PartyPoker.com Quarter Million Guaranteed - April 10th, 2005

Patrick Jackson

April 11th, 2005

The Sunday Quarter Million Guaranteed tournament on PartyPoker.com had 1707 players sign up for a chance to take down the $71,694 first prize. After close to eight hours of fiercely contested poker, the field had been reduced to the following 10 players for the final table:

Seat 1 - baller6969 - 112,540
Seat 2 - legolas7 - 371,494
Seat 3 - Dr_Zoidberg2 - 321,372
Seat 4 - totomoto - 255,989
Seat 5 - Exxelman - 69,169
Seat 6 - tomlamy - 282,452
Seat 7 - RastamonD 21- 7,816
Seat 8 - Krupdogg - 164,602
Seat 9 - HC_68 - 602,337
Seat 10 - HoytCorkins5 - 152,129

With the blinds starting at 10k-20k, the action at the final table got started with a bang on the third hand. HC_68 raised under-the-gun to 43k, and then balller6969 went all in for his last 142k. The action was folded to Exxelman, who pushed his last 19k into the pot. HC_68 called the 99k reraise, and we had a 3 way all-in. After the dust settled, HC_68's pocket kings didn't need the 3rd king on the river to take down baller6969's pocket jacks and Exxelman's AQo. The table was down to 8, and the chip leader had widened his lead.

On the very next hand, the action was passed to RastamonD who raised to 65k. Next to act was krupdogg, who reraised all-in for 134k. Both blinds folded, and RastamonD called the additional 70k. He wasn't happy to see that his Ks9s was up against krupdogg's pocket jacks, but after a board of Tc 6s 3h 7d 8h, krupdogg ended his tournament in eighth place with one pair against RastamonD's straight.

HoyCorkins5 was able to double up a few hands later when his Ac9c received an ace on the flop to beat HC_68's pocket 3s. A few hands later, Totomoto was able to have the A9 hold up again, this time against RastamonD's KQo.

With the blinds at 15k-30k, Dr_Zoidberg2 finally got involved in a big pot. When the action folded to him in the cutoff seat, he raised to 90k. Both the button and the small blind folded, leaving the action up to RastamonD in the big blind. Rasta decided to defend his blind and went all-in for just over 300k. Dr_Zoidberg2 quickly called and showed AQo, but RastamonD had pocket kings. RastamonD was devastated to see a queen on both the flop and turn, and had to settle for a seventh place finish.

HoytCorkins5 was able to double through HC_68 again when they squared off in the blinds. HC_68 flopped top pair of queens, but HoytCorkins5 had flopped top and bottom pair. HC's bad luck continued a few hands later when legolas7's AJo caught a jack on the flop to out draw HC's AKo. HC_68, the chip leader when the final table started, was now eliminated in sixth place.

Continuing his climb up from short stack, HoyCorkins5's pocket jacks held up versus tomlamy's AKo. Now Hoyt had enough chips to do some damage. His aggressive style came back to bite him though when totomoto trapped him with a flopped two pairs, allowing totomoto to double up and once again returning HoytCorkins5 to the bottom of the pack.

Things settled down for a bit, but then with the blinds at 20k-40k, we had our next elimination. The action was folded to the button, where Dr_Zoidberg2 went all-in for close to 600k. The small blind folded, and the decision was on tomlamy for his last 360k in chips. After a lengthy delay, tomlamy finally decided to call and immediately wished he didn't-he held A5c to Dr_Zoidberg2’s A8o. A beautiful 5 on the flop raised tomlamy's hopes, but an ugly 8 peeled off on the turn and tomlamy was out in fifth place.

Shortly after tomlamy's exit, a huge pot developed between legolas7 and Dr_Zoidberg2. With the blinds still at 20k-40k, the action was folded to legolas7 in the small blind. He raised to 245k total, but Dr_Zoidberg2 went over the top of him for the rest of his chips. Pot commited, legolas7 made the call and was happy to see his AQo was dominating Dr_Zoidberg2's A9o. The Dr's good luck continued though when a nine came on the flop, and legolas7 was out in fourth place.

HoyCorkins5 once again continued his staying alive act when he was able to turn a straight against totomoto. This hand left totomoto short stacked-but he didn't waste any time, going all-in on the next hand. Dr_Zoidberg2 had enough chips to make the call with his A5 of hearts, making a full house and beating totomoto's KT of spades.

Starting heads-up play, Dr_Zoidberg2 had close to a three-to-one chip lead over Hoytorkins5, but just one hand with the blinds at 30k-60k could things dramatically.

It did, when HoytCorkins5 raised to 120k from the button, and Dr_Zoidberg2 immediately went all-in. HoytCorkins5 called with pocket queens, a four-to-one favorite over Dr_Zoidberg2’s pocket fives. The ladies held up, and all of a sudden HoytCorkins5 had taken the lead.

The lead was short lived however. The very next hand, HoytCorkins5 limped in, and Dr_Zoidberg2 raised to 120k. Hoyt called, and the flop was ten high. Dr_Zoidberg2 bet out 60k, and HoytCorkins5 went all-in. Since Hoyt had him covered by 300k or so, this put Dr_Zoidberg2 all-in. He wasted no time in calling and showing pocket kings. HoytCorkins5 showed QT of diamonds for top pair, but received no help and was now down to 360k.

Not wanting to draw things out, the players got all the money in pre-flop on the next hand. Dr_Zoidberg2 had a pair of queens, and HoytCorkins5 had K5o. An ace high flop gave Hoyt no help, and neither did the turn or river, enabling Dr_Zoidberg2 to win the tournament and the $71,694 first prize. After close to eight and a half hours of poker, it was a well deserved win.

Final Results:

1st Dr_Zoidberg2 - $71,694
2nd HoytCorkins5 - $36,529
3rd totomoto - $27,312
4th legolas7 - $20,484
5th tomlamy - $17,070
6th HC_68 - $13,656
7th RastamonD - $10,242
8th krupdogg - $6,828
9th baller6969 - $5,121
10th Exxelman - $3,414