PartyPoker.com Quarter Million Guaranteed - April 17th, 2005

Patrick Jackson

April 18th, 2005

The Sunday Quarter Million Guaranteed tournament on PartyPoker.com had 1748 players sign up for a chance to take down the $73,416 first prize. After close to eight hours of fiercely contested poker, the field had been reduced to the following ten players for the final table (chip counts in parenthesis):

Seat 1: baller6969 (240136)
Seat 2: offsuit62 (63200)
Seat 3: Red_Orchid (95528)
Seat 4: gaekker (239015)
Seat 5: ballbanger (490641)
Seat 6: sroach (90176)
Seat 7: pjh1243 (368054)
Seat 8: d_o_o_b (283862)
Seat 9: monkey38 (331429)
Seat 10: denxxxden (419959)

With the blinds at 15k-30k, the short stacks at the table knew they had no time to sit around waiting for premium hands. Red_Orchid was lucky to get Qh-Qc on the button on the second hand, and pushed all 80k into the pot. The chip leader, ballbanger, hesitated before calling in the big blind and showed As-Qd. Red_Orchid's night came to a disappointing finish though when an ace appeared on the flop, and had to settle for tenth place and $3,496.

Another big hand developed when ballbanger raised d_o_o_b's big blind to 92k. d_o_o_b went all-in for an additional 130k, which ballbanger called reluctantly. ballbanger’s Ac-9s was behind d_o_o_b's As-Td. The flop brought a pair of nines, and d_o_o_b couldn't pull off a miracle runner-runner draw, finishing the tournament in ninth place and earning $5,244 for his efforts.

ballbanger continued his pace a few hands later when a short-stacked offsuit62 pushed in his last 153k under-the-gun. The action was folded to ballbanger, who was more then happy to call with pocket kings. offsuit62 showed jacks, and he wasn't able to hit his 2 outer, finishing in eight place for a payday of $6,992.

sroach had been able to hang around and move up three spots in the money with his short stack before finally departing in 7th place. With he blinds still at 15k-30k, monkey38 raised under-the-gun to 60k. The action was folded to sroach in the small blind, and he went all-in for an additional 60,704 with his pocket eights. The big blind quickly folded and monkey38 called sroach's all-in with pocket aces. The Aces held up, and sroach was out but not before taking home $10,448 for seventh place.

After last week's ninth place finish, baller6969 showed it was no fluke by making the final table for the second consecutive week. This time he was able to finish a bit higher, but his ill-timed all-in with K-4 offsuit ran into gaekker’s K-T offsuit, and baller6969 was out in sixth place with a nice $13,984 payday.

With the blinds at 20k-40k, denxxxden raised under-the-gun to 82k. The action was folded ballbanger in the small blind, and he re-raised to 225k. denxxxden called, and both players saw a flop of 4d-Qd-5s. ballbanger immediately went all-in for 480k, which would set denxxxden all-in for his last 372k. denxxxden called, showing Ad-Ks, still trailing ballbanger’s pocket sevens. The turn and river did not bring an ace or king, and denxxxden finished the day in fifth place, earning $17,480.

When the blinds at 30k-60k, pjh1243 made the minimum raise to 120k. gaekker moved all-in over the top for a total of 372k. When pjh1243 called and showed pocket aces, all gaekker could show was Q-7 offsuit. The board brought no miracles for gaekker, exiting the tournament in fourth place, winning $20,976.

Shortly after play had become three handed, the turning point of the tournament took place. ballbanger had lost the chip lead to monkey38 a few hands prior, but that did not slow down his aggressive style. After pjh1243 made a minimum raise from the button, ballbanger re-raised from the big blind to 275k total. pjh1243 called,, and both players saw a ragged flop. First to act, ballbanger immediately pushed his last 368k into the pot but pjh1243 was more then happy to call with his pocket aces-putting ballbanger in a world of hurt with pocket kings. ballbanger’s miracle king came on the turn, and after a harmless river card, he took down a massive 1.3 million chip pot and crippled pjh1243 in the process.

In case pjh1243 wasn't bitter enough, they got all-in with A-7 offsuit against K-7 offsuit and busted out. A king on the flop and no ace in sight and pjh1243 finished a slightly disappointing third place. The $27,968 eased the pain a bit.

With close to a four-to-one chip lead going into heads-up play, ballbanger was in full control. The final table had gone by very fast, and it was no surprise that pace continued. On the very first hand of heads-up play, ballbanger raised to 180k from the small blind. monkey38 re-raised all-in to 490k. ballbanger called quickly and showed A-T offsuit, a clear favorite over monkey38's A-2 offsuit. The board helped neither player, and monkey38 finished in 2nd place and a well deserved $37,407 pay out. This week's winner, ballbanger, was in the middle of almost all the action at the final table, and with a little luck, walked away with first place and the $73,426 prize.

1st ballbanger - $73,416
2nd monkey38 - $37,407
3rd pjh1243 - $27,968
4th gaekker - $20,976
5th denxxxden - $17,480
6th baller6969 - $13,984
7th sroach - $10,488
8th offsuit62 - $6,992
9th d_o_o_b - $5,244
10th Red_Orchid - $3,496