Id like to take a little credit here for correctly predicting mostly everything that happened that night. I called Hallock wearing his Tony Homo jersey, Yatsco showing up late, Wetzel playing like a retard, Fiz's prediction not coming through, Sympson getting very unlucky, Yatsco playing really aggressive, my brother to go all-in with nothing, Hallock to go on TILT after taking a bad beat, and correctly picking the winner. I guess that really shows that Po's blog really does have some credibility after all.
Here are the results for the tournament. The tournament started at 6:56pm and ended at 12:16am, making the total tourney time at 5 hours and 20 minutes long.
10th PLACE: MIKE YATSCO
Yatsco called a pre-flop raise from Ryan Wetzel with a 9-5. Therefore I have no sympathy for
him getting knocked out the way he did. The flop came down 5-9-J giving Yatsco two pair. Wetzel put out a pot sized bet and Yatsco immediately raised. Wetzel re-raised, followed by Yatsco pushing all-in with an insta-call from Wetzel. Yatsco turned over his two pair while Wetzel foolishly called down 80% of his stack with Q-10, an open ended straight draw. The turn card brought a 10 giving Wetzel many more outs. With 16 outs on the river Wetzel had about a 35% chance to eliminate Yatsco... when the 8 landed on the river it made it 100%. A huge roar was heard from everyone screaming as Yatsco was eliminated. Many people were in disbelief at how the hand was played, but in the end it was Yatsco leaving us in 10th place. He blew $20 in 37 min.9th PLACE: LUKE POLITO
When Yatsco was knocked out Luke said, "Well at least im not going to finish last!" Although shortly after everyone found out why I made him 40-1 to win. He was playing well and even bluffed Hallock out of a decent sized pot. Hallock held K-K and saw a flop of A-9-2. Both players put some money in on the flop, and the turn brought an 8 for a board of A-9-2-8. Luke put out a huge bet and Hallock went into the tank. He eventually folded his K-K in disgust. Luke added to that disgust when he showed J-3. Too bad Luke couldnt make great plays like that all night.
A few minutes later Luke shoved all in with 10-8 of diamonds. Will called with K-K and the flop was no help for Luke, he busted in 9th place. Idiot.
8th PLACE: MIKE HALLOCK
I correctly predicted this before the tournament, Hallock shoves all-in with nothing on TILT. After taking a bad beat vs Mike White in the previous hand Hallock shoved all-in with 9-8 offsuit. I was the original raiser and got a call from Fazzone, so when action came back to me I still had Fazzone behind me to worry about. I eventually folded my favorite hand (Q-10 suited), and Fazzone called with 9-9. Hallock was dead and got no help from the board and was eliminated in 8th place. Turns out I would have won the hand as a Queen fell on the turn.
7th PLACE: RYAN WETZELThis was just sad to see. After taking all of Yatsco's chips earlier, Wetzel had pretty much twice as many chips as anyone else at the table. If you have played poker with Wetzel in the past then you know what happens next. A CHOKE. Wetzel donked off $40,000 in chips in 30 min. I was too stunned at his playing to even remember how he got knocked out, but it was embarrassing. We thank you for your $20 donation Mr Wetzel.
6th PLACE: JASON FAZZONE
He got short stacked and never really could recover. He tried to make a move against Mike White and pushed all-in with A-10, against any random big blind hand it would be the best hand. However, White woke up with a hand tabling A-A. The board ran out without helping Fazzone and he was eliminated in 6th place. A very disappointing finish for him considering he guaranteed victory before the tourney. Like I promised I must refer to him as Anthony Smith due to his ridiculous performance following his guarantee. As you can see he couldnt even put a middle finger up in the air for us, he just kept his head down on the table. I think he might have even been crying for a few minutes.
