In a 5 hour 37 minute long match that saw chips flying back and forth between the 9 Tournament of Champions players...it was Malinda "Nemesis" Cardenas who was the only one with chips left on the felt at the end of this 2009 Summer TOC!This is Malinda's fourth TOC Ticket win however, her first TOC Championship. Congratulations Nemesis!
It was a strange TOC which had for the first time not one....but two forfeits including the session point leader ("Matusow" and "Chaser"). These adjustments took out over 14,000 chips off of the table and reduced the TOC from 2 tables down to 1.
The TOC blind levels are set at 30 minutes and start at a low low 10/20 which as the lowest chips stack over 200 times the big blind to start the match. So there was plenty of early back and forth as players were testing the waters....and some matchups took shape including Bud "Monster" vs Mike "Blind Me Down" and "Karaoke" Phil vs Greg "NewLife". The forfeit of "Matusow" placed Mark "Verbal" in the number one chip spot at the start of the TOC, however he was closely followed by several CPL Members.
After the first set of blinds were over and we entered the first break, all 9 members were remaining and "Nemesis", "Karaoke", and "NewLife" had begun collecting chips to take early leads.
3 hours into the match and the first casualty appeared to be Bud "Monster" as he was the short stack entering into the TOC and was all in vs "Blind Me Down", and pushed all in with AJ on a board of 8-5-3 and got a caller in "Blind Me Down" who was holding 5-3 for two pair. However, that shrank up fast as another 8 on the turn conterfeited "Blind Me Down's" pair and the J on the river gave "Monster" the pot and doubled him up to keep him in the match!
This was a critical hand as "Monster" next tangled with Bill "Comeback Kid" and again got won the pot, and the TOC saw the first player knocked out as "Comeback" went out in 9th place. Suddenly, "Monster" was in great shape with a mound of chips in front of him.
Out in 8th was Wanda "Wicked1". "Wicked1" had seen a gradual decline in her chip stack throughout the match and really didn't get anything going during this TOC.
Out in 7th was Mark "Verbal". "Verbal" went up against "Karaoke" with Big Slick on a Q high board to get snap called by "Karaoke" holding AQ. No K for "Verbal" on the Turn or River and "Verbal" exists the TOC early (is this the return of the second seed curse that Mark broke in 2008?).
We were then on the money bubble with 6 players remaining....both "Blind Me Down" and Scott "Hollywood" were the short stacks and were eyeing each other hand after hand to see who would go down first.
They both held on round after round however the blinds would eventually require one of them to push and "Hollywood" would be the one to blink as he went out in 6th place tangling against "NewLife".
Then another big change in the chips happened as "Monster" went out in 5th after seeing his massive chip stack wander away to "Nemesis", "NewLife", and "Karaoke" hand after hand after hand...with the last of it going to "NewLife". A great match for "Monster" who finished 6 spots above his seeding!!
With four players remaining....we entered the ticket bubble.
"NewLife" had about 22K and "Nemesis" had about 20K. "Karaoke" was left with only 9K, and "Blind Me Down" was severely short stacked with less than 3K. Blinds entered the 500/1000 level and the fireworks began.
"Blind Me Down" was blinded down into 4th place...finally relinquishing his chips to "Karaoke"....in a very long drawn out decision by "Karaoke" after "Blind Me Down" channelled Jamie Gold, advising "Karaoke" to call and even showed "Karaoke" his A before "Karaoke's" decision was made. "Karaoke" went into the tank....and followed his guts to call with middle connectors against "Blind Me Down's" small A. After an 8 hit the turn to pair up "Karaoke". "Blind Me Down" needed a Greestein to continue his TOC...which didn't happen and "Blind Me Down" exited in 4th on the ticket bubble.
The 3 Tournament ticket winners were decided....now the TOC crown was in sight....
Only a few hands into the 3 handed match, "NewLife" bet up to 3000 with an A , "Nemesis" re-raised to 6000 with KQ, and "NewLife" called. With a Q high flop, "Nemesis" bet 4500 which prompted an All In by "NewLife" and "Nemesis" went into the tank...."Nemesis" barely had "NewLife" covered...and called staring at the fortune in the pot. "NewLife" would not hit his Ace on the Turn or River and went out in 3rd place.
"Nemesis" now had a massive chip stack at this point and went up against "Karaoke" in heads up play.
And again....only a few hands into heads up play...On a flop of A-Q-10..."Karaoke" shoved with his A-3 only to get snap called by "Nemesis" who had flopped a straight as she held the K-J. A blank on the turn ended it in second place for "Karaoke" and "Nemesis" claimed the TOC crown.
Congratulations to the 2009 Summer Session Tournament Ticket winners Nemesis, Karaoke, and NewLife! Stay tuned for reports on how they do at the Running Aces Midwest Fall Classic as they use their TOC tickets to go for the cash at Running Aces at the end of Sept...
CPL Quote of the Week:
"So is Box the Clown performing at your daughter's party?"--"Karaoke" to "Comeback Kid"
2009 Summer TOC Results
1-Malinda "Nemesis" Cardenas--Ticket Winner
2-"Karaoke" Phil Fuehrer--Ticket Winner
3-Greg "NewLife" Durand--Ticket Winner
4-Mike "Blind Me Down" Behr
5-Bud "Monster" Abbott
6-Scott "Hollywood" Bauer
7-Mark "Verbal" Cardenas
8-Wanda "Wicked1" Bublitz
9-Bill "Comeback Kid" Lanoux
10-Jeff "Matusow" Matson--by forfeit
11-Steve "Chaser" Bennewitz--by forfeit
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