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Ambro Poker Page Ambro 14 - September 17, 2005 A letter from the Tournament director:
The 14th Ambro
Poker Tournament had finally arrived and there was a ton of
first timers. 9 people out of the field of 36 entries were
first timers. Of those 9, 2 finished in the Top 5. Mike Sw.
was not able to make it to defend his title. Last tournament
was a quick one as it started at 6:30 PM and ended at
11:59PM. This one started at 7:00PM and ended at 2:27AM.
Things
were tragic for the Greeks as they were the first 2 people
out of the tournament. George T. couldn't get things going
his way and was first out at 7:38PM. Next out was last
tournament's 3rd place finisher, Ken. He lasted only 44
minutes. I wasn't at his table, so I don't know how he was
taken out. We only had 2 ladies playing and they were
Kristin and Angela. Kristin was out early and placed 34th.
Angela put on another strong performance and just missed the
Top 10. She placed 11th again. (Last tournament she was 11th
as well.) Last tournament's runner-up and tournament master,
Whip placed 24th. I am surprised not to see him at the final
table. Of the 14 tournaments I have had, he has been at the
final table 7 times. Very impressive!
The bad
beat of the night and maybe of all time goes to Gary. Dino
and Gary both moved all in with the best starting
hand...Pocket Aces. When they both turned up their aces, we
all thought their was going to be a chop. The flop comes
with 2 spades. At this time, we are still thinking split,
but the turn card brings another spade. Now, all are on edge
to see if the last card will be a spade to give Dino(
holding the Ace of Spades), the nut flush. Well, to Gary's
disappointment, the spades comes and his tournament life is
over. (He placed 21st)
After Gary
got eliminated at 9:47, people started dropping like flies.
We lost 10 more people in a little over an hour and this
brings us to our Top 10. (Angela was 11th place being
eliminated at 10:58PM. Tony, who had an early exit last
tournament (32nd) put on a better show and placed 10th. He
was looking to become a 3 time champion, but that was not to
be. Next out was another former champion, Dino. With him
gone, we now have our final table. New this tournament is
the final table consisting of 8 players instead of 7. The
final 8 players were moved to the new poker room downstairs.
The final table consisted of the following people.....
Scott R. -
first Ambro Tournament
Matt S. -
another first timer.
Jay P. - first
final table appearance
Nelson - first
final table appearance
Mike S. -
former champion and 4th final table appearance (2nd
consecutive)
George L. -
2nd final table appearance and Ambro 12 runner-up
Nick - former
champion and 7th final table appearance (tied with Whip for
most all time)
Mike (myself)
- 4th final table appearance, but with no titles!
Nick, who said
going into this tournament that he was either going out real
early or taking the title, did neither as he placed 8th. He
couldn't get any momentum at the final table and he was
clashing with his brother , Jay P. on a couple of hands.
Nick couldn't get Jay out when they were in hands together.
Next to go was Nelson, who was up and down at the final
table. He moves all in with Pocket Aces and Jay calls him
with 6's. Well, what do you think happens....Jay ends up
catching a straight on the river to crack Nelson's Aces.
Nelson did recover from this, but it wasn't enough as he
placed 7th. Jay P. placed 6th and was eliminated at 12:58PM.
After reaching the final table, I was getting some really
shitty cards. With the blinds at 400-800, I was folding a
lot of my hands. (I must have had 4-7 off suit at least 4 or
5 times) The table even roughed me up for not playing much.
The hand that killed my shot at the title was when I was
small blind. I had 6-9 suited and everyone else folded. I
called the 400 more and Mike S. checked. The flop came A 9
3. I checked and Mike bet 800. I called thinking he didn't
have an Ace. The river brings another Ace. I check and Mike
bets 800. I call and another Ace comes on the river. I check
and Mike bets 800. I call with my full house and Mike turns
over the 4th Ace. Soon after that I pushed all in when I was
the big blind. I had 7 8 suited and Mike S. eliminated me. I
don't even remember what he had. I was too sad to remember.
I guess I will have to wait again to get my title! I was 5th
place and was eliminated at 1:16AM. Next out was newcomer
Scott R. He put on a good showing. I remember him early on
in the tournament coming to my table and playing very
aggressively. Now we have our final 3. With the blinds at
500-1000 at this point, there was not many flops. Matt S.,
who is a newcomer was going all in about 80% of the time.
This seemed to work for him as he was stealing the blinds
and catching come good cards. Of the cards he showed he had,
many were pocket pairs, AQ or AK. He was catching fire and
soon became the chip leader. Mike S., who was down to almost
nothing when we had about 18 people left, fought back to
take 3rd place.(2:04AM) This was his 2nd consecutive final
table.....not bad.
We are now
heads up. Matt S. and George L. Heads up lasted much longer
than the last tournament (That lasted only one hand). Matt
s. had the chip lead and kept to his strategy of going all
in preflop. George actually took over the chip lead for a
little while, but Matt S. regained it after winning a huge
hand when he had 14,000 in chips. After winning that hand,
(he now has about 28,000 in chips to George's 8,000 in
chips.) it was only a matter of time when George moved all
in to try and double up. The final hand was as follows.
George has Q 3 and Matt has K 2. The board came up with
nothing as it was 8-7-9-2-A. Matt S. is our new champion.
His all in on almost every hand when it was down to 3 people
worked for him. He becomes the 9th different person to win
an Ambro Tournament. Congrats to Matt S. on taking the
title.
Well,
that's all for now. Rumors of an October tournament are
buzzing around all the poker tables. Stay tuned for
details!!!
Mike
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