Hook, line and Champion!

Ingram - Jim S. defeated Matt Pe. in a 20 minute head's-up battle early Sunday morning and became champion of the 2010-2011 Fish 'N' Chips Poker Tour!

Each player started the tournament with T200,000 in chips (double the starting stack from last season) and T450,000 chips were awarded as a bonus based on each players' cumulative season points. Seats were assigned randomly and the stacks looked like this:

Seat 1: Matt Pe., 254,500
Seat 2: John M., 248,000

Seat 3: Jim S., 253,000

Seat 4: Bill B., 226,500

Seat 5: Jason Ta., 248,000

Seat 6: Jason Tr., 267,500

Seat 7: Jim H., 245,000

Seat 8: Nick G., 259,500
Seat 9: Eric Wej., 249,500

The cards flew at 7:03 P.M. sharp sans Matt Pe. who arrived about an hour into the tournament. Matt's late arrival was by design as he prefers to avoid the very early stages of tournament play.

Unlike last year's Championship, no players were eliminated in the first blind level. Pots remained relatively small until John M. picked up pocket kings in middle position in level 3 with blinds at 1.5k/3k. John called off over 150k of his stack on the hand to Eric's 2 pair.

Jim H. was the first player to announce "all-in" when his dwindling chip stack became dangerously low. Jim managed to pick up a few pots here and there until he called a 19k raise PF by "Buffalo" Bill with blinds at 3k/6k/500 holding A-Q. Bill checked the A-rag-rag flop and Jim quickly pushed. Bill insta-called and revealed A-K. The turn and river brought no help for Jim as he became the evening's first elimination.

Nick G. remained relatively quiet and card dead through the first 6 levels, slowly bleeding chips. Then he picked up pocket kings. After Jim S. called his raise with Q-J and flopped a queen, he quickly called Jim's all-in and found himself well in the lead. Unfortunately Jim rivered a jack and doubled up through Nick. Nick's stack was reduced to 88.5k. However, on the very next hand Nick managed to double up through "Buffalo" Bill when his A-K bettered Bill's A-10.

John M. was eliminated in 8th place. Eric reaised PF to 38,000 and John re-popped it to 80,000; Eric thought briefly and called. The flop came 10d-Qh-3c; Eric checked, John pushed all-in and Eric quickly made the call, revealing pocket queens for a flopped set. John revealed his death knell for the tournament, pocket kings. The Ah turn and 4d river were no help and John was out.

Jason Ta. found himself on the rail when he pushed his last 107k in PF with the Qs-Js. He got a caller in Jim S. with pocket 10's. The A-3-3-K-6 board missed Jason and he was eliminated in 7th place.

This season's "Player of the Year" Jason Tr. started the tournament with the chip lead. Unfortunately, just like last season, the lead proved to be no advantage. Card dead for a majority of the night, Jason found himself folding, retreating and like Broomcorn's uncle, getting blinded away. With blinds at a staggering 7k/15k/2k, Jason woke up with pocket jacks UTG. He moved his stack of 122k in and was called by Jim S. who turned over A-K. The flop brought an ace, the turn and river brought no help and Jason was out in 6th place.

Nick's chip stack roller coaster ride came to an end with 19 minutes remaining in level 9 with blinds at 10k/20k/3k. Bill in the SB raised to 40k. Nick holding A-5 in the BB called. The A-Q-4 flop produced a 70k bet from Bill. Nick moved in for an additional 158k. Bill called and revealed A-9. The turn and river brought blanks, Bill's 9 played and Nick was out in 5th place.

4 handed play started in the 10k/20k/3k level with Jim holding a slight chip lead over Matt and Eric and Bill on the short stack. However "Buffalo" Bill took a stand defending his short stack and picked up the blinds and antes with a few well timed all-in's which continued into the 20k/40k/6k level. This was until Jim min-raised to 80k and Bill re-raised all-in for 196k all day with the Kh-Jh. Jim called and turned over Ad-9s. The 6d-2c-10c-5d-4h board stayed clean for Jim who took the pot with ace high. Bill was eliminated on the bubble in 4th place.

Just 3 minutes into the 20k/40k/6k level, Eric completed the small blind and instead of checking his option, Matt shoved. Eric called showing A-T spades, slightly better than a 2:1 favorite over Matt's Kh-3d. But the flop brought Matt salvation in the form of Kd-8s-7d and a 4:1 lead in the hand. The 9h on the turn and the 4d on the river didn't help Eric, as he sent a 600,000 pot Matt's way, leaving himself with less than 200k in chips.

Eric managed to claw his way into the next level where blinds reached 25k/50k/7k. With only 54k left in his stack and in the BB, Eric checked his option after calls from Jim and Matt. The triple club flop was checked by all three players. Jim lead out with 100,000 on the turn; Eric called his last 4k and Matt folded. Jim revealed the 10c-7c for the flopped flush. Eric mucked his king in disgust and was out in 3rd place.

Head's-up play between Jim and Matt started with 21:27 remaining in the 20k/40k/6k level with Jim holding an approximate 3:2 chip lead over his opponent. Both players exchanged pots, none very significant, over the course of 20 minutes until the final hand of the tournament came up. Matt raised to 200k PF and Jim called. The flop brought the 7h-Tc-9s. Matt moved all-in and Jim quickly called. Matt turned over Kc-7d for middle pair. Jim revealed the Ah-8s for ace high and an open ended straight draw. The Jd turn filled Jim's straight giving him the lead. Matt's only hope was a three outer 8 on the river to pair the board and chop the pot. But the meaningless 7s came instead and gave Jim the second plaque on the FNCPT Championship Trophy.

Congratulations to Matt on a strong finish in the regular season (back to back wins in Event's 10 and 11) and his second place finish in the Championship. Despite missing 4 of the 11 regular season events this season, Matt still managed a 3rd place overall finish in the standings.

Congratulations, Jim, on your 2010-2011 Fish 'N' Chips Poker Tour victory!

~ Jason Tr.