PartyPoker.com Quarter Million Guaranteed - May 1st, 2005

Patrick Jackson

May 1st, 2005

The Sunday Quarter Million Guaranteed tournament on PartyPoker.com had 1,874 players sign up for a total prize pool of $374,800. After over seven hours of poker, the field had been reduced to the following ten players with a shot at the $78,708 first prize (chip counts in parenthesis):

Seat 1: kewgardens (640,442)
Seat 2: g3ntlem4n (228,475)
Seat 3: WODGE (139,088)
Seat 4: pintsize21 (406,432)
Seat 5: lactochka777 (336,436)
Seat 6: DOEKOE (195,637)
Seat 7: BIGSkkY (52,888)
Seat 8: Megan10 (279,265)
Seat 9: twoodsloans (267,427)
Seat 10: dugdug23 (264,910)

DOEKOE had already lost a key pot that had made him the short stack at the table when he played his last hand of the night. With the blinds at 15k-30k, the action was folded to lactochka777 who went all-in for a little over 300k. DOEKOE called off his last 97k with A-J offsuit, but he was in bad shape up against lactochka777's A-Q offsuit. Neither hand improved, and in the end lactochka777’s queen kicker won the pot, and eliminated DOEKOE in tenth place with $3,748.

Soon after WODGE doubled up with his pocket tens against Megan10's A-K offsuit, the two clashed on another key hand. Megan10 pushed her last 125k all-in, and WODGE called from the big blind. Megan10 was happy to see her A-K offsuit had WODGE's Ac-Tc dominated, but a ten on the flop put her on the brink of elimination. The turn and river brought two more clubs, giving WODGE the nut flush and ending Megan10's night in ninth place, but not before she won $5,622.

Down to eight, a huge pot developed between the chip leader, kewgardens, and lactochka777. After kewgardens raised to 90k from early position, lactochka777 made a re-raise to a little over 205k. Up until this point the action had been almost always all-in, so lactochka777's raise seemed suspicious. After a lengthy pause, kewgardens called and both players saw a Kc-6c-Kh flop. Out of position, kewgardens checked to lactochka777, who made a small bet of 50k. After a pause, kewgardens went all-in and lactochka777 was faced with a call for all her chips. Finally she called and saw that their pocket aces had been out-flopped by kewgardens' K-Q offsuit, giving kewgardens three kings. A blank on the turn, and another on the river, and kewgardens had gained a huge chip lead. An eighth place finish and $7,496 probably weren't much consolation for latochka777, who was left thinking what might have been.

With the blinds still at 15k-30k, twoodsloans made his move and went all-in for 177k from early position with Ac-9c. The action was folded to g3ntlem4n on the button, who then went all-in himself for a little over 225k with pocket jacks. Both the blinds folded, and twoodsloans was pulling for an ace as they saw the flop. No help came for twoodsloans though, and he would have to be content with a seventh place showing and $11,244.

A week after chopping first place money and winning over $60k, BIGSkkY once again found himself at the final table. Arriving at the final table with only 50k in chips and the short stack, BIGSkkY was able to double up here and there, and was able to move up four spots in the money. Unfortunately for him though, there would be no repeat of his previous week's finish.

With the blinds at 20k-40k, BIGSkkY was in the small blind with only a little over 100k in chips. The action was folded to him, and he pushed all-in with Ac-6c. dugdug23 was in the big blind, and called with A-9 offsuit. After no help from the board, dugdug23's kicker played and BIGSkkY was eliminated in sixth place. Not quite the 60k he won the week before, but a $14,992 pay out would have to do for BIGSkkY.

With the blinds at 20k-40k, the action was folded to g3ntlem4n on the button who raised to 90k. WODGE called in the small blind, and both players saw a flop of Tc-Qc-7c. WODGE immediately went all-in for a little over 207k, and put the decision on g3ntlem4n. After a long pause, g3ntlem4n finally called and showed Qs-6s for top pair, and WODGE showed Kh-Jd for the open-ended straight draw. The turn and river were both blanks though, and g3ntlem4n's pair of queens held up, eliminating WODGE in fifth place. A long day of poker paid off for WODGE though, as he won a nice $18,740.

A few hands later, g3ntlem4n went all in for over 700k under-the-gun. The action was folded around to dugdug23 in the big blind who had 300k in chips. After a brief pause, dugdug23 called and was happy to see his pair of jacks were ahead of g3ntlem4n's A-T offsuit. The flop brought no help for g3ntlem4n, but the ace he was hoping for hit on the turn. The jack he desperately needed didn't come on the river, and dugdug23 was eliminated in fourth place with a $22,488 pay out.

The short stack, pintsize21, was interested in a deal, but neither kewgardens or g3ntlem4n seem interested. This looked like a major mistake when a few hands into three-handed play, pintsize21 was able to double up when their J-T off suit caught a jack on the turn against kewgardens' A-Q offsuit. All three players were now relatively even in chips.

Just when things were looking up for pintsize21 though, disaster struck. With the blinds at 20k-40k, kewgardens folded on the button, then g3ntlem4n made a small raise from the small blind. pintsize21 raised all-in for their last 870k. g3ntlem4n called immediately and showed Ad-Kd, which had pintsize21's K-T offsuit in big trouble. Two aces on the flop, then a king on the turn gave g3ntlem4n the nut full house, and eliminated pintsize21 in third place. Perhaps a bad move by pintsize21, but they was able to walk away with $29,984.

Going into heads up play, g3ntlem4n had close to a two-to-one chip lead over kewgardens, but that soon changed. After kewgardens had raised to 80k, and g3ntlem4n called, both players saw a 9d-Qc-8h flop. g3ntlem4n checked, and kewgardens fired out a 200k bet, which g3ntlem4n quickly called. The turn was the 7c, and this time g3ntlem4n put the pressure on kewgardens by putting him all-in. After a long pause, kewgardens finally called and showed A-9 offsuit for second pair. Fortuantely for him, all g3ntlem4n had was K-T offsuit for a straight draw. The river was a blank, and now kewgardens has the commanding chip lead.

From this point on though, g3ntlem4n dominated the action. Every move kewgardens made seemed to blow up in his face, and soon g3ntlem4n had taken the lead. After being raised out of numerous pots, kewgardens decided to fight back and re-raised one of g3ntlem4n's numerous bets. After a long delay, g3ntlem4n went all-in over the top of kewgardens, and he quickly folded. This hand never saw a flop, but gave g3ntlem4n the lead he needed to finish kewgardens off. A few hands later and down to only 150k, kewgardens pushed all-in with Q-5 offsuit. g3ntlem4n made the call and was happy to see his Qc-7c was in the lead. A queen hit on the turn, but the 7 kicker played and kewgardens was eliminated in second place with a $39,728 payday.

After hanging in through the final table, and dominating heads up play for the most part, g3ntlem4n claimed this week's title and a huge first prize of $78,708.

1st - g3ntlem4n $78,708
2nd - kewgardens $39,728.80
3rd - pintsize21 $29,984
4th - dugdug23 $22,488
5th - WODGE $18,740
6th - BIGSkkY $14,992
7th - twoodsloans $11,244
8th - lactochka777 $7,496
9th - Megan10 $5,622
10th - DOEKOE $3,748