Thanks to FedEx and Mrs. FedEx for hosting the last RPT tournament of the 2012 regular season. There were 19 players that came out to decide who would make the Final Table. Before I go into any details, I can easily say this was one of the craziest tournaments I have ever seen with cards falling against all odds.
Coming into the game, Voldemort had a solid hold as Player of the Year but it was mathematically possible for me to overtake him if he got out early and I had a strong finish. Well, the heavens aligned as Voldemort was this tournament’s Beer Bitch. He got into some big hands early with Chad, Wally, and Rob where big pots were happening early. Jason just seemed to be on the wrong side of them and it cost him an early exit. The door was now open for me to take Player of the Year honors if I could hold out.
The story of the early tournament was Alex and Charles Harris. They were mowing the competition: Charles was playing solid cards and Alex was playing any two cards. Regardless, each player was gathering a sizable chip stack. There was an early hand between Nita and Alex where Nita had pocket 9s and I think Alex had 7-3 and he ended up flopping 2 pair for the victory. Players like Alex make poker much more exciting as there is no formula that he is following. He is playing his gut and maybe there is something we can all learn from that.
Possibly my favorite hand of all time happened midway through the tournament. There are 5 players at the table: Doug, Alex, Tony, Grover, and me. Grover is small bling and I am big blind. Doug is first to act and folds. Alex goes all in with a huge chipstack that would cover anyone at the table. Tony quickly folds… when Alex turns over his cards to show this monster hand..
That is right folks… a 2-4 offsuit.
This bold move shocked everyone at the table in that he showed his hand to challenge people to call him… and that he went all in with 2-4 offsuit. Grover hasn’t even looked at his cards and I already know that I have garbage in my hand. Garbage gathers himself, looks at his hand and simply says: “I have to call.” I throw away my garbage hand because I can only assume Grover has something better than me. Grover shows K-5 suited. At this point, Grover is a 70/30 favorite pre-flop. And then magic happens…
The Flop comes 10D, 10H, 8H. This helps no one but now Grover is an 80/17 favorite (3% for a split pot). Turn is a 3C. Grover is an 88/12 favorite… and then the river hits a 2S giving Alex a pair of 2’s. Grover is out.
This play was later called the “Irish Streaker” as it is basically like streaking through the middle of a battlefield which, per Eric Johnson, was quite the Irish tactic back in the Middle Ages.
When we consolidated to 1 table, we had Alex, Charles, Jim, Brian Ross, Tony, Mr. Tinker, Doug, Glenn, and Joel. Joel and Glenn were small stacks. Joel got knocked out on a coinflip hand with me with my pair of 5s against his A-J. The 5’s held. Glenn was out a little after. Alex, Charles, and Doug DeLeo had most of the chips. Doug had been telling me all game that he is always at Alex’s table and that he has seen some crazy stuff over the year in hands that he has one… well, there was about to be another crazy hand at Doug’s expense.
Doug and Alex are in a hand by themselves and the flop comes: 8D, 9H, 10S. Alex goes all in and Doug calls. These are two huge chipstacks in a monster pot. Doug flips over Jd, Qs giving him the nut straight. Alex flips over 8c, 9c giving him two pair. At this point, Doug is an 82/18 favorite to win the hand… until the turn card drops the 8s giving Alex a boat. Wow. 82% favorite to drawing dead.
Alex tried the “Irish Streaker” again later at the final table when he went all in and then showed his 3-7 suited while Charles was thinking through the call. Charles was pretty flabbergasted and was unsure if he was able to act. Charles then called with A-high card and sniped the Irish Streaker in the butt. Alex was now out but after a thoroughly impressive run of luck, skill, and maybe a little insanity.
