The Final Table
Jon was still in the tournament (you may want to stop here and read part one if you haven't already, otherwise this might be a bit confusing), and the final table was all starting to sit in their positions.
The blinds had gone up all through the last round, and they traded up the chips, leaving the players with smaller stacks of big chips. The purple chips were worth 2000 (it cost $20 to get 2000 in chips at the beginning of the game) and they were spread across the table pretty evenly, save for the two giant stacks that came over from table 1. Jon had a purple, 4 greens (500s) and some ones. He wasn't the shortest stack at the table, but he was close.
He played it tight, as usual, and the blinds nipped at his stack, pushing him to action. He had 4 9, not a great hand by any stretch, but he was going to be all in here just on the blinds soon anyway. He flopped a match for the 4, and then hit the 9 on the turn. If it didn't move now, he'd be out of it.
"Once again, I'm going to go on record as saying I think this is a bad idea" He said, laughing, and was called by two of the players with big stacks.
The super-stacked bald man from table one was one of the callers, and was holding pocket 8s, and one of the regulars at the club was holding A 9.
Jon just needed to keep either of them from making another match on the river.
4 5 K 9 ?
It came up Queen, and we both smiled. I think silently, inside we both went "YES!"
Jon did a little better than tripling his stack, and was now sitting even with just about half the table at 7200.
Play went around a while, and Jon finally hit again with "Miss Slick," K Q suited.
He called for about 4000, and it was again him and the big player to his right.
The flop came out 4 7 K rainbow, and Jon had paired his Kings. Not bad with a Queen to back it up.
4 7 K
The turn was a 3, and Jon checked. So did his opponent.
The river was a 9, and they both showed their hands.
They both had K Q.
"Are you kidding me!?" Jon exclaimed. He sat back in his chair, and turned to the player at his right. "I'm sorry, it's not at you," he said, starting to smile a bit "but that's just ridiculous, that's the second time that's happened to me tonight on that hand!"
He took half the pot, which was about 1600 more than he'd put in with the blinds and some early bets added in.
His cards got tough for a while, and the table got exciting. The stacks were trading back and forth, and several of the players made amazing comebacks from stacks less than the big blind. They played for almost an hour without losing a player. At blinds this high, that was amazing.
The even-keeled play gave Jon a chance to bide his time and wait for the right cards, and pocket Kings rolled up his driveway and honked.
He was all in after drawing another player in, and was heads up against Jack Ten.
There was junk on the board, and by the river, Jon's opponent was drawing dead. A 3 on the river made a pair on the board. Kings and threes to his opponents nothin'. He doubled his stack again.
The blinds climbed upwards every 15 minutes, and by now they were playing with almost exclusively purple chips.
Jon was practically forced to play pocket twos on the big blind, and turned up against A 8. We all waited as the flop came out 4 k k. Jon had 2 pair, Kings and Twos, but an ace or and 8 could put him out of it. The turn was a 7 and a Queen came down the river.
Jon had doubled up again, and the table was starting to thin out.
The blinds marched ever upwards, and ate away at Jon's considerable stack. By the time the big blind came around he was in for 8000, almost half of what he held, and he hadn't even seen his cards yet.
With J 7, he was drawn in for another 8000, and then finally the rest of his 2500. He was all in against the player to his right, who was on the small blind, once more.
The beauty was, the other player had junk too, in the form of 4 6. Jon had read him well, and gone in knowing it would probably be a fair match. The flop missed them both, then the turn came out garbage. All Jon had to do was survive the river, and he'd be sitting pretty to make some money (he was one of 6, and 4th or better split the nights winnings, up to a 1st place of $720)
The river came over in slow motion, and a 6 hit the table.
The other player had paired up. Jon was out.
Jon stood up and we chatted for a few and decided to watch the rest of the game play out. It was very back and forth now, and they dropped like flies after Jon went out.
It only took another 15 minutes for the game to wrap up, and Jon and I said our goodbyes. There was a secondary cash table going, but neither of us wanted to drop tons of money here tonight, and we'd had a great time.
We rode down in the elevator with two of the others from the final table, and all talked about how solid each of the players was and what a great group of people it seemed to be.
He and I were buzzing from the experience out on the street, and as we walked from 57th down to the 40's to get some food, we couldn't stop talking about how great it had been.
Over a late deli sandwich and a panini, we relived the week, and marveled at how filled and great it had been. From the amazing Aquabats concert when Jon arrived to the fireworks to his trip to Yankee stadium, to the RC planes, to karaoke and the diner, and now to poker, we'd filled just about ever moment with good stuff.
I crashed pretty soon after we got home, and we both slept in Sunday. Hurricane Dennis threatened to cancel his flight, and Jon prayed for it to happen so he could stay an extra day, but his flight was re-routed north for plane maintenance anyway, and he was off.
Now Sara and I just have to figure out how we're going to get out to California for our turn visiting.
