Hot Chowder!

 

Norborne - Armed with his silicone oven mitt, substitute player David "Chowder" S. defeated John M. in a heads-up battle that lasted just a few hands, claiming the win in just his second FNCPT event. 

With 4 regulars unable to make the tournament, invites went out to subs who slowly started to fill the seats.  In the days leading up to the event, all seats were claimed and a few subs had to be turned away. The cards flew at 7:07 sans a few late arriving stragglers.

Early on, Fran D. made a run felting both Eric W, Jason Ta. and David S. at the blue table, pumping up the prize pool with rebuy money.  At the red table, Keith K. became the first player officially eliminated, choosing not to rebuy.  He was followed by his wife Angie in fairly short order.  Kevin A. hit the rail in 18th after a rebuy, and with his elimination in 17th place, Jason Ta. missed his first final table of the season.

Jim H. was card dead and finished a disappointing 16th place, followed by sub Brian N.  Brian had been crippled after his early position raise of 20k was re-raised to 60k by Jason Tr. He pondered before moving in over the top. Jason called for his last 130k and revealed pocket queens whilst Brian turned over A-K. The board missed Brian and Jason's queens won the race.  Brian was never able to regain traction and eventually finished in 15th place.

Jeff R. was next, out in 14th place, followed by Mike T. who pushed his last 30k in the middle preflop in early position holding A-K; the blinds were at 5k/10k. John called in the BB with a massive stack, rolling over K-Q. Both players flopped a pair on the A-Q-7 board, but a river king gave Mike a commanding lead with a bigger two pair.  But John managed a queen on the river to send Mike home in 13th place.

The eliminations of Chris S. (12th place) and Eric W. (11th place) led to the final table bubble, which burst when Fran D. was eliminated in 10th place.  Seats were redrawn and the final table formed with the remaining nine players.

Jim O. started out steamrolling the competition at the red table but ended up steamed after suffering two horrendous beats including his elimination in 9th place holding K-K.

When sub Jason B. pushed the action with his last 30k, he found a caller in John M. and a re-raise out of Jason Tr.  With folds around, the action came back to John who put the additional 200k re-raise in, showing K-8.  Jason B. tabled A-9 and Jason Tr. showed pocket 10's.  The board was all bricks and Jason Tr. scooped a large pot, eliminating Jason B. in 8th place and putting a dent in John's stack.

Next out was Nick G. in 7th place, marking only his second non-cash of the season, and his first finish outside the top 5.  Lolly had been nursing the short stack for much of the final table but made a late surge before being eliminated in 6th place by none other than John.  The money bubble bursted with Tom W's elimination in 5th place.  Three of the four remaining players had gotten through the night with a rebuy.  Only Jason Tr. made it to the money with his original stack.

With four players left and everyone in the money, Anita tangled with John.  On the queen flop, Anita put her stack at risk and was called by John.  Anita showed Kd-Qd for top pair and John revealed Ad-7d for ace-high.  But tonight was John's night and running diamonds gave John a bigger flush and sent Anita to the rail in 4th place.

In three-handed play, David S. raised the pot 95k and Jason Tr. re-popped him for 195k more, holding Ac-Td.  David called with Jh-Th and was a huge underdog on the one-heart flop.  But running hearts gave Chowder the flush, pumping up his stack and sending Jason Tr. away in 3rd place.

On the final hand of the night, David and John got all their chips in the middle, with David having John covered.  The ace on the flop gave Dave top pair, which was better than John's sailboats.  The turn and the river missed John and his remarkable night (which included 9 eliminations -- nearly half the field) ended with a second place finish.

Thanks to everyone who participated in Event #5 and congrats again to Chowder on his victory and his new sexual partner, the silicone oven mitt.

~ Eric W.

Head's-up test match report

In preparation for the upcoming November head's-up event, I decided to host an exhibition head's-up tournament last Saturday night.

7 players participated who included myself, Jim O, Lolly, Keith, Angie, John M. and substitute player Fran D.

We decided to alter the blinds schedule a little by eliminating the antes and eliminating the second 2k/4k level. I had a running 10 minute clock on the screen which reset itself when it hit zero.

