Holliston Poker Tour

What happens when 10 aggressive players with short stacks meet at the final table?  Simply one of the most spectacular snapping,  suck-out, and cussing free-for-alls ever witnessed at an HPT event.  The combination of a smallish field, larger than usual stacks, and a five point bounty chip on everyone’s scalp led to the highly volatile final table situation.  

The boom you heard around 11:40 PM was Anita’s Krakatoa like eruption when she was finally eliminated from the tournament.  Clearly the most spectacular sequence of the night,  which was the result of repeated and escalted hand clashes between Anita and me.  I would have been laughing my ass off if I wasn’t so sure that I was going to get a butter knife through the heart if I so much as blinked.  Ah, this is leading towards a heads-up beer shot-gun smack down… and yes, it’s going to be ugly.

Honorable meltdown mentions go to Denise for her mini bust out detonation and Mike for his genuine and heart felt cry of anguish when his set of Kings was cracked by my back door straight ( all skillz, natch ).  You know Mike was stunned when, a few minutes later, his flush was river cracked by Big Al’s boat and all we got out of Mike was a “You’ve got to be friggin’ kidding me…”   It was that brutal.  Hey, Mike, Al and I are all busted up over it, no really ( bluffing is such a wonder part of poker ).

You knew things were going to be special this tournament when the first break came and no one, and I mean no one budged from our table. Things got a little weirder when the always hard to beat Rob was first to go two hours into the tournament  –  his short stack A9o running into Roy’s small blind QQ.  It took almost another hour before Joe P.  got us to the final table by  knocking out Dean and Mike R. in quick succession.  

That’s when the fireworks started.  I luck-box knocked out the next four in a row, Anita, Mike S. ( in a mini-side pot as Mike’s KT and my AQ were both brutalized by Al’s KK ), and then Denise and Roy on the same hand ( 66 holding up over Denise’s 55 and Roy’s AKs ).  Uber aggressor ( thanks for that label, Rob ) Joe O’C got into the action by taking out Ginger a few minutes later.   A half an hour of bubble play and Joe O’C was the star yet again when he was priced into calling me with a short stack in the big blind.   My TT was good and Mike L., Al, Joe P. and me were through the bubble and into the money, err, points. Joe O’C was left behind — pasted to the bubble.

It was anyone’s game at that point and the action became even faster and more furious, which hardly seemed possible. My stack was fluctuating so much that I think I created a micro-climate wind shear anomaly.  

Mike L. was the next out with the previously mentioned river boat by Al - we need a name for that… I was leaning towards calling it a U-boat, but now I’m thinking “Mississippi Special” is more appropriate.  

It was a nip and tuck three-way for the next 25 minutes before Al finally busted out. He played a great game and was a welcomed addition — though I question our habit of adding good players… shouldn’t we be looking for softer ones?!

It was heads up between Joe P. and me and we got it all-in on the first hand.  Heh, patience my ass.  I took the hand down, but it required five minutes of chip counting to see if I had him covered or not, it was that close.  In the end, Joe was alive but on life support.  Joe P. is always tough late in the tournament and I almost jumped over the table and throttled Mike when Joe started to concede but Mike interrupted and said to play it out. I mean, WTF? Suppose he gets some chips?! Joe pushed three hands in the dark before I could thankfully take him down and end the tournament.   

Want to know what the best part of the night was? Well, too bad, I’m going to tell you anyway.

Was it winning the tournament?  Nope. I’m grateful, but nope.

Was it cashing in 8 scalp chips ( 1 was my own )?  Satisfying, but still no.

Was it Anita’s spectacular table top detonation? Ooooh, that’s a good one, and is easily one of my top 3 all time favorite meltdowns,  but ultimately, no. 

So, what was the best part of the night? Getting one of these to put on my car: 

My car is 11 years old and this is its first bumper sticker. That’s the equivalent of a 75 year old guy going out and getting his first tattoo. I don’t want to say I was giddy, but rumor has it that the sticker went on at 2:30 AM.

Many thanks to Mike L. and Anita for their hospitality and generosity and all the players for a really fun and excellent tournament.

Filed under: HPT Live Results