/ Matthew Pitt / 08 March 2012 / Leave a Comment 
The caption says it all.
MacStokir of Poland was the third place finisher netting himself $29,309.04 and ZOMGMCBACON fell just short of victory coming second for $40,720.35.
One of my favourite poker tournament formats is one played to No Limit Hold'em rules with a deep stacked structure and has tons of money money in the prizepool so surely Event #9 of the Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) should have been right up my street. Well it was but it did not go exactly how I planned to.
GSOP Event #9: $190+$10 No Limit Hold'em Deepstack $400,000 Guaranteed
If ever an online tournament had my name on it then it was this one. $65,000 up top would have been the perfect amount for me to significantly boost my bankroll, treat the family to a holiday of a lifetime and purchase a new motor. Instead I picked up some Player Points, a little bit of experience and approximately $3 in valueback; hardly the same is it?
My tournament started off slowly with it taking 34 hands to pick up my first pair, fives, and a further five to pick up an ace with a kicker higher than a three. If only 8c5c was a premium hand. The first pot of note that went my way saw me call a UTG+1 raise to 125 (blinds 25/50) whilst in the cutoff holding Jh10h. The flop came down a rather draw heavy 7s-8c-Jc and I called villain's 175 continuation bet. The turn was the 10c and we both checked but the river was the 10d and when villain checked I bet 335 into 675 and he quickly called then mucked when shown my full house. That was the only action I saw until the 80/160 level but when it came it was certainly worth the waiting.
I picked up AdAc UTG+1 so obviously I came out raising, making it 320 to play. It looked like I was about to pick up the blind when the button three-bet to 909. He didn't seem like a complete monkey so he probably had a decent hand, a hand that he would possibly call a four-bet to 2,315 with! Except he didn't call, no, he shoved for 9,967 and I snap-called off my remaining 2,524 chips and was shown KhKs. The flop was a perfect Ah-3h-3s and it is a good job I flopped a boat because the turn and river were both hearts and I would have lost in cruel circumstances but as it were I was now armed with 9,918 chippies. Nom nom nom.
A few hands later and I attempted to steal with queen-seven but met some resistance from the blinds. My cause was helped though by flopping a queen and hitting a seven on the river to add another 2,000 or so chips to my stack but as they say "easy come easy go" I lost a huge pot as a 96% favourite, which is pretty standard for me. I picked up aces again and min-raised to 320 and to my delight the player to my immediate left three-bet to 800. With the action back on me I four-bet to 2,240 and villain now called. The 5c-9h-Ac flop was pretty damn good and with the pot being 4,720 and villain only having 3,550 left I just shoved and he snap called with AhQh! Result! Pass the sugar. Ship it. BOOM! But just as I was about to virtually stack my 18,000 pot the turn came the 2h and the river the Jh to send the lovely stack of multicoloured pixels to the horrendous fish, who never made it to the money by the way.
Unfortunately neither did I and it was pocket aces again that almost killed me off. The blinds were now 100/200 and I was in the big blind with AcAh. The cutoff open-limped, yes open-limped in a a $200 buy-in tournament, the small blind completed and I raised to 700. Both villains called and we shared a 7d-10d-Jh flop. Not the kind of flop to slow play so when the small blind checked I bet but mistakenly bet just 800 into the 1,600 pot and the limper called but the small blind folded. The turn was the Kd and I should have just bet because I was intended to call his inevitable shove as he only had 2,990 chips and the pot was 3,200. He shoved, I called and eh showed me KsJs. FML. River was the six of clubs and I was left with just 878 chips.
These went into the middle two hands later with my Qs10s only to run into As10d, neither of us caught any of the flop but his ace-kicker came into play and I was sent tot he rail in 1,288/2,160, around four hours earlier than I had planned.
