Neck and Neck for Newport POY

One of my stated goals for 2006 was winning the Player of the Year points title for the Newport Poker Open (a private online tourney for Newport employees). I got off to a pretty good start for the year, but smokkee has been pulling away the last few months.

Last night I took down the Newport Poker Open and moved into a virtual tie with smokkee. With two tournaments left, it looks like whoever does better between us will win the title. I have cashed in 7 out of 10 tournaments so far, while smokkee has cashed in 5 out of 9. I like my chances.

I have been pretty card dead in the last few Newport Poker Opens. Last night I would get some decent cards, and play them well.

Early on I limped with QTs, and flopped a Q and my flush draw. I bet the flop, and hit my flush (2nd nut) on the turn. More money went in. When a blank fell on the river I pushed pretty hard, and got a call from Train68. I took down the pot and jumped into a nice early chip lead. I continued to raise my good hands preflop, and c-bet consistently and slowly chipped up as players were eliminated. I even put another player in when my hammer made bottom pair on the flop. No call. I picked up KK with about five players left, and won a big pot, eliminating another player. We get down to 3 handed. I raise with KTs, and they both call. Flop comes KKx, and I slowplay it on the flop. By the river, all three of us are all-in, and I have both of them covered. I figure its over, but David has KT also, and we split the pot.

We get heads up, and I have a 2 to 1 chip lead. I keep the pressure on early and chip up some more. Then I go way card dead, and lose something like 11/12 pots. I type into the chat "I suc". I was on 4 different tables at the time, and its hard to play heads-up properly without your undivided attention. Luckily, a couple of the other tourneys I was in finished, and I was able to focus more on the heads-up battle. David had gained the chip lead at this point. I increased the pressure, and grabbed the chip lead back. On the final hand, I got all-in with KQ, and ran into QQ. Flop was no help, but I turned a K and the tourney was over. Ok, that was a little lucky, but it was the only suckout I needed to win the tourney.

This was David's second tourney, and he has a 1st and 2nd now, so he is playing really well. Smokkee, was traveling this week, and did not show for the tourney, so the 70pts I got allowed me to get to 340pts for the season. Smokkee has 342pts. Third place is over 100 pts back. If I can outplay him in the last two events the titles mine.