[grandgnu]

It has been an interesting week, to say the least. We had numerous cancellations of players (obviously they knew they could not hope to stand against AJ "The Triple Threat")

And down to 14 attendants for today's game and only 11 showed (JoeTall, Suited Deuce and Jstnrgrs, where were ya???)

I guess they got the last-minute jitters as well. Anyway, Foxxer was late, so both tables played 5-handed for a bit. Eventually Foxxer would be first out. He was playing at the "other" table (i.e. not mine).

We all started with 5,000 chips and a lengthy and forgiving structure, meant to allow everyone a chance to make some moves without losing their entire stack, or resorting to an all-in fest early-on.

At the "other" table, EatingAnOreo caught Quad's a few times and got paid off. He was the one to take down Foxxer, who I hear had been saying "I just want to make the final table" the whole time. EatingAnOreo opted to take the extra 2,000 chips and surrender the $20 bounty to the prize pool.

I had been getting decent hands against a 5-person lineup, got A/10 about three times early on, but couldn't make much happen with it. Ghazban harrassed me consistantly, letting me know I was playing predictibly and touting how I was no match for him.

I saw my starting 5,000 chips dwindle to 2,000, but was able to build myself back up to 6,000 in short order. After we combined for final table action, I was sitting on a good 12-14K, and was chip leader.

Good ol' Kilgore Trout would finish in 10th place, as I began my start of the suckouts (I certainly titled this event aptly). Dan, short-stacked pushed all-in with A/A. I found Q/Q and re-raised to isolate. I saw he had me in bad shape and started chanting for a Queen, and it was the first card on the flop and the last card on the river. We saw a good four or five Quads during the tournament, it was riDONKulous! Kilgore left in a hurry, but at least he didn't play his hand bad, even though that's not as much comfort as being a lucky prick like me and winning it all (but we'll get to that later). Earlier Dan and I both held K/J and a flop of Q/Q/9/10/A found us both betting like maniacs and splitting the pot.

Finishing up in 9th place would be Erin, who was eliminated by MrMoo (who opted to take the $20 cash)

8th place would belong to EatingAnOreo, who's opponent Ilya snagged the 2,000 extra chips and surrendered the bounty to the prize pool.

Our "Samoan" friend Crunchster would be next on the hit list, eliminated by the ever talkative Ghazban who secured the $20 cash bounty.

Ghazban was a force to be reckoned with, and outdid me in the constant banter department (I surrender Ghazban, the title is now yours!)

Ghazban wasn't content to just eliminate one player though, he took down Jbrochu in 6th place and snagged another $20 cash bounty.

Since we only had 11 players, our payouts went from 4 to only the top 3 (50%/30%/20%)

In 5th place SpaceMonkey9 would also fall to the dangerous Ghazban, who was now amassing a chip stack to rival my own (I had about 20K in chips and didn't move much, while Ghazban was steadily increasing his, taking down three players in a row and closing in on my chip count)

Four-handed saw me give some money away to Ghazban. He raised with Q/Q and I re-raised with A/10 and he pushed. There was about 15K in the pot and another 5K to call, and if I lost I would still have about 17K, so I did. Ilya and MrMoo were both shorter-stacked and very excited that we might be making it into the money. But a flop of 5/5/4/6/5 gave me no relief and Ghazban doubled through.

I would strike next, taking down Mr Moo on the bubble. He pushed all-in pre-flop, but didn't have enough chips to force the larger stacked Ghazban or myself out of the hand. With an easy call for both of us, Ghazban caught trip 5's on the turn and I caught a straight on the river. It was checked down the whole way and Mr Moo went out on the bubble (but in his defense, he's been playing great poker lately, having placed in the money I believe 2 out of 4 times at my house, and this finish was mighty close)

Three-handed saw my master suckout skills return. Ghazban caught K/K and raised. I found 10/10 and pushed, and he had me covered by only a few thousand, but insta-called. The flop gave me the miracle 10, and I went on to snag a riDONKulous chip lead.

I believe the very next hand I found 9/9 and pushed all-in. Ilya called and very short-stacked Ghazban dumped his hand, hoping to move up to 2nd place in the money and another $110.

Both Ilya and I held 9/9 and split the pot. Ghazban wound up short-stacked to the point where he had to go all-in from the small blind against my big blind. I called and flopped a pair of 8's, and he had an out if a 6 would come and give him the straight, but it didn't hit.

The final hand wouldn't be far off, as Ilya, sitting on about 12K or so in chips (I believe I had around 60K or so) found A/8 and pushed from the small blind. I woke up with 9/9 and called and Ilya found no help.
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1st: Grandgnu (aka AJ "The Triple Threat") $570 (plus four $20 bounties)

2nd: Ilya $340 (1 bounty surrendered for 2K chips)

3rd: Ghazban $230 (plus three $20 bounties)

Anyway, it was a fun time and I got paid off enough in the end to make it worth the cleanup afterwards. I've had a string of 2nd and 3rd place (or bubble) finishes lately, so it felt really great to take 1st place (my wedding fund thanks you all, big date is October 1st)

Anyway, Kilgore Trout hosted the first event, I hosted this one, so not sure who will host the sequel. My vote is that it be titled:

2+2 Central Mass Challenge III: Return of the Donk-Eye