Run-Good Challenge: Event 3 Recap

The inaugural PokerListings.com Run-Good Challenge has reached end game. Each of the three preliminaries has been contested and the group that advances to the finale has been decided.

This morning saw the 13-strong field, minus a few latecomers and one no-show, log on to PokerStars from their respective locations around the world, locking in virtual combat for $1,960 and a shot at the Grand Final marked cards lenses.

Coming into Event 3 the leaderboard was clearly stratified. Dan Skolovy sat at the peak of the triangle with an unbreakable 12 points, courtesy of his back-to-back bashings of Events 1 and 2. Dan was the exemplar of running good but, sadly, it all came to an end today.

Just to get it in early, here are the results for Event 3.

1st	Shamus	6 points
2nd	Matt Showell	5 points
3rd	Amy Calistri	4 points
4th	Spaceman	3 points
5th	Michele Lewis	2 points
6th	Kid Dynamite	1 point
13th	Dan Skolovy	0 points

On the very first hand this morning Skolovy got all-in as a result of a button-on-blind raising war with Kid Dynamite. Queens for Skolovy against Kid Dynamite's sevens set the stage for the glorious 7-9-9 flop.

With Dan's Donovan Bailey-esque good-running abilities at an end, he was off to the rail and out in front for the Bad-Beat Bonus. This wouldn't be the last time the Dynamite Kid would cash in some run-good to stay alive.

Not long after, Chops got it in before the flop with kings to KD's queens. The Kid didn't flop a full house this time but he did spike the queen, sending Chops back to whatever it is he does on a Saturday afternoon. Chops has extra reason to be frustrated. He suffered a similar beat last week, getting all-in pre on the good side of another pair-over-pair collision.

I missed the Poker Shrink's exit but check here for his recap. Same goes for Change100, whose bustication made the merge to the nine-handed final table possible.Yakshi's elimination was by far the worst example of running-good we've seen yet. He managed to get in with A♠ A♦ to Shamus' A♥ 5♥. The flop came all hearts and that was that for the new PL.com blogger. On the bright side he gets this week's Bad Beat Bonus, a whopping $25! That more than makes up for being denied a chance at the $1,176 first-place prize, right infrared contactlenses?

In addition to the cash on the line for the top three spots, $1,176, $588 and $196, there was the matter of the points needed to earn a seat at Event 4, the Grand Final Championship next Saturday. Poker Shrink was on the sidelines, laying odds for each player's advancement.

I was removed from the equation since Skolovy had already locked up the seat reserved for the PL.com representative.

It looked like Shamus was through, based on solid results in the first two events, but players like Spaceman, Michele Lewis and Amy Calistri needed to post a good result today to guarantee advancement.

The final table was quickly cut down as Pokerati Dan and the absent-minded-Dr. Pauly's chair were eliminated. That's right; Pauly's empty chair had outlasted 46% of the field, finishing in seventh place.

Based entirely on his aforementioned luck-boxery, Kid Dynamite was sitting on a huge stack. At one point Spaceman asked him when we could expect the meltdown. "Imminently" was the response. It was around this time he ran pocket jacks into Amy Calistri's aces, getting crippled and eliminated shortly after.
I won a few key flips and soon it was down to the final three, Amy, Shamus and myself. As it turns out, Spaceman's exit in fourth put him in a tie for the last remaining seat. This means that sometime this week there will be a sudden-death heads-up lightning-round death-match between Change100 and Spaceman!
We're thinking it will be a $1+20¢ heads-up match on Stars. Details on that coming soon.

Three-handed play didn't last long, with Amy going out in third at the hands of the not-so-Short-Stacked Shamus. They both rivered a flush and the rest pretty much played itself.  As we entered heads-up Shamus had me outchipped by about 3-1.

After shipping the blinds back and forth for a while I lost a few hands and sent the rest of my stack hurtling into the pot, taking an ill-conceived stab at an A♣ A♥ 3♦ flop. In retrospect it might have been bad timing as Shamus was holding A♠ 3♥.

Shamus gets the mammoth $1,176 first-place cash and a seat at the Grand Final. I'll be rolling over my $588 second-place money to next week's prize pool.
Here's the final scoreboard in the race for the finale. As you can see, the tie between Spaceman and Change100 has yet to be broken.

