"Buffalo" no more

Norborne - Bill B. defeated head's-up opponent Chris Ba. in the early morning hours on Sunday and became the fourth Fish 'N' Chips Poker Tour Champion!

For the third consecutive season, each player started the tournament with T200,000 in chips and T450,000 chips were awarded as a bonus based on each players' cumulative season points. All blind levels were extended to 30 minutes in length. Seats were assigned randomly and the stacks looked like this:
 
Seat 1: Eric W., 250,000
Seat 2: Mike T., 242,000

Seat 3: Jim H., 264,500

Seat 4: John M., 260,500

Seat 5: Chris Ba., 237,500

Seat 6: Jason Ta., 251,000

Seat 7: Tom W., 246,500

Seat 8: Keith K., 244,500
Seat 9: Bill B., 256,000

For the first time in the history of the FNCPT, the Championship Event was to be held at another venue other than Ingram where the first three were hosted. The Norborne Solarium was awarded the honor this season.

With rain and chilly temperatures in the mid 50's all week, it was a concern the Solarium would get too cold for the event. Fortunately, it cleared up and temps got into the upper 60's with sun for both Friday and Saturday.

 

To go with this season's concert theme, official "Backstage Passes" were created for those playing in and attending the event.

The opening deal was dealt just after 7pm sans Chris Ba. who was about 10 minutes late.

The first three levels cruised by with nobody being eliminated. The overall play would be best described as tight and conservative. At the dinner break (the conclusion of level three), the chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: Eric W., 161,000
Seat 2: Mike T., 209,000

Seat 3: Jim H., 276,500

Seat 4: John M., 196,000

Seat 5: Chris Ba., 321,500

Seat 6: Jason Ta., 232,500

Seat 7: Tom W., 180,000

Seat 8: Keith K., 295,500
Seat 9: Bill B., 368,500

The tournament progressed into level 7 where blinds reached 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante when the evening's first elimination came.

Keith and Jason Ta. both saw the As-4d-7s flop. Jason checked and Keith bet 10k. Jason then check raised to 35k. Keith three-bet to 85k, Jason moved all-in and Keith called showing Ad-Jc for top pair. Jason revealed Ah-4s for two-pair. The Qc turn and Ks river brought no help for Keith and he was out.

Level 7 expired and brought the evenings second break with the following chip counts:

Seat 1: Eric W., 278,000
Seat 2: Mike T., 290,000

Seat 3: Jim H., 350,000

Seat 4: John M., 258,000

Seat 5: Chris Ba., 115,000

Seat 6: Jason Ta., 460,000

Seat 7: Tom W., 120,000

Seat 8: Bill B., 383,000

Mike T. was the next player eliminated when blinds reached 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante in level 9. Mike raised to 50k only to be re-raised by Jim H. to 150k. Mike then three-bet all-in for 184k more and Jim called tabling pocket ten's (10s-10c). Mike showed As-10h. The 7d-Qh-Kd-2s-7c board stayed clean for Jim and Mike hit the rail in 8th place.

A short time later, a short-stacked John was all-in for his last 130k with the Ah-10s. Jim looked him up with the Ac-5s and John was poised for a double-up. Unfortunately the Kc-7s-5d flop put Jim in the lead. The 3c turn and 8c river cards offered no assistance for John and he was out in 7th.

