Writing the recap for this event is almost torture, as I look at all the pictures and think of the action, I wish we were still there! I already look forward to being back there again next year! Especially with the temperatures dropping here in Texas to such depressing winter lows! ! lol What an event in such an amazing place!! Intertops really knows how to pick them! I think it’s safe to say it was pretty unanimous that we all would love to play there as often as possible! Island+Poker= happy lol Let’s go back now
So I guess I should stop daydreaming about being back on the Island and tell everyone about the actual Poker!? haha There was plenty to tell, as this is clearly an event many players look forward to, from the everyday recreational player, to some of the biggest names in Poker! Action on day one of the tourney started off great for me, as I seem to get an amazing table draw! Having the only two players who looked like pros on my immediate right and the rest of the table looking like the were just here for the fun of it! I was pumped for a day of what seemed like easy decisions and easy chips, but my excitement was cut short when I was moved within the first hour of play! I got sat at a late reg table and it was full of Pros and/or very capable recreational players! Booooo! lol I should have know it wasn’t gonna be that easy!! Island life plus a soft table draw was wayyy to good to be true! lol The new table was very tough with Pros Jose Montes and Alex Rocha on my right and some very good players from Foxwoods on my left. Pretty funny how big, and yet how small the poker world is sometimes lol Seeing players I know were regulars from Foxwoods, all the way back East, was pretty fun. But needless to say, its was a tough few first hours of play! Mostly folding and trying to just steal here and there. With 25k starting stacks and 45 minute levels, patience was my biggest virtue at this stacked table! Lucky for me it paid off big time, when I opened from late position with K10s and was called the very predictable rec player in the small blind. It was checked to me on the Ace, Queen, rag flop and I c-bet about half pot. He quickly called and I thought I was done with the hand, when “bink” the lovely Jack on the turn gave me the nut straight! He checked again and given the draw to and Heart or Spade flush that was out there and the fact that I was positive he wasn’t folding, I decided to bet again. This time he basically check min raised me and after a little thought, I didn’t think he was capable of folding anything there and I decided to go all in for a pretty substantial over bet with the intention of looking a little bit bluffy there. He only waited about 20 seconds or so before calling with his turned two pair and I got paid off in a huge way! Between that and a sick river card against Alex Rocha a few hands later, I was at the top of the chip counts for day one before dinner break!!
It was all the run good I would have for the rest of the night though, and seemingly the rest of the tourney! After dinner our table broke and I was moved to a pretty brutal position, having the eventual winner, Joan and one of the Biggest pros in the room, Mike Leah all on my immediate left!! At that point, I was happy just surviving the night with a good stack and bagging up for day 2! lol But poker gods were not on my side starting day two! I guess I shouldn’t have enjoyed myself so much on the day off!! They punished me by putting me at another stacked table with the most notable player being Mukul Pahuja. At least I had position on him and some of the other tough players, but it seemed to be useless as I only had one playable hand, calling a very short stacked opponents all-in with my pocket Kings to take a pot and stay afloat! Soon after that we broke the table, I thought for the better, only to have Mukul sit on my immediate left this time! lol Another string of no cards didn’t help, but i did manage to 3 bet shove on someone and get a fold with 67 of diamonds! lol Little victories! lol I guess I was just that unlucky player, when I got moved for yet another time, and I STILL couldn’t shake Mukul!! lol But now I thought I was good because I at least had position on him and Joan!! Wrong again! I was able to win a good size pot so get me back on track only to lose it to Joan shortly after!! Joan was already tearing up the place amassing almost twice as many chips as everyone else and a dominating chip lead on the field! She won that hand and never looked back, it was all Joan at that point and we all knew it!
I had some hands that got all in to survive and shoot me back up into contention, but never anything more unfortunately. I hung around long enough to get a decent cash, exiting in 24th for just over 4k.( Not bad for $100 investment! lol ) John and Ashley made good runs into day 2 as well, but came up just short! So, it was back to the beach for all of us to enjoy some cocktails while we all shifted our attention to the real star of the show, Joan! She had crushed day 2 and after some drama at the last two tables, had set herself up for a PPC Aruba Final table and a shot at 133k!! Everyone was so excited an supportive of her, it’s like we were all there sitting with her in spirit! And given all the big dogs she was up against at that final table, she needed it!! Joan not only held her own against some top level professional competition, but for a while was chip leader! It was quite the battle and a great time! Joan had them all wrapped around her finger, as she joked and laughed with all the players. She hardly ever stopped smiling, even when she lost a pot! Unfortunately, when they got down to 6 handed, she suffered just about as brutal a beat as you can get! It’s on troopers video recap of the event here at Pokertube. Joan min raised into Stephen Deutsch(the eventual winner) in the big blind and he shoved all in for about 3 times he bet. Joan snap called and was a huge favorite with Ad10d against Stephens Q10 off suit! An Ace,Jack, rag flop followed by another Ace on the turn gave Joan almost a lock on the hand, when the unthinkable happened, when a KING binks the river to give him the straight for the win. The hand crippled Joan and she was forced to look for a double up quickly! She got it in good again two hands later with AQ versus K10 for her last 21/2 big blinds but couldn’t fade a King again and was knocked out in 6th place for a brutal finish to an amazing run! While it’s always heartbreaking coming so close to a huge win, she had over 21 thousand reasons to not be too upset! lol She should be proud of doing so well in such a tough field! We are all very proud of her!! ( ;)and maybe a lil jealous lol) Keep up the good work and hopefully we will see you again soon at another satellite event with Intertops!
Stay tune to all the upcoming action at Intertops and be sure to check out my twitch stream at www.twitch.tv/2fit2fold! Once you’ve downloaded Intertops, enter the info below to get my personal bonus! TOK2016 for 200% up to $1,000
Run good!
Tim
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