Slick Mick on TV on 21st November

[GaF]

Are you the King of Sit-and-Gos? TV Shootout final Our eight TV Shootout finalists enter the live arena to play for $8,000

By PokerPlayer

September 2006

	Tracey became the aggressor, taking pots uncontested

After an arduous four months of TV shootouts our eight winners made their way to the pokerzone TV studios for a final table bust-up with $8,000 to play for. And in contrast to the internet-based qualifiers, under the glare of the lights and cameras there’s nowhere to hide – especially if you’ve called yourself Spazmong (shame on you, Matthew). The day started bright and hot at a table in a studio and ended dark and somewhat sloshed around another table in a pub, but every player finished the day with a wedge in their pocket and a spring in their step. The final will be broadcast on Thursday, November 21 at 8pm on Poker Night Live (Sky Channel 843), but for now let’s see how the players handled the pressure... NICK WEALTHALL’S STRATEGY SCHOOL FINAL REPORT The JFK assassination, the fall of the Berlin Wall and now the PokerPlayer TV Shootout grand final. We’ll all remember where we were when these iconic events took place. Okay, maybe it’s slightly easier for me as I was hosting it… so I was there. Eight other people who won’t forget it were our finalists battling it out for their share of our $8,000 prize pool. Of course, each of them was already a winner having battled against hundreds of other entrants for their seat in one of our TV heats. Now they would have a real test playing against a table of winners. Even more so for four of the eight who had never played live before – what a baptism of fire! If the players were nervous it didn’t show as the action didn’t take long to heat up. Matthew and Ian got involved in a big pot early on when both had a Ten in their hands to match the two on the board. But the river matched Ian’s kicker to make him a full house and Matthew did well not to go broke on the hand. Just moments later, though, he found himself all-in with Tracey and once again the poker gods frowned on him when his A-7 was outdrawn by A-6 and Matthew became the first player to leave us. It just wasn’t his day. Sail away Shortly after, Sailesh took the worst of a tangle with Tracey and quickly found himself shortstacked early on. He moved in with Q-J suited a few hands later in an attempt to rebuild his stack but found James with 9-9 in the big blind. The pocket pair held up and Sailesh became our seventhplaced finisher. For a while Shaun had played nicely to build himself a monster stack until he got involved in a big hand with James. His A-J always looked in trouble against James’ pocket Kings. Sure enough, the cowboys stood up leaving Shaun short-stacked. He moved in soon after and was called by Tracey. When the cards were turned over Shaun realised the extent of the damage as his 10-9 was heavily dominated by her A-10. Tracey was quickly becoming the table terminator as her Ace-high sent Shaun to the rail in sixth. After a quiet start Mick had shifted up through the gears and was starting to bully the table. But then he too ran into the Tracey threshing machine. Thinking he could move her off her hand he pushed all-in only to see her call with A-9, which was all over his A-5. The board offered no help and Tracey kicked another man into touch. Then came the defining hand of the tournament. Gordon was set to double up after going all-in against Ian. He was delighted when he saw his J-J was an overpair to Ian’s 7-7, but the big man groaned in frustration when the first card on the flop gave Ian a set of Sevens. On such breaks are tournaments settled and Gordon finished an unlucky fourth. This hand only balanced out the luck at the table, as earlier Gordon had managed to hit the board when his paltry 8-5 had cracked James’ A-Q. But now James was the short stack of the remaining three and played tough to hang on before making a move on a Q-8-2 flop with bottom pair. Ian made a good call with A-8 for middle pair and the action moved to heads-up. Bullet time Tracey went into the heads-up as the shorter stack, and although she’d been happy to play slightly conservatively throughout the final table, suddenly the beast was unleashed! Tracey became the aggressor, taking pots uncontested including a great allin bluff with just a high card. Ian, however, wasn’t going quietly – he adjusted and made a good bluff of his own. Then suddenly the fun was over. The two players got their chips in on a Seven-high board. Tracey flipped over J-7 for top pair but Ian, hardly believing his luck, flipped A-A to leave Tracey in serious trouble. The turn and river brought no miracle for Tracey and she had to make do with second. Our PokerPlayer TV Shootout champion Ian may have got the cards when he needed them but he’d waded through hundreds of players online and crushed the final table in his first ever live game. What’s more, he did it all with real style by appropriately ending the shootout with bullets. In the end he entered for nothing and walked away with buckets of cash and an experience he’ll never forget. If, like Ian, you want (moderate) fame and fortune get involved in the next shootout coming soon. Final table results: 1st Ian, MrCueBall, Leicestershire, $3,000 2nd Tracey, Gold_Bars, Sheffield $1,400 3rd James, anfieldjames, N. Ireland £900 4th Gordon, gordy2107, Glasgow £700 5th Mick, sliqmick, Newcastle £500 6th Shaun, ShakeyShark, London $500 7th Sailesh, IncaWarrior, London $500 8th Matthew, Spazmong, Kent $500 WATCH THE FINAL ON POKER NIGHT LIVE (SKY CHANNEL 843) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 8PM