canberra!

As many kings and queens that we saw on the felt of the Casino Canberra today, it was the unnerving number of aces that ended up in the hands of Sammy Huang that ultimately was the story of the day. Flying the flag for the Canberra locals, Huang was a dominant force on a tough final table through a combination of aggressive play and plenty of those wicked aces! His win was well-deserved and it’s great to see the ANZPT Canberra trophy staying in home territory.

We started out this afternoon with Germany’s Khiem Nguyen leading the way with all eyes on the short stacks to see who would fall first. Naz Sabaei and Mario Ljubicic were quick to go, before young gun Jarred Graham made a surprisingly rapid fall from grace. Graham was unlucky when his ace-king was outdrawn by the ace-jack of Takahiro Morooka and never recovered. Morooka couldn’t make the most of his chips after a ruling technicality went against him to see him next to the cashier. Brett Chalhoub was equally unlucky and when David Gorr was eliminated with a king-high flush against Khiem Nguyen’s full house, our final table line up was set within 70 minutes of play.

Khiem Nguyen maintained the chip lead and was always a dangerous force on the final table. James Broom entered as the short stack but was relentless in his attack as he endured a rollercoaster ride that would give the weak heart palpitations. Broom had to come from behind on several all-in clashes including surviving with king-ten against Andrew Watson’s ace-queen, and then king-queen against George Graziani’s dominant ace-queen.

It was the latter hand that left Graziani crippled and led to our first elimination of the final table. Graziani was all in with [ac][6h] against Tristan Bain’s [qh][qc] and Tony Kambouroglou’s [kh][kc] with the Toothpick taking the pot to land an early double knockout blow.

Andrew Watson lost a race with [ah][qc] against Khiem Nguyen’s pocket sevens to be eliminated in seventh place, before a card-dead Luke Edwards couldn’t survive with [qc][jd] against Leigh Warne’s [ks][5c] to depart in sixth.

While the number of players were quickly decreasing, Sammy Huang’s stack was just getting bigger and bigger, as his overbetting style was playing havoc with the small ball approach of Khiem Nguyen and James Broom. Huang picking up pocket aces with some regularity was also helping the cause, as Nguyen was showing visible signs of frustration.

Leigh Warne was next to go went Toothpick Tony woke up with another big pair when his [qs][qh] proved too strong for Warne’s [ah][qc] to leave us four-handed.

Huang was the big stack and Broom was still nursing the short stack as a tight four-way battle ensued. The shorties were forced to move all in on multiple occasions, but they couldn’t find any callers as the status quo remained for over an hour. Something had to give.

As the blinds ticked over, it was Germany’s Khiem Nguyen who finally cracked when he three-bet shoved with [4s][4d] but Sammy Huang woke up with his favourite hand, [as][ac] and made an easy call. Nguyen couldn’t find a four as his impressive tournament was halted in fourth place.

James Broom found some swagger when play reached three-handed with his nemesis in Nguyen now on the rails. Broom opened up his game and caught Toothpick Tony red-handed when he squeezed over the top of a raise and call. Broom tabled [ad][8d] as Toothpick sheepishly showed [5d][4c]. The board ran out [9d][td][ks][jh][tc] to eliminate Toothpick in third place as we entered heads-up play with the title on the line.

James Broom had a two-to-one chip disadvantage against Sammy Huang and despite a quirky Canberra heads-up rule that has the blinds in reverse to normal, Broom was confident in his heads-up game. However he forgot that Huang held all the aces!

After a preflop raise, and bet on the flop, Huang overbet shoved all in on the turn on a [jh][9d][qh][7d] board. Broom deliberated for some time before making the call with [qd][5d] for top pair and flush draw, but Huang once again opened [as][ah]. Broom was looking for a queen, five or diamond but it wasn’t to be as the [7s] bricked the board to eliminate him in second place and crown Sammy Huang as our ANZPT Canberra champion!