Shamus	14 points
Dan Skolovy	12 points
Dr. Pauly	8 points
Amy Calistri	8 points
Michele Lewis	6 points
Change100	4 points
Spaceman	4 points

Next week we'll see the conclusion of the first ever Run-Good Challenge. With my rollover money there will be a grand total of $3,088 up for grabs. All six of the participants will be getting paid but the lion's share will go to the winner, along with the title of Series I champion!

Change100 Wins Run-Good Grand Final!

The inaugural PokerListings Run-Good Challenge is complete. Three preliminary events and one Super Happy Grand Final Championship saw the elite of the world's poker bloggers slug it out for run-good supremacy and, of course, the honor of being crowned Run-Good Challenge champion!

In the end it was the implacable Change100 who took it all down. Before we can elaborate on that, and offer Change our congratulations, we've got to backtrack just a little bit.
In case you've been living under a rock for the last month and somehow missed everything leading up to the Grand Final, check out a few of the recaps in our Run-Good blog category. Now that you're all caught up we can get down to business.
The six top performing participants not only won some fairly substantial cash, substantial for bloggers at least, but they also lassoed a seat at the final and another guaranteed payday. Some people might say winning real tournaments like the WSOP Main Event or the PokerStars Sunday Million is the fastest road to fame, but in reality our freeroll series overshadows them all.
After all, how many times do you see players in real events enthusiastically open-shoving with the hammer or spending more time trying to sneak dirty words past the PokerStars chat censor than actually focusing on their cards?
Short-stacked Shamus, Dr. Pauly, Amy Calistri, Michele Lewis, Change100 and our own Dan Skolovy occupied the top six spots on the points leaderboard and were therefore sent the code to the finale. Some say e-mail is secure, but we don't believe them. The PL.com ninja corps was dispatched, killing off anyone and everyone standing in the way of their mission.
With the password safely in the hands of these six players we could sit back
easy cards tricks, relax and watch the carnage unfold on PokerStars.
Skolovy managed to win the first two prelims, but his run-good seemed to have run dry in Events 3 and 4 as he was the first eliminated in both.
Just to get it out of the way, here's a look at the results from Saturday's bloodbath.

1st	Change100	$1,235
2nd	Michele Lewis	$802
3rd	Amy Calistri	$494
4th	Shamus	$247
5th	Dr. Pauly	$185
6th	Dan Skolovy	$123

Michele Lewis was the one to busticate Dan this time around and she put his chips to good use, riding them all the way to a second-place finish.
After Dan was out it was Dr. Pauly's turn to test the limits of running good. Michele opened and Pauly repopped cheat poker. The flop came down T♥ T♣ 5♥ and Pauly shipped, pretty much the only option since he was holding 7-2.
Michele made the easy call since she had flopped trips and that was all she wrote for the good doctor. With Pauly's exit Shamus became the last surviving man in the field. He wouldn't have to handle the pressure of that for long, however, as he found himself short and forced into action not long after.
For a full rundown of the event from his point of view click through here.
Amy Calistri was the next one to hit the bricks, leaving Michele Lewis and Change100 to duke it out for the lion's share of the prize pool.
The two fought valiantly but in the end it was Change100's run-good expertise that would come out on top. Not exactly a wasted day for anyone involved but Change certainly made the most of it. She actually had an additional obstacle in her way - after Event 3, she had been tied with Spaceman for sixth place.
They battled it out heads-up for the last seat at the finale and Change, obviously, was the victor.
So that's it for the first-ever Run-Good Challenge. We'd like to thank all the participants for playing and, as of right now, we're ringing the bell for Series 2 which will be starting in the next few weeks.
If you think you belong among this group of superstar bloggers drop us a line at support@pokerlistings.com and get involved. Stay tuned to the Run-Good category for more news as we begin preparations for round two, or what we're calling the Run-Hot Challenge!

Top 5 Real Winners from Isildur1's PCA Title

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom’s entire career has been based around incredible highs and gut-wrenching lows.
Blom experienced an entirely new high this week by winning his first major tournament (fittingly it was the PCA Super High Roller) and winning a massive $1.3 million first place prize.
Of course with every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction and knowing it’s Isildur1 the railbirds are already circling his signature high stakes tables on PokerStars.
If Blom actually deposited the $1.3 million into his PokerStars account that means there’s a good chance he has the biggest bankroll on an online site since taking on Brian Hastings on Full Tilt Poker in the fall of 2009.
We all know how that one ended. The question is: Will he do it again?
With that in mind we’ve compiled a list of five hot online players who stand a good chance of stealing a piece of Isildur1’s gold cheat poker.

