Rob Whalen & Tony Uhlir split 1st at Cully's Kid's!

Yes, that's right, Tony Uhlir goes back to back in an amazing feat! Although there was officially a chop of 1st place money, Tony made it all the way just as he did last year. This year, that brought him $6,400 compared to last year's $10,000. Rob Whalen carried a chip lead off an on for much of the last half of the tournament after the final break.

At the final break, the 3 top chip counts were Rob Whalen with 54,000, Shawn Morrissey with 50,500, and Shawn McNealey with 43,000. Tony Uhlir had just doubled up going into the break and was sitting just above the 25,500 average with his 26,500. Brandt Johnson, Rob Whalen, Bjorn Heide, Tim Jacobs, Ivy Brown, Ron Olson, and Scott Krein, were all among players I recognized as still participating with 58 left.

Unfortunately Scott was short-stacked and was eliminated soon after play started back up. Next to leave was Ron Olson. Tim and Ivy both made the final 2 tables but unfortunately were eliminated before the money. Tim was short-stacked and just plain card dead through much of the tournament and was nearly all-in on the first hand of the final 2 tables with an unfortunate redraw that put him in the BB. Tim was able to turn a 6, but lost on the river to an 8 as Bjorn was holding A8. Ivy had a rough day as with 3 tables left she moved all-in and Jason Loos called all-in with J3 from the BB having much of his money already in. The flop brought 2 treys and the river rubbed it in to Ivy as she caught her Ace on the river. Then at the final 2 tables she called all-in for 22,500 with 99 after Shawn Morrissey had raised with QJ. A Queen on the flop and nothing to save Ivy eliminated her from the tournament.

Before we get into the money, no tournament can be complete without a mention of the first elimination of the tournament. During the first round, Jon Rubis and Jeff Nelson get involved in a hand. Flop comes out J high with 2 hearts. Jeff bets the hand strong and Jon calls. Turn peels off a blank and Jeff moves all-in and Jon calls. Jon has KJh and Jeff has AJ. Any heart of K will give the hand to Jon. A heart peels off on the river and we have our first elimination of the tournament.

Roger Tangen, Jareb Raan, Jon Horner, Leroy Turner, Nick Taralson, Scott Eckert, Thane Fliginger, Cory Biloki, Troy Walseth, and Brad Donabauer were other players in the event. Scott had a tough break about halfway through as he was cruising along when he raised with AK and Ron Olson moved all-in behind with AT. A ten peeled off an Ron won an over 18,000 chip pot ... a pot that would have put Scott near or in the chip lead at the time. Thane Fliginger suffered a similar feat on a huge pot when his AK lost to KJ preflop. The result of the hand left him crippled and soon was eliminated.

IN THE MONEY

After a relatively short amount of hand for hand play starting at 17 players, we moved into the money. 15th through 11th place were as follows:

Louis Whirlwind
Nick Reed
Andy Alsop
Andrew Ryan
Galen Brown

The final table consisted of: Shawn McNealey (56,000) Brandt Johnson (60,500) Tony Uhlir (76,500) Jason Loos (54,000) Jack Hoffner (80,000) Chuck Udart (50,000) Shawn Morrissey (100,500) Bjorn Heide (30,000) Brian Mattson (60,500) Rob Whalen (91,500)

The very first hand of the final table, Bjorn Heide found himself all-in vs Brian Mattson. Bjorn showed 77 as Brian showed AK. No Ace or King or straights or flushes and Bjorn more than doubles to 78,000.

Our first elimination came after Tony Uhlir tried to pick up the blinds with a raise from the cutoff with K7c. Chuck Udart called all-in from the BB with KT and was looking to be in great shape. But after a 7 and no T came, we had our 10th place finisher Chuck Udart - $360

After that Brian won back some of his chips by raising and picking up the blinds. Then he raised to 38,000 with KQd and had Rob Whalen immediately move all-in behind. Brian Mattson decided to call, having more than half of his chips already in the pot. He was very dissappointed to see that Rob had him crushed with KK. Nothing to help Brian, and we had our 9th place finisher Brian Mattson - $480

After losing a rather large hand, Bjorn moved all-in for 16,000 (6/12K blinds) and had Shawn move all-in behind. Bjorn had KQ, but Shawn had AA. Bjorn caught some significant help as there was a J and T on board by the turn, but no A or 9 came on the river and we had our 8th place finisher Bjorn Heide - $640

We had to wait a long time for the next bustout as play seemed to slow significantly. Jack Hoffner eventually found himself short-stacked and with only 31K left at 15/30K he just called from the SB to see a flop as Shawn Morrissey decided to check. The flop is 89T and Jack announces all-in for his remaining 1K. Shawn calls with AT and Jack needs to improve his K9. A ten on the turn and an Ace on the river more than sealed Jack's fate as our 7th place finisher was Jack Hoffner - $800.

