I’m the 2003 MPT champion now!

It’s fitting seeing how I led in wins, and money in our league. Even before I won I considered myself the champion. And the league considered me the Player of the Year. But the cahmpionship could have gone to anybody, and I’m gald I won it.

Nate had the chip lead, and kept it all the way till we went heads-up. But that was it. The whole game (not including the original 5 hours on Saturday) only took 2 hours. Meaning we only played for two hours yesterday. The blinds started at 800/1600 which is where we left off.

The game ended and the blinds were 1600/3200. Quit a bit when you only have 20 grand in front of you. The chips moved back and forth a little bit, but Nate took a HUGE hit on one hand that pretty much sealed it for me. It played like this:

I raised the blinds 1000.00. Nate called. The flop was 10, K, 10. I had the lead so I bet 2000.00. Nate called. The turn card was a rag and I bet another 2000.00. Nate again called. The river was another K. This put two 10’s and two Kings on the board. I go all-in, and Nate calls. Nate throws down a full house, 10’s and Kings. He had the set of 10’s right off the flop, and was slow playing them. The problem was, I had the King and beat his full house with a higher one, Kings and 10’s. He slowed played to trap me, and wound up losing on the river. Sometimes, you should bet someone off the pot before shit like that happens, who knew. That was the turning point in the game, and I eventually beat him down to take the championship.

We played again last night, for only a $100.00 pot, and Nate took that one down, so he shouldn’t feel too bad about losing the championship. Although he was talking a lot of shit about his chip lead going into the game yesterday. That just makes it funner to take.
Ken ended up in 4th place for the championship, but he took 2 bad beats. The beats were so bad, I fell like I chould mention them here. The first one not as bad as the second. His strategy, as far as I can tell, was to go all-in to steal the blinds, which were considerable at the time. In the first 4 hands, he went all in three times. The very first hand, Nate raised and stole the blinds. The second hand, Ken went all-in. I had Ace/9 suited, and I didn’t call. By that time the blinds had beaten me up a bit, and Ken was actually putting me all-in. He had Ace/4. Dammit, should have called. Anyway, the very next hand, I called the blinds and he checked. The flop was 8,9,J. I bet 1000.00 and Ken went over the top all-in. I contemplated it, and called. He flipped over K, J and I had J,7. Right now, he was favorite in the hand as we both had a pair of Jacks, but he had the better kicker. However, I called it with a pair of Jacks, and an inside straight draw. The turn card was a 10, and I caught my straight.

Like I said, he had more chips than me at the time, so I doubled up, and he was hurting. The next hand, he went all-in again. This time it was pre-flop and Fish called him. Ken flips over the “Rouvalis”** which is K, 8. And Fish had A, 9. The flop was K, 8, 6. Ken was way ahead, around a 92% favorite at that point. The turn card was an Ace. Fish caught one of the cards he needed but Ken was still ahead with 2 pair. Basically Fish needed to draw perfect to win, meaning he needed to get two specific running cards or he would lose. The river card was another Ace. WOW. Fish needed two running Aces (or an Ace and a 9) to win, and he got them! LIke I said, two bad beats for Keko in the championship.

**King/8 has only recently become known as the Rouvalis. It started with the first tour game of the year. I called a big bet with K/8, and caught a full house while taking two other players out of the pot. Since that time, I’ve gotten King/8 3 more times. Each time I’ve caught the full boat. The first 3 times, I took 4 players out (2 at once) and the last time I got it, which was last night, I doubled up. I’ve grown to love that hand.