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Home / Uncategorized / Super Tuesday: Two months later, Mortan23 strikes back for $68K (6-6-17)

Mortan23 was in a position any poker player would envy. With the Super Tuesday title on the line, the past Sunday Warm-Up champ had come into heads-up play with a 4-to-1 chip lead and then managed to get the other player, sousinha23, all-in with pocket eights against Mortan23’s own pocket aces. Unfortunately sousinha23 flopped an eight to take over the chip lead and soon afterward became the winner of the 4/11/17 Super Tuesday.

Tonight, just two months after that disappointing conclusion to a strong performance, Mortan23 returned to the Super Tuesday final table. Perhaps the player from the remote Faroe Islands had revenge in mind. Perhaps the opportunity to make the most of a new moment in one of PokerStars’ biggest weekly tournaments was motivation enough. Either way, taking out half the table in monster pots worked wonders and, after a final table that took just over two hours to complete, Mortan23 can now add “Super Tuesday champion” to an already long list of accomplishments at the poker table.

Mortan23’s stack trailed just two other players as the final table began, 2017 SCOOP-04-L finalist orthodoxxxx and WCOOP 2016 finalist farmjim, who made trip eights on the river with Aâ™  8â™  to sink juarnes’s 10â™  10♥ on the bubble and set up this nine-handed lineup:

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Seat 1: jonwayne69 (189,254 in chips)
Seat 2: j22nus (188,892 in chips)
Seat 3: mitsakos21 (1,017,986 in chips)
Seat 4: orthodoxxxx (1,787,527 in chips)
Seat 5: Mortan23 (1,599,380 in chips)
Seat 6: Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis (335,576 in chips)
Seat 7: GadMO (1,499,190 in chips)
Seat 8: farmjim (1,968,212 in chips)
Seat 9: Kabotajoe (763,983 in chips)

Croatia’s jonwayne69 earned two Super Tuesday wins in a two-month span back in 2011, but starting with the short stack at this week’s final table made the quest for a third victory a difficult one. The two-time champ was in the big blind early on and called with Q♥ 4♥ for another four big blinds when j22nus moved all-in under the gun with K♦ Q♦ . A king on the flop gave j22nus the double-up to 262,784 chips and dropped jonwayne69 into last place with 183,062. That all went in the middle four hands later on a steal with Q♥ 10â™  , a bet called by both j22nus (with A♥ J♥ in the cutoff) and Mortan23 (with 2â™  2♣ in the big blind). j22nus chipped up to 626,130 with a pair of aces after the board came 8♣ 5♦ Aâ™  K♦ 5♥ , and jonwayne69 left in ninth.

More than half an hour of poker came and went before past SCOOP and TCOOP winner Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis moved all-in for 516,576 chips over the top of a button raise by Mortan23. apostolis20’s 9♦ 9♥ lost out to two pair when Mortan23’s A♣ Kâ™  hit the flop and river of the K♥ 3♦ Q♥ J♦ A♥ , ending apostolis20’s day in eighth.

Four hands later another underpair was sunk by Big Slick. SCOOP 2013 Zoom PLO finalist mitsakos21 shoved for 412,884 chips with J♦ Jâ™  over farmjim’s middle-position raise. farmjim called and watched his equity drop to 9.1 percent as the flop and turn came Qâ™  8♦ 10â™  8â™  . Then the K♥ river made a pair of kings for farmjim, and mitsakos21 was gone in seventh.

Mortan23 picked up A♥ K♥ in the big blind four hands after that and was the lone caller after farmjim opened the betting and Kabotajoe, who finished eighth in the same 4/11/17 Super Tuesday in which Mortan23 was the runner-up, moved all-in for 571,477 chips from the cutoff seat. The German player’s 9♦ 9♥ stayed ahead until the river of the 3♦ 7♦ J♥ 3â™  K♣ board, at which point Mortan23 won the 1,253,854-chip pot and Kabotajoe bowed out in sixth.