5. Andreas “Skjervoy” Torbergsen

Andreas “Skjervoy” Torbergsen may not be the most well-known player on this list but historically he’s one of the biggest winners against Isildur1.
Torbergsen torched Isildur1 for $612,718 in 9,102 hands on PokerStars so there’s a good chance he would be willing to resume the battle against his Scandinavian rival.
Tempers have flared between the two opponents before with Isildur1 calling Skjervoy a “…stupid ugly nit…” and accusing the Norwegian of hitting and running on several occasions.

4. Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond

Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond did not have the best 2011 and after some pretty heavy swings finished with only $2.5k in profit.
That doesn’t mean Galfond is afraid of playing Isildur1, however. Back in the day Galfond was one of the bigger winners against Blom and even booked a $1.6 million session against the Scandi.
In addition Galfond is one of the few players in online poker who has the bankroll to play the highest stakes.

3. RaiseOnce

RaiseOnce is a bit of wildcard in the high stakes games on PokerStars.
Many players believe the account belongs to Phil Ivey but since hitting the high stakes games on PokerStars he’s done nothing but lose.
In just 546 hands over the last few months RaiseOnce has lost a total of $256k.
Phil Ivey and Isildur1 have done battle in the past, however, and there’s no reason why they won’t renew acquaintances over the next few months juice cards.

2. Ilari Sahamies

Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies was the biggest winner on PokerStars in 2011 and so far he’s shown no signs of slowing down.
Despite having somewhat similar styles, Ilari Sahamies and Isildur1 have never been the biggest rivals.
Perhaps now that that they both have a considerable amount of money on PokerStars railbirds will finally get what they’ve been waiting for and will see a massive session between Sahamies and Blom.

1. Fake Love888

Outside of Brian Hastings (who Isildur1 simply won’t play anymore) Patrik Antonius was the one player Viktor Blom could not beat.
Antonius famously raked in a $1.3 million pot – the biggest in online poker history – against Isildur1 during the huge 2009 sessions.
Fake Love888 hasn’t exactly lit PokerStars on fire since reactivating his account in late September and has lost over $700k.
Still, Antonius actually has the cash to survive those losses and he’ll likely be hungry to make a big comeback.
If the Fake Love888 is actually Antonius, as is rumored, it’s all but guaranteed the two action-loving players will face off in the near future.

Jason Mercier VLog: WSOPE £5k PLO

Jason Mercier got to London earlier today, just in time for the £5k PLO event.
Jason has an exclusive marked cards blog at PokerListings.com and you can keep track of everything he's up to on the tournament trail right here.

Tunica Final Table Part 2: Riverboat Gambling!

At the conclusion of part one, I had just taken a pretty gross beat for about a quarter million chips at the hands of Kai Landry.

However, I was still left with about 960k going to 8/16k (2k) and was not fazed much by the hand since I didn't get in as a huge favorite anyway.

Then I almost made a crucial misstep when we were still six-handed. I raised to 42k on the button, L.B. Eidson called from the small blind and we went heads-up to a A♥ 5♣ 9♥ flop.

He checked and I bet 55k, pretty sure that my hand was still good. He called.

The turn fell the T♦, and he insta-jammed for 215k. I was pretty sure he hadn't taken this line with an ace, especially since he would have shoved most big aces pre, so I was a bit puzzled trick cards.
I was also pretty sure that the only set he could hold was fives because of the preflop action, and that he'd never check-call-jam this hand ... he'd check again. He'd probably even check-shove the turn if he had A-T or A-9.
However, I thought that L.B. was likely to make a lot of calls preflop with mid-high suited connectors despite being out of position with an awkward stack.
So hands like T♥-Xh and even Q♥ J♥ seemed like very possible holdings ... but the T♣ 9♣ and T♠ 9♠ SPECIFICALLY came to mind as his most likely hand holding (the T♦ and 9♥ were on the board, and I honestly thought he'd only call these hands if suited).

