MPT 2008 #3 - Showdown at Showboat's House of Blues (4/27/2008)

(originally posted 7/8/2008, by Harv29, with a few minor edits)

The participants:

Feature Table (aka the action/loud/drunk table)

• Baccarat King
• Bigfus
• Janek13
• Amazon
• civicmon
• "E"
• Betdponies

Satellite Mattress (aka the passive mattress/quiet table)

• Dave
• Rowanv
• Mrs. Betdponies
• Rowanb
• Harv29
• Neil

The Results:

1. Amazon ($150)
2. "E" ($90)
3. Rowanb ($55)
4. Mrs. Betdponies ($35)
5. Harv29
6. civicmon
7. Dave
8. Bigfus
9. Betdponies
10. Neil
11. Janek13
12. Rowanv
13. Baccarat King

First I'd like to again thank our gracious host, Baccarat King for providing his wonderful suite (and a special thanks to his wife for putting up with us!). Thanks again to all of the participants, without you, there is no tournament.

Unfortunately since it was such a large field (13 players), I do not have a lot of hand history information. From what I do know the group was divided at random by the computer onto two tables (another MPT first!).

With heavy road traffic for the holiday, the tournament was delayed so we did not start until around 4, but did not take long for the action to begin. The mattress began with a group of MPT veterans, who had all played against each other before and relatively little alcohol, but things were hot and heavy on the table, as we heard much hooting and hollaring from our perch in the "bedroom". In fact, after only 24 minutes (4:27), we lost our host, Baccarat King, knocked out by "E".

Another 17 minutes later (4:44) we lost our current champion, Rowanv, who went all-in on the turn with top pair against Dave, who rivered three of a kind to eliminated the defending champ (in much the same manner she had crippled her brother, the previous defending champ, in Event #2). Rowanv had come back from a crippling loss to Neil a few hands earlier after calling his all-in bet and losing to his A-Q top pair. Dave collected a $5 bounty for beating a past champion.

Shortly after that (4:53) we lost Janek13, who was busted out by civicmon, and then the cycle of table then mattress eliminations continued when we lost Neil on the mattress at 5:26, who was busted out by Rowanb after raising preflop with AJ and calling Rowanb's all-in, then finding himself dominated by A-K, which held up to oust the MPT rookie.

During much of the first hour we could hear talk from the Feature Table about how many times Amazon survived on the river while moving her chips in as an underdog against the more experienced players. She was down to 35 chips at one point and needed to double up numerous times to work her way back into contention. From the sounds of things from the mattress, Betdponies was Amazon's most frequent victim, so it seemed fitting that she would eliminate Betdponies at 5:28 to make the final table of 8:

• Bigfus
• Dave
• civicmon
• Harv29
• Mrs. Betdponies
• Rowanb
• Amazon
• "E"

Then Amazon continued her bust out streak (by that I mean eliminated players, apparently the "real" bust out occured much later), by eliminating Bigfus at 5:39 and then Dave 5:48.

At 6:17 we lost civicmon, busted out by Rowanb. I arrived at the table as the short stack, doubled up once, but finally was eliminated by "E" at 6:27 and out on the bubble for the second time in three events this season.

Amazon continued her bust out parade, eliminating Mrs. Betdponies at 6:32 who finished 4th cashing for $35, her third MPT cash and second at the Showboat.

After relatively passive three-handed play and with increasing blinds, Rowanb moved all-in preflop w/Q-10s while first to act and Amazon, who despite being anxious for a cigarette break made a good call with A-7o and eliminated Rowanb at 7:16. Rowanb's 3rd place finish and second cash of the year (for $55) put him atop the season points standings.

We are now heads up with Amazon and "E" with Amazon holding around a 3-1 chip advantage. "E" offers a chop to Amazon who wants to accept it because she is missing out on precious gambling time and now really "needs" a cigarette, but from the urging of the crowd declines the offer. The chip lead changes a few times and then Amazon wants to accept the chop but "E" says it is too late. The chip stack swings again and finally at 7:38, "E" is busted out by Amazon to become the "House of Blues" M.P.T. Champion!!!

"E" took $90 for second place and Amazon took $150.

