Pokerstars.com $350,000 Guaranteed - March 13th, 2005
Jon Eaton
March 13th, 2005
Sunday, a record field of 2,638 players comprised a pool of $527,600. First was going to be $105,520, with a total of 270 places being paid prize money. Going into the final table, the blinds were 20,000-40,000 with a 2,000 ante (the levels stop at this point), and the chip positions and seating looked like this (city and state/country, if known, in parenthesis):
Seat 1 - theoneseyes (Gardena, CA) - 100,320
Seat 2 - phillys (Las Vegas, NV) - 889,046
Seat 3 - argules (Belvedere) - 130,486
Seat 4 - IanDowie (Bergen) - 185,240
Seat 5 - anakinso (Scarsdale, NY) - 1,347,988
Seat 6 - Mr4Aces (Las Vegas, NV) - 557,967
Seat 7 - BOSS452 (Miami, FL) - 1,237,732
Seat 8 - littleben (North Las Vegas, NV) - 863,310
Seat 9 - $WHY YOU$ (Thoudand Oaks) - 1,283,011
$WHY YOU$ had just administered a terrible beat on 10th place finisher greensox. The two got all their chips in pre-flop with two respectable hands-kings versus queens, the latter being held by $WHY YOU$. The flop was all under-cards, and then a queen peeled off on the turn and a blank on the river to send greensox home on the bubble for the big final table.
anakinso had been dominating the field most of the late rounds. He continued that streak as he raised almost 2-3 times a round on average. He rarely relinquished the chance at taking the blinds and antes, and had the stack to gamble with. At a very, very tight final table, he controlled the ebb and flow, since he held a large portion of the chips.
The action took a little while to get started. Players were reluctant to be the first one out. A few short stack double-ups and some ante steals, but nothing more. Finally, on hand nine, the action got out of the mud and a player was sent packing.
BOSS452 opened the pot for the minimum, 80,000 chips. The warning bells weren’t heard by IanDowie, as he re-raised all-in with Kd Qd. BOSS452 beat him in the pot and showed aces. With the board reading K 3 J 3 8, IanDowie took 9th place and a nice payday of $6,331.20.
Short stacks were pushing their luck on occasion, and a few times got some calls from weaker hands. theoneseyes had pushed all-in with A7o and got a call from $WHY YOU$’s JTo for a small amount. The A7o held up, making the nut flush, and doubling up theoneseyes, now sitting with over 637,000.
On hand 23, BOSS452 made it 120,000 before the flop. From the big blind, phillys made it 360,000 total, and BOSS put the call in. The flop came down As 5s Jh, prompting a check from phyllis. BOSS threw out 400,000, enough to put them all-in. After a while, phillys finally put their cards in the muck and gave up.
With almost two million in chips, anakinso was running the table over for the most part. But play continued as no one was willing to play a big pot, as we went through a few orbits before eliminating another player.
We hadn’t heard much from phyllis, and then they moved all-in one pot for a little over 295,000. Everyone folded. The next hand, they limped under-the-gun-sending off signals to most. However, right behind phyllis, argules moved all-in for 529,000 chips. Everyone folded and phyllis turned over aces, completing their slow play. argules turned over pocket queens. However, a queen on the turn sent phyllis home, cursing their luck, but happy to have an additional $10,024.40 in their pocket.
A few hands later, theoneseyes got desperate and moved all-in for 191,000. After folding around to the small blind, Mr4Aces moved all-in over-the-top for 597,000. The big blind folded, and Mr4Aces tabled As Th. theoneseyes had a slight lead with pocket 6’s, but all hope was erased when the board read 2 7 T Q 2. theoneseyes was credited with 7th place, and won $14,772.80.
On hand 44, we finally got to see some of the hands that anakinso was running the table over with. He had raised in late position and $WHY YOU$ had made the call. The board read A 9 6 5 8 rainbow, and after betting the flop, anakinso re-raised the bet on the river by $WHY YOU$ and was called. He showed 97o, for a straight, taking a huge pot of over one million chips.
The downward spiral for $WHY YOU$ would continue a few hands later. He opened the pot from under-the-gun plus-one for 240,000, well over half of his chips. argules made the over-the-top move to the tune of 800,000, and was called by $WHY YOU$. The hands were KJo and AQo, the latter for argules. The flop was KQT all hearts, and with no hearts in either of their hands, argules was looking for a queen or jack to eliminate $WHY YOU$. The turn brought an off-suit queen, and the river was a T, giving argules queens full of tens and sending $WHY YOU$ home in 6th place, pocketing $20,048.90.
Deal mumblings, as usual, began right about this time. They were sparse but picked up later. Play continued, however, but no flops were taken and no all-ins were called until hand 68.
Playing as aggressive as ever, anakinso opened the pot from the small-blind for 100,000. The big blind, Mr4Aces, was growing tired of this and finally decided to take a flop. The flop came down 2 5 5, and anakinso quickly checked. Mr4Aces fired out 120,000, and anakinso used his chip power to re-raise to 300,000, forcing Mr4Aces to fold. anakinso now held a commanding chip lead, with over 2.8 million in chips.
On hand 76, Mr4Aces would find the rail. He opened under-the-gun for 160,000, and littleben put in a large re-raise. Mr4Aces got all-in and showed ace high, but littleben’s pocket 9’s made a full boat on the T 9 4 4 8 board. Mr4Aces took $24,269.60 for 5th place efforts.
A lot of action was taking place, with chips being traded, but no major moves. anakinso continued his assault on the table with raises and re-raises after re-raises. Finally, on hand 96, Lee Jones, the poker room manager, paused the tournament as participants discussed a deal to distribute the remaining prize money.
The final 4 agreed to give anakinso a hefty $82,000 and change, with everyone else taking $52,000 and change. I finally had a chance to tally chip counts, and they are as follows:
Seat 3 - argules - 1.12 million
Seat 5 - anakinso - 3.19 million
Seat 7 - BOSS452 - 1.09 million
Seat 8 - littleben - 1.12 million
anakinso opened a few hands after the deal was settled for 100,000 yet again. littleben called the raise from the small-blind. The flop was Ah 3h 9d. ben fired out a 200,000 bet, and anakinso flat-called. At this point, ben had about 900,000 left. The turn was the queen of spades, and be put the last of his chips in the pot and anakinso called. ben tabled the T8 of hearts, for a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw. However, anakinso’s A7o was boss and took the pot down, sending littleben home in 4th place.
Finally, we get to heads-up play. On hand 106, BOSS452 called the all-in bet of argules with the Ac Kc, going up against argule’s pocket 5’s. The board was K 8 J 8 6, and argules took 3rd, leaving the two dominating forces of the final table to heads-up play.
With the button, BOSS452 had a slight chip-disadvantage with about 2.86 million to anakinso’s 3.78 million. Action was fast and furious early, with a lot of betting, raising and all-in moves. BOSS452 made about 5 all-in moves in the 13-hand match.
After trading a few chips back and forth, finally, the chips went all-in before the flop. anakinso raised to 120,000, deviating from his 100,000 standard bet. BOSS452 rode his wave of all-in bets again, but this time anakinso had pocket 7’s and called, facing the BOSS’ Ac 5c. The final board read Td 3d 3s 8c 4c, and anakinso went wire-to-wire with the chip lead at the final table, taking the title.
Final Results (prize money adjusted for the distribution deal):
1st - anakinso (Scarsdale, NY) - $82,000
2nd - BOSS452 (Miami, FL) - $52,000
3rd - argules (Belvedere) - $52,000
4th - littleben (North Las Vegas, NV) - $52,000
5th - Mr4Aces (Las Vegas, NV) - $24,269.60
6th - $WHY YOU$ (Thoudand Oaks) - $20,048.80
7th - theoneseyes (Gardena, CA) - $14,772
8th - phillys (Las Vegas, NV) - $10,024.40
9th - IanDowie (Bergen) - $6,331.20
