#359 - NBC Heads-Up Championship #10 – Spades Wrap-Up

We’re less than an hour from starting the second round (a/k/a “round of 32”) and I still want to post a preview of the coming matches, so let me summarize very briefly how the Spades bracket sorted itself out last night.

I watched the first half of the Spades matches from the front row with Gavin Smith and Orel Hershiser. Hershiser, though he dispatched one of my best friends in poker, is one of my athletic heroes, not to mention 2 months older than me and a great guy besides. Gavin congratulated Chris Moneymaker on the birth of his daughter last week, adding, “If you need me to help at all in 18 years, physically, give me a call.”

Cards in the air at about 8 PM. By 8:10, Johnny Chan is all-in against David Williams after the river. David calls and Johnny shows a flush, giving him a huge chip lead.

A minute later, a bizarre hand unfolds between Chris Moneymaker and Jerry Yang. Jerry raises on his button. Chris reraises. (I’m afraid I don’t know the amounts.) Jerry re-reraises. Moneymaker puts in the fourth raise, all-in. As Yang thinks it over, I say to Gavin, “I predict Yang has a hand that’s too weak to be this deep this early.”

Yang makes the call. Moneymaker shows T-T. Yang shows … 4-4. I’m beside myself here. Gavin is neither agreeing or disagreeing with me so maybe I’ve got it wrong but it just seems ridiculous to call a fourth raise early in this kind of match with that hand.

King … king … nine … six … FOUR!

Moneymaker walks away from the table muttering, “Welcome to my world.” Gavin calls out, “Chris, you won the world championship in 2004? [Actually 2003.] You’re not allowed to complain about anything for 20 years.”

Jerry sits awkwardly at the table, talking to the dealer and shaking hands. When he gets up to walk to the interview riser, I feel like no one in the room wants to look him in the eye. Pocket fours?

At 8:35 PM, at the feature table, Gus Hansen v. Don Cheadle, Gus has shown that he has 3-3 (you can do that here) and Cheadle moved all-in. Gus is deciding whether to call 8,500 more. He does and Don shows Ad-7d. He hits a seven on the flop and doubles up, putting him into the chip lead.

A minute later, Bill Edler is eliminated by Scotty Nguyen when all the chips get in after the turn with 3 spades on the board. The both have flushes but Scotty’s is higher.

Alisha Kunze, who qualified by winning an online tournament and is playing her first live tournament, has a chip lead over Phil Ivey, who seems able to do anything on earth he wants but win a heads-up match here.

Annie Duke is in a tough match with J.C. Tran and later tells me she played her absolute best, getting J.C. (who she has huge respect for) to say, “I have no idea how you’re playing.” She has a slight chip lead when she reraises him all-in and he calls with 8-8. She has Ad-Td. Tran ends up dodging a zillion outs and putting her on the brink of elimination. (Even with just 3500 in chips and escalating blinds, she manages to hang on another half hour before she’s all-in on the blind with T-6 and Tran shows T-9 to advance.)

At 8:51, David Williams moves all-in with Ac-9c and Johnny Chan, with J-J calls. David gets a nine but fails to improve further and Johnny Chan moves on.

Two minutes later, Phil Laak eliminates David Singer on a hand where David’s Q-4 made two pair but Phil’s 8-9s made a flush. Singer had 4 outs to a full house with one card to come but didn’t hit it.

At 9 PM, Gus “got” Don all-in. Don had J-J, Gus K-J. I said to the person next to me, “Gus has to be thinking, ‘When I hit a king, Don’s down to one out.’” And damned if that’s not how it went down. Hansen caught a king on the flop and, though Cheadle picked up outs for a split on a straight draw, it didn’t come and Don busted.

That left just 2 matches. T.J. Cloutier, in the last match of the night, beat Daniel Scheiber in a close match.

Then there was the Ivey and Alisha show. How would you like to be in this position? You’re playing the best player in the world coming off the biggest tournament success of his career. It’s your first live tournament but you’ve got him short stacked and you get him all-in. You have pocket kings.

Ivey shows A-A, doubles up, and eventually wins the match. Dreams almost come true unless you’re NBC and get to broadcast Ivey v. Chan. Then you get your hopes realized; otherwise, poker’s a bitch mistress who exists to break your heart.