FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#475 – Full Tilt Rules ESPN This Tuesday Night

Posted by Editor | Filed under Chris Ferguson, Full Tilt Pros in the news, WSOP 2008

On Tuesday, August 5, ESPN continues its coverage of the 2008 World Series of Poker.

The first episode was a Tiltfest, with Andy Bloch leading nearly all the way, doubling up the short stacks, taking a couple tough losses, and surrendering the lead on a three-way all-in with 9-9 to Nenad Medic’s Q-Q. (Coming in third was Kaathy Liebert with 6-6 on the hand.) Nenad, a Full Tilt pro, took the bracelet and Patrik Antonius, in his first World Series event with Team Full Tilt, finished 7th; Chris Bell, wearing the colors, finished 6th.

Get ready for more on Tuesday. Event #2 was the biggest tournament outside the Main Event in World Series history, with nearly 4,000 starters. Guess who turned water into wine for 3 days and made the final table?

No, not me. Because of a horrific beat from an opponent in a vegetative condition, I just missed getting some TV coverage … by 2 days. But Chris Ferguson did nicely in my place. When blinds were 4,000-8,000/1,000 ante, he was down to 7,500 chips, yet managed to make the final table. He’ll probably be the star of the coverage and he finished third. I dare you to prove me wrong, but you can’t watch Chris on TV without learning something.

Perry Friedman, who actually had a Full Tilt logo shaved and painted into the side of his head – his blue Lotus convertible has the license plate “Tiltboy” – just missed the final table, finishing 11th. Maybe you’ll get a peek.

Also keep an eye out for Mike Ngo, who wears the colors and finished fifth. He mixed it up on a remarkable hand with Theo Tran, who put on a clinic this year, making two final tables in a week and earning over $500,000 at the Series. Mike, after checking and calling on the flop and turn, moved all-in on the river with the board showing Ts-6s-3c-Jc-Qh. Tran went into the tank and folded, saying he had A-A. Ngo showed 4-4.

I didn’t see it but it’s gotta be a remarkable hand. If it makes the broadcast – and I can’t imagine it wouldn’t – it’ll be great to see if Tran really had aces.

The event was won by Grant Hinkle, who put out Mike Ngo after Ngo had Hinkle with A-K v. A-J all-in preflop … and Hinkle caught a jack on the river. Hinkle was truly blessed on final table day, or he just pisses all over ace-king on a regular basis.

One of the things you won’t get from the broadcast but is interesting to know if you watch it is how long these guys had to play. They started the final day at 2 PM with 18 players left. There were so many chips in play – nearly 12 million that Chris didn’t bust out in 3rd until more than 12 hours later, after 2 AM. Grant Hinkle and James Akenhead went at it heads-up until past 5:30 AM for the title.

Skip the rest of this blog if you want to be surprised about one of the most bizarre final hands in World Series history.

Hinkle had the button so he raised to 350k. Akenhead reraised him to over 1M. Hinkle re-reraised, moving all in for a total of over 6M. Akenhead, who started the hand with 5M, quickly called.

Hinkle had Td-4d. Akenhead had Ac-Kd.

So what’s Hinkle pull on the flop?

T-T-4.

And the turn? The case ten, for quads and the bracelet. Incidentally, Grant’s brother, Blair Hinkle, won event #23, making them the first brothers to win bracelets in the same World Series.

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