September 4, 2005

Last week, we had the first match in Pool A. This week, we get the second match and we see 2 people who will be eliminated. Let's see what the results were ending last week -

Carlos Mortensen - 10 Points
David Grey - 7 Points
-----CUTOFF-----
Dewey Tomko - 4 Points
Todd Brunson - 0 Points

Don't forget that at the end of this match, the top 2 people move on to the next round. The bottom two people are eliminated from the tournament. How badly does that zero hurt Brunson? Not only does he have to win the tournament, but he has to have David Grey finish in last, Dewey Tomko finish in third and Carlos Mortensen to finish in second. Any deviation from that and Brunson is out of the tournament. Ouch. It's not as bad for Tomko, but he either has to win the tournament or come in second and have Grey come in last and Brunson comes in third. Conversely, Mortensen is in as long as he doesn't finish in last and Grey is in as long as he finishes in the Top 2 or third if Tomko finishes in 4th.

Hand #1 - Mortensen, his usual aggressive self, gets aggressive with a A ? 10 ? and raises. Everyone else folds. Carlos takes the first pot.

Hand #2 - Mortensen pushes again - but this time he has A ? J ?. No one pushes back, so Carlos takes another pot.

Hand #3 - Grey had Jeopardy (K-J, for Ken Jennings) and raises. Mortensen with an A ? 6 ? calls. The Flop - 4 ? 10 ? J ?, gives Grey Jacks with a top pair and a King kicker and bets. Mortensen calls. the Turn is a J ? and Grey has trips. Mortensen bets first and Grey calls. The River - Q ? and that completes both a flush and a straight on the board. Both people check and Grey reels in a nice pot - nice enough to grab the early lead.

Hand #4 - Mortensen raises with a...9 ? 2 ?? Bad time to do that, because Grey has Black Vowels (Pocket Aces of the club and spade variety). He raises upwards to $225,000 and everyone else bows out.

Hand #5 - Mortensen raises with a Q ? J ?. That's a little better starting hand - and better than Brunson's 10 ? 9 ?, who calls. The Flop - 7 ? A ? 4 ?. That helps no one, but Mortensen bets anyway. Brunson folds, so Mortensen helps himself to the pot.

Hand #6 - Grey calls with a 8/5 ?. Brunson limps in with a A ? 4 ? and to the Flop we go. A 6 ? Q ? J ? gives Grey a flush draw, and he bets it. Brunson needs Grey to go out 4th, but he decides that now isn't the time to do it and he folds. Grey increases his first place lead, which is something that Brunson didn't want to see happen.

Hand #7 - Mortensen raises with a 4/2 ?. Yikes. Grey folds an Ace, but Tomko, with a A/8 ?. goes all-in. Mortensen doesn't wish to contribute any more, so he folds and Tomko wins a pot.

Hand #8 - Now it;s Grey with a suited Ace (A/8 ?). He raises, and Brunson, with a 8/6 ?, goes all-in. Grey folds and Brunson wins a pot. It's a small chip, but still...

Hand #9 - Mortensen has black deuces and raises. Everyone bails and Carlos grabs some chips.

Hand #10 - Mortensen goes all-in with pocket 3's. Tomko folds and Mortensen keeps stealing blinds.

Hand #11 - Mortensen limps in with a 7 ? 6 ?. Grey...look out...A ? 10 ?. He raises it up and Mortensen gets out of the way. That gives Grey the lead back.

We still haven't seen any major confrontations. Will we see one on Hand #12? We could, as Brunson has a pair of red 10's. He raises to Tomko, who goes all-in with a 10 c/ 8 ?? Wha? This is disaster for both Brunson and Tomko - should Brunson call AND win, then Brunson is in deep trouble. Stupidly, Brunson does call and he needs a TOmko win. The Flop - A ? 8 ? 7 ?. The Turn is a 5 ? and the River us a 6 ?. Brunson doubles up on Tomko, as Dewey goes on Life Support - and so does Brunson. The good news is that Brunson has the chip lead. The bad news is that the person who may be on the way out is not David Grey.