5th PLACE: BRIAN SYMPSON
As I said prior to the tournament, Sympson had a great chance to win this pending he doesnt get very unlucky. Well he didnt get totally unlucky but under the circumstances he shouldnt have been eliminated the way he was. Sympson was 2nd short stack at the time with 5 people left. He put in a small preflop raise with 8-8. Will Hanlon makes the call with Q-9 of diamonds. Flop comes 8d-10d-2s giving Sympson middle set and Will straight and flush draws. Both guys eventually got it all-in. The turn card was magical for Will as it was a diamond. The river card didnt help Sympson and he was out in 5th place. He was so pissed off we couldnt even get a bust out picture from him. Sorry.
We were now down to our final 4 players. Here were the chip counts with 4 players left.
1. Mike White $100,000
2. Will Hanlon $50,000
3. Brent Kantaras $33,000
4. Ryan Polito $17,000
These 4 people stayed in together for over 2 hours. I got up to about $25,000 and got my money in great when Kantaras went all-in on a flop of 7-6-2. I called with A-7 and was way ahead of Brent's 7-3. However, as my luck would have it the turn card brought a 3 and I was crippled. Had I won that hand I would have been up to about $65,000 with 3 people left. Instead I was left with just $4,000 chips with blinds at $1,000-$2,000. I went all in with Q-8 next hand a made a flush. Then won a big pot by going all-in with 4-4 preflop only to see Mike White fold 9-9. I worked my stack from $4,000 up to almost $50,000. I saw numerous opportunities to get into the money, but on a Brent Kantaras all-in I saw Mike White fold 8-8. White would have won the hand and knocked out Kantaras, which makes it about the third hand Kantaras could have been busted out on...but it was not to be. After 2 hours of playing 4-handed the end eventually came for me.
4th PLACE: RYAN POLITO
After many exciting hands and a ton of drama we finally got down to 3 players. I started the hand with about $30,000 in chips with blinds at $1500-$3000. I called a preflop raise from Will and saw a flop. The flop came down J-8-10, a great flop for my Q-J. I checked it thinking I was trapping and got Will to bet. I check raised all-in and got a quick call from Will. Will tables K-J and I was very unlucky and in bad shape. Of course no help from the turn and river and sadly my amazing comeback had ended. I also would have put money on myself finishing 1 out of the money before the tourney, its just the way ive been running lately. Oh well, I had about 8 or 9 beers in me when I got knocked out so I really wasnt as pissed off as I should have been.
3rd PLACE: MIKE WHITE ($25)In the end, his downfall was not calling me down with 9-9, and not calling Brent down with 8-8. As I said earlier we dealt those hands out and White would have won both hands which could have given him about $150,000 of the $200,000 total on the table. I didnt know how he played before the tournament, but I was very impressed with what I saw out of him. Kind of tight plays laying down 9-9 and 8-8 with only 4 people left, but still he played very solid and finished in the money. He will have better odds than 10-1 the next time I make odds for this kinda thing.
2nd PLACE: BRENT KANTARAS: ($50)
Brent got real lucky to get to heads-up, but other than couple of lucky hands he definitely earned his seat. He was about even in chips with Will when heads up started. Heads-up only lasted a couple of hands, with the last hand seeing Brent going all-in for $100,000 with 5-5. Will took a glance and loved what he saw. He called immediately and showed A-A. The rockets held up and Brent was eliminated.
1st PLACE and CHAMPION: WILL HANLON ($125)Will played a great tournament and actually waited patiently for his crads to come. After taking all of Luke's chips earlier in the night, Will was mostly card dead the rest of the night but was able to survive due to the huge chip stack Luke supplied to him. I said that if Will kept his patience he was the favorite to take down the title and he did just that. There is no better way to win $125 than to look down at A-A heads-up when ur opponent has just pushed all-in.
He took advantage of his big hands, and carefully managed the table all night long. In the end Will stood above the rest and took home the title and is $125 richer because of it.
Congratulations to everyone who made the money and thanks to everyone who showed up and made it a great tournament. Whenever you guys wanna do it again ill be more than happy to host and/or write another blog about it. Thanks again and as always... Go Steelers. Go Cavs.
BASIC KNOWLEDGE..................
