Internet Poker / Matthew Pitt / 26 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

The last-ever $40,000 guaranteed tournament, at least on this platform, saw 88 players turn out and swap their $500+$10 for 5,000 chips and a chance of winning $13,200.

Some of Betfair Poker's better known players turned out for the final flagship tournament, including but not limited to FISHDONKEY, Frank2770, bifta, E V V O, and mementomori. However, neither of these managed to make the final table of nine on their last outing in this fantastic tournament.

Chip counts at the start of the final table

Blinds 1,000/2,000/200a

1.) NoLimitBOSS - 98,808
2.) rent1982 - 78,340
3.) pirate bay - 75,056
4.) Slaven11 - 47,414
5.) easymeat - 33,893
6.) Huddster - 30,012
7.) Chomper - 27,848
8.) hjalte67 - 25,103
9.) surrender - 23,523

The first player to pick up their prize money was Huddster who collected $1,540 for his ninth place finish. After doubling up from just over 25,000 chips with QQ versus the A8 of pirate bay, Huddster continued the aggression on the very next hand and raised first in on the cutoff to 6,600. Slaven11, seated on the button, made it 16,000 to go and when the action got back to Huddster he quickly moved all-in. Almost as quickly as he shoved, Slaven11 called revealing KdKh, way in front of Huddster's second consecutive pocket queens! The board ran out 6hKc9s5d7d and the tournament was down to eight players.

Slaven11 turned executioner again with the elimination of surrender. He opened the pot from the hijack to 7,200 with blinds at 1,250/2,500/250a and then quickly called when surrender moved all-in for a total of 28,596 chips. It was a typical coinflip situation with surrender's AhKd needing to out race Slaven11's pocket eights and although he flopped an ace, Slaven11 hit a set on a 8d7hAc flop. This meant surrender needed running aces for quads in order to stay alive in the tournament so when the 9c arrived on the turn he was drawing dead. The meaningless Js on the river sealed the deal and surrender headed for the rail with $2,420 for his efforts.

It was quickly becoming very one sided with Slaven hoovering up chips and taking out all before him. Not long after eliminating surrender he claimed his third scalp of the evening in the shape of hjalte67. Slaven11 opened with a 6,400 raise, rent1972 folded but Chomper called in the cutoff seat. Sensing he could make a squeeze play, hjalte67 moved all-in for 29,156 from the button, which was enough to fold out the blinds, but Slaven11 had other ideas. After ten seconds or so he re-shoved his 148,562 stack into the middle to force Chomper to fold. Slaven11 showed QdQh which was a 65% favourite over the AsQs of his opponent but this advantage dropped to just 52.5% on a 6sTc7s flop. The 9d re-opened the lead and when the Jc fell on the river hjalte67 busted out whilst Slaven11 took a commanding chip lead over the remaining six players.

Both Chomper and easymeat were the shortest stacks at the table and it was almost inevitable they would clash at some point. They did when Chomper open-shoved from the small blind with eight-seven and easymeat made the call in the big blind with a pair of sixes, which held to crippled Chomper. He was out a couple of hands later after NoLimitBOSS raised to 6,800 under the gun and Chomper moved all-in from the button. Getting 6/1 to call, NoLimitBOSS made the easiest call of his life and showed KdJh, which would need to catch up against the Ac8s of Chomper. The flop of QcKs9s gave the advantage to NoLimitBOSS' and when the turn and river came out 5c and 4s resepctively it was game over for Chomper, who walked away with $2,860 in prize money.

After being almost anonymous throughout the final table, easymeat entered a flurry of action that ultimately saw him eliminated in fifth place. First he moved all-in over the top of a Slaven11 raise with 8c8d only to find pirate bay in the big blind sat with a pair of tens, which held on a 6cKh9hAd5h board. This left easymeat with just 1,117 chips and after paying the 400a in the next hand he was down to a paltry 717 chips! He then moved all-in only to see NoLimitBOSS to make it 14,000 to play and Slaven11 moved all-in to isolate the micro stack. After NoLimitBOSS folded, easymeat showed a pair of fours and Slaven11 Queen-four. A 7c4d8h3cKc board saw easymeat's stack swell to the dizzy heights of 4,153!

The very next hand he was forced all-in as he did not have enough to pay the big blind but he had been dealt 9s9d, which was up against the KcTd of NoLimitBOSS. The nines stayed ahead on a 4dQs5s flop and when the Jc arrived on the turn it looked as if another double up was on the cards. Notice how I said "looked", because the Kh fell on the river to bust out easymeat in fifth place and take the play to four handed, where each of the surviving players would be guaranteed to take home no less than $4,400.

A real cooler of a hand claimed the stack of pirate bay. He completed his small blind when the action folded to him and NoLimitBOSS checked his option. A flop of Kc3h2h saw the action go check/check but the 2d on the turn prompted a small 4,000 bet from pirate bay, a bet that was called. Upon the arrival of the 6h on the river, the action exploded. First pirate bay bet 8,800, then NolimitBOSS made it 24,000 to play. River raises are generally accepted as being very strong hands but pirate bay still went ahead and moved all-in, only to see his opponent call very quickly and show him the nut flush, made with Ah4h, more than enough to best the Qh7h of pirate bay.

Another race involving Slaven11 and another Slaven11 victory saw play reach the heads-up stage. From the button rent1982 moved all-in for 30,815 holding AcKc with blinds at 2,000/4,000/400a, he was quickly called by Slaven11's pocket jacks. A flop of 2c9s6c made things very interesting and actually made rent1982 a slight favourite to double up in the hand but the 3h followed by the 3d saw him bust out in third and he collected a cool $5,280.

Going into heads-up Slaven11 held a 300,509 to 139,490 chip advantage over NoLimitBOSS but the latter is a heads-up professional so it was fare from being over. A big hand around 10 minutes into the match completely turned the tie on its head and handed the advantage well and truly to NoLimitBOSS.

An 11,000 raise on the button from Slaven11 was called by NoLimitBOSS so both players saw a 6d7c4s flop. Both players checked and when the Tc fell on the turn NoLimitBOSS tested the waters with a 5,000 bet, which was called by his opponent. The 6s on the river sparked some serious action and saw NoLimitBOSS lead out for 18,888 into the 33,000 pot but Slaven11 was not ready to give up on the pot and raised by an additional 30,112 chips. Normally this would be enough to take the pot by somehow NoLimitBOSS made the call before showing a hand winning Kh8s for a pair of sixes, king kicker, amazingly better than the Qs8h of Slaven11! This levelled things up but I am sure it handed the psychological edge to NoLimitBOSS, great call.

The final hand saw Slaven11 raise to 12,000 on the button and then move in for 132,509 after NoLimitBOSS had three-bet to 33,500. The shove was instantly called by NoLimitBOSS, who tabled a pair of tens and the race against KdJc was on. It was a short race as the flop came down 5s8cTs to give NoLimitBOSS a set and a 95% advantage over his opponent. The 3s on the turn meant it was game, set and match to NoLimitBoss and when the 7h made an appearance on the river Slaven11 was eliminated in second place, good for $8,800, and NoLimitBOSS became the final champion of the Betfair $40k GTD on this particular platform and $13,200 richer.

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