 32 players starting, only 8 would survive. Both Eric "Peachy_keen" Liu (aka "n0rthf4ce  ") and Erik "Pinball" Sjodin didn't have the best of luck with the table draw, but that didn't seem to stop them. While Peachy was "raping the table" according to the commentary, Pinball was still having a stack around the same as his starting stack throughout the day. Not that that was very bad, as he started out 4th in chips, but of course his relative stack declined compared to both the blinds and his opponents' stacks. Yet his survival and poker skills showed because as players dropped out, Pinball was still going steady.
Peachy's run
Peachy on the other hand was on the featured table all day and we could see him dominating the table, in the early hours his good run was only brought to a temporary halt due to the double ups of Michael Tureniec (who rivered a K with KQ vs A5 all-in preflop and won with KJ vs 88 aipf). Not much later, even Marcin Horecki doubles up with QTo shoving to Peachy's A9s. A nine on the flop didn't matter much, as the Q on the river took another bite out of Peachy's stack. Yet again, that doesn't stop his plans to take over the world (one featured table at a time), as on his way, Eric knocks out Gualter Salles (AJ vs JJ, A on flop) and Chris Wolters (KK vs A2, A on flop but K on turn). David Benyamine, Peter Busch and Frode Gjesdal get knocked out as well, and we have our final 9 players!
Final table
That does indeed mean that both Pinball and Peachy are on it, but unfortunately, they have to eliminate one more for the real final table played today. Coming into the final 9, Sjodin has 326.000 chips and is one of the shortstacks, Liu's 740.000 means he's just above average. Although the names at the final 9 might sound familiar, the level of play by some players at the table is somewhat horrendous.
Pokerstars Pro Marcin Horecki should have been the one eliminated, when he pushed all-in preflop with   against the pocket aces of Johannes Strassmann ((former-)Starcraft-player "ToT)Psier(" ). The flop brought 7-4-2 rainbow, so a miracle needed to happen and it did: the turn  and the river  doubled him up. Then we see Antony Lellouche open with AJ. Alan Smurfit, who is one of the shorter stacks moves all-in and Lellouche folds! Smurfit shows his A7, like he's saying "not even I would play that tight here". Another situation like that happens not long after that. After Johannes Strassmann raises to 130.000, Pinball moves all-in for 249.000 saying "Fuck it, I'm all-in". While even a deuce-seven should make him call the hand due to pot odds (he's getting about 4:1 on his money), he's having a hard time, saying "This f***in' sucks!". In the end he decides to fold, saying he folded AJ! (although some live reports are in doubt about this)
 Friendly Fire
Unfortunately, sometimes there is just no reward to playing well. Again, AJ played a decisive role on this final table. When Pinball got his AJ, he pushed all-in. Unfortunately, Peachy got pocket kings dealt and had no other choice but to call the all-in bet by Pinball. With no A on the board and a mere jack on the river, it was all over for Pinball and we had our final table. The good news is that his stack went to Peachy, but the bad news is of course that he didn't make the final 8. We wish Eric best of luck later today! Play resumes at 1.30PM GMT+1.
The final table:
Seat 1: Eric Liu 1,308,000
Seat 2: Johannes Strassmann 434,000
Seat 3: Philippe D'Auteuil 476,000
Seat 4: Antony Lellouche 1,022,000
Seat 5: Michael Tureniec 1,331,000
Seat 6: Alan Smurfit 396,000
Seat 7: Marcin Horecki 309,000
Seat 8: Michael Martin 718,000 |
!
Sweden. Oct 05 2008 05:11. Posts 6427