Shawn McNealey found himself on the unfortunate side of pair vs pair as he moved all-in with 66 only to have Brandt Johnson wake up with KK immediately behind. Flop improved no player and Shawn was crippled with only 5K. He found himself eliminated on the next hand with T9 to Rob Whalen's A6. Our 6th place finisher is Shawn McNealey - $1,200

Another long time before more eliminations would take place from 4 handed on as we arrived at the official blind cap of 20/40K, but still had 5 players remaining as no one seemed to lose when all-in. First huge hand developed when Shawn Morrissey moved all-in and Rob Whalen called. Shawn showed A3 as Rob tabled QT. Flop came out Axx, all hearts with Rob holding the Q of hearts. Rob and his railbirds went crazy when a heart peeled off on the turn but needed to be sedated because it was the 3 of hearts keeping Shawn alive. With 4 outs to go, it was Shawn's turn to celebrate when an Ace rolled off on the river, doubling Shawn up in a huge pot. 2 hands later Brandt Johnson, short-stacked, found himself all-in with KQ, but called without having to put more chips in by Tony Uhlir. Tony had 74. Flop came out K87, and Brandt continued to stay alive, but a 4 on the turn looked to cost Brandt his tournament life until a Q peeled off on the river.

However, Brandt's tournament would soon end when Shawn moved all-in with AQ and Brandt called with AJ preflop. A Queen on the flop and turn eliminated our 5th place finisher Brandt Johnson - $1,600

Shawn would continue his run as he oved all-in with AQ once again and Jason Loos would call all-in with AT. Queen and Ten on the flop kept Jason alive, but the river brought another Queen not another Ten and our 4th place finisher was Jason Loos - $2,000

Shawn's fortunes began to fade as he began to continually lose blinds and his stack was eaten away. The big blow came when he moved all-in with KJ and Rob Wahlen called all-in with 22. Flop was J5J and Shawn was ecstatic. A 2 on the turn sent Rob and his railbirds over the edge before they were once again told that Shawn was far from dead as any 5, J, or K would still win him the hand. But a harmless card fell on the river and Rob doubled through Shawn.

Rob moved all-in and a shortstacked Shawn called all-in with T7. The board improved no one, and our 3rd place finisher was Shawn Morrissey - $2,800

Immediately upon the elimination of Shawn, Rob and Tony discussed chopping the pot and they agreed to chop it right down the middle. Going into heads up play Rob had $360,000 and Tony had $300,000. The tournament was played out and Tony eventually won with A7 vs 72.

Congratulations to Tony Uhlir and Rob Whalen for their victories and $6,400 cash!

Running Bad ..

So what do you do when you realize you are running so bad with cards that you should literally not even attempt to play? It seems its gone that way for me for a significant amount of time. Besides an occasional bright spot, things have just been awful. By this I mean having KK run into AA, having AK/AQ vs 99/88 and not catching, running absolutely card dead at the wrong times in tournaments, consistently being one notch below on the best hand. There's only so many times that these situations can come up in a tournament or cash game and you avoid going broke. Obviously in a tournament, there comes a time when you have to catch or be able to play cards in position and not have other people catch.

So what do you do? Do you just take a significant amount of time off, or do you try to 'play through it'? Do you believe in 'rushes' and 'coolers' etc. Do you believe in running hot or cold? Personally it seems that when I run hot, it's hot, and when it's cold, it's the very depths. I'm sure a lot of other people feel the same way, or maybe others play in such a way that the ups and down aren't nearly as dramatic. Granted, I know that the style of play I choose tends to make the mountains higher and the valleys lower, but eventually you have to come out of it, right? You start to question whether or not you should ever play again. So you take a step back and try to examine how you play the game, you start to question every move you make in a tournament, things you have done repeatedly in the past that have succeeded all of a sudden no longer are working.

Well, I have to try to figure it out in the next 3 weeks, as my Vegas trip is coming up then. By then, hopefully things will have turned around, otherwise it will be one long trip ...

Running Bad ..

So what do you do when you realize you are running so bad with cards that you should literally not even attempt to play? It seems its gone that way for me for a significant amount of time. Besides an occasional bright spot, things have just been awful. By this I mean having KK run into AA, having AK/AQ vs 99/88 and not catching, running absolutely card dead at the wrong times in tournaments, consistently being one notch below on the best hand. There's only so many times that these situations can come up in a tournament or cash game and you avoid going broke. Obvioulsy in a tournament, there comes a time when you have to catch or be able to play cards in position and not have other people catch.

