Nick flushes Keith and earns 3rd FNCPT win

Ingram - Nick G. outlasted Keith K. head's-up Saturday night to claim victory in S3E2.  This is Nick's 3rd career regular season win which ties him with Matt Pe. for the top spot in most FNCPT regular season victories with 3 apiece.

Each player started out with T150k in chips using the standard T100k blinds schedule.  Play started out rather slow with several players arriving late and one player not showing at all.  Substitute player Carl W. was a NCNS and will be the first player penalized under the new cancellation policy which awards negative last place points.  After the last of the late arriving players arrived, the field settled at 18.

Sean was the first player eliminated after Mike T. limped in early position and Sean looked down at pocket jacks.  He raised it to 13k with blinds at 1.5k/3k.  It folded back to Mike who re-raised to 45k.  Sean re-raised all-in for 46.5k more and Mike insta-called revealing pocket aces.  No help came for Sean and he was out.

John M. was the next player to hit the rail after Nick flopped trips, turned a boat and made quads on the river.  John's full house was good for 17th place.  Kevin was next (out 16th) when he got it all-in with top pair (jacks) on the flop and ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Angie's slow played pocket aces.

"Buffalo" Bill was out 15th when he raised to 16k preflop with blinds at 2k/4k/500.  Eric raised to 40k all day and Bill pushed for a total of 76k.  Eric called revealing pocket 5's whilst Bill showed pocket 8's.  Bill led all the way until the river brought a 4th heart to the board making Eric a flush.  Best thing for him, really.  His therapy was going nowhere.

Anita was out in 14th place when she limped with pocket kings and ran into the flopped boat of Jason Ta.  She was followed by both Jeff R. and Tom W. who were eliminated on the same hand by Mike T.  On the hand, Mike's pocket 10's turned a full house to Tom's J-9 and Jeff's pocket queens.

Angie was short stacked and crippled after getting caught trying to steal blinds by Lolly's jack and was out in 11th place on the next hand when her Q-8 was bettered by Nick's Q-9.

Eric burst the final table bubble after calling Nick's all-in, leading and having the river card flush favor from earlier returned to him.

After having her chip stack reduced a few hands earlier at the hand of Jason Ta, Lolly was the first player eliminated from the final table when she moved in blind with 6-2 o/s and was called by Keith.  Mike T. was next when he moved all-in for about 130k with Kh-9h.  Keith called in the BB with K-Q, matched his queen to the board and sent Mike out in 8th.

Jim O. was out 7th after he found himself short stacked and getting a string of crappy cards.  He finally woke up with pocket 4's, but unfortunately he ran into Keith's pocket jacks.  Jim was followed by Jason Ta. (out 6th) and the S3E2 bubble boy Kyle H. (out 5th).

Jim H. was eliminated in 4th place after re-raising Jason Tr's 175k raise to 420k and having Nick move all-in behind him.  Jason folded and Jim called showing Q-J o/s.  Nick turned over pocket 10's which held up and Jim was out.

Jason Tr. was out 3rd when he pushed his short stack in with the Kh-9h and got a caller in Keith who took the pot with ace high.

Nick held a sizeable chip lead over Keith head's up with blinds at 40k/80k/10k and play continued for about 20 minutes until the final hand of the tournament came. 

With blinds at a staggering 60k/120k/20k, Nick raised to 370k and Keith moved-in on top for 570k more.  Nick called and showed the Ac-10c.  Keith turned over the Kd-Qd.  Nick led through the 2c-2s-4d flop, but Keith could take the lead with any king, queen or running diamonds.  But the 8c turn missed him and took outs away in the form of flush possibilities for his opponent.  The Jc river gave Nick the winning flush and his 3rd career FNCPT regular season win.

With the jack of clubs river card, Lolly hit the River Jackpot for $80.  A new River Jackpot will start next month.

Congrats to Nick on his win and thanks for everyone who attended S3E2.

~ Jason Tr.

Angie + Beer = Event #1 Win

Norborne Angie kicked off Season III of the FNCPT with a win, overcoming a substantial chip disparity in the process. With the win, Angie has laid claim to a seat in the Championship early on. Over the last two years, the winner of Event #1 has remained in the Top 8 and finished the season with an automatic seat in the Championship (in Season 1, Jeff won event #1 and finished 3rd overall at the end of the season; Jason Tr. won Event #1 in Season 2, en route to his Player of the Year honors).

With a cancellation late in the week, the field was set at 19 players. However, another player cancelled after the tournament started and the field shrunk to 18, forcing the tables to be balanced before anyone was even eliminated.

Pat's rough night ended early as he mis-read his hand twice in big pots and was eliminated in 18th place. Bill was the next one sent home. After spending most of the night folding, he limped on the button preflop. Chris was in the big blind and managed to turn his 10-6 into a boat on the river, taking all of Bill's chips.

Jason Tr., last year's Player of the Year was sent home in 16th place after he was unable to gain any traction. Keith's two pair were crushed earlier by John's full house, but Keith rebought and managed to outlast three other players for a 15th place finish.

Father and daughter were the next to go. Season 1 champion Anita was bounced in 14th after a string of good hands would not hold up. Next out was reigning Champion Jim S. in 13th place.

Lolly and Sean were the next two players eliminated and the two tables both played five-handed, waiting for the next elimination and the formation of the final table. Jim H obliged the remaining 9 players by bowing out in 10th place.

Jason Ta. was the first player eliminated from the final table. He was followed by Jim O. in 8th place and John in 7th. Kevin's aggressive play at the final table earned him a 6th place finish, but because of a rebuy, he earned 8th place points.

Eric was nursing a shortstack on the bubble and had managed to double up a few times, but the blinds and antes were oppressive. When he looked down and saw A-10, he pushed and was called by the A-7 of Mike. A seven on the flop ended Eric's night and burst the bubble.

Nick was the first out of the money with a 4th place finish. Three-handed, Mike was the next to succumb to the pressure, leaving with 3rd place money. Angie and Chris were poised for a heads up battle with Chris having a healthy chip lead.

There was considerable pushing back-and-forth of blinds with no one taking a commanding lead (and a clock snafu that delayed an increase in blinds). But as the clock ticked, the blinds and the pots both got bigger. With 4 previous cashes, Angie was starved for a win. And having not tasted the winner's circle since his first event in Season 1 (and a string of 2nd place finishes outside the FNCPT), Chris wasn't going to go gentle into that good night.

As the two battled back and forth, Angie raked pots and slowly built a slight chip edge. And on the final hand, the players got all the money in the middle. Angie showed KJ for top two pair while Chris showed QT and an open ended straight draw. In the end, Angie's top two pair ended up being the best hand, good enough for $350 and her first FNCPT victory.


The six of diamonds on the river meant that no one won the River Jackpot. $40 will rollover into Event #2's jackpot.

Thanks to everyone who played in Event #1 and congrats again to Angie on the win!


~ Eric