Pokerstars.com $500,000 Guaranteed - August 21st, 2005
Patrick Jackson
August 21st, 2005
Another field of 3,000-plus players shelled out the $215 entry to compete in this week's 500k Guarantee on PokerStars. With 3,256 entrants in all, the prize pool was a staggering $651,200. With first place scheduled to pay out an impressive $132,240, the following nine players battled their way through the field to reach the final table, and all had a shot at that huge first place money. (Chip counts in parenthesis):
Seat 1: MeltonOk (1,092,429 in chips)
Seat 2: TheHawk (490,736 in chips)
Seat 3: Buckeyeadrif (2,210,158 in chips)
Seat 4: EY400 (808,114 in chips)
Seat 5: Harvalish (239,408 in chips)
Seat 6: toddlock (612,815 in chips)
Seat 7: jimenezzzz (944,896 in chips)
Seat 8: bigfish729 (1,564,729 in chips)
Seat 9: doggfish (176,715 in chips)
This week PokerStars once again made some adjustments to the blind structure, adding in a 25k-50k level, and capping the blinds at 30k-60k with 3k antes. By the time the players made it to the final table, they had already reached that 30k-60k level so there would be no more increases for the duration of the tournament.
The action got started quickly, as only a few hands in we had our first player eliminated. The table folded to toddlock in the small blind, and he elected to complete the blind without raising. On the big blind, jimenezzzz checked and both players saw a flop of 6d 7h 5d. First to act, toddlock came out firing with a 120k bet, but jimenezzzz quickly re-raised, putting toddlock all-in. After some thought, toddlock called the additional 370k, but saw his Js 6s for a pair of sixes was drawing slim versus jimenezzzz's 8d 4s for the flopped straight. Needing running cards to make a full house, toddlock watched as the turn brought the 2d, meaning he was now drawing dead. The river brought the As, and toddlock was eliminated in ninth place with a pay out of $7,032.
With only a little more then 74k left after posting the blinds, Harvalish was by far the shortest stack left at the table. After EY400 folded under the gun, Harvalish decided to risk his small stack, and pushed all in for only 14k more then the 60k big blind. All folded to TheHawk in the small blind, and he called the raise, but Buckeyeadrif re-raised right behind him from the big blind to 250k total. After a little thought, TheHawk folded, and Harvalish saw his As Qs was the favorite over Buckeyeadrif's Kh Td. The flop came Th 3h 6c however, vaulting Buckeyeadrif into the lead with his pair of tens. Needing an ace or a queen to stay alive, Harvalish looked on as the 2c came on the turn, leaving him with only one more card to improve. The 2h on the river was not the card he needed though, and Harvalish was eliminated in eighth place, earning $11,721 in the process.
Now with Harvalish gone, doggfish was the short stack at the table with only 62k left after letting the blinds go through him. With only slightly more then the big blind, he would need to pick a hand and go with it soon. After jimenezzzz raised under the gun to 120k, doggfish decided to take the plunge and called all-in for his last 62k. The rest of the table folded quickly, and doggfish saw his pocket fours were in bad shape up against jimenezzzz's pocket tens. The flop came 9s 6d 3c, keeping jimenezzzz's tens in the lead and leaving doggfish hoping for one of the two remaining fours in the deck, or some sort of runner-runner straight. Unfortunately for doggfish however, the turn brought the Tc, which meant he was now drawing dead to jimenezzzz's set of tens. The meaningless Jc came on the river and doggfish was eliminated in seventh place, but with $16,931 to show for his efforts.
Down to six players, the action slowed down a bit and very few flops were seen. MeltonOK and TheHawk were both able to double up, but TheHawk wasn't able to hold onto his chips for long and soon found himself short stacked once again. With only a little more then 200k left after posting his big blind, TheHawk was faced with an all-in raise by jimenezzzz from the cut off seat. After a delay, TheHawk decided it was now or never and called with 6c7c, which was trailing jimenezzzz's As 9h going to the flop. The flop came Kc 5d 8h, keeping jimenezzzz's ace high in the lead but also giving TheHawk an open-ended straight draw. Needing any four or nine to make his straight, or a six or seven to make a pair, TheHawk watched anxiously as the Qs appeared on the turn. Still needing the same cards to stay alive, TheHawk watched in disappointment as the 3c came on the river, completely missing his hand. For his fine showing in finishing in sixth place, TheHawk raked in $22,792.
Down to only 118k after losing a couple of tough hands, MeltonOK pushed all-in from second position. Right behind him, Buckeyeadrif called the raise, as did jimenezzzz on the big blind meaning there would be a side pot. The flop came 8s 4h Ks, and jimenezzzz bet out 60k which Buckeyeadrif quickly called. The turn brought the 8h which paired the board, and jimenezzzz checked. Taking this as an invitation to bet, Buckeyeadrif bet out 400k, but jimenezzzz immediately went all-in over the top of him. After some thought, Buckeyeadrif folded, and jimenezzzz won the side pot. When the cards were turned over, Buckeyeadrif saw he had made a good fold because jimenezzzz had pocket fours for a full house, fours full of eights. MeltonOK could only muster pocket tens, so he would need one of the two remaining tens or an eight on the river to win the main pot and keep his tournament hopes alive. The river was the meaningless 2d however, and MeltonOK was knocked out in fifth place, earning him a nice $29,304 payday.