I'm still not sure if the fold is correct with my pot odds if my range for his combo hand/draws was correct, but I decided to do something I rarely do: talk.
I had established a bit of a friendly tie with most of the remaining players, L.B. included. I said something along the lines of, "You got me in a tough spot here buddy - you gonna show if I fold?"
Honestly, if he had said yes I'm pretty sure I would have called. Hands like K♥ T♥ are plenty happy to try to talk you into folding an ace, while a set of fives or two pair is going to keep silent or tell you that they won't show unless called.

L.B. replied, "You gotta pay to see."

I then quickly returned my jacks to the dealer - and L.B. showed me the T♣ 9♣ anyway. To quote Mikey, "I'M A SUPERSTAR!!!"

Jacks on an ace-high board to an all-in seems pretty easy to lay down in most spots, but this situation was a little different.
Although I was now down to about 800k and had taken another beat, I was actually feeling pretty good about not putting in another 25% of my stack with the worst hand ... and getting every chip I'd put into the pot in good, no less!

Not long after, I managed to get a two-for-one deal. I chipped back up to a million while busting my toughest remaining opponent. I picked up two red aces against Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah's Q♥ Q♣, and busted him in sixth place. Easy game.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mike, who just yesterday took down the Borgata $500k Guaranteed Deep Stack event. He's truly an inspiration to mohawked Canadian min-raisers everywhere. If there are any others, that is.

Shortly after I took Mike out, Jeremy Byrum jammed his short stack with the K♥ J♠, but ran into L.B.'s Q♥ Q♣. Jeremy played pretty well down the stretch, but got short when his QQ fell to Kai Landry's K-3o after Kai jammed 10 big blinds UTG six-handed out of desperation.
Oddly enough, his demise came with king-high against the same QQ that did him in.

I felt like it was about time for me finally stack the player I'd been gunning for heavily over the previous two days: David Dao.
I felt that if I could bust him and chip up to almost 2 million, I'd be able run over the table while exploiting the remaining players' desire to move up in the money. It had gone from creeping up $11-$12k for every elimination at the final table to having a $40k jump between third and second place.
Not to mention that something about a six-figure score is just that much sweeter ...

I thought my dream was about to come to fruition when he raised from the button and I defended with 4♠ 4♣. The flop came GIN, 9♣ 4♥ 2♠.
But for some reason, David Dao decided that this would be the first pot where he would completely give up and not put another chip in the pot. fwroigjugvog-vjeohufdsbwebgfydgmwaisswghfwoeijfw

Then came the turning point of the tournament - that one key hand that changes everything that you've spent days accumulating chips and carefully planning for.
There should be no surprise that the villain in this hand will be my favorite opponent of the tournament (and possibly of my career, come to think of it), David Dao. I wish I could play $5k heads-up matches with him for a living. Anyway ...

With the blinds still at 8/16k (2k), action folded to David (580k), who limped in from the small blind. I (1.1 mil) raised 42k on top with the A♥ Q♥.
He called, and checked the flop of 2♥ 5♥ 7♣. Since David loved to check-raise, I had to make a decision whether to check behind and take a free one or bet and go all the way with this hand easy cards tricks.

Obviously I'd picked up a great flop for my hand and should have been ready for action. However, I'd been going out of my way to play, not small-ball, but at least smaller-than-usual-ball, since I had such a huge edge on my opponents in terms of experience.
Stacking off with a modest edge (possibly dog against two pair; David would never have limp-called pairs here, so sets were impossible) seems like something I may have wanted to stay away from.

But in the end, I think it was a pretty easy decision when you consider that I expected David to shove almost any pair on this particular flop - all flush draws, all open-ended straight draws, and probably some gut-shot-overcard combos.
I thought he might even spazz out and jam with total air due to the flop texture.

I bet 80k, and in very expected fashion, David immediately announced that he was all-in for about 520k. I called him before he could push a single chip forward, flipped over my hand, and I believe I even said aloud, "Let's go."

David turned over the ...

(If you don't know the outcome of this hand, feel free to post below with what the craziest hands you could imagine him limp-call-check-shoving on me here are ... and be sure to catch Part 3!)

--Matt Stout
"All In At 420"

Matt Stout VLog: Steve Brecher's Private Jet

Matt Stout was playing the WSOP Circuit event in Hammond, and had to get to Foxwoods Casino in time to play marked cardsthe $10,000 WPT Main Event.
He jumped in Steve Brecher's private jet and filmed today's video blog!