This way second round matches could start on a fresh 10 minutes even if there were first round matches in progress. I had the blinds taped to the wall in a few places around the table. They looked like this:

1. 500-1,000
2. 1,000-2,000
3. 1,500-3,000
4. 2,000-4,000
5. 3,000-6,000
6. 5,000-10,000
7. 7,000-15,000
8. 10,000-20,000

The match-up’s were randomly selected and the cards flew just after 7 P.M.

Jim and Angie’s match ended on the first hand. Both players made a full house and all the chips got in. Both players agreed Angie had the bigger boat and the match ended. 10 minutes later both players agreed there was an error and it was Jim who indeed had the bigger full house. But Angie’s second match had already begun so it was too late to change.

The other 2 first round matches (me & Fran and Keith & Lolly) lasted about an hour. Actually Keith & Lolly’s first round match got into the 7,000-15,000 level.

We took a 20 minute or so dinner break during the middle of the second round matches. The tournament resumed with most games getting into the 5,000-10,000 level before they ended.

John and Keith were the first 2 players eliminated with both of them going 0-2. Fran & Jim were next with respective records of 1-2. Angie cruised into the championship bracket with 2 consecutive wins over John and Lolly after the first round mishap. Lolly managed 2 wins before her second loss sent her to the rail. Despite a first round loss to Fran, I strung together 4 straight wins coming out of the losers bracket to face Angie in the championship.

We battled back and forth but Angie’s cards proved to be better and I was wore down and short stacked in the 3,000-6,000 level when I moved with A-8. Unfortunately Angie called with A-K and I was done.

Here is the completed bracket:

Here is what the payouts and points would have looked like had this been a league event:

Place	Player	Winnings	Record	Points
1	Angie	$85	4-0	5.91
2	Jason	$40	4-2	3.94
3	Lolly	0	2-2	2.95
T4	Jim	0	1-2	2.36
T4	Fran	0	1-2	2.36
T6	Keith	0	0-2	1.69
T6	John	0	0-2	1.69

This is with a $20 buy-in and minus 10% for a rake.

There were a few errors during tournament play. It started with blinds relative to the button. We finally got it right where the dealer was always the SB and acted first PF. There were some instances where a blind level was skipped for a few minutes but it was caught and corrected. This will probably happen again. The players just need to keep track.

Now here’s the shocker. We ended at 2:10 A.M. So it took as long as one of our standard 18-20 person tournaments. However, with more players and multiple games going, I don't think the tournament would go much longer. If we have an even field of players, then there will be an even number of first round matches. So if we have 16 players, then we would have 8 first round matches and then 8 second round matches. So I think things will run a little smoother/faster if we have an even number of players.

Originally I wanted to have a mandatory start time and if you did not arrive by that time, you were not included in the seating and were disqualified.  Now I'm leaning towards allowing late arriving, prepaid players to be blinded off at the rate of 2 big blinds per minute.

Obviously it will be best if everyone that intends on participating arrive on time.

I also want everyone to be aware that with an increased player field in a double-elimination tournament like this, you are going to have groups of players finishing with the same record and tying for places in the final results. As an example, I simulated a 16 player tournament. This was with a $40 buy-in and a 10% rake removed. Here were the results:

Place	Player	Winnings	Record	Points
1	Pat	$275.00	5-0	12.64
2	Mike	$140.00	6-2	8.43
T3	Nick	$53.33	3-2	6.32
T3	Jim H.	$53.33	3-2	6.32
T3	Jason Ta.	$53.33	3-2	6.32
T6	Lolly	$0.00	2-2	3.61
T6	Kyle	$0.00	2-2	3.61
T6	Jim O.	$0.00	2-2	3.61
T9	Angie	$0.00	1-2	2.52
T9	Bill	$0.00	1-2	2.52
T9	Anita	$0.00	1-2	2.52
T9	Eric Wej.	$0.00	1-2	2.52
T13	Jeff	$0.00	0-2	1.80
T13	John	$0.00	0-2	1.80
T13	Jim S.	$0.00	0-2	1.80
T13	Keith	$0.00	0-2	1.80

 
With 15-20 players, we pay the top 4 spots. In the above example, there is no 4th place. Nick, Jim H. and Jason Ta. split 3rd and 4th place money which totaled $160 giving each of them $53.33. In double or triple elimination matches with 16 players, you are guaranteed to have 3-4 players who will tie for 3rd place. The upside is most players on average will receive more points.

Feel free to email any comments, questions, concerns, etc.

~ Jason