The Canberra local qualified for this event through one of the $ 22+R 3xTurbo online satellites on PokerStars for the investment of just $ 42. He’s now turned that into a whopping $ 73,700 in prize money!

Congratulations to Sammy on a wonderful achievement which is sure to create a buzz for poker in our nation’s capital.

PokerStars.net ANZPT Canberra Main Event results

1st Sammy Huang (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – $ 73,700
2nd James Broom (Australia) – $ 46,900
3rd Tony Kambouroglou (Australia) – $ 27,470
4th Khiem Nguyen (Germany) – $ 22,780
5th Leigh Warne (Australia) – $ 18,760
6th Luke Edwards (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – $ 15,410
7th Andrew Watson (Australia) (PokerStars Player) – $ 12,730
8th Tristan Bain (Australia) – $ 10,050
9th George Graziani (Australia) – $ 8,040
—-
10th David Gorr (Australia) – $ 6,030
11th Brett Chalhoub (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – $ 6,030
12th Takahiro Morooka (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – $ 6,030
13th Jarred Graham (Australia) – $ 4,690
14th Mario Ljubicic (Australia) – $ 4,690
15th Naz Sibaei (Australia) – $ 4,690

So now it’s time to pack up and head home (subject to volcanic ash) following a fantastic long weekend in Canberra. We’ve really enjoyed our time here and the poker room seem to really embrace the ANZPT which is fantastic. Many thanks to the tournament staff, dealers and the hospitality crew at the Casino Canberra for making us feel welcome and a part of the team.

Also many thanks to Cole Bennetts for his superb final table photography.

That’s all we have for you from Canberra. If you’re craving more tournament action, you might have heard of a wee tournament happening in Las Vegas at the moment. They call it the World Series of Poker. Stick to the PokerStars Blog for all the latest news and updates from there.

On the local scene, we have a six-week break before we head to Melbourne’s Crown Casino for the first event of Season 5 of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour. The APPT Melbourne will be a spectacular event with the Main Event running from July 29th until August 1st with online satellites running now on PokerStars.

Thanks for following our coverage at home and we look forward to seeing you in Melbourne. Until then, so long from Canberra!

Im about to make the most obvious statement ever but during the last few days it has never been emphasized more for me. When you get dealt Aces in a tournament, when the hand is over, you will either be really happy or really mad. You’re gonna lose with them or get no action with them, or win with them. And anytime you lose with them preflop, it’s pretty disheartening.

In last sunday’s 200k, the 3rd hand of the tournament I get dealt AA, and manage to somehow have my 5 bet shove called by AK at 300 Big Blinds deep. The flop was 10JQ and I couldnt hit my chop outs. I was left with 320 chips. I grinded for 4 hours to get deep in the money, down to 50 players and was dealt AA again. The money gets in preflop and I’m against K8. Again I lose and Im out of the tournament. Im not here to wine about bad beats. But I almost dread getting aces. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the best hand in poker and I love getting them, but getting them late in tournaments you will often be putting your whole stack in the middle and risking your tournament life. I know, I know, I am a huge favorite and I’ll take them any day. It’s just there is really something to be said about not being all in and at risk of being knocked out. Think back to the times you have won tournaments or done really well in them. I can guarantee you, you somehow found a way to avoid as many showdowns as possible, while winning uncontested pots. Of course running well at the same time:)

Getting AA early in tournaments is also a tricky situation in my opinion. You start with 300 bbs in UB tournaments. 3k starting stack and 5-10 blinds. Say you raise to 30 and get called once out of the BB and the flop comes 1062. How much do you love your aces? I like them, but about 10x less than I liked them preflop. How many times can you justify getting 300bbs in, on a flop with 1 pair? Again, its safer to find a way to get the money in preflop, in turn making you play pots for your tournament life.

Aces are a great thing, but you win huge pots or loose huge pots with them and sometimes they happen at the worst times. I can still remember some of my bad beats with AA for huge amounts of equity that happened 5 years ago. Here is to better luck with AA for everyone!!