Thankfully Team Betfair players chose this event to absolutely kill it! We had a total of 64 pf our men and women make it into the money places, each one winning a minimum of $279.88 but Betfair players aren't happy with min-cashes so it was no surprise to see no fewer than 19 of them in the top 100 places. By this stage they had all locked up $626.10 and the money was starting to get serious, even more so by the time IvanDimidov and weigolio busted out in 35th and 34th respectively because they were all now walking away with over $1,300 but the best was yet to come because not only did we have two players on the final table we actually finished in Event #9 in second and third place for a combined score of more than $70,000!
MacStokir of Poland was the third place finisher netting himself $29,309.04 and ZOMGMCBACON fell just short of victory coming second for $40,720.35. Amazing performances all round but especially from these two players. Over $70,000 in prize money for $400 outlay, I'd take that every day of the week!
Event #9 in numbers
Total entrants: 2,160
Total prize pool: $410,400
Total Team Betfair entrants: 379 (17.55% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 64
Total Team Betfair prizes: $103,492.39 (25.22% of prize pool)
Mini GSOP Event #9: $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em Deepstack $30,000 Guaranteed
Another GSOP, another set of bad beats and another cashless finish for yours truly; this is starting to get on my nerves! As early as the 25/50 level I was struggling for chips after getting my money in with a full house but it was not meant to be. Shu11er77 open-limped from under the gun and the aptly named svanedonk raised to 200 from the cutoff. I was on the button with QhQs and I raised to 540 and when the initial limper called he screamed a big hand but he didn't raise so I though he probably had ace-king or something like that, maybe kings but meh. Donk called and the flop came down As-Qd-Qc. Both players checked to me and I bet 1,100 into 1,695 only to see the UTG player shove for 3,090 in total then donk shove for 3,600! Surely they haven't got AA and AQ? Nope, UTG held AdKs and donk boy AhJc. The 4d on the turn meant I was about to scoop the 11,985 pot but the Kc river put paid to those plans and I was down to 2,655 chips.
Although not really short-stacked I was not in a position that I had hoped but that was about to change during the 40/80 level wasn't it, especially as I had just picked up KhKc and saw some ridiculous action in front of me. The dude with the ace-king a few hands ago open-limped the player to his immediate left raised to 200, the player to his left called as did the button! Seriously! The small blind then moved all in for 2,255 chips and I instantly re-shoved. Everyone else then folded and I was up against AcQs. The 3c-2s-10d flop was superb but the Ad turn was beyond horrid and when the 10h landed on the river my stack had been decimated and I was sat behind just 480 chips. These were shoved in with queen-jack a few hands later and I busted in 1,545 when I was called by both ace-ten and ace-three and nobody caught any of the board. GG me. Maybe I should start folding AA and KK preflop from now on!
Whilst I was busy texting my poker playing friends with my bad beat stories Team Betfair players were busy making their way into the money places, all 43 of them. The first to cash, and the first to cash in the entire tournament, was gs12345678 of the Czech Republic was the first Betfair player to cash and the first player in the tournament overall, he picked up $26.51 fir his efforts and by the time Gadgerno1 had busted out in 30th place the prize money had increased to $155.68. Alendel0n7 picked up slightly more at $192.72 for his 16th place finish and HarziMcGoon of Germany $509.85 for making it all the way to the final table before busting in ninth. But mini Event #9's star performer was zzzzzzzze of Latvia who was finally eliminated in fifth place for $1,451.38.
Mini Event #9 in numbers
Total entrants: 1,859
Total prize pool: $37,180
Total Team Betfair entrants: 263 (14.15% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 43
Total Team Betfair prizes: $3,921.45 (10.55% of prize pool)
Event #9 and its mini equivalent were the most profitable of the GSOP yet with $107,413.84 won! Absolute phenomenal stuff from Team Betfair. This huge wins mean that through Event #9 Betfair players have cashed 270 times winning $388,549.20 in the process whilst the mini GSOPers have cashed 296 times for winnings of $26,802.61.
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