#739 – Craig vs. Dublin Bellybusters Heads-Up – The Outcome

Last Thursday, just hours before my marathon commitment to the Scottsdale Relay For Life began, I played a trio of double-heads-up matches against three talented players from the Dublin Bellybusters: LAPPIN, Rounder63, and Dr Fill Good. As I previously mentioned, the Bellybusters have been good friends (I met David Lappin in London last fall) and great supporters of my charity. After Dr Fill Good won my second Relay tournament and donated his winnings to the Scottsdale Relay, we arranged this match to benefit the Relay.

The matches were incredible and, for over three hours, I felt like I was in a war. All three of these guys were excellent players, especially at NLHE. (I played each of them in two simultaneous heads-up matches, one in HORSE and one in NLHE.) Because we were playing deep-stack NLHE, I realized after just a few hands that a few NLHE hands could more than undue whatever advantage I potentially had in HORSE. Consequently, in focusing my mental energy on NLHE, I played some pretty crummy HORSE. These guys, though inexperienced at the limit games, were all great heads-up players and very aggressive. I had trouble handling the simultaneous mindset of (a) mixing aggression and trapping in NLHE and (b) calibrating my aggression properly against my opponent’s in the limit games. As a result, I spent a lot of time passively calling against their aggression in HORSE. (I hope that doesn’t come off as an excuse. They outplayed me. I didn’t make the right adjustments. But I’d like to think I could do better than I did.)

So the deal was that the overall losing team/person would donate $250 to Relay. The winners also pledged to donate their winnings to Relay. We played from approximately 21:30 to 00:40 on Friday. After it was over, I was drained, plus I had to wake up in a few hours because Friday was my 36-hour Relay Day. And because I knew I’d be worn out after that, I asked the Bellybusters if they would send me their accounts of the match so I could put something together to post.

LAPPIN wrote the Bellybuster Report, then each of the three added a short account of his match. Their explanations and analyses were so good that I decided to simply reprint them. Here is how it all came out:

BELLYBUSTER REPORT

May 8th, 00.32ET:

The stage was set. The platform was built. The Dublin Bellybusters held a $140 lead over a beleaguered opponent. Never since Sylvester Stallone at the end of Rocky IV had a man taken such a thrashing. LAPPIN had completed the double, winning both the NLHE and the HORSE. Rounder63 followed suit, stretching the Bellybuster lead with an even more comprehensive victory in both games. Dr Fill Good’s topsy-turvy match was coming to its denouement. Seemingly out of it, Michael was desperate to inflate a pot. It was ‘Hail Mary’ time but how could he go long if his opponent boxed clever and small-balled him to points victory. Michael needed a knock-out punch versus an opponent with a bigger reach. Fill Good needed to see out the clock. It was the poker-equivalent of a giant holding a flailing midget at arms length.

May 7th, 21.30ET:

LAPPIN has softened him up in the first match; stabbing, jabbing, small-balling. Neither player took a significant lead until LAPPIN pulled away 45 minutes in and even then, a big No-Limit hand could have put Michael in front. As the dust settled on Match 1, LAPPIN showed a $40 profit in NLHE and $35 in HORSE.

May 7th, 22.30ET:

Rounder63 tagged in and upped the aggression level, landing some body blows and combination punches. Preflop 4-bets were followed up by fresh air bluffs. Rounder had a small profit in NLHE and a small deficit in HORSE. Michael adjusted and countered with some advanced plays of his own. The first big pot went his way and in the blink of an eye, all the Bellybusters hard work was undone. Michael was level but Rounder63 was unphased. He rallied with some roundhouses. The relentless pressure took its toll on Michael and determined to catch his opponent in a bluff, he was taken on numerous visits to value-town rounder63-style. By the end of Match 2, Rounder63 had pulled away, winning over $100 in NLHE and perhaps more remarkably, $40 in HORSE. Fill Good would enjoy a $223 lead going into Match 3.

May 7th, 23.37ET

After a short break, Fill Good came out swinging. Sadly for the Bellybusters, his first punch landed right between his own eyes and his second was a low blow to his own groin. Having enjoyed a $220 lead, courtesy of LAPPIN and Rounder63, the Bellybusters were suddenly on the ropes with a $180 deficit. Had Michael been rope-a-doping us – a Muhammad Ali-esque sleeping elephant routine? Like George Foreman, Dr Fill Good was in shock but this rumble in the Full Tilt jungle wasn’t going to end in the eighth round. Fill picked himself off the canvas and fought back. A semi-bluff here, a trap there. By midnight, he was back within striking range. By 00.15, he had grinded out a modest lead. HORSE was also going his way as Michael succumbed to the pressure on two fronts. By 00.20, the Bellybuster advantage was $80. By 00.25, it was $120. With less than 5 minutes left, Dr Fill was on the brink of completing a great comeback.