Alex finished 5th and on the bubble leaving Charles, Jim, Tony, and me as the money finishers. With this finish, I had gotten enough points to move past Voldemort as Player of the Year. Just call me “The Boy Who Lived” (No Harry Potter fans?… ah well…). This is my first year getting this honor and I must say it has bothered me that I have always been close but never winning. Jim knows how that feels…
We now had 4 players that were former or current Players of the Year. Good times. Tony knocked Jim out first leaving Charles, Tony, and me. Tony then knocked Charles out and I was once again heads up with Tony for the victory. He had me covered in chips probably 4 to 1 and declined my offer to split the pot… 🙂
The heads up battle only lasted a couple hands but it ended in some excitement. Tony limps in and I check into a flop of A-4-4. This is a dream come true for my big blind special 4-7 hand. Tony bets into me $1500 and I sell that this is a hard call but push in $1500. I wanted him to think i have some random pair in my hand but not an ace or a 4. The next card is a 10s. Tony goes all-in to push me off the hand and I immediately show my 4-7 giving me trip 4’s. He shows his A-K giving him 2 pair of A’s and 4’s. Let’s play the odds here kids: I am a 95/5 favorite to win the hand at this point… Would you like to know what card came on the turn?
Yup… another A to give Tony the boat and the win. As soon as the card hit, he jumped up and consoled me. Ah well. Good times all around.
This was Tony’s 3rd victory this year… all though one has an asterisk by it due to a split pot with Rob… making Tony the second player to win 3 tournaments in a year since former POY John Wilenski accomplished the feat back in 2009. Congrats to Tony.
Just another note about this tournament: There were 19 players which means 18 people get knocked out and 1 wins. Of those 18 players that got knocked out, 15 were knocked out by either Tony, Charles, or Alex. That’s right. 83% of the tournament was knocked out by 3 people. There be sharks in them waters…
With the 11th and final tournament of the 2012 regular season completed, the 2012 Final Table Top 8 is now finalized. Here they are in order:
1 – Brian Ross – I might be the only POY to not win a tournament during the year…
2 – Jason Ostendorf – Voldemort had a great year and finished as top RPU winner with 1025.
3 – Tony Huckstein – Tony came on strong at the end of the year. His 3 victories helped him finish second in RPUs with 815.
4 – Jason Trueman – Solid play all year had Trueman lined up as a Final Table favorite pretty much since the start.
5 – Rob Schilling – Mr. Volatile himself didn’t let 2 Beer Bitch finishes this year stop him from grabbing a seat at the Final Table.
6 – Jim Wagner – A familiar name at the Final Table. Two missed tournaments and 1 Beer Bitch finish (which was woefully honored in its duty…) knocked him down the standings but the rest of his tournaments speak for his solid play.
7 – FedEx – Limping into the Final Table was FedEx. He is the least money winner of the Top 8 players but his consistency and perfect attendance over the year provided him the chance for the big prize.
8 – Mr. Tinker – There was a 3 way tie in points for the 8th spot between Joel, Grover, and Mr. Tinker. Grover’s unfortunate demise at the hands of young Alex is what spelled disaster for his Final Table dreams as it allowed Mr. Tinker to get the points he needed. Eventhough each player had the same amount of points, the first tiebreaker is RPUs and Mr. Tinker had 185 over Grover’s 135 and Joel’s 0 (Joel easily wins the “Empty Pockets Award” this year). The other impressive part about Mr. Tinker’s top 8 finish is that he missed the first 4 tournaments of the year… meaning he player well enough to overcome a two tournament advantage to the other players. Kudos to Mr. Tinker for his strong finish.
The Final Table will be Friday Jan 4th, 2013. The host is TBD as Chad has mentioned a cigar shop that could do it and my Dad has historically had it at his house.
The 9th seat lottery includes all players that attended at least 6 tournaments but did not finish in the top 8. The lottery will be between:
Grover, Joel, Doug, Chad, Glenn, Corey, Darryn, Vince, Brian Harnish, Kurt, Michelle, Brian Bennett, and Eric Johnson.
All of your tournament points will be used to determine who wins the last seat at the Final Table. The drawing will be held after Thanksgiving as I want to build the suspense… Everyone has a shot. The current odds of winning are:
| Name | TotalPoints | % Chance of Winning |
| Grover | 102 | 10% |
| Joel | 102 | 10% |
| Chad | 98 | 10% |
| Glenn | 98 | 10% |
| Brian Harnish | 91 | 9% |
| Corey | 85 | 8% |
| Kurt | 77 | 8% |
| Brian Bennett | 73 | 7% |
| Doug | 69 | 7% |
| Darryn | 62 | 6% |
| Michelle | 62 | 6% |
| Vince | 61 | 6% |
| Eric Johnson | 28 | 3% |
Well done Brian! It’s been a great RPT year. Looking forward to the Final Table and especially RPT 2013!