Tom Wins Day 2 of Corky Cup IV

We had 6 players for Day 2 of Corky Cup IV on Saturday night:

SEAT 1:  Jeremy J.
SEAT 2:  Tom H.
SEAT 3:  Mark T.
SEAT 4:  Dave Cl.
SEAT 5:  Dave T.
SEAT 6:  Ian B.

Again, the buy-in was $100, with the top 2 getting paid, and the winner to advance to the finals against Darren, who won on Friday night.  It was another night of tough beats and coolers.

I'll have to admit that for the second night in a row, I handed out the worst beat of the night.  Two hours into the game, I held J-5 of spades, and Dave Cl. held 6-7 of spades.  To his misfortune, we both flopped a flush and got our money in right there.  Dave Cl. needed the 10 of spades to make a straight flush, but missed twice to finish in 5th place and nearly double up Tom.

We stayed 4-handed for nearly 2 hours after that, and then Ian increased his already big chip stack in one big hand.  Dave T., Ian and Jeremy all saw the flop of A-10-10.  Dave T. bet 4000, Ian raised all-in, and Jeremy called all-in for about 15000.  After Dave T. folded, Ian flipped over his K-10 for trips, while Jeremy held A-9.  Just as Dave Cl. did earlier, Jeremy had only one out, as Dave T. revealed that he held one of the remaining 2 aces.  No ace was to follow, and Jeremy was out in fourth place, while Dave T. dropped below 10000 on the hand as the money bubble was reached.

Dave T. went to the grind to try to stay alive and double up, but eventually was down to 4100 when he sent all his chips in with A-J.  With Tom already in for 1200, he was getting 2:1 odds with his A-5 and made the call.  Another tough beat, as a 5 hit the board and Dave T. got knocked out on the bubble.

That hand left Tom with 60,500 and Ian with 59,500 as they started the heads-up match with the blinds only at 600/1200.  After the two braced for a potentially long battle, and Ian took two small pots to start, the pivotal hand occurred on heads up hand #3. 

Tom raised pre-flop to 3600, and Ian called.  The flop was As 5d 8d.  After Ian checked, Tom bet out 6600, and Ian put Tom all-in.  After some consideration, he made the call and the cards were flipped over.  Ian held 6-7 of diamonds for an open-ended straight flush draw, and Tom had A-5 of spades for two pair.  We both thought Ian must have been a slight favorite at that point, but as it turns out Tom was a 51%-49% favorite.  Ian needed a 4, 9 or diamond to take the lead, but the turn of Jh gave no help, and another 8 hit the river, giving Tom the hand and a 13:1 chip lead. 

Ian battled back, twice being one card away from elimination but hitting river cards to stay alive and double up to more than 20,000.  Eventually, Ian went all-in with Kd Ts, and Tom called with 7-7.  Tom flopped set with 2c-Js-7s, and Ian had backdoor flush and straight draws.  The flush draw hit the turn with 3s, but the river bricked out a ten of clubs, giving Tom the hand and the win.

Tom took $352 for first place, and Ian received $200 for second place.  Tom will face Darren heads-up, at a date to be determined, for $128 and the Corky Cup.  Because of the lopsided number of players on the two nights of play, Darren will start with 200,000 chips, and Tom will start with 120,000.

The format was a lot of fun I think.  I wish there hadn't been so many bad beats and coolers, especially at the increased buy-in, but hopefully the adrenaline was flowing for everybody and a good time was had by all!