Now down to four players, a big hand developed between bigfish729 and EY400 when EY400 raised under the gun to 200k total. After jimenezzzz folded on the button, bigfish729 re-raised to 550k total. Buckeyeadrif folded on the big blind, and the action was back on EY400, who pushed all-in for a little over 1.4 million total. Wasting little time to call a substantial amount, bigfish729 did so and saw his Ah 8d was trailing EY400's Jh Jc going to the flop. The flop came Td Ts 4s, offering no help to bigfish729, and the Jd on the turn left him drawing dead. The 5d on the river was just a formality, and EY400 had won a huge 2.88 million chip pot.
Throughout the final table, jimenezzzz had developed a habit of pushing all-in when the action was folded to him on the small blind, and bigfish729 had warned him to be careful. Once again, the action was folded to jimenezzzz on the small blind, and just like numerous times before, he pushed all-in for over 2.8 million. Now the short stack at the table after the hand versus EY400, bigfish729 decided to gamble and called the all-in with pocket eights. It would be a classic race to decide bigfish729's fate, as jimenezzzz showed Ah Qc. To bigfish729's dismay, the flop came Qs Kh 4h, giving jimenezzzz the lead with his pair of queens. Needing one of the two eights left in the deck, bigfish729 watched as jimenezzzz's hand improved with the Ac on the turn, leaving bigfish729 with one card to catch his eight. The river was the 5d however, and jimenezzzz had taken out bigfish729. A great tournament for bigfish729 came to a disappointing finish, but fourth place out of over 3000 entrants and a pay out of $37,769 was nothing to be ashamed of.
Once play got down to three-handed, the action really slowed down. The only real big hand occurred when Buckeyeadrif caught jimenezzzz in a total bluff and doubled through him. This made the stacks almost equal between the three remaining players, which contributed to the slow play. With lots of chips and the blinds frozen at 30k-60k, the players were in no hurry to get their chips in the middle.
Finally, after what seemed to be an endless string of uneventful hands, a huge pot developed between Buckeyeadrif and EY400. EY400 was first to act pre flop and raised to 250k, and jimenezzzz folded, but Buckeyeadrif re-raised to 440k total. EY400 called the extra 190k, and both players saw a flop of Ad 9h 3c. Buckeyeadrif checked, and EY400 quickly pushed all of his 1.8 million chips into the middle. Just as quickly, Buckeyeadrif called and showed 9d 9s for middle set, which was miles ahead of EY400's Jh 8h. It was bad timing on EY400's bluff, as he was now drawing to running hearts or running cards to make a straight. The turn was the Td however, giving EY400 hope with an open-ended straight draw and a shot at putting a horrible bad beat on Buckeyeadrif. Waiting for that river card had to be hard on both players, but only one of them would be happy with it's outcome. This time it would be Buckeyeadrif who could exhale in relief, as the river was the 5c, giving him the pot and eliminating EY400 in third place. Unfortunately for EY400, he had picked the wrong time to bluff and paid dearly for it, but the $48,840 he received was well-deserved after a great tournament.
As long as it took to get down to two players, one might expect heads up play to take just as long, but that was not the case. Soon after EY400's exit, Buckeyeadrif made a minimum raise to 120k from the button. As had been his pattern all night when he picked up a playable hand, jimenezzzz re-raised all-in. This time his opponent had picked up a real hand however, and after a slight delay, Buckeyeadrif called and showed pocket tens, which were a slight favorite over jimenezzzz's Ac Jc. Since Buckeyeadrif had jimenezzzz covered, the tournament was on the line on this coin flip. The flop came 6h Ts Qc, giving Buckeyeadrif his set of tens, and leaving jimenezzzz drawing slim. He would need one of the four kings in the deck to make a straight, or consecutive clubs to make a flush in order to stay alive. The turn was the 7d, leaving jimenezzzz with one card to come to catch his straight. The river was the As, giving jimenezzzz a pair of aces, but it was too little and too late to save him. For his tremendous second place finish, jimenezzzz took in a whopping $78,144.
Buckeyeadrif stayed relatively quiet early at the final table but made few if any mistakes and worked his way up the pay ladder. Then, when play got three-handed he was able to pick up two huge hands when he needed them, and rode that wave of good luck to the victory, as well as the $130,240 first place money.
Final Results:
1st - Buckeyeadrif $130,240
2nd - jimenezzzz $78,144
3rd - EY400 $48,840
4th - bigfish729 $37,769.60
5th - MeltonOK $29,304
6th - TheHawk $22,792
7th - doggfish $16,931.20
8th - Harvalish $11,721.60
9th - toddlock $7,032.96
