Thursday, 28th March 2024 22:01
Home / Uncategorized / Twitter Poker League: 3detch wins first #tpoker league
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by Joanne Haslam
The first season of the PokerStars Twitter Poker League has ended after eight weeks of busy point gathering, leader board checking, and lashings of Twitter #tpoker banter. There was so much going on it’s a surprise anyone found time to win a poker tournament. 1,244 Twitter poker players assembled for the season finale, some with good claims to the 100 leader board prizes, others more interested in winning a share of the $1,244 prize pool.

Bra boy84 had won 40 points from back-to-back Twitter tourney wins, but failed to cash in his other Twitter tourneys. 3detch had played every game and with two final tables and three cashes was just three points behind the leader. Danilo1012 was 5th on the leader board with 30 points; he’d need a big finish to overtake the pair, but as the tourney progressed this became a possibility.

Bra boy84 busted
Bra boy84 really only needed a cash to take the league win, but he never really got into the game. He finally fell in 724th when his Kâ™  Q♣ was beat by stratten’s A♦ 7♦ . He was stuck on 41 points and would be watching the tourney from the sidelines, hoping his rivals fell on their swords to gift him the win.

3detch had played solid poker throughout the league season and he wasn’t going to make it easy for bra boy84. 123rd place might not sound like a poker finish worthy of celebration, but it was in this case, the cash was worth 5 points – enough to take 3detch to the top of the league. However Danilo1012 would still be around to give him a scare…

3detch tweeted: “With tension watching the game Danilo1012 at #tpoker.” There were a few others railing the final stages ‘with tension’ or bizarrely celebrating his skills with a chat box campaign calling for “Danilo for President”.

Danilo1012 knew this wasn’t going to be easy, he had to make the top 3 to win the league.

Bubble trouble
With 10 players remaining Danilo1012 was the short stack but still fighting. He saw a flop from the small blind with A♦ 3♥ . Tessary and Dreams78 were along for the ride, and they all checked the 5♣ 6♣ 9♣ flop. It was when the turn card Aâ™  was dealt that everything kicked off. Danilo1012’s all-in was called by tessary, the big blind player had been playing his A♥ Qâ™  sneakily slow. Danilo1012 couldn’t beat that queen kicker and was out. His performance made this a closely fought race and gave tweeters plenty to tweet about in the final stages of the tourney; his 10th place was still good for 3rd in the #tpoker league.

Danilo1012’s bubble elimination meant the final table chat box was full of congratulations for 3detch. Bra boy 84, and danilo1012 were both keen to congratulate the winner and wish him well with his $700 Step Ticket prize. Of course while the leader board win was being debated the final table players still had work to do…

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Final table chips
Seat 1: xkr1 (301,982 in chips)
Seat 2: winona1978 (148,708 in chips)
Seat 3: enjoy2playAK (108,513 in chips)
Seat 4: ashphx (260,624 in chips)
Seat 5: LABUBONICA (346,848 in chips)
Seat 6: sfrol (145,424 in chips)
Seat 7: flickerflick (120,820 in chips)
Seat 8: tessary (291,641 in chips)
Seat 9: Dreams78 (141,440 in chips)

Tessary won a sizeable pot in the first hand at the table, his K♣ Q♣ hit the flush on the turn A♣ , and that ace got winona1978 in deep with an A♥ K♥ .

Dreams78 nightmare
Dreams78 was the next to hit Aâ™  Kâ™  trouble, simply calling under the gun with the hand and then playing along when xkr1 raised. On the Jâ™  8♦ 2♦ flop Dreams78 check-called xkr1’s all-in. Xkr1 showed K♦ J♦ for top pair and a flush draw. An A♥ on the turn gave Dreams78 a pain-free moment, but the 4♦ on the river killed all hope. Dreams78 was out in 9th place, and may or may not, have wanted the following advice from the guy who won his chips, “Next time push this hand pre-flop and I fold my KJs.”

When winona1978 bet out on a 4♥ A♣ 5♥ flop he was re-raised by LABUBONICA. Winona1978 was not for folding, and LABUBONICA was ready to go all the way with him; on their backs time. It was A♥ Q♦ for winona1978 and 8♥ 7♥ for LABUBONICA. A 10♥ river brought the flush and winona78 was the unlucky loser, finishing in 8th place.

Not enjoy 2playthat
Enjoy2playAK told the table he was lowering his card playing standards due to a severe shortage of chips, “Soon gonna push any2. Just that u know :P”

When he pushed it wasn’t quite ‘any two’ but deciding to make a stand with A♥ J♣ , calling sfrol’s all-in bet. Sfrol showed 8♣ 8â™  , and the pair was enough to take it. As it turned out the king-high board would have suited his name, it didn’t suit A-J. Down to six players.
Flickerflick went all-in twice with no takers, and the third time found a double-up with A♦ 10♣ versus xkr1’s A♣ 7♣ .