The remaining six players included Eric, Jim, Chris, Jason, Tom and Bill who all played through level 11 where blinds reached 20,000/40,000 with a 6,000 ante. At the conclusion of level 11, the six players went on break with the following chip counts:

Seat 1: Eric W., 325,000
Seat 2: Jim H., 511,000  

Seat 3: Chris Ba, 555,000

Seat 4: Jason Ta., 182,000

Seat 5: Tom W., 376,000

Seat 6: Bill B., 305,000

 

A few hands into level 12 (25,000/50,000/7,000), Jason re-raised Chris' 160k bet for 175k all-in. Chris made the call and showed Kd-7c whilst Jason revealed As-3s for a 62.2% to 37.8% advantage. The Ks-10s-6d put Chris in front with top pair, however with two flopped spades, Jason picked up several outs in the form of a flush draw. The Kc turn card gave Chris trip kings and a big lead in the hand: 84.1% to 15.9%. The 7s fell on the river giving Jason an ace-high flush and for a split second he thought, the winning hand. But then he realized Chris had made kings-full. Jason congratulated Chris on the winning hand, wished everyone luck and quickly exited the Solarium in 6th place.

Tom managed to nurse a very small stack back to health into the 25,000/50,000/7,000 level but the blinds kept coming around and ate his stack away. He took a stand with Kd-Qh but was quickly called by Bill's pocket kings (Ks-Kh). The 4d-3h-7h-2d-Ad board stayed clean for Bill and Tom exited in 5th place.

When the field was reduced to four players, everyone unanimously agreed to adjust the prize pool so 4th place could get their buy-in back.

A short while later, Chris (UTG) bet 175k. It folded to Jim in the BB who pushed for 301k on top. Chris called and showed Ah-Qh while Jim revealed 7d-7h and the race was on. The 10c-Kc-Jh flop gave Chris broadway and a 96.7% to 3.28% lead. The 4h turn left Jim drawing dead. The meaningless 5c river was dealt and the Season IV Player of the Year collected his buy-in back and exited in 4th place.

The three remaining players played through level 12 and into level 13 where blinds reached 40,000/80,000 with an ante of 10,000.

Chips stacks had evened out with Bill and Chris both holding about 700k and Eric sitting as the chip leader with 800k.  On the button, Bill looked down at Q6 of hearts and decided to steal the blinds.  After Bill's all-in, Eric woke up with AK and re-popped it.  Chris went in the tank before finally folding and Bill and Eric went to the flop.  Despite being a 3:2 dog with all of his chips in the middle, Bill hit a 6 on the flop to take the lead.  With no help on the turn and river, Eric went from chip-leader to crippled and Bill held two-thirds of the chips in play.

On the next hand, Bill raised the action to 350k.  Holding just 100k, Eric found a face card and put the last of his chips in the middle, knowing a fold would have only given him enough chips to play one more hand.  Eric tabled Qs-2h while Bill showed Ah-5s. The 3d-9d-6s flop kept Bill ahead. The 5h turn kept Bill in front with 3rd pair but gave Eric a GSSD. But the Kh river offered Eric no help and he exited the tournament with 3rd place money.

Head's-up play between Chris and Bill started with Bill having a 1.9 million to 350k chip advantage over his opponent. Just a few hands were dealt when the final hand of the season came up.

At nearly 3:00am and 8 hours into the tournament, Chris moved all-in with pocket 3's and Bill made the call with 8d-10d. The 7s-10h-7c flop gave Bill the better two-pair. The 8h turn gave him still, the better two-pair. Chris needed a 3 on the river to stay alive. But it was the Qs that came instead and Season IV had it's Champion!

For the 4th consecutive season, an 8 has appeared in the Championship winner's final holdings. What is even more incredible is that all four suits of the 8 have appeared over the 4 Championship Seasons.

In the Season I Championship, the 8c was in Anita's winning hand. In the Season II Championship, the 8s appeared in Jim S's winning hand. Last season the 8h was in Jim H's winning hand. And this season the circle completes with the 8d in Bill's winning hand. To add to the incredibleness, the colors matched black, black, red and red.

  

Congratulations Bill on your 2012-2013 Fish 'N' Chips Poker Tour Championship!

Also, thanks to Angie, Kevin and Jason Tr. for dealing the tournament. The players really appreciated it!

On behalf of the FNCPT Tournament Directors, I would like to thank everyone who played this season and we look forward to seeing you in Season 5.

~ Jason Tr.