The March 2014 RPT tournament was held at Grover’s Fun house. As always, thanks to Grover for his awesome setup and his phenomenal hospitality. We had 23 players show up for the event. One player hadn’t been at an RPT tournament since August 19, 2005. A warm welcome back to Chris Baummer who is a poker buddy of John Wilenski. It has been almost 9 years since his last event.
The tournament started slowly without any early exists however there is always a Beer Bitch at every tournament. Craig Bare was the recipient of the most dubious of honors this month. This is Craig’s 3rd Beer Bitch finish but his 2nd in his last 3 tournaments… it should be noted though that he won a 27 person tournament in January so either is out first or finishes first it seems. This definitely helps his volatility stats.
We had a couple fun hands throughout the tournament. One of which had me all-in vs. Rob Herd. I had Ah-Kh and Rob called my all-in with As-Qs. Preflop, I am a 69% favorite with a 4% chance to split the pot. The flop comes Ac-10h-9s giving Rob and I both a pair of aces but my K kicker is still keeping me alive. At this point, I am now an 82% favorite with a 1% chance of splitting the pot. The turn is a horrible card for me: Qc. This gives Rob 2 pair. Rob is now an 84% favorite. I basically need a J or a K to win… and the river gives me a J to get a straight and keep me in the tournament. What a roller coaster.
The tournament moved along at a steady pace. The final table consisted of Wilenski, Huckestein, Doug Deleo, Jason Ostendorf, Darryn, Rob Herd Jr., last month’s winner Brandon Smyth, Rob Ratajcak, and the return of Chris Baummer. Darryn, Ostendorf, and Doug were the first ones out in that order. This left Chris, Wilenski, Rob Herd, Rob Ratajcak, Brandon, and Huckestein.
The tournament got down to the final 4 after Wilenski won a huge hand which had Brandon and Rob all-in. I should have taken a picture of it but Wilenski had A-something, Brandon had 8’s and I don’t remember what Rob R. had. Regardless, a solid finish for those two guys as they are starting to amass some points in the RPT standings. After this tournament, Rob R. and Brandon are now part of a 4-way tie for 7th in the standings with Brian Bennett and Ostendorf… looks like this year’s RPT Final Table standings are going to be really competitive.
The final table now had Rob Herd, Wilenski, Chris Baummer, and Huckestein. Chris finished in 4th place getting knocked out by Huckestein who will now be called “MuthaHucka” thanks to a witty Ostendorf sign-out. Welcome back to the RPT Chris. Don’t be a stranger.
Huck ended up getting knocked in 3rd place. This gives Huck 67 points on the year so far and he is in first place in the RPT standings. This is his second 3rd place finish in a row and Tony is closing in on my Top 3 career record of 20 now that he has 16. An interesting fact is that Tony has never finished in the money and not been in the top 3. He has 16 money finishes and 16 top-3 finishes. Very interesting.
This left Rob Herd Jr. vs. Wilenski heads-up. This is Rob’s first final table appearance in his 4th RPT tournament. Wilenski has been to many RPT final tables and has 4 RPT victories along with an RPT POY award to his credit.
Early on, both players had roughly the same chip stack. The following hand changed all of that though…
Pre-flop, both players were all-in. Wilenski had Ah-Jc vs. Rob’s Qs-2s. Preflop odds had Wilenski as a 60/40 favorite roughly. The flop comes Qh-8s-10c giving Rob a pair of Qs but at least leaving Wilenski with an inside straight draw. Regardless, the odds are now in Rob’s favor 60/40. The turn is a dagger for Wilenski with a 2h giving Rob two pair. Robs is now an 80/20 favorite. The 5c on the river does nothing and Wilenski is down to his last 2k chips leaving Rob with roughly 30k+ chips.
A few hands later, Wilenski is all-in for his tournament life with Qs-4h. Rob calls with Jh-4d. This is a great pre-flop situation for Wilenski as he is a 71% favorite with a 4% split pot chance… however the flop is all Rob with Jc-3h-Js… giving Rob three jacks. Wilenski is all but drawing dead. He will need runner-runner Q’s to win… and the turn is a Qc! He is still alive but needs a miracle Q on the river to pull out a miracle… sadly, this doesn’t happen. 6s hits and Rob is the latest RPT victor.
This is Rob Herd’s first RPT victory. A special congratulations to him.
For Wilenski, this is his 14th Top-3 finish in his illustrious RPT career. This puts him in a tie for 3rd all-time in the RPT career leaders with Wagner and Trueman. This was Wilenski’s first Top-3 finish since March of 2012.
Next month’s tourney will be at FedEx’s place in Laurel. I will not be there so be nice to Darryn as he helps keep everything running smoothly. Good luck to everyone.