Recent News of Lord Admiral Card Club
November 5th, 2005
THE
BIG SHOWDOWN
The field was ten
deep and included
Cincinnati
Sean
2004 five card Stud Gold Chip
Winner
Brent Stacks
Hasn’t won crap but is entertaining on LACC Radio
Jimmy Q (defending
“the Man”)
2004 SHOWDOWN 2004 Gold Chip Winner
Scott the Voice
2005 7 Card Stud Gold Chip Winner
Inferno
2005 Heads-UP Challenge Gold Chip Winner
Ryan
2005 Satellite # 1 Winner
Head Hunter Mark
2005 Satellite # 2 Winner
John
A long time LACC Veteran
Tim
Newest LACC Member
Evan The
Terrible
2005 PLO8 Gold Chip winner
Before I get to the recap I should mention I have been
delinquent in my duties to this site and the members. I did not post recaps and
announce the winners of the 2005 satellites. This year has been an amazing year
for tournaments at the LACC. Every winner has had to fight past a increasingly
tough field to claim any title or win. Ryan and Mark both took down a satellite
to gain entry to the 2005 showdown, and both played extremely well to take the
prize. Are You Happy Ryan?
Back to the story of the new “The Man”
Cinci Sean had done a great job establishing the blind
structure that would allow the players to play. It was expected that the
tournament would last 10-12 hours. At the very beginning it was clear this
tournament would not be easily won. When the number of raises out numbered the
calls, and when it takes a few orbits before a hand is even shown down it became
clear that this years players had come more prepared to win. Easily the most
solid aggressive table I have ever sat at and I’m somewhat sad to say it was
the first time that I could not pick out a fish at the table!
An excerpt from Kevin “The Big Dumb Jerk”
Aggression was the early key as very few flops were seen
and almost no hands shown down. The early highlight was Ryan repeatedly
pushing Evan around, check raising and re-raising including a bold all in after
Evan's big bet . . at 1:05! (start
time 12:00)
Evan was set to be the first to go out for the 2nd year in a row - down to only
$32.50 from a starting stack of 200 after losing a big pot to Ferno. Evan hit
top pair with KJ and ran into Fern’s pocket Aces. However, Evan remained
patient and two big moves, one against Jimmy Q where he dominated him and
another against Fern with JJ against ATs, put him right back.
Alas, Ryan's early strength could not be maintained after a lengthy run of bad
cards knocked him out first, his 44 against Mark's 99. Soon after, Jimmy
Q, the defending champion, became the 2nd eliminated. Fern was the next
out when he made a move against Evan who was holding pocket aces this time...
Brent had emerged as the chip leader with Scott in 2nd. A
big hand between Scott (KJ) and Sean (KT) left Sean shorter stacked, and he
became the 4th out. John went out soon after (pointing out he had improved
on last year's finish and was on pace to win in two years.
It was down to 5: Brent, Tim, Scott, Mark and Evan. We were 5 hours in and all 5
players were about to work like hell to stay alive for another three hours.
By 8:00, about the time last year's tourney finished, all 5
players were still fighting. Scott had seen no cards forever but got a river
card to stay alive when his KQ made a straight against Tim's pair. Tim was in
trouble, and was put all in by Evan, but his 10 10 held up over Evan's 77 and he
was back. Now Evan was in trouble. He dodged and parried for a while
longer but eventually his time ran out when he pushed all in against Mark from
the with 2nd pair. and was surprised to see Mark had played 78s and made top
pair. It held up and Evan was out 5th.
Down to 4, it got really crazy. Constant aggressive raising and re-raising. Tim
made a move on Brent but Brent came over the top. After some though, Tim wisely
folded but his stack was smaller. Soon after, Mark made a big raise with AKs and
Tim moved all in with 88. After much thought, Mark felt compelled to call.
The pair of eights held up. Tim was strong again and Mark was down to a
measly $35.
Believe it or not, six hands leader, Mark was the chip leader. He doubled up on
a coin toss with Q7, against 33. Then his A7 held up against a KT. Mark and
Brent got involved in a big hand after Mark raised with AQs and Brent called
with KJ. Both the King and Queen flopped, and the rest of Mark's money went in.
The Ace hit on the river to double Mark up again. Then came the craziest hand in
the big showdown history. Mark again had the AQs and put in a big raise. The
chip leader Brent immediately went all in. After 5 minutes, Mark called.
They both had Ace Queen. Unbelievably, Mark won the hand when a runner, runner
flush which doubled him up again. A 1 in 16 shot and a brutal beat for Brent.