May 8th, 00.33ET

With the finish line in sight and Susan Boyle warming up, Fill Good wakes up with Aces. Michael makes a standard preflop raise from the button and Fill is in two minds. A Skype Conference call was the order of the day. Rounder63 and LAPPIN answer.

FILL: I have Aces!
LAPPIN: No problem, just keep it small. There’s zero point inflating a pot at this stage.
ROUNDER63: No way! You have to pipe it. This is our chance to beat him in all 6 games.

Fill hits the time button.

LAPPIN: Are you crazy?
ROUNDER63: But it’s Aces!
FILL: Rounder has a point. I can’t just play it scared.
LAPPIN: Well if you want to gamble then go all-in. You know you’re about 80% and he might call coz it’s his only chance to win te chalenge.
ROUNDER63: I like a raise to $18
FILL: Yeah, me too!

Fill raises to $18. Michael calls.

LAPPIN: Uuuugh! That’s the worst possible raise you can make when you’re $400 deep!

The FLOP comes 9-6-4 rainbow. Fill bets $33 and Mike calls. The TURN comes a 5. Fill checks and Mike bets $65. Fill hits TIME.

FILL: What the fuck do I do now?
LAPPIN: You have to fold.
FILL: But he would do that with anything. He has to win the hand.
LAPPIN: That’s exactly why you shouldn’t have dug yourself into this mess. He was always gonna put youto the test in this hand.
ROUNDER: I think you have to go with it.
FILL: I’m thinking that too.
LAPPIN: Fill, he could have 78 and your dead.
FILL: Aaaaaaaaagh. This is so dumb! What the fuck was I thinking.
LAPPIN: If you fold, we still have the lead.
FILL: But he might have nothing!
LAPPIN: I don’t think it’s worth the risk!
ROUNDER63: I think it is.
FILL: Aaaaaagh!

Having used up 55 of his 70 time-bank seconds, Fill Good puts Michael all-in for his remaining $136. Michael insta-calls, flipping 78.

FILL: Nooooooooooo!
LAPPIN: Fucksake. Fucksake guys.
FILL: Oh my God!
LAPPIN: Good job, you fucking idiots!

A moment of silence.

LAPPIN: And you call yourselves professionals!

Fill Good mutes Skype so that he can scream in pain. There are about 5 hands left and he shoves his stack each one of them. Michael folds each time and despite losing 5 of the 6 games, sneaks home for a $74 victory.

Fill un-mutes skype and, being the class act that he is, tells Rounder that he takes 100% responsibility for how the hand played out. “It was me who clicked the buttons!”. LAPPIN apologises for his attrocious ‘heat-of-the-moment’ words, FILL and ROUNDER graciously accept and we all console ourselves with two important facts:

1. the money is going to a great cause
2. most of that money is Dr Fill’s

Congratulations to Michael on his skill, guile and perseverance throughout the challenge. A 3-hour stint in 6 different games versus fresh opponents is an uphill battle but battle he did, fighting ceaselessly in all games. He may be considered a ‘friend’ of Full Tilt but this title is unbefitting. Michael is more of a pro than over half of Full Tilt’s stable and time and time again, he proves himself under pressure. It was interesting to see how he switched his game up, changing tactics versus each opponent, changing gears when the time was right. We may have dropped our guard with one minute to go but he landed the Knock-Out punch, playing his hand to perfection.

In total, the Bellybusters donated $422 to RELAY ($250 of which came from FILL!), a tremendous cause that we will continue to support.
LAPPIN’S REPORT

My plan was to keep it small. I didn’t want to give my team an uphill climb so I was content to kep the variance low, playing mostly small pots. That said, we were 200BBs deep so I three-bet a lot and immediately noticed that Michael would defend his 2-bets about 90% of the time. I felt like I was being floated on a lot of flops and realised I would have to fire at least two shells to get credit. The first big hand was a peculiar one. I had 10J and raised 3x on the button. Michael made it 9 and I called. The flop came AAK. Michael checked and I checked. My instinct was that he might be big. The turn came the Queen to make me broadway but I was no way in love with my hand. He bet 11 and I called. The river came a 2 and Michael checked. I thought this was odd and contemplated checking behind. In the end, i threw out a value bet of $29 and Mike raised to $94. I begrudgingly let it go, telling Mike what I was folