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Home / Uncategorized / Super Tuesday: sk2ll_m0dR bags second title at lively final table (11-8-16)

With a relatively small and elite field compared to most tournaments, seeing familiar faces at the final table of the Super Tuesday is part of the tournament’s charm. Past champions show up with frequency, but the level of play means earning a second title is anything but an easy task.

Oliver “sk2ll_m0dR” Wies, who opened 2016 with his first Super Tuesday victory in early January, knows this first-hand. One of three past champions at the final table tonight, he watched the other two fall by the wayside early on. Then he held on as a former Super Tuesday runner-up dominated the action at the table, before stepping up during three-handed play and eventually winning a crucial coin-flip heads-up to claim his second Super Tuesday title of the year.

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This week’s tournament was up 11 percent over last week, drawing 425 players for a $425,000 prize pool. The top 62 players cashed for a minimum of $2,242.21, with just over $76K waiting up top. It took them nine hours to play down to the final table bubble, which finally popped after short-stacked Suntankid1 called all-in with Kâ™  Q♦ . veebee er had raised with J♣ 5♣ and caught a jack on the flop to take the pot, sending Suntankid1 to the rail in 10th and setting up this final table lineup:

Seat 1: veebee er (1,041,119 in chips)
Seat 2: Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves (1,331,298 in chips)
Seat 3: bigboss827 (1,369,304 in chips)
Seat 4: benderbei2 (2,754,926 in chips)
Seat 5: Govert “montecarlo13” Metaal (391,022 in chips)
Seat 6: Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson (439,977 in chips)
Seat 7: kalashn1kovv (1,301,158 in chips)
Seat 8: Oliver “sk2ll_m0dR” Wies (1,254,198 in chips)
Seat 9: Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen (741,998 in chips)

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Down with the champs

The early going was hard on past Super Tuesday champions. Govert “montecarlo13” Metaal won the tournament back in August 2015, but with 391K and blinds and antes at 12.5K/25K/2.5K as this final table began, he had an uphill climb to try to earn a second title. The first 20 hands of the final saw him take down just one pot, taking his stack down to just 210K by the time he re-raised all-in from the small blind with K♣ J♦ . Original raiser and past WCOOP finalist Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves called with Kâ™  Q♦ , the board fell 6♣ 10â™  4♣ 6â™  3♦ to keep Bit2Easy ahead, and montecarlo13 was gone in ninth.

Govert Metaal

Govert Metaal, denied another Super Tuesday win in ninth

Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen was the next past Super Tuesday winner to fall. Stammen, who won the tournament twice back in 2010, had dropped almost 400K earlier in a three-way pot, after calling a min-raise from the big blind and calling two more bets on a Qâ™  3♣ 5♣ 10♦ 7â™  , only to muck on the river when sk2ll_m0dR showed down A♥ Q♦ . Eight hands after that, and three after montecarlo13’s departure, Stammen called all-in for 164K in the small blind with A♥ 10♣ following Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson’s shove in the hijack seat. Two-time WCOOP winner and past Sunday Million champ Margereson held A♦ J♣ and stayed ahead after both players paired their kickers on the flop of the J♥ 10♦ 7â™  3â™  Q♦ board. With that, Stammdogg left in eighth.

Keven Stammen

No Super Tuesday win #3 for Keven Stammen – today, at least

kalashn1kovv’s wild ride

It looked like bigboss827, who bubbled the final table of the Super Tuesday two weeks back, was going to be the next player out after re-raising all-in with J♦ Jâ™  over kalashn1kovv’s opening raise. The past Super Tuesday runner-up called with Q♣ Q♥ but lost out when bigboss827 caught a jack on the flop for a set to stay alive. Two hands later Bit2Easy opened all-in in the cutoff with 10♦ 9♦ and past TCOOP finalist benderbei2 called with Kâ™  Jâ™  in the small blind. Holding three kings after the board came A♣ 10♣ K♥ K♦ 8♥ , benderbei2 took the pot, and Bit2Easy took seventh.

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kalashn1kovv picked up Q♦ Q♥ again a few hands later, and again another player moved in with a smaller pocket pair. This time it was veebee er, who jammed for 735K with 2♦ 2â™  in the small blind over kalashn1kovv’s 73K opener. kalashn1kovv called and this time the queens held as the board fell 9â™  8♦ 9♥ 7♣ 5♦ , knocking out veebee er in sixth.