After a great start, Scott endured eternity without a hand. He finally was
forced to make a move with A7. Brent called with KT. It looked as though Scott
was back, but, on the river a King hit. and Scott was out. The river had been
all over this tournament, and for the 2nd straight year Scott played great and
was out on a tough beat. It was down to 3.
Mark caught AA in the small blind. After Brent folded, Mark decided to slowplay
and just called. Tim saw a flop for free with J4. The flop was rags but included
a 4. Mark bet reasonably small on the flop and turn and Tim called. Then, on the
river, another 4 came down. Tim fleeced Mark for the maximum amount he could (a
perfect $150 bet). Mark was again in deep trouble and would only last two more
hands.
It was down to Brent and Tim. Brent had played brilliantly all night, and had
been victimized by the river but fought back. Tim had also played flawlessly,
but had never won a live person tournament before. It was his first real heads
up experience!
It only took one hand. Brent made a move with A3 and pushed all in. Tim took all
of two seconds to call. He had AQ. The board came down 3-Q-x-Q-A. A full house
to finish. I don’t think anyone could disagree that they had been the best two
players all night, but Brent made one move at the wrong time. Tim had played for
9.5 hours and no one can point to a single time he had made a wrong move or big
mistake.
Tim winning might seem an upset because he has less experience, but any player
who watched will attest that, over an extremely long and well-played tourney, it
sure didn't look like an upset when you watched him play.
Nice work Tim.”The Man”
Thanks Kev, for a guy who wasn’t at the tournament you
did a great job covering it.
Some notes from the “The Man”
Special thanks to Mark for mucking that one hand for me
while I was shuffling. In retrospect I'm pretty sure that was going to be a bad
hand and send me on tilt (Mark actually did not muck the hand, but the cards
were mucked accidentally because they were not protected).
That was definitely the most consistently well played tournament I have been
involved in and I feel very fortunate that things worked out the way they did.
(Of course I plan to do everything I can to make it happen again next year...)
There was definitely a shortage of coin flip showdowns, especially early. It
seemed everyone had enough confidence in their ability to come back that it was
easier to walk away from $25 investment than to coin flip for $100. I think that
this is an indication of improved quality of play.
The confidence didn't seem to be misplaced either. Evan
made huge comebacks, as did Mark (32 -> 600 in 6 hands! Wow.) and many
others. Back and forth all night.
Just to drive it home at the dinner break there were 5 left. Average stack size
= 400 short stack was 316!.
Big hand of the night (hand, not pot) was Mark with quad Kings (someone went out
on that one...)
Smallest winning starting hand: Brent, I think it was a 62o.
Worst Beat: Mark v.s. Brent AQh vs AQo - the runner runner flush was actually a
4% (3.636) or less than 1 in 25 (Yes Mark, even worse than my 4 to complete the
boat @ 4.44%)
Whats next?
Tim.
How modest, he signed his comments with just Tim and not
using his title.
As for Whats next?
2 more regular games to finish out the year and announce
the LACC 2005 Monthly Game Leader and a potential new 21st Century
Leader. More LACC Radio from Cinci Sean and Brent Stacks. And a trip report as a
few LACC members hit Vegas in December.
August 3rd, 2005
PLO8 Gold Chip Event
The field was small as only five of the Admirals could make it
out for the tournament. We were now playing a game that reading material is
readily available - a short handed Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo Tournament. With big
notables Cinci Sean, Brent Stacks, and John (no nick name) not able to make it,
it was anybodys Chip and everybody was gunning to dethrone Omaha Jake, the first
Admiral to have to defend his title. Head Hunter Mark and yours truly Evan The
Terrible had even more at stake being the only two in the tournament without
having won a gold chip to date.
The following is a recount of the tournament from Head Hunter
Mark....
This was, in all the players' minds, the best played gold chip
tourney to date. Everyone seemed well prepared, and, as the proof, the pot
was almost never split all night - a true sign of a well played Hi-Lo game.
Early on, Scott "The Voice's" aggressive style served him well as his
big bet strategy took the early lead. Omaha Jake and myself had very
healthy chip counts but Evan "The Terrible" and InFerno were short
stacked early. I dare say, and InFerno may hate this, that although he is
one of the best poker minds in the group, his lack of experience in Omaha showed
through early, but damn if he didn't make huge raises at just at the right time
to drive out big draws and stay alive when he was on the ropes.
