UltimateBet.com $120,000 Guaranteed - April 10th, 2005

Patrick Jackson

April 11th, 2005

A field of 577 players that included some of the biggest names in online poker competed for the $36,000 first prize Sunday night in the UltimateBet.com 120K Guarantee tournament. Luckily for the players there was an overlay, as the field fell short of the 600 players needed for the prize pool to reach $120,000. Fellow PokerTrails.com writer Aaron Bartley, who goes by GambleAB online, reached the final table as well. The final ten shaped up as follows:

Seat 1 - GambleAB - 49,345
Seat 2 - dsands25 - 46,550
Seat 3 - just_learning - 68,850
Seat 4 - steveffc - 243,060
Seat 5 - klslcz - 65,095
Seat 6 - mexrex - 288,870
Seat 7 - Joe Dollar - 54,440
Seat 8 - razeit - 105,030
Seat 9 - slabstract - 108,160
Seat 10 - Aggregation - 413,370

With the blinds at 4k-8k and antes of 800, the short stacks did not have much time to sit around and wait for a hand. The first casualty of the final table took place when dsands25 put his last 31k in the pot with KQo after a bet of 24k by slabstract, who called with AJo. No help came, and dsands25 had to settle for a 10th place finish.

A few hands later another short stack bit the dust. Joe Dollar limped in on the button, but razeit decided to put Joe all in from the small blind. The big blind folded, and Joe Dollar quickly called. It was a classic race situation as razeit showed pocket sevens against Joe Dollar's AKo. A board of 6c-6d-8d-Jh-9s was no help to big slick and Joe Dollar was eliminated in 9th place.

Another short stack, just_learning, was able to avoid elimination and double up with pocket aces against steveffc’s A6o. There was a moment of anxiety for just_learning though, as the turn gave steveffc an open-ended straight draw, but the river brought a blank and just_learning was still in the game.

The chip leader Aggregation had been very quiet at the final table until the following hand took place. With the blinds at 6k-12k and antes of 1,200, steveffc raised in third position to 40k. Action was folded to slabstract in the small blind, who decided to go all-in for a little over 70k. Aggregation reraised all-in with two black aces, and steveffc folded. Things weren't looking good for slabstract's pocket 7s, until the 7 of clubs popped up on the river, cracking Aggregation's rockets and keeping slabstract alive.

A few hands later, the action was folded to just_learning on the button, who made a modest raise to 24k. The small blind folded, and klslcz decided to take a flop and called the additional 12k from the big blind. The flop came down Kc-8h-Ah, and klslcz decided to put the decision on just_learning by going all-in. just_learning wasted no time in calling with just KTo, a big underdog to klscz’s A5. No help came on the turn or the river, and just_learning was our eighth place finisher.

Next came the turning point of the tournament. After having his aces cracked earlier, Aggregation had stayed relatively quiet. With the blinds still at 6k-12k, the action was folded to mexrex who made a minimum raise to 24k. Aggregation was in the big blind, and made it 86,400 to go. After a small hesitation, mexrex called and saw a flop of 6c-2c-Js. Aggregation came out firing to the tune of 120k, but mexrex immediately went all-in for a little over 150k total. Completely pot stuck, Aggregation made the call and turned over 67o which was well behind mexrex's JTo. Aggregation let his opponent know what he thought of the play of the hand, but he should probably blame himself for making such a play with seven-high. mexrex was now the chip leader and Aggregation was on a short stack.

We lost our next player with the blinds at 8k-16k with antes of 1,600. The action was folded to steveffc in the cutoff seat, and he decided to raise it up to 42k. On the button, klslcz cold called the raise, and both players saw a 5c-2s-10h flop. steveffc bet out at the rag flop for 44k, and once again klslcz just called him. The turn was the king of clubs, and steveffc continued his aggressive play and went all-in for 73k total. Not having to make his most difficult decision of the night, klslcz happily called and showed pocket tens for a flopped set of tens. Drawing completely dead with pocket eights, steveffc was out in 7th place.

Up until this point of the final table, PokerTrails.com's own GambleAB had built his short stack up by picking up the blinds here and there, and had avoided any major confrontations. With the blinds at 8k-16k, Gamble was on the big blind and was faced with an all-in bet from razeit of a little over 19k. Only having to call an additional 3k more to win 53k made it an easy decision for Gamble and his K7 of clubs, which was a slight underdog to razeit's A3o. The flop brought a king for Gamble, but also an ace for razeit. When the 7 of spades came up on the river, razeit had been knocked out in 6th place.

One orbit later, Gamble once again found himself in a similar situation. Already in the big blind for 16k total, Gamble was faced with an all-in bet from Aggregation of 26k total. After doing some quick math, Gamble realized he was getting close to six-to-one on his money and made the call with 74 of hearts. Aggregation showed K8 of diamonds and was ahead, but a 4 on the flop, followed by consecutive blanks on the turn and river, sent the one time chip leader out in 5th place.

Unfortunately, GambleAB's luck ran out a few hands later. After having a disappointing spilt pot when he had slabstract dominated, Gamble found himself the short stack at the table with a little over 180k left. After slabstract had raised under the gun to 32k, Gamble re-raised from the button to 65k total, and was called by slabstract. The flop was Q-9-9, and slabstract quickly checked. GambleAB went all-in for his last 113k. Without much hesitation, slabstract called and was dismayed to see Gamble had a pair of kings, which had his QTo in bad shape. Unfortunately for our GambleAB, a queen fell on the river, and GambleAB had to settle for 4th place.

Soon after that amazing hand, slabstract once again escaped disaster when he held ATo versus klslcz's pocket queens. All the money went in pre-flop, and klslcz had slabstract covered by a little over 30k. A board straight kept slabstract alive to fight another day by splitting the pot.

Sooner or later, your luck runs out though. With the blinds at 10k-20k, slabstract raised to 40k and klslcz called from the big blind. The flop came all diamonds, K-4-3, and slabstract bet out 20k, which was quickly raised to 65k by klslcz. Not showing much caution, slabstract pushed all-in for 191k, but klslcz was more then happy to call and show his J8 of diamonds for a flopped flush. slabstract showed A5 for no pair and no draw, and finished the tournament in 3rd place.

When heads up play began, klslcz had a 100k or so chip lead over mexrex, but that changed rather quickly. From the small blind, klslcz decided to limp in, but mexrex had other ideas and pushed all of his chips in, effectively putting klslcz all-in. Surprisingly, klslcz thought for a very short period of time before calling off all his chips in this situation. klslcz showed KJ of hearts versus K5. The 5 of diamonds on the flop for mexrex held up, and gave him a nice $32,000 cash for his 1st place finish. At a final table full of amazing split pots, and horrible bad beats, the ending was quite fitting.

Final Results:

1st mexrex - $32,000
2nd klslcz - $23,040
3rd slabstract - $14,880
4th GambleAB - $8,640
5th Aggregation - $5,280
6th razeit - $3,360
7th steveffc - $2,160
8th just_learning - $1,800
9th Joe Dollar - $1,440
10th dsands25 - $1,200