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The next knockout came more easily for Mortan23, who opened the betting for 88,000 chips with J♦ 7♠ . Only j22nus called, from the big blind, with K♦ Q♣ . The Estonian player checked with top pair on the 7♣ K♥ J♣ and then raised all-in for 801,440 chips total after Mortan23 put out a nominal bet. Mortan23 called with jacks and sevens, which held up on the 10♥ turn and 5♣ river to eliminate j22nus in fifth.

Half of the chips in play now sat in Mortan23’s stack. orthodoxxxx consolidated most of the other half a few hands later after farmjim open-shoved for 806,567 on the button with Aâ™  6♦ . orthodoxxxx called with A♦ K♥ and won via kicker when both players made aces and treys on the 9♥ 3♣ 3â™  A♥ 2♣ , sending farmjim to the rail in fourth.


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GadMO was in last place at this point but didn’t go down without a fight. The player from Costa Rica won an early pot from Mortan23 after flopping a flush draw with 9â™  4â™  in the big blind and turning trip fours. Minutes later Mortan23 got that back, calling GadMO’s button raise to 370,000 and then check-calling bets on the 2♦ Jâ™  5â™  flop and 5♥ turn before taking the pot down with a small bet on the 6â™  river. Two minutes later GadMO took a stand and four-bet all-in with 3♣ 3â™  after raising on the button and having Mortan23 re-raise in the big blind. Mortan23 called and won the pot with Q♣ Q♦ after the board fell 10♦ Aâ™  A♣ , busting GadMO in third.

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Mortan23 could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vu at the start of heads-up play. With 73 percent of the chips in play, Mortan23’s lead over orthodoxxxx was nearly as large as it had been over sousinha23 back in April, just before sousinha23 pulled off an unlikely comeback to win the title. A repeat of that disappointment wasn’t in the card this time around, though.

The first big pot between the two players saw orthodoxxxx get all-in on the river with K♣ 3â™  for treys full of kings on a 3♥ 3♣ 4♦ Kâ™  10â™  board. That was only good for half the pot when Mortan23 called, also holding K♥ 3♦ . One minute later Mortan23 flopped a pair of queens after raising on the button with Q♦ 9♦ and calling a re-raise from orthodoxxxx. A small value bet paid off on the river of the 8♥ 6â™  Qâ™  2♥ 4â™  board boosted Mortan23’s stack to 81 percent of the chips in play and left orthodoxxxx desperate for a way back into the game.

The final hand saw orthodoxxxx limp on the button and call a raise to 150,000 with J♦ 10♣ . Mortan23 led for 164,300 on the 6â™  9♦ 5♣ and orthodoxxxx floated to pick up an open-ended straight draw on the Qâ™  turn. Mortan23 check-called orthodoxxxx’s 250,738-chip semi-bluff and then checked a final time on the 4â™  river, which prompted orthodoxxxx to move all-in for 1.01 million chips. Mortan23 called with A♦ 9â™  for a pair of nines, which was good enough to win the pot and bring the tournament to a close.

Combined with the deal money from finishing as runner-up in April, taking down the top prize tonight means that Mortan23 has earned just shy of $130,000 in the Super Tuesday over the last two months. Congratulations to Mortan23 for making the most out of a second chance!

6/6/17 Super Tuesday ($1,050 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 374
Total prize pool: $374,000
Places paid: 53

1. Mortan23 (Faroe Islands) $68,439.24
2. orthodoxxxx (Russia) $50,254.19
3. GadMO (Costa Rica) $36,901.27
4. farmjim (United Kingdom) $27,096.37
5. j22nus (Estonia) $19,896.68
6. Kabotajoe (Germany) $14,610.01
7. mitsakos21 (Greece) $10,728
8. Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis (Cyprus) $7,877.52
9. jonwayne69 (Croatia) $5,784.39


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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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