Yorky Pud

If you are in the camp that thinks Pot Limit Omaha is a game that is completely crazy with chips flying around like a swarm of angry bees who are trying to get their honey back then God only knows what you must have thought about Event #6 of the Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) because it was nuts. Want to know more? Of course you do.

Event #6: $50+$4 No Limit Hold'em Short-Handed $100,000 Guaranteed

I was quite looking forward to Event #6 because I thought it would have quite a few satellite players in it because people would think the short-handed format would play exactly like in a cash game, so they would be making plenty of mistakes and what do mistakes make boys and girls? That's right, prizes!

My own tournament was not going exactly to plan and I had dwindled down to 1,940 chips by the time the blinds reached 60/120 but that was all set to change. The player under the gun opened to 480 and I had noticed they had folded to most three bets so I was basically going to ship it in on them and pick up the pot but DeStruCti0n spoiled the party and three-bet to 1,250. They'd been three-betting a lot so I jammed anyway for 1,940 in total, the UTG player folded but the other villain called with AdKc and I won a flip for once, despite the flop coming down 5s-4d-2c. This put me to 4,600 and gave me much more breathing room; no only if I cold catch some cards.

A few medium sized pots went my way then a few went the other way but I did find myself at 8,280 at the 80/160 level and feeling really good about my chances of going really deep in this event. I skilfully reduced my stack to 6,625 to give the others a chance of winning and then fooled them all by doubling up when everyone folded to me in the small blind at 100/200 and I made it 500 to play. IMOBI in the bib blind then shoved which I thought made no sense at all so I called them and was shown Ah2s. The flopped a two but a mighty queen paid me a visit on the turn and I now had 13,450 and was obviously running OK again.

The Pudding peaked at around 18,200 before falling back to 10,000 before rebounding with AsAd versus anelfegi's QhQc to sit behind 21,422 virtual ceramic discs. A few hands later I picked up kings and managed to get paid so I had almost 29,000 chips at 300/600/60a. But it all went horribly wrong shortly afterwards at 400/800/80a when I made it 1,600 with KhTc from the cutoff and the big blind called. The 8s-Kc-Jc board saw the BB check, me bet 2,400 and the Bbclick it back to 4,800. I thought he was full of it and shoved for an additional 12,952 and he snapped me off with KdQd, which held and I busted in 159/865 with 120 spots paid! My shove is probably a lot fishy to be honest but in my defence I had folded to three-bets pre and once to a player who had raised my c-bet all within the last two orbits. I went with my gut and despite its huge size it was wrong. Had I been correct this may have been a brag article!

If I was pretty gutted about falling just short than I need to get a grip because poor Team Betfair player SpiritRz of Bulgaria came 124th but Expekter123 of German managed to scrape into the cash by busting in 119th! In total 21 Betfair players cashed but more importantly four of them made it to the last two tables, three of those made it to the final table and one, Hentschit_ only went all the way and won the sixth event!

Hentschit_ aside, the three who went super deep with him were Varnatraderx of Bulgaria in eighth, mar1ach1 from Germany in sixth, 586527 of Mexico in fifth! Each of them picked up between $2,594.60 and $5,548.36 for their efforts whilst our very own champion picked up a bankroll boosting $20,370.79. A massive congratulations from everyone at Betfair.

Event #6 in numbers

Total entrants: 865
Total prize money: $119,650
Total Team Betfair entrants: 144 (16.65% of field)
Total Team Betfair ITM finishes: 21
Total Team Betfair prize money: $39,212.68 (32.77% of total prize pool)

Mini GSOP Event #6: $5+$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Short-Handed Rebuys $20,000 Guaranteed

This tournament attracted a bumper crowd of 1,561 fishes and me, making it 1,562 and like the $54 version I was feeling in confident mood, a mood that soon turned sour when I had to rebuy! The chips went flying in on a 6d-Qh-8c-9c board with yours truly holding 7h5d for the second nut straight and Ninikis7 6c6h for bottom set, which turned into a boat when the 8d landed on the river. Chips please.

This stack turned out to be much luckier than its predecessor because they helped me win a couple of decent sized pots almost straight away. With blinds 60/120 L.P.BERIY opened to 287 in the hijack, villain from my bust out hand called on the button and I called with As7s in the big blind. The flop came down 9s-Ac-Ks, I checked, hijack bet 420, button called and I played it fast and raised to 2,280 and surprisingly both folded. The very next hand I won another 4,800 pot when I found AdKs on a 2s-Kh-7h  flop against Kd-Js. Nice when it goes your way.

From there though the lucky chips were donated to someone else and I simply could not do anything ritght at all so by the time the blinds were 200/400/40a it was time to bring out the magical ace-nine offsuit. The UTG player min-raised to 800 and I three-bet all in for 6,156 from the button with Ah9c. Once again I ran into a huge hand in AsKh and he called but little did he know the board would run out 4c-5d-Qc-2c-9h, bink, and I was back in the hunt again!

Again my stack dwindled and again the magical 9h came to my rescue, what a card! Sat with 7,786 on the button at the 300/600/60a level I open-shoved with Td9s and the small blind called with AdKh, does he not know of the magic number nine? Obviously not! The board ran out 2c-Qs-4d-3h-9h and I climbed back to 16,532! Easy game. Then things really took a turn for the better, again against Big Slick.

The small blind made it 1,500 to play and I three-bet to 4,500 with my queens. Villain shoved for 46,304 and I called. I was rewarded with a 6h-Qh-Kc flop, a 9h turn (which locked up the hand) and a Jh river. Thanks for the 25,000 stack.

By this time we were into the money places but there were very flat and little difference between cashing and making it to the final table so it was time to play looser and pick up chips for a charge up the table. Unfortunately that charge didn't last very long as my luck finally ran out. APSA1 min-raised to 2,400 from the cutoff and I decided to re-steal for my 22,890 stack with KcJs from the button but once again I ran into a big hand, this time AcQc, and villain called. The Qh-3s-8s-2c-9d board was no help to me and 222/1,562 was all mine. I've since checked my exit hand and it was a definitely resteal based on the fact I reckoned he'd fold 60% of the time but a fold he he only lets his hand go 50% of the time, so pretty close.

Like its $54 buy-in cousin this event saw a number of Team Betfair players go deep with 37 players cashing, eight making it to the final 10 tables, three of those making it to the final three tables and one, RiblStrike of Russia, falling just short of th evictory finishing in third spot. How amazing would it have been if RiblStrike had won this tournament after Hentschit_ had won the bigger GSOP.

Mini Event #6 in numbers

Total entrants: 1,562
Total prize money: $22,975
Total Team Betfair entrants: 219 (14.02% of field)
Total Team Betfair ITM finishes: 37
Total Team Betfair prize money: $$3,214.64 (13.99% of total prize pool)

Once again a fantastic effort from all the Team Betfair players who have now cashed a total of 170 times for $251,150.81 in the GSOP and cashed 202 times for $18,278.55 in the mini-GSOP. Quite frankly brilliant!

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