So what do you do? Do you just take a significant amount of time off, or do you try to 'play through it'? Do you believe in 'rushes' and 'coolers' etc. Do you believe in running hot or cold? Personally it seems that when I run hot, it's hot, and when it's cold, it's the very depths. I'm sure a lot of other people feel the same way, or maybe others play in such a way that the ups and down aren't nearly as dramatic. Granted, I know that the style of play I choose tends to make the mountains higher and the valleys lower, but eventually you have to come out of it, right? You start to question whether or not you should ever play again. So you take a step back and try to examine how you play the game, you start to question every move you make in a tournament, things you have done repeatedly in the past that have succeeded all of a sudden no longer are working.

Well, I have to try to figure it out in the next 3 weeks, as my Vegas trip is coming up then. By then, hopefully things will have turned around, otherwise it will be one long trip ...

DRP Event #10

It's been a looooong time! So, I'm going to try to make a better effort to start writing more in the blog. First, let's recap yesterday's events!

42 --- yes 42 showed up to play poker during the summer. But, enough about us all being degenerates!!! We had a good time and there's nothing to be ashamed about! After all, you probably saved yourself getting wet by being indoors!

Of those 42, we ended with a relatively unique final table! Of the 10 players there were exactly 2 regular season wins between them. 'Cpt Fission' and 'Bin2win' each have been with the league for awhile and each have had 1 win + numerous cashes. There were 3 that made their first final table, Michael K (1st event), Mike L (2nd event) and Wolf (4th event). Ron O made his 4th final table of the year, Scott K and Ken H both made their 2nd, and Nick T made it 5/5 in final table appearances, this being his best showing, finishing 3rd.

But, the big win went to 'TallyWacker'. A bit of a hard luck story, this was his 29th league event, only previously cashing once. Finally he got a bit of luck and took down his first DRP win!

The day was marked by early exits for many of the top tier in points. Blondie, Kramer, Slinger, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Pajamas, Frickin, and Pat A, would all make exits before the points. This left the door wide open for 'NosCat' - formerly 'BigBoy' to make a huge move. However, nursing a short stack all day wouldn't work out and he would bust in 13th. Actually accumulating 10 pts, at least 3 more points than he might have had had Dan S and Matt B not busted to Cpt Fission on a 88 vs KK vs AA (Cpt. Fission) hand when the board improved no one. Amanda F would bust in 14th, leaving Scott to finally be put out of his misery when he was in the BB with less than the BB amount. Texas and KTK (12th & 11th respectively) rounded out the rest of the pre-final table finishers.

Michael K was the first to bust at the final table, his run actually began to be halted much earlier in the tournament. With 16 remaining, Bin2Win moved in with AK and Michael K called with 88. A 23K pot brewed at a point when the average stack was only $13,125. With an A Bin2Win took the hand and set himself for a deep finish. Scott K was the next to drop, actually surviving on a short stack for a couple orbits thanks to this hand. With 1K/2K blinds, Scott moved all-in for 4K. Folding around to the BB, TallyWacker called blind for the additional 2K and tabled 45o. Scott had JTd and was about a 2-1 favorite to win the hand ... until ... the flop is A23 rainbow!!! Unbelievable until the nearly unthinkable. With only possibility of surviving being runner-runner straight cards, a Q peeled off on the turn, and a K on the river!! Unfortunately for Scott it would not propel him deeper into the tournament. As soon as Scott busted, Wolf was in the BB for 3K of his 4K and failed to win the hand and was our 8th place bubble boy. Ron O busted in 7th and Cpt Fission would bust in 6th due to the big hand of the tournament. Mike L opened for 6K at 1K/2K blinds and Cpt F called from the button. Flop came out TQT and Mike L led out for 6K and Cpt F called. Turn was another T and again Mike led for 6K only to be reraised to 16K total. Leaving Mike with only 2,500 behind, Mike after nearly 5 minutes of deliberation moved all-in for the additional 2,500 and Cpt F called with 77 only to see Mike table 99. Drawing dead to a chop, Cpt F didn't get there and the 63K pot went to Mike and left Bill with around 15K. Bin2Win would get shortstacked and move in from the button with A4 only to be called for the additional 5K at 3/6 blinds by the BB (in the dark) with 82. An 8 sent him to the rail. Ken would bust in 4th and Nick T ran into a monster while holding AA. All-in for around 4x the BB, he was called by Tallywacker with KT. The flop nearly put all the nails in the coffin immediately when it peeled off QJ9. No runner-runnre for Nick as he was done for the day. The very next hand, having over a 2-1 chip lead over Mike, Tallywacker moved all-in with A6c. Mike called with A7 off. The board brought a 6 on the flop to give Tallywacker the lead. But with a 3rd diamond and an 8 that gave Mike a gutshot on the turn, it was far from over until the river bricked out.

Congratulations to TallyWacker and we'll see everybody on August 6th!