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#060 – FTOPS Main Event Final Table – Part IV – The Wreck, Octo-Crab, and King Jackoff (Damn You, Devil in Disguise!)
In the first three parts of this series (#057, #058, and #059), I explained how super-pro/super-nice-guy Robert Williamson III, as the Texas bombshell Miss Lulu, made the final table of the FTOPS Main Event and then made it to the final four. I watched it all in his study, along with his super-nice wife Cate and real-life Texas bombshell Clonie Gowen. It’s 3 AM and play is beginning with 80,000-160,000 blinds. Please read Parts I-III.
Miss Lulu, in the small blind, folds the first hand, 9-7o. This hand is nicknamed “The Wreck” for the famous ballad, “Wreck of the Old 97″, which produced the first American million-selling song. The song, unfortunately, did better than the Old 97 itself, and certainly better than poker players who played the hand and call it “The Wreck” for another reason.
Lulu is showing tremendous patience at this final table. I couldn’t show this much patience and, in my online final-table experience, never have. Miss Lulu is here because of that patience. On the other hand, for all Dallas’s claims of waiting to outplay his opponents, his refusal to take chances has prevented him (as well as from busting) from accumulating a stack big enough to outplay opponents. It’s all-in-or-fold for Miss Lulu and, unless Miss Lulu gets a monster and gets called by a lesser monster, anyone who calls will have a good chance to take Lulu out.
8-3o, on the button.
“Octo-Crab!” bellows Dallas. “Now that’s a name hand. Miss Lulu folds Octo-Crab on hand #2 of four-handed play.
Hand #3, under the gun (which is also the cut-off position when playing four-handed) is K-Jo, the infamous King Jackoff.
“Oompa!” Miss Lulu puts it all in. traheho takes a long time but calls, with pocket sixes, The Devil in Disguise. It’s a race, with Miss Lulu slightly behind but with plenty of opportunity to double up.
An instant after the flop, Robert bolts out of his seat, past me and out into the hallway. What he saw, in a flash, takes a moment to register with me. 6-3-7. Miss Lulu is drawing dead.
A few seconds later, Robert Williamson III is out in fourth place, earning $89,271.75.
We offer awkward condolences (Robert played great, made a lot of money, ran into a pocket pair with his first playable hand in four-handed play, still had a 50-50 chance of doubling up, and didn’t get the luck that could have gone either way) and congratulations (knowing someone is going to make $201,000 more than him in just a few minutes).
Robert’s fine. He thinks it’s hilarious that he signed on for a coin flip and was drawing dead an instant later. He howls, “See ya! It’s like the whole room is empty. You have no shot now! No runner-runner, no nothin’.”
Clonie: “This was a big, big tournament. 3,200 players?”
Robert: “So now you’re gonna tell me that there are only three players better than me?”
Me: “No, Robert. As least one of those guys was lucky to get that far. You’re definitely better than that guy.”
Robert: “You sonuvabitch! I knew you were gonna say that!” After the laughs die down, he adds, “I was gonna say it too.”
Even though it’s past 3 AM, less than two minutes after he is out, Robert’s phone starts ringing.
Within ten minutes, the tournament is over. tsarrast called a raise with T-9s. After a flop of 8-9-8, he and traheho got all the chips in. traheho had pocket kings, which held up. Tsarrast, for third, made $114,203.50. I haven’t checked the leaderboard standings, but he’s my unofficial choice as the FTOPS Most Valuable Player, making final tables in the two biggest, richest events, and finishing fourth and third.
Just a few hands later, traheho and Boosted J got all-in before the flop. traheho’s A-K held up over Boosted’s A-Q. Boosted busted in second, earning $175,326.50. traheho, the winner of the third FTOPS Main Event, takes home $288,001.93.
This was a big break, getting to watch the final table of a 3,200-player online event in the home of one of the players. I can’t say I’ll ever get that opportunity again (unless the player is ME), but it was extremely nice of Robert and Cate to let me join them in the middle of the night, and of Clonie Gowen for, as always, being a good sport.
Over the next few days, I will continue and hopefully complete the reproduction of my notes of the Valentine’s Day Massacre. If it’s taken a little while to get exciting, please give it a chance. It has a wild finish, even though I haven’t looked at my notes in almost a year. In a bit more than a week, I’ll be in Las Vegas for the NBC Heads-Up Championship, where I will continue to do my best to provide TOTAL COVERAGE. In the meantime, I’m proofreading the Full Tilt book, passing chapters along to the contributors (and praying I get them back in time, and not with the kinds of changes the publisher is prohibiting at this stage in the process). There is also my reconciliation with Mike Matusow, and the call of I got from my editor at Warner Books informing me that he is leaving the company. (But he’s becoming a literary agent, and I need a new one of those right away, too.)
Additional last words, appended a minute later: There are some big doings in our business, with Full Tilt offering a bonus to players who join the PPA, and Doyle’s Room shutting down in the U.S. I’ll try to get on top of that and sort it out for you.
If you like what you’re reading, or even if you don’t, or you want to make a comment or suggestion, start a topic in the forum (link below) or e-mail me at michaelcraig@fulltiltpoker.com.
