Magic Mike

 

Hidden Court West - Mike M. defeated head's-up opponent Marc H. to claim the F&CPT's first 7 Card Stud tournament in the early morning hours of Sunday, February 8th. This is also Mike's second straight win this season!

Regular's Chris S. and Bill B. both opted out of the event. Despite emailing everyone on the sub list, sub Kyle H. was the only taker. However just a few hours before the start of the tourney, Kyle backed out due to sudden illness. As expected, regular Bill B. ultimately decided to participate keeping the field at 19 players.

The tournament began about 20 minutes late. Eric W. was the only player who hadn't made it by then. But he was expected to be about a hour late.

The three-table tournament played until the dinner break with no eliminations and where the rebuy option expired. Play resumed and it wasn't until level 6 that the tournament had it's first four eliminations. Ironically, all four of these players are current "April 8'ers".

With stakes at 600/1,200/100, John M. bet his remaining low stack and ended up with just a pair of 10's versus Jim H's two-pair of jacks and deuces. Jim O. followed John after Kevin A. made a full house (jacks full of 10's) over his two-pair (aces and kings). Bill was out next (17th place: no elimination information recorded) followed by Jason Ta. who was all-in with a 6 high board versus Eric and Anita who each made three-pair and played for a side pot. Jason subsequently mucked his cards and the tourney consolidated to two tables of eight players.

Stakes increased to 800/1,600/100 when Kevin A. bowed out in 15th place with 9-high to Keith's pair of aces.

Fran D. was out in 14th place after stakes increased to 1,000/2,000/200. Fran's ace-high board was crushed by Jason Tr's straight. In the same level, Sean O's ace-high board and Jim H's pair of aces were both bettered by Eric's ace-high flush.

With stakes still at 1,000/2,000/200, Mike T. raised Angie's 1k bet to 1,575 all-in with an ace in the hole. Angie called and ended up making trip jacks which dispatched Mike in 11th place. Jason Tr. followed Mike when he took a chance with a pair of deuces hoping to draw to two-pair and ended up missing against Keith's pair of 7's.

Stakes moved up a level to 1,500/3,000/200 when Nick hit the rail in 9th place. His pair of 7's were defeated by Angie's pair of 9's. This then formed the final table of 8 players.

Anita was the first player eliminated from the final table in level 10 (2,000/4,000/200) when she failed to make a straight draw against Keith's made straight.

Lolly was out next (stakes at 3,000/6,000/300) when she bet her remaining 3,675 with A-K high. Keith called her down and ended up making two-pair. Lolly didn't improve and was out with ace-high.

Stakes jumped a level to 4,000/8,000/400 when Keith found himself on the losing end of Chris Ba's two-pair. Ironically Chris was the next player out when he failed to draw and beat Angie's pair of 5's.

Eric W. needed a deep run to climb out of the lower rungs of the Qualifier bound. He was nearly there with only 4 players remaining but it came to an abrupt end when he took a chance chasing with a pair of deuces. Marc called him down and ended up making three-of-a-kind (kings). Eric never improved and was out with 4th place prize money.

Despite being the chip leader through most of the tournament, Angie found herself whittled down and all-in with a pair of 3's with stakes at 8,000/16,000/1,000. Marc called her down and ended up making two-pair (6's and 7's). Angie never improved and was out with 3rd place prize money and enough points to reclaim first place in the overall standings.

Head's-up play resumed in the same level between Mike M. and Marc with Mike have a better than 2:1 chip lead over his opponent. Roughly 15 minutes into head's-up play and 7 hours after the start of the tournament, the final hands of the tournament were dealt.

Marc committed to 9s-9c-5s and Mike came along with Kd-Jh-7d. 4th through 7th street added 6s-8d-5h-Ah for Marc giving him two-pair of 9's and 5's. 4h-Jd-Kc-10c was added to Mike's hand giving him a bigger two-pair of kings and jacks and his second consecutive win this season.

With a first place finish, Mike jumps from 12th place in the standings all the way to 6th place and into the "April 8".

Thanks to everyone who came out for S6E10 and congrats to Mike on another win!

~ Jason Tr.


"April 8" Update

Only 1 event remains this season. Through 10 events, the "April 8" are:

1. Angie S.    53.01
2. Jim O.       48.36
3. Jason Ta.  45.29
4. Anita G.    41.53
5. Bill B.       41.28
6. Mike M.    38.02
7. John M.    37.10
8. Lolly O.    33.32

With a win combined with an 11th place finish from Mike T, Mike M. cracked the "April 8" in 6th overall place. Mike T. fell to 9th place and just .08 points from 8th place Lolly who held 8th with a 7th place finish. Angie regained the 1st overall spot with a 3rd place finish combined with an 18th place finish by Jim O. Angie now has a 4.65 point lead over 2nd place Jim and is poised for this season's Player of the Year honor. However mathematically, players in 6th place on up could still steal the honor.

 

Despite a lackluster 16th place finish, Jason Ta. managed to hang on to his 3rd place spot. Bill and Anita traded places in 4th and 5th place and John fell one spot to 7th place.

With a 5th place finish, Chris Ba. jumped up a spot to 10th place overall and just 2.90 points from 8th place. Jason Tr. fell from 9th place to 11th place despite a 10th place finish. He is now 3.57 points from 8th. Nick fell 2 spots in the standings to 12th place however he is only 4.07 points from the "April 8". Nick added that he has finished strong late the last few seasons and he likes his chances in E11.

 

Eric W. jumped up 2 spots in the standings to 13th place with a 4th place finish. And with a 2nd place finish, Marc H. crawled out of the red abyss in 21st place and into the bottom rung of the Qualifier bound in 17th place.

E11 is anticipated to fill at 20 players. If it does, first place will reward a whopping 17.32 points! Second place will be worth 11.55 points and 3rd place would be worth 8.66 points!

With this amount of points up for grabs, there could be a shake up in the bottom end of the top 8.

Good luck to everyone in the Season 6 regular season finale!