Hand #13 - Tomko goes All-in with a A ? 8 ?. Brunson, with a Q ? 7 ? calls and hopes to double up Tomko. The Flop - 3 ? A ? 6 ? and Tomko pairs the Aces. The Turn - 5 ? and that helps Brunson - but he doesn't want the help. The River - a Q ?, and Tomko does double up, which makes Brunson happy. Goofy, Huh?

Hand #14 - Grey has black 9's and he now raises to put Tomko all-in. Brunson goes all-in with a Q/8 ? to try to get some chips from Grey. Tomko has...Cowboys!...and also goes all-in. Grey folds before he can do any more damage to himself. The Flop - 10 ? 4 ? 7 ?. The Flop is a 7 ? and the River is a 3 ?. Tomko triples up and he's now the leader, while Grey is the short stack. This helps out Brunson big time, though he really took the weird route to do it.

Hand #15 - Tomko has 3's and...folds? Wha? Mortensen has a 10/8 ? and ...raises? Brunson has Jeopardy (K ? J ?) and calls. The Flop - 6 ? K ? Q ?. Mortensen bets at it, but Brunson has the lead with the kings. Brunson raises it and Mortensen folds out, giving Brunson the pot and the chip lead back.

Hand #16 - Brunson calls with a Q ? 10 ? Tomko limps with a K ? 5 ? to the Flop - a 4 ? J ? 5 ? gives Tomko 5's. He bets at it and Brunson, who knows he can't knock out Tomko, folds. Tomko gets the chip lead right back.

Hand #17 - Grey, as the short stack, has to make a move and goes all-in with a Q ? 10 ?. Brunson, seeing his moment, calls with a A ? 3 ?. The Flop - 8 ? A ? 7 ? and Brunson pairs the Aces. The K ? is on the Turn, and Grey needs a Jack. The River - a 9 ? and Grey, who finishes with no points, is out of Poker Superstars 2. With that, Mortensen punches his ticket to the next round.

Hand #18 - Brunson's stage #1 is done. Now for stage #2 - Tomko has to finish in third. As for said Tomko, he advances as long as Brunson does not win the match. Tomko has a J/7 ? Vs. Mortensen's 10 ? 8 ?. The Flop - a Q ? 10 ? A ?. The Turn is a 2 ? and a River is a Q ?. Mortensen wins as both players check. Mortensen gets the win and moves closer to Brunson while the loss bounces Tomko to the short stack.

Hand #19 - Tomko, with 4's, goes all-in. Mortensen calls with A ? K ?. Brunson needs a Mortensen win, but a 8 ? 2 ? 10 ? doesn't help Mortensen. Neither does a 10 ? on the turn, but on the river...a K ?! That gives Mortensen Kings and that eliminates Tomko. Dewey is out in third, but he can still get in should Mortensen defeat Brunson in head-to-head play.

Hand #20 - Mortensen has 5's and raises them. Brunson folds his King and Mortensen wins a blind.

Hand #21 - Brunson doesn't even bother with the 5/2 off suit, but that gives Mortensen the chip lead.

Hand #22 - Mortensen goes all-in with a A ? 7 ?. Brunson has...9's. He calls and here we go. The Flop - 2 ? 5 ? 10 ? and Brunson has the lead. The Turn is a Q ? and Mortensen has a Diamond Flush Draw. The River - 8 ? and Brunson doubles up.

Hand #23 - With a very short stack Mortensen goes all-in with A/9 ?. Brunson has a K ? 2 ? and calls. The Flop - 8 ? 5 ? K ?. Brunson has a pair of kings, but Mortensen has a flush draw. He doesn't make it on the Turn (Q ?) or the River (Q ?) and Brunson not only wins the match, but he moves into the next round because he got everyone else to finish exactly where he needed to finish. Tomko follows Grey on the way out the door.

Wow.

Here's the final standings for the first Match of 16 -

Carlos Mortensen - 17 Points
Todd Brunson - 10 Points
-----CUTOFF-----
Dewey Tomko - 8 Points
David Grey - 7 Points


Next week - it's Kathy Liebert playing Scotty Nguyen, Mimi Tran and Chau Giang. Join us in 7 days to see if Liebert, like Mortensen, can successfully defend her top seed.