The biggest hand so far came when "The Voice" made a giant pot sized
move on Omaha Jake. Reminiscent of last year, Omaha Jake made an amazing call
with mediocre hand to take the pot and a the chip lead. I was
amazed and impressed, Omaha Jake rarely calls with so-so hands, but his timing
in Omaha continues to amaze.
The only break came and I had a chance to speak with Evan, who felt he had
encountered some bad luck but was still confident. I was supremely confident as
I had never been down and felt in control.
As we started again, some huge hands occurred. Short stacked Evan was down
to few outs but got a Queen to take half the pot. He had survived. Scott
and I had a huge hand where I had the early advantage and made a full bet but an
Ace on the turn and a huge raise from him forced me to lay it down. Thankfully,
he was kind enough to confirm that that card likely would have made the
difference. I suspect he had the outs and played it right. I vowed
not to tilt. (just a note, Scott the Voice lied, the card improved his
draw but Mark was still leading...Good Job Scott)
In spite of such vows, shortly after I was eliminated - I flopped second nut
high and an excellent nut high straight draw as well as the low draw. I
made the big bet and prayed Omaha Jake wasn't holding two tens, the only hand I
could fear. I had made a mistake- he was holding two tens. My outs
did not come through and I was out against the higher trips - I was
crushed and, to be honest with you, had to excuse myself for a hand before
accepting the life of big bet poker and volunteering to deal. Crushed
though I was, (and I was) being the dealer allowed me to have a good view
of the rest of the action. Omaha Jake was in great position to repeat and
had played absolutely flawlessly.
For a long time all the short stacks took the aggressive
strategy - InFerno, Terrible and the Voice all made big raises to stay alive
uncontested. Omaha Jake couldn't catch a hand so he bided his time,
stealing a few key big pots to keep his lead. Then, in a huge pot Evan
drew a five outer to take half the pot against Fern and stay alive. Soon
after, Scott made a big bet (against Ev I believe) and, when the cards didn't
hit, he joined me in the loser lounge.
Here was when Omaha Jake, the chip leader, made his first and only big mistake.
He called a big bet from Evan The Terrible in the hopes of eliminating
him, but Evan had one half guaranteed and was ahead in the other half. Omaha
Jake got lucky, caught one of his few outs and apologized, which was ironic. Evan
had been unlucky but was beginning to look intimidating.
After thinking InFerno lacked the Omaha experience to win, I was surprised to
see how going three handed changed things - he became the aggressor and built a
short stack into a big one. I suddenly realized how dangerous he really
was - it was about poker instinct now and he had it - could he win his third big
championship in two years? All three players were now close to even - it was
anyone's game.
Alas, InFerno went up against The Terrible in a close race soon after. Ev
was guaranteed at least half but behind in the other half - he caught a card
on the river to scoop - perfect Omaha execution. InFerno was gone and
Terrible was the chip leader. It was a tough beat as Fern had many outs, but
both players had played soundly. It was now that I saw how Ev's tournament
experience had come through. He had caught a few lucky cards but had
seemed in control for ages even though he wasn't the chip leader. Since catching
some big cards to stay alive, he was consistently in hands with half guaranteed
and drawing to a scoop.
Suddenly Maja (Mrs. Terrible) called, she had cut herself and may need to go the
emergency room. Ev offered to leave but Maja said she would be fine. The
showdown continued. .
A little while later (hard to keep track of time when you're sulking, dealing
and drinking) the big hand arrived. Although the hands were similar, Omaha
Jake was slightly behind Ev in both high and low - again Ev had got into a big
hand with at least half the pot seemingly guaranteed and a chance to scoop.
It paid off. No cards came to help Omaha Jake and the Terrible even caught
a straight on the river (though he didn't need it) to drive the point home.
Omaha Jake had come extremely close to being the only repeating champ in
LACC history, but Evan The Terrible, the most decorated online tourney player in
the group, had finally caught a couple of breaks early. He rode that to a
dominating performance and won his first gold chip - no one could dare deny that
deserved it.
In short, I can't believe Omaha Jake had those two tens.
Put another, more fair and representative way, all of us felt it was a very well
played tourney. In spite of my earlier cheap shot on Fern I now fully understand
how I would hate to see him with a good stack late in the big showdown, seeing
as he can finish 2nd and 3rd in a game he hardly plays.
Evan The Terrible was just too good to hold down when he finally caught some
breaks in a gold chip tourney, and I have to say that seems to me to be a a long
time coming.
Congrats Evan The Terrible - the newest Gold Chip owner.
This was my take and my take alone - I encourage you all to contribute your
take.
By: Head Hunter Mark
Thanks Mark, I must say it feels good!
