Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 15 March 2010 / 1 Comments

Betfair Poker's flagship tournament, the HOT! $40k GTD NLH Freezeout took place on Sunday 14 March and saw 84 hopefuls pay the $510 entry fee creating a prize pool of $42,000. After just over five hours worth of play it was TJ Cookier who finished with every single chip in his stack and a $12,600 boost to his bankroll.

John "kanku wap" Tabatabai, the talented Betfair sponsored pro, decided not to enter this week after suffering the heartache of finishing on the bubble twice in as many weeks. This week that dubious honour went to toots 1 who finished the tournament in tenth spot, just one place away from being guaranteed $1,470.

Final Table starting stacks

HOOINK - 113,368
PokerKaizer - 70,360
TJ Cookier - 63,794
taralex - 60,649
grazza - 48,130
model - 27,090
Iv0rY - 15,000
MrPeevly - 14,031
philly - 7,574

The blinds were 600/1,200 with a 120 running ante which meant the average stack had an "M" of around 15 at this point, so plenty of play left in the tournament, though some of the shorter stacks were in desperate need of an early double up to have a chance of a deep finish.

It did not take too long for the first elimination to take place but it was one of the average stacks that headed to the rail, not one of the shorties as expected. TJ Cookier min-raised to 2,400 in the hijack and was called by grazza on the button and PokerKaizer in the big blind. The flop came down Qd7h8h which saw the action check round to grazza, who fired a 4,440 bet, which was called by both of his opponents. The turn brought the Td and again it was checked to grazza, who decided to move all-in for 19,390. PokerKaizer then moved all-in himself, causing TJ Cookier to fold.

Both player's hands were revealed and grazza was in front with QhJh giving him top pair, a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw against the Jd8d of PokerKaizer. The river saw the Kd arrive, completing PokerKaizer's flush, eliminating grazza in ninth place and saw PokerKaizer's stack pass the 100,000 mark.

The very next hand saw another player bust out to take the play to seven handed. MrPeevly open shoved UTG for 13,431 with pocket sevens and found a caller in TJ Cookier holding pocket eights. A board reading Ac5hKd5cAs saw MrPeevly leave the tournament with $1,890 to console himself with.

The eliminations continued to come thick and fast as less than five minutes after MrPeevly's exit, another player donated his chips to TJ Cookier. Iv0rY open-raised in the cutoff to 2,700 and saw TJ Cookier make it 6,500 to play. The action folded back to Iv0rY who moved all-in for his remaining 24,660 a bet that TJ Cookier quickly called. When the cards went onto their backs it was apparent it was a typical race with Iv0rY holding AhQd against the pocket Jacks of the man named after a biscuit. The race was all but over when Cookier flopped a set on a AdJh6c board and when the turn and river came Qc and 3c respectively, the tournament was down to six, with each of the remaining players guaranteed to take home at least $2,730.

It took close to 30 minutes before we saw another player lose their stack as most pots were being settled preflop but when taralex open-shoved his 21,502 stack from the button with blinds at 1,000/2,000/200a and philly called the tournament was in danger of becoming a five handed affair. The hands were revealed, taralex holding AdQh against philly's black Queens and a board reading JcTdThJdJs saw philly improve to a full house to eliminate taralex in sixth place.

After PokerKaizer disconnected the five handed play was essentially four-handed and TJ Cookier decided to start playing very aggressively, which resulted in another elimination. He made it 5,000 to go, which prompted philly to go all-in for 19,247 on the button. TJ Cookier was priced in to call with his Td7s and was racing, as expected probably, against philly's pocket fours. A ten on the flop and no miracle two outer for philly saw him eliminated with $3,360 to soften the blow.

Shortly after winning a huge pot from TJ Cookier when his Jacks stayed in front of a pair of sevens, HOOINK eliminated model thanks to some good fortune. A raise to 7,222 from model was met by a shove by HOOINK and a call by the initial raiser who showed AsKc which was dominating HOOINK's Ad9d. However, poker is a funny old game and HOOINK spiked a nine on a 6h8s9s flop which was enough to take the hand to three-handed, although PokerKaizer was still sat out after being disconnected for over 30 minutes.

After ten minutes battling to steal PokerKaizer's blinds the tournament reached the heads-up stage. TJ Cookier moved all-in on the button and was called by the only other active player, HOOINK who tabled pocket nines. These were ahead of Cookier's Jc6h but the board ran out 8d3h3cAc and a cruel Jd on the river was enough for TJ Cookier to bust his opponent.

PokerKaizer did not stand a chance as he was still disconnected and it did not take long for TJ Cookier to steal his entire stack to claim the win. TJ Cookier took home $12,600 for winning the entire tournament but PokerKaizer cannot be too disappointed with the $8,400 runner-up prize, especially as he was sat out for over 40 minutes thanks to a massive blackout in his home country of Chile.

Special mentions need to go out to arbboy and gardsgut who finished 11th and 12th in this week's tournament after reaching the final table of last week's $40k guaranteed. Tune in next week to discover who won big in Betfair Poker's flagship tournament.

Check out the amazing HOT! Tournament Schedule on Betfair Poker

Comments (1)

1. nhggfu | 16 March 2010

   Model runs so bad on betfair. My fav slovenian fish Slobib, runbetter pls.

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