Then Flickerflick raised with A♠ A♦ and was called by tessary and LABUBONICA. Flickerflick thought the 9♦ 5♣ 4♣ flop good enough for a bet, and worthy of an all-in re-raise when tessary raised back at him. Tessary had hit the set with 4♦ 4♥ to beat aces, so a 6th place exit for Flickerflick.

Pass the chip lead
The chip lead had swung around the table, no one holding on to the elusive title for more than two or three hands, but at this stage of the game LABUBONICA, tessary and xkr1 had what I like to call ‘happy stacks’ while ashphx and sfrol had what I see as, ‘need work’ stacks.

Ashphx got to work with that ‘needs work’ pile of chips, pushing all-in from the button with 5♦ 5♥ . Sfrol who also held a ‘needs work’ stack made the call with K♣ Qâ™  . The Q♦ on the turn decided ashphx’s tournament fate, and he exited typing ‘gg’ through gritted teeth with good grace.

LABUBONICA won a few pots without showing cards and was gradually gaining the advantage. Xkr1 was in last place chips-wise but had a plan for that. He started raising. In fact he raised all-in seven out of eight hands, winning blinds and antes like nobody’s business. He had LABUBONICA asking with concern: “Are u tilt¿?”

Perhaps it was inevitable that one of these bets was going to be called. Xkr1’s eighth all-in was called by LABUBONICA with 10♥ 10â™  . Xkr1 was still perfectly live with Q♣ J♣ although the rest of the table might have been wishing him a goner – that pesky all-in prone German was making life difficult for everyone.

There were a couple of clubs to give xkr1 flush draw hope, but hope doesn’t win chips like a pair of tens can. Xkr1 out in 4th place.

If chips were mountains…
LABUBONICA increased his lead with xkr1’s elimination, and if the three players’ chips were mountain ranges then LABUBONICA would be the mighty Himalayas, tessary the Alps, and sfrol the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Or minus the geography lesson it would be LABUBONICA 1,142,464, tessary 512,806, and sfrol 205,480.

Sfrol tried to fight back with his small Welsh mountain of chips, he raised with K♣ J♣ and LABUBONICA called with 5♦ 5♣ . The 10♣ 9♣ 6♦ flop got sfrol betting out again. LABUBONICA was having none of that and re-raised. Sfrol pressed his case yet again with an all-in bet. LABUBONICA was chip-happy and chose to call. He must also have been happy to see he was ahead with his low pair, but the Q♠ on the turn gave sfrol the straight and he took the pot.

Three-handed play was cagey with LABUBONICA holding the lead but not powering ahead. Then sfrol pushed all-in with 270,000, Aâ™  8♦ in his hand. LABONICA had enough chips to try to take him down with a K♦ 7♦ . The ace high won, and sfrol fought on. Next Tessary lost a big pot holding A♣ Jâ™  on a jack-high board, LABUBONICA hit the straight to leave Tessary looking for an all-in hand. When sfrol raised a few hands later Tessary found 10â™  10♦ and pushed. Sfrol called with A♦ K♥ for one of those classic poker confrontations. The classic Kâ™  on the flop put an end to tessary’s game.

Six, six, six – six
Heads-up now. LABUBONICA was ahead with 1,013,524 but there would still be plenty of play with sfrol fielding 852,476. LABUBONICA eased ahead, a steady pattern of raised pots and continuation bets sending chips to his corner.

Sfrol clawed some back, all-in with 6♦ Jâ™  on a board showing two sixes. LABUBONICA must have thought his 6♣ would win the match – but no. His lower 8â™  side card sent the pot to sfrol. Sfrol climbed back to 800,000.

The final hand was another side-card battle, this time LABUBONICA had the best of it. Sfrol re-raised all-in with A♣ J♦ . LABUBONICA made the call with A♥ Q♦ . The flop didn’t change anything, and A♥ Q♦ was the #tpoker tournament winning hand. Well done to LABUBONICA for claiming the win in the final game of the Twitter Poker League season.

Top 100
So now league points will be totted up, leaderboard tables published, and the best 100 Twitter Poker League players will share $2,100 of Step Ticket prizes. Congratulations to 3detch for winning the league in its first season. Thanks to all players who participated in the league and tweeted their thoughts tagged with #tpoker for other Twitter League players to follow.

There’ll be a brand new league season starting next week, with eight tournaments to prove a point to the rest of the #tpoker world. We hope you’ll add your name to the leader board and grab a share of the prizes. You can find more information by visiting the Twitter Poker League website. Or follow PokerStars on Twitter for news, competitions, league reports and all manner of fun for tweeting types.

Twitter Poker League Leaderboard – Week 8 (07-25-10)
3detch – 46
bra boy84 – 45
Danilo1012 – 35
captainlgf -32
McNamara2011 -32
Sashhh27 – 30
thop5574 – 30
Debiloki – 29
0 RAM 0 – 28
firebreather – 28
JRMR802 – 28
Matosh – 28

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