This week, the final table also featured a couple of players I’ve seen with some live success in the past year. Patrick “TheHawk” Hocking made the final table at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January. Eirik “bigfish729” Kolaas made the final table at the EPT Scandinavian Open later that same month.
The Hawk
“bigfish729”
Here’s what it looked like as the final table players sat down.
Seat 1: MeltonOk (Noble, OK) (1092429 in chips)
Seat 2: TheHawk (Medford, OR) (490736 in chips)
Seat 3: Buckeyeadrif (Locust Grove, GA) (2210158 in chips)
Seat 4: EY400 (Los Angeles, CA) (808114 in chips)
Seat 5: Harvalish (Devon, PA) (239408 in chips)
Seat 6: toddlock (Long Branch, NJ) (612815 in chips)
Seat 7: jimenezzzz (Mataro)(944896 in chips)
Seat 8: bigfish729 (Husnes, Norway) (1564729 in chips)
Seat 9: doggfish (Ontario,Canada) (176715 in chips)
No matter how many times you hear it, sometimes one can forget the old axiom, “Don’t go broke in an unraised pot.” Toddlock learned it the hard way. After limping into the pot from the samall blind and watching jimenezzz check his option, toddlock flopped second pair with J6 on a 567 flop. Toddlock bet the pot, jimenezzz moved all-in, and toddlock called. Jimenezzz showed 84 for the flopped straight. Toddlock’s hand didn’t improve and he departed in ninth place for $7032.96. PokerStars cardroom manager Lee Jones was also back tonight with a few quips of his own.
Lee Jones: “Hey Todd– you’ve got a lock on $7K — great match!”
Harvilish would be the next to go. Shortstacked and in dire need of a double-up, he pushed with AQ. Buckeyeadrif made an isolation re-raise out of the big-blind and forced The Hawk to fold his little blind. The board was ten-high at the river and Buckeyeadrif took down the pot with KT. Harvilish departed in eighth place and $11,721.60
Lee Jones: “Harvalish — you’re no fish. For $11K just make a wish! Great game.”
On the very next hand, shortstacked doggfish called all in with a pair of fours against jimenezzz’s pair of tens. He couldn’t improve and received one a very Google-worthy quip from Lee Jones to go along with his $16,931.20.
Lee Jones: “No squalus’ing for you dogg – $16K is a great day’s work. Well done.”
It was at this point that everything slowed down. For the next thirty minutes, we saw very few flops and even fewer rivers. When the players sprang back to life, it would be at the expense of TheHawk. He was shortstacked and finally decided to go with two live cards. As it turned out, his 56s was not any good against jimenezzz’s A9. TheHawk took off in sixth place with $22,792 extra in his bankroll.
Lee Jones: “Great flop Hawk, but no such luck. You get to fly away with $22K. We’ll see you soon, I’m sure.”
MeltonOk was also shortstacked and had no choice but to get all in with TT. Jimenezz woke up with 44 in the big blind, flopped a four, and sent MeltonOk out in fifth place and $29,304.
Lee Jones: “You’re more than OK, Melton – you’re $29K richer. Great match!”
Again, the finall table play went back in he tank. Close to another thirty minutes passed before bigfish729 finally saw what must’ve looked like a playable hand at that point. He made a stand with A8 against EY400’s JJ. The jacks held up and bigfish779 found himself on the shortstack. He left a few hands later when his pair of eights couldn’t hold up to jimenezzzz’s AQ. Bigfish729 left in fourth place and ) $37.769.60.
Lee Jones: “Hey fish — you’re worth $37K more now. Well done!”
Three-handed play last for a while. Finally, EY400 decided to make a move at the wrong time, getting in with jack-high against Buckeyeadrif’s flopped set of nines. EY400’s third place finish earned him $48,840.
Lee Jones: “Great match EY – you can buy an ES600 or so with your $48K!”
For a game that lasted for so long, the heads-up match only lasted three hands. Going into heads-up play, the players were stacked like this:
Seat 3: Buckeyeadrif (4847946 in chips)
Seat 7: jimenezzzz (3292054 in chips)
On the third hand, Buckeyeadrif min-raised with a pair od tens, jimenezzzz pushed all in with AJ. Buckeyeadrif called, flopped his set, and finished the eight-hour event in first place.
Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed Results (8/21/05)
1st: Buckeyeadrif (Locust Grove, GA) $130,240
2nd: jimenezzzz (Mataro) $78,144
3rd: EY400 (Los Angeles, CA) $48,840
4th: bigfish729 (Husnes, Norway) $37.769.60
5th: MeltonOk (Noble, OK) $29,304
6th: TheHawk (Medford, OR) $22,792
7th: doggfish (Ontario,Canada) $16,931.20
8th: Harvalish (Devon, PA) $11,721.60
9th: toddlock (Long Branch, NJ) $7032.96
