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 The
Party Poker Million II event was exciting for
two big reasons. The first was that two great tournament players,
Howard Lederer and
Chip Jett, ended up going to head to head. Second,
the event was Limit Holdem rather than No Limit. With all of the publicized
No Limit events, including all of the WPT events,
this was a nice change. The event was held on a cruise and most of the players won their way into the tournament by qualifying
online. The players that did not win their way had to put up $5400. Beside Howard and Chip, the finalists included Maureen Feduniak, Tim Lark, Dan Coupal and "Cowboy" Joe Simpkins.
Dan was eliminated very early by a series of unfortunate flops combined
with one crucial error. The first hand, Dan is dealt pocket jacks and
limped. Chip was in the big blind with 96. The board came 642. Chip bet
out, Dan raised, and Chip called. The turn was another six. Chip
checked,
Dan made a poor bet, then Chip checkraised. Dan agonized then made a
difficult, but correct laydown. The situation might not have arose if Dan
raised the blind. On the next hand we see, Cowboy raised with pocket
queens and Dan called in the big blind with AJ. The flop was AQ9 all
clubs. Dan bet, Cowboy raised and Dan called all but $4,000 of his chips
because he had Cowboy outchipped. The turn was another queen making it
impossible for Dan to win. He was eliminated on the next hand when he was
forced to put his remaining chips in on the big blind.
Tim Lark was the next player to be eliminated when Howard beat him with a
full house. Although, Tim left the tournament in fifth place, he had a
nice return investment. He won $52,770 for the cost of one dollar. He was
one of the players that won his way into the tournament via the Internet.
Chip won a nice size pot when he flopped a
flush. He held 86 spades
against Maureen's A2 clubs. Maureen came in for a raise and chip called in
the big blind. The flop was A54 spades. Chip checked and Maureen bet her
top pair. Chip raised and Maureen called. The turn card was trouble for
Maureen when it came a three. Chip led out, Maureen raised, and Chip
reraised. The river was a nine of spades and both players checked. Chip
won a $164,000 pot. I tried to find fault in Maureen's play, but there was
not much she could have done about the situation, besides save the raise on the turn.
 Speaking
of Chip, during his interview he said, "I think people would say I am
probably more of a gambler. I don't get many thirds or fourths or seconds
so I usually win or go out in a blaze of glory." I always enjoy the
interviews with the players, some more than others. Chip is always fun to
watch because he has interesting things to say and he looks just too damn
cool. He is the epitome of what new poker players should look like.
Howard's interview was also good. I've decided to give him a new nickname:
"E.F. Hutton", because when Howard talks, people listen. A person would be
a fool not to listen to him because there is so much to learn from every
comment he makes. He said, "I think about poker a lot, so it's not just at
the tables that I am playing the game. I am thinking about it a lot away
from the game. I am trying to win really hard." His comment made me
realize how important it is to do your homework. When the topic of paying
attention was brought up, he said, "when I am not in a hand, I am still in
a hand. I want to watch what everyone else is doing." Considering that the
skill I need to improve on most as a player is to pay attention, I valued that comment.
Maureen was eliminated when Howard held AQ against her A3. She was in the big blind and flopped the ace. This was
another situation that she could not have done much about.
 An interesting
hand took place when Chip raised with A7, Howard reraised with AK. The flop was KK5. Chip checked and Howard bet. I thought
that was a great bet because most players would have checked that hand. Howard did the opposite, so I don't think Chip put
him on a king. The turn was a two. Chip checked again and Howard bet. I think Howard should have checked in this situation.
If he showed a little weakness, Chip (being the aggressive player that he is) might have led out on the river. If he did
not lead out, he probably would have called. Howard could have got at least one more bet out of Chip. The thing about Limit
Hold'em is you need to do what you can to get one more bet.
Cowboy was involved in many of the hands. Some of them, he played great.
An example of this was when Howard raised with A5 and Cowboy three bet him
with pocket sixes. Howard called. I thought three betting Howard was a
bold and terrific move. The flop was 865 all diamonds with Howard holding
the Ace of diamonds. Cowboy bet, Howard raised, Cowboy reraised, Howard
reraised. The turn was a nine and Howard bet putting Cowboy all-in. The
river was an ace of spades. Cowboy played the hand great and won a $144,000 pot.
In one hand, Chip showed what a professional is all about. Cowboy raised
with AK and Chip called with T8. The flop was QT8. Chip bet and Cowboy
called. The turn was a jack. Cowboy checked his
straight and Chip checked.
A great check by Chip. The river was a five, Cowboy bet and Chip called
him down. Cowboy was not able to get an extra bet from Chip. Not only is
extracting one more bet critical to Limit Holdem tournament play, NOT
losing one more bet is critical as well.
 Cowboy's
inexperience did show on a couple hands. One hand he called Howard down
with a bottom straight with a board of KQJT. He held the nine to Howard's
Ace. The other hand is when he called Chip down with AQ no pair. Chip had
flopped a pair and bet the whole way and Cowboy called off his chips,
crippling himself when there was almost no chance his no pair was good. He
went out in third place when he went against both opponents with pocket
deuces. Howard held KJ and Chip held KQ. Chip made the nut flush on the
turn and Cowboy exited with a smile.
Heads up play was fast and furious. We were able to see some terrific
poker. I enjoyed the fact that it ended up being two of my favorite
players battling it out. There was no way that an amateur was going to be
able to hang with these boys on this particular day. They were making
moves after moves and on top of other moves. Mike Sexton was even
commenting about how they could throw a hand once in awhile. To these two,
it was all about protecting their blinds and they did just that.
The first heads up hand, Howard won a huge pot when he took his pocket sixes against Chip's AQ. Chip led the whole way,
did not improve his hand, and got called from Howard all the way down.
There were a couple of hands that the underdog got lucky. Chip happened to
do this when he held K8 against Howard's A8. The flop was AK4, the turn
was a four and the river was a King. Howard got lucky on his own hand when
Chip held AJ to Howard's A4. Chip flopped the jack and Howard called with
his ace high. The turn was a four and the river was a four. Howard won the
only way he could on that hand by catching runner, runner. On the next
hand we see, Howard rivered a ten to beat Chip's pair of fives. It was a huge turn around.
Chip lost the tournament when he held K2 against Howard's T3. The flop was KT3 making it impossible for Chip to get away
from his top pair. This is Howard's second victory on the World Poker Tour, the first coming at
Foxwoods, so Chip won his entry into the Bellagio
final because Howard had already won his.
See also Party Poker Million - Season Two and
Season Three. |