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All those gains and then some slipped away from kalashn1kovv just seven hands later. The player from Malta called in the big blind with K♣ 5♣ after benderbei2 raised on the button, and then caught three of a kind on the 3♦ 5♦ 5♥ , check-raised the flop, and led on both the 4♥ turn and J♦ river. benderbei2 called the whole way and showed A♥ 5♠ , outkicking kalashn1kovv to earn the 2.5M chips in the pot.

kalashn1kovv picked up another million chips two orbits later, turning A♠ 5♥ into three aces by the river. Three hands later kalashn1kovv called in the cutoff with K♥ Q♣ after Aggro Santos raised to 90K, and benderbei2 came along from the big blind to see a 9♠ 2♦ 8♣ flop. All three players checked there and on the Q♥ turn as well, bringing the K♠ on the river. benderbei2 led for 140K and Aggro Santos called; then kalashn1kovv raised to 680K, enough to put Aggro Santos all in, with two pair, kings and queens. benderbei2 folded but Aggro Santos called, showing down K♦ J♥ for a pair of kings and bowing out in fifth.

kalashn1kovv rattled off several wins after that to climb to 3.5M and second place, before taking another hit after raising on the button with K♥ J♥ and calling bigboss827’s 808K-chip shove with A♥ Q♦ . Neither player improved on the 9♦ 7♣ 8♣ 2♦ 4â™  board, giving bigboss827 the double to 1.6M with ace-high. sk2ll_m0dR doubled up twice within the next two orbits before kalashn1kovv got involved again, this time opening for 125K with A♦ Kâ™  and jamming for 1.5M after benderbei2 re-raised from the big blind. benderbei2 called with 9♣ 9â™  and the pair held on the 10â™  2â™  10♣ 6♥ 5♥ board, winning benderbei2 the 3.2M-chip pot and ending kalashn1kovv’s wild ride in fourth.

A brisk run out

With three players remaining, that win gave benderbei2 almost half the chips in play. At 5.1M, benderbei2 had the edge over bigboss827’s 2.9M and sk2ll_m0dR’s 2.5M.

The player from Belarus managed to increase that to 6.6M before the other two players took each other on. sk2ll_m0dR opened with A♥ Jâ™  and called when bigboss827 jammed for 1.1M with 10♣ 9♣ , pairing the ace on the A♦ 5♣ 3♦ flop to reduce bigboss827’s chances to a back-door flush draw and the hope of runner-runner two pair or trips. The 4♦ turn and Aâ™  river didn’t deliver on those slim hopes, and bigboss827 bowed out in third.

Taking down that pot gave sk2ll_m0dR just shy of 4M chips as heads-up play began. Even after benderbei2 cut into that three hands in by winning a 1.8M-chip pot without showdown, having bet when checked to on the turn of an 8♣ 4♥ 3♣ 6♦ board, sk2ll_m0dR still had the experience of a past Super Tuesday heads-up comeback to fall back on. That and making trip deuces on the 2♦ 4♦ 2♠ flop the very next hand kept him very squarely in the match.

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The two players traded big pots back and forth with a quickness, with sk2ll_m0dR taking a four-big-blind lead for one hand before benderbei2 grabbed the 3.2M-chip pot on the next hand with an uncalled bet on the river of the 2â™  2♦ 7♦ 5â™  K♣ board. Two hands later sk2ll_m0dR won a smaller pot with an uncalled bet on the river of a 4♦ Q♥ 2♥ 5♦ 8â™  , narrowing the chip deficit to less than 10 big blinds – and then the decisive hand of the tournament came with little warning.

benderbei2 opened on the button for 200K with A♥ K♥ , then four-bet to 1.88M when sk2ll_m0dR re-raised, and finally called when sk2ll_m0dR jammed with his J♦ Jâ™  . benderbei2 took the lead with a pair of aces on the 9â™  Aâ™  6â™  flop, but sk2ll_m0dR’s spade flush draw and the two remaining jacks in the deck gave him 42.9-percent equity. And when the J♥ hit the turn, he locked up the 9.9M-chip pot.

Holding 6♣ 6♦ , benderbei2 moved all-in for 654K on the big blind on the next hand after sk2ll_m0dR limped on the button. sk2ll_m0dR snap-called with Q♣ Q♠ and the queens held on the A♥ 4♣ J♦ 2♦ 9♥ board, bringing the tournament to its end.

benderbei2 was within a coin flip of taking down the Super Tuesday this week, finally settling for second place and almost $56K – and some extra motivation the next time around. And Oliver “sk2ll_m0dR” Wies adds $76K to the $89K from his victory in January for a total of more than $162,000 in winner’s earnings from the Super Tuesday in 2016. Congratulations to both players for weathering a stormy final to earn the big money!

11/8/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 425
Total prize pool: $425,000
Places paid: 62

1. Oliver “sk2ll_m0dR” Wies (Germany) $76,245.34
2. benderbei2 (Belarus) $55,887.50
3. bigboss827 (Latvia) $40,965.36
4. kalashn1kovv (Malta) $30,027.48
5. Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson (Mexico) $22,010.07
6. veebee er (Belgium) $16,133.29
7. Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves (United Kingdom) $11,825.66
8. Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen (Canada) $8,668.17
9. Govert “montecarlo13” Metaal (Poland) $6,353.70


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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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