It’s the game that started it all, poker-wise. Five-card draw, played on steamboats and in saloons during poker’s earliest days, and still played well into the 20th century until stud and eventually hold’em came along to grab the poker world’s fancy.
Five-card draw has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts on PokerStars, however, with a dedicated group of players keeping various versions of the game going at all hours. Some of those draw devotees — and perhaps a number of others willing to part with a few bucks for a little five-card fun — were on hand for MicroMillions Event $18, a $5.50 buy-in, pot-limit draw tourney.
By the time late registration had ended a total of 2,503 had taken seats around the six-handed tables, thus creating a total prize pool of $12,515 — well over the event’s $5K guarantee. The top 330 finishers would profit, with the first to cash earning $8.63, those making the final table all guaranteed at least $237.15, and a $1,972.62 prize awaiting the winner.
From 2,503 to 24
With 10-minute levels it would take about three hours for the cash bubble to burst. As players continued to fall it was rePouH pushing out ahead of the pack, building a stack of over 350,000 — more than twice that of second-place OnlyRusStyle — with 200 players left.
It would take about an hour for the field to shrink below 100 players, during which stretch rePouH improved to just over 400,000 while slipping to third place, watching BennyG_AA and naimiliq both surge past him by a few thousand each and into the top two spots.
Players marched on past the five-hour mark, and with 50 left naimiliq had drawn well into the lead to be the first to 1 million chips for a brief period before falling back to the pack. Meanwhile, georgel200 and EDWARDHOPPER picked up enough pots to jump to the top of the counts as the only two over a million with 30 left.
From 24 to 6
Play continued, and as more hit the rail a hand developed between zido1 and a short-stacked BennyG_AA in which zido1 forced the latter to fold after the draw. That prompted some good-natured back-and-forthing between the two during which BennyG_AA noted where the payouts were at the moment (with 24 left) and what was to come.
BennyG_AA: $66 now is good enuff
BennyG_AA: but a grand be better ay
Alas for BennyG_AA, he’d only last a couple more hands after running a pair of jacks into naimiliq’s 5♥ 5♦ 4♦ 4â™ 4♥ to go out in 23rd. As he’d indicated, by doing so BennyG_AA joined the group earning $66.32: playman119 (24th), BennyG_AA (23rd), OldKingCole (22nd), drobo-bos (21st), RBenefactor (20th), and Dante_Dhes (19th).
The next hour or so saw another dozen players fall. Earning $83.85 were lilisor90 (18th), naimiliq (17th), Mongano (16th), TiltPlayerrr (15th), pokstelk (14th), and yravedra (13th). Picking up $109.50 were JustProSkill (12th), sergo615 (11th), and zido1 (10th). And securing $150.18 for just missing the final six were rePouH (9th), regularkat (8th), and EDWARDHOPPER (7th).
A little over seven hours after the start of the tourney, the final table had begun.
Seat 1: Dozers — 783,334
Seat 2: Vanko63 — 2,183,697
Seat 3: KingJohanI — 1,121,466
Seat 4: gordinka811 — 1,560,309
Seat 5: Zepka1988 — 1,554,863
Seat 6: georgel200 — 5,311,331
As the first hand of the final table was dealt, Zepka1988 asked the group whether they were interested in making a deal, but Dozers quickly said “No way” and play continued.
From 6 to 2
About five minutes later, the blinds were 40,000/80,000 when georgel200 called from the cutoff, then Dozers raised all in for 443,334 from the button. The blinds folded and georgel200 called. georgel200 then drew one card and Dozers took three. Dozers ended up with a pair of aces, showing Aâ™ A♣ 8♦ 6♦ 4♦ , but georgel200 had him beat as he’d drawn two pair with J♣ J♦ 5♦ 5♥ 3♣ , eliminating Dozers in sixth.
Just four hands after that, gordinka811 opened with a raise to 240,000 from the cutoff and got one caller in georgel200 from the small blind. Both players drew a single card, and georgel200 checked. gordinka811 took the invitation to bet 320,000, then georgel200 check-raised the pot, earning a call by gordinka811 committing his last 600,309.
gordinka811 had a big hand with three fours, turning over 4♠4♦ 4♥ J♠3♦ , but georgel200 had him beat with 5♣ 5♦ 5♠10♦ 10♥ for a full house. They were down to four.
Soon a short-stacked Zepka1988 was all in from the big blind for his last 60,191, and when it folded around Zepka1988 was heads-up against KingJohanI in SB. KingJohanI discarded two while Zepka1988 took three, and the result was three of a kind for KingJohanI — 3â™ 3♣ 3♥ Q♦ J♥ — and two pair for Zepka1988 — 9â™ 9♥ 7â™ 7♣ Aâ™ — meaning Zepka1988 was out in fourth.
Just three remained, with georgel200 the big leader with 8,759,974, Vanko63 next with 2,821,903, and KingJohanI the short stack with 933,123.
After Vanko63 took a small pot, georgel200 limped in from the button for 100,000, then Vanko63 raised to 350,000 from the small blind. KingJohanI reraised all in for 883,123 from the big blind, forcing a fold from georgel200 but getting a call from Vanko63. Both of the remaining players took a single card, then showed down the results:
Vanko63: A♦ A♥ 6♣ 6♥ K♦
KingJohanI: J♥ J♦ 2♣ 2♠5♥
Two pair for both, but Vanko63 had the better of it and KingJohanI was out in third.
Heads-Up
Heads-up play began with georgel200 enjoying a better than 2-to-1 chip advantage with 8,509,974 to Vanko63’s 4,005,026.
The pair traded pots for more than two dozen hands with georgel200 still maintaining the same lead. Then came a hand in which raises back and forth got all of Vanko63’s chips in the middle before the draw.
georgel200 then discarded two while Vanko63 took a single card, and both ended up drawing trips. However Vanko63’s three kings — K♣ K♥ K♦ J♦ 8â™ — were better than georgel200’s trip fives — 5♦ 5â™ 5♣ A♦ 6♥ — and suddenly Vanko63 had the big advantage with more than 10.8 million to georgel200’s 1.7 million.
Two hands later the blinds were 60,000/120,000 when georgel200 opened for 420,000 from the button and Vanko63 called. Vanko63 took two cards and georgel200 took three. Vanko63 checked, and when georgel200 bet 900,000 Vanko63 check-raised to 1.8 million, enough to put georgel200 all in.
georgel200 thought just a beat and then called with 804,948 he had left, turning over A♥ A♠Q♠10♣ 4♥ for a pair of aces. But Vanko63 had Q♠Q♣ 2♦ 2♣ J♥ for queens and deuces, and the last of the chips and Event #18 went to Vanko63.
Congratulations to Vanko63 of Bulgaria for beating out a field of 2,503 to turn $5.50 into close to $2K!
MicroMillions Event #18 ($5.50 Pot-Limit Draw) Results:
1st: Vanko63 ($1,972.62)
2nd: georgel200 ($1,439.22)
3rd: KingJohanI ($1,063.77)
4th: Zepka1988 ($688.32)
5th: gordinka811 ($438.02)
6th: Dozers ($237.15)
The MicroMillions schedule is packed with tournaments featuring all sorts of games at limits everyone can afford. Check the MicroMillions page for details.
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