Here is the current Sealy Player of the Year point standings:

• Rowanb 26
• Amazon 22
• Harv29 21
• Bigfus 19
• Mrs. Betdponies 19
• Rowanv 16
• "E" 14
• civicmon 9
• Dave 8
• Betdponies 6
• TSS777 4
• Neil 4
• Just Jason 3
• Janek13 3
• DJ Chuck Chillout 1
• Baccarat King 1

Amazon with the win in a large field and 6 eliminations scores big, with rowanb taking 13 points (11 for 3rd and 2 eliminations) to take sole control of first place.

There are players who are loose-aggressive, loose-passive, tight-passive and tight-aggressive, but I believe Amazon brought a new type, drunk-aggressive. Those of us who were on the mattress only heard rumours about her play, but apparently she was a river queen, taking quite a few wins on the river. We heard she was all-in early for $35 and came all the way back to win. With her big. . . stack of chips and drunk-aggressive style ("I just want to go gamble and smoke a cigarette, I'm all-in" was her battle cry), she caused many of her opponents to fold. We'll definitely be seeing more of her, er, if you haven't already, at the M.P.T. Tournament of Champions in December.

Other player's comments are welcomed.

The current list of qualifiers for the ToC:

• Rowanb
• Bigfus
• Rowanv
• Harv29
• Amazon
• "E"
• Mrs. Betdponies
• Betdponies (defending champion)

We look forward to seeing you at the next event, tentatively scheduled for 8/9/8 (note the date change) at the MSS. We've moved the date so we can really get our gamble on for 8/8/8.

MPT 2008 #2 - ECLVA Spring Classic (6/7/2008)

(originally posted 6/11/2008, by Harv29)

Yes, history was made on several fronts at the MPT Event #2, War at the Shore I. First it was the largest event to date as 9 players battled it out for this championship:

The participants:

• Rowanb: Our host and champion of MPT Event #1
• Rowanv: Sister of rowanb (but not my daughter. Also MPT rookie)
• Amazon: A rookie player who was there because Bigfus dragged her down to rowanb's
• Mrs. Betdponies: Last year's Main Event runner up
• TSS777: Last year's Player of the Year, making his first appearance in 2008
• Bigfus: Runner up on Event #1, desperately seeking the new trophy
• DJ Chuck Chillout: Friend of Bigfus and MPT rookie
• Just Jason: Friend of Bigfus and MPT rookie
• Harv29: Your tournament director

The Results:

1. Rowanv
2. Bigfus
3. Harv29
4. Mrs. Betdponies
5. Rowanb
   
6. Tss777
   
7. Amazon
   
8. DJ Chuck Chillout: Friend of Bigfus and MPT rookie
9. Just Jason

Due to the large field and with so many rookies, it was the longest MPT event in history, as the champion wasn't decided until almost 4 hours had elapsed! Granted there was a bit of slowing of the game with picture archiving, management will work to decrease the stoppages in play and keep the game moving. We also had a presentation of the Player of the Year trophy to tss777 before the event began.


It was a slow moving game for the first hour, but two players did get eliminated during this time.

First out: DJ Chuck Chillout, eliminated by Just Jason (round 4) (this after DJ Chuck Chillout made a bold all-in move against Bigfus, who had flopped the nut flush and slow played it and called DJ Chuck Chillout when he moved with a king high flush).

DJ Chuck Chillout: Ah2h
Just Jason: QsQc

Flop: 7s6d5d
Turn: Qh
River 4h

-------

Second out: Just Jason, eliminated by Mrs. Betdponies (round 6).

Just Jason: AhQc
Mrs. Betdponies: As9s

Flop: 9h9dQs
Turn: 8h
River 10h

Just Jason was dominating before the flop, but Mrs. Betdponies hit the flop hard with a set. The Q gave Just Jason some outs, okay, two, but no such luck.

It was also during this time where Amazon made the nut flush in a hand against Harv29. Harv29 had flopped the top pair, top kicker and then the flush came out. It had been checked to the river when Amazon made a $200 bet which Harv29 reluctantly called. Amazon first showed a 3c, well Harv29 could beat that and then she showed the Ac! She slow rolled me! It was a newbie "mistake" and I had no hard feelings about it (if it were TSS777 or Rowanb, well, I'd be steaming!). Of course, I would exact my revenge later, heh heh heh!

-------

Later on, TSS777 pushed all-in against Rowanb:

TSS777: Ad9c
Rowanb: QcQh

Flop: Jc4s2h
Turn: Ah
River 4h

TSS777 lives on.

-------

Later Rowanb moves in against Amazon:

Rowanb: QsQh
Amazon: Ac7s

Flop: 2s4c3c

Amazon gets a little hope on the flop but then the turn hits:

Turn: Qc

That shuts the door with the meaningless river:

River: 4h

Rowanb survives.

-------

Then, in another TSS777-Rowanb clash:

Rowanb: QdQs
TSS777: 8d8s

Row again has pocket queens and is dominating TSS777.

Flop: 6h7s9d

A good flop for TSS777, as he flops the open ended straight draw.

Turn: 3d
River: Kh

No luck for TSS777 and Row severely cripples TSS777.

-------

With Harv29 as the short stack and in the big blind, Rowanb moves all-in. Harv29 calculates that he is getting 3-1 "pot odds" if he calls and does make the call.

Harv29: 10h9s
Rowanb: 6d4h

Happy being ahead, we see the flop:

Flop: 3s8d9h

A great flop for Harv29, Row will need some help.

Turn: 10d

Harv29 makes two pair, but Row now has the gutshot straight draw.

River: Js

Not enough and Harv29 survives and triples up.

-------

Harv29 now exacts his revenge against Amazon. He pushes all-in to try to drive out the rest of the players, but Amazon calls and everyone else folds. Harv29 has Amazon covered and knows it is a race:

Harv29: 3c3s
Amazon: Ad9d

Flop: 6s6h5h

A nice low flop for Harv29 and no diamonds

Turn: 8c
River: 4h

Harv29 dodges the ace or nine and eliminates Amazon (round 12).

-------

Now we see three players with two all-in, TSS777 moves all-in with Rowanb going all-in and the Rowanv calling:

TSS777: 4s9c
Rowanb: AdAs
Rowanv: JsQs

Row loves his chances, he's a huge favorite. On to the flop:

Flop: Jd3h8h

TSS777 sees his chances dim but Rowanv has hope.

Turn: Kc

Still no help for Rowanv, she needs a jack or queen to win.

River: Qc!

With a crushing rivercard, Rowanv eliminates TSS777 (round 13) and severely cripples Rowanb, her own brother, and takes a commanding chip lead.

-------

Then we have this hand between siblings:

Rowanv: Ac7c
Rowanb: 9s10s

Flop: 7h8sAs

What a flop! Rowanv flops top and bottom pair, but Row has flopped the open ended straight draw and the flush draw, Row has alot of outs.

Turn: Kc

No help for Row. He'll need a spade, jack or six to continue on.

River: Qd

Its over for the champ! His sister eliminates Rowanb (round 13) and collects the $5 bounty.

-------

We're now on the bubble. It is mentioned that this will be the first time a white male will not win the championship.

Bigfus moves all-in with Rowanv calling:

Bigfus: Kh9h
Rowanv: As3d

Flop: Kd7d5h

Boom, Bigfus hits the flop and takes the lead in the hand.

Turn: Jh

Now, Rowanv needs an ace that is not the ace of hearts to eliminate Bigfus.

River: 5s

A brick and Bigfus stays alive.

-------

The bubble is burst on this hand:

Harv29: 9s9h
Mrs. Betdponies: Ah7h

Flop: Kh6c8h

A nice flop for Mrs. Betdponies, she's flopped the nut flush draw with a runner-runner straight possibility.

Turn: 3d

Rag, now Harv29 just needs to dodge an ace or heart.

River: 2c

He's done it! Harv29 eliminates Mrs. Betdponies (round 14) and will cash in this tournament!

-------

With the blinds going up and being the short stack, Harv29 moves all-in with Rowanv calling.

Harv29: Qs7s
Rowanv: As4d

I felt I had to make a move with the queen suited, I had hoped Rowanv would fold.

Flop: 4h4c2h

It wasn't the ace I had to worry about, it was the four, as Rowanv flops a set of fours and takes a commanding lead in the hand.

Turn: Kc

And that will do it for Harv29, with the river card.

River: 6c

-------

We're now heads up with Rowanv eliminating Harv29 (round 15).

The new trophy is presented along with the cash for the two players, Rowanv and Bigfus.

Bigfus moves in:

Bigfus: Ad6d
Rowanv: 10c8h

Flop: 9h3cAh
Turn: 4d
River: 3h

Bigfus doubles up

-------

Bigfus: 7c4c
Rowanv: Ks8h

A beautiful position for Rowanv to eliminate Bigfus and take the title.

Flop: 7h3c5h

No! Bigfus flops top pair and has a gutshot straight draw.

Turn: 2c

Bigfus improves with a flush draw and now has a double gutted straight draw. Rowanv can only hope a king or eight hits on the river.

River: 10d

No luck and Bigfus doubles up.

-------

Now with Bigfus ahead, she has a chance to eliminate Rowanv.

Bigfus: 6d5s
Rowanv: 9c3h

Flop: 8d2s4h

Not a bad flop for Bigfus, she has a gutshot straight draw.

Turn: 10c
River: 9s

Not needing the pair to win being ahead with nine high, Rowanv is able to stay alive.

-------

Bigfus again tries to deliver the death blow:

Bigfus: Kd4c
Rowanv: KsJs

Uh oh, Bigfus finds herself dominated.

Flop: 3sJdKc

Ouch, top two pair for Rowanv. Bigfus will need running fours to win.

Turn: 6h
River: 10h

Rowanv again avoids elimination and doubles up.

-------

Another move by Bigfus:

Bigfus: 8s6d
Rowanv: QcJh

Flop: 9d10d9c

An interesting flop which gives Bigfus a gutshot straight draw but Rowanv the open ended straight draw.

Turn: 3d
River: Kh

She was already ahead, but Rowanv makes her straight and again doubles up.

-------

Then we have this move:

Bigfus: 7s4h
Rowanv: 7d6s

Bigfus is dominated, with the flop:

Flop: 10hAs3s

Bigfus is looking for a four to take the lead in the hand.

Turn: 9s

Now if a seven or higher comes out, we would have a split pot.

River: 7c

With the board holding higher kickers, Bigfus is spared elimination.

-------

Finally, Bigfus has to move:

Bigfus: 8s5d
Rowanv: Ks5c

It doesn't look good for Bigfus.

Flop: 9s10h3s

Both players miss the flop, but Bigfus still needs to hit an eight

Turn: 7d

Now Bigfus receives a few more outs, as she can now win with an eight, jack or six

River: 9c

Its over! After close to 5 hours of play, Rowanv eliminates Bigfus in round 16 and wins the 2008 M.P.T. ECLVA Spring Classic!!!

With that, Rowanv becomes the first woman to win an M.P.T title. With Rowanb winning the previous tournament, they also become the first relatives to win M.P.T. titles (as well as being the first brother-sister pair to win titles).

There is now a log jam at the top of the current M.P.T. Sealy point standings:

Rowanv: 13
Rowanb: 13
Bigfus: 13
Harv29: 12
Mrs. Betdponies: 9
TSS777: 4
Amazon: 3
Just Jason: 3
Betdponies: 1
DJ Chuck Chillout: 1


Current qualifiers for the Main Event: Rowanb, Rowanv, Bigfus, Harv29


Next event: 7/6/8, House of Blues, approximate start time of 3 pm.
Host: "Mr. O" himself, mtohio, in his "House of Blues" suite!


We at the M.P.T would like to thank all of the players’ participation, to Rowanb for hosting and providing a wonderful venue and player's buffet. Thanks to my wife for working the hand histories. We look forward to seeing you at the next event!

MPT 2007 Player of The Year Crowned

STONE HARBOR, NJ - The Champion can finally wear his crown.

This past weekend, the Mattress Poker Tour (MPT) crowned it's first full-season champion, as New Jersey native tss777 was in attendance for the trophy presentation in his home state. Tss777 won two events in 2007, including the inaugural ECLVA Classic in Stone Harbor, while holding on to his season championship despite missing the Tournament of Champions in December. A veteran of online poker and regular contributor to the Kill Phil forums, tss777 was among the pre-season favorites for MPT Player of the Year and his performances in the series tournaments proved that he was worthy of these lofty expectations.

The series champ will now have his work cut out for him defending his title against the ever-growing legion of MPT Superstars as the second full-season promises more events, new locations, the introduction of mixed games, and stronger fields. Remember, with the MPT if you're not playing with us, then you're just playing with yourself.

Here are the complete "Sealy Cup" point standings for the 2007 season:

1. TSS777 (20)
2. Betdponies (19)
3. Harv29 (18)
4. Baccarat King (17)
5. RowanB (16)
6. Bigfus (15)
7. Mrs. Betdponies (14)
8. Sweeney (12)
9. Dave (9)
10. Meredith (4)
11. Janek13 (3)
12. "E" (1)
    

Pictures from MPT 2008 #1

Not a whole lot of action shots here, but there was some visual record on my recent win.


The newly-redesigned MPT trophy was unveiled as heads-up play began.


The Tournament Director took over as dealer after his pocket Aces didn't hold up against pocket Kings.


rowanb tried to take advantage of his chairless status to not give off tells, while disproving the old "chip and a chair" myth (the chair, as it turns out, is optional)


bigfus hides her poker face behind a cocktail


The board from the final hand (when bigfus was blinded all-in)


The winning cards along with the El Cortez chip protecor


The runner up with two bottles that she help vanquish during the tournament

Schedule Changes for Upcoming Events

There has been some discussion in a couple different forums (the LVA message boards, e-mail, in person, and text-messaging, to name a few) about upcoming MPT Events. I would like to summarize them below.

We are discussing holding out first Stone Harbor event, a standard No-Limit Texas Hold'em tournament on Saturday, June 7th. This would be an afternoon event, followed by some sort of grilled food (chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers would be most likely).

Harv suggested holding the July event on Sunday, July 6th. That would give us tournaments on 6/7 and 7/6, so if you're prone to reversing numbers you should be covered either way, though you may want to call ahead and make sure you're in the right location.

The August trip is starting to come together. It looks like based on the where betdponies' travel plans intersect with the Harv29's would most likely be Friday August 8th or Saturday August 9th.

No times for any of these events have been proposed as of yet.

MPT 2008 #1 - Bally's Atlantic City (4/27/2008)

(originally posted 4/29/2008, by Harv29)

The participants:

• Bigfus - Looking to start year off right after not cashing in 2007
• Rowanb - Looking for his first win
• Betdponies - Looking to continue his streak as the MPT's winningest player
• Mrs. Betdponies - Looking to earn bragging rights in the Betdponies household
• Harv29 - Looking to actually win with a big pair for a change

The Results:

1. Rowanb
2. Bigfus
3. Harv29
4. Mrs. Betdponies
5. Betdponies

Unfortunately it was a small field due to people backing out, but the event must go on with the first tourney of the year and a new trophy design to celebrate.

The tourney was uneventful for a while, it got exciting when Mrs. B went all-in and Row called and Mrs. B needing a 5 to make her straight to stay in and hit on the river. Row returned the favor when he hit a river card later on. It seemed like a "PokerStars" event, with the best hand getting sucked out on the river. . .

Row dismissed Betdponies in round 9 and soon after sent Mrs. B to join him on the rail. That left Harv, Bigfus and Row in three handed with the bubble looming.

Two rounds later, I am sitting short stacked, on the button. I peek down at AA. Of course I push all-in with Bigfus in the SB calling and Row calling in the BB. The flop was all unders for me but I am out of the betting. For some reason, Bigfus bets out $1,000 into a dry side pot. Row considers his options and then folds. Bigfus turns over KK and I rejoice and I show my aces! The turn brings a card of no consequence for us, but Row reveals his mucked cards, he folded a gut-shot straight draw and would have hit on the turn. I am looking to dodge one of the last two kings to triple up but the river unkind reveals a king to send me to the rail!

They continue to battle it out for the next five rounds! Row started with a nice chip lead but Bigfus battled back to take the chip lead. I forget the pivotal hand but Row took it and left Bigfus with just a few chips over the blinds. With little choice, she pushed in and Row ended up taking the hand and the cash and trophy.

So congrats to the winner of M.P.T. Event #1 - Rowanb!!!He breaks his string of finishing either second or last in every tournament. He also breaks Betdponies run of being undefeated on the pillowtop.

Congrats also to Bigfus for playing a good game taking second place cash.

And the current Sealy Point Standings:

• 8 - Rowanb
• 5 - Bigfus
• 3 - Harv29
• 2 - Mrs. Betdponies
• 1 - Betdponies

M.P.T. Event #1 - Bally's Atlantic City

Confirmed for Sunday, April 27, starting time tentatively scheduled for 3:00 pm.

Good seats still available (seating, as always with the M.P.T. is extremely limited).