ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - He heard about the Mattress Poker Tour for years, but never joined in. We may never know what convinced Ghosthunter to play in his first MPT event last weekend, but we do know that the man knows how to make an entrance. Patient play in the early stages put him in good position to start the tournament, a bit of good fortune in a big hand against one of the MPT's winningest players, and surviving heads up play with the blinds at a high level made him the newest MPT champion. Ghosthunter became the sixth different player to win their MPT debut, joining Betdponies, RowanV, Scurvydog, Trojanrabbit, and Syrorange3042. He was also the fifth's player to win their first MPT championship this season, sixth different winner in six events this season, thirteenth different winner in twenty MPT events.The tournament featured a run of river and ugly beats, including a preflop all-in by RowanB with 2-3 that survived against Betdponies' A-K, and rivered straight by Ghosthunter to cripple TSS777 when those two players clashed as big stacks late in the tournament, and Sass doubling through RowanB with 5-5 against his 9-9 near the bubble. These were just a few examples of the roller coaster ride of those who survived to the higher blind levels, as each player will tell his or her story of how their evening came to and end.
Most of the field hung on through the early stages of the event, as only Baccarat King was eliminated before the first break in the action. He vowed before the event to be more selective about his starting hands and kept to his word, though he twice found himself playing big pots with small pairs against boards with quite a few scare cards on the boards. Undeterred, Baccarat King took his hands to the river and found himself first to the rail for the third consecutive tournament he played and fourth time in the last five tournaments, since winning the October 2007 event.
Play among the remaining players was rather uninteresting before the break to color up the red chips. At this stage, TSS777, fueled by a big pot against Baccarat King, was in the lead with 4,200 chips, followed by Ghosthunter with 3,850, Civicmon with 3,550, Sass with 3,025, Betdponies with 2,350, RowanB with 2,000, Bigfus with 1,950, and Harv29 with 1,575.
After the break, some players picked up their aggressiveness looking to double up for a chance at the win, while others limped into pots with speculative hands hoping the cards would fall their way. Civicmon and Harv29 took the more passive approach, calling preflop raises and waiting to see flops before deciding if they wanted to commit their chips, while RowanB and Betdponies took a more aggressive approach before the flop, with a series of raises and all-in moves. TSS777 slowly accumulated chips and had Ghosthunter all-but eliminated until a straight on the river brought the eventual champ off the ropes and back into the action. Sass played patiently aggressive to survive into second place, but lost out in the battle of all-ins during the big blind stages to earn her third straight and sixth career second place finish.
The results:
- Ghosthunter
- Sass
- RowanB
- Betdponies
- Civicmon
- Harv29
- TSS777
- Bigfus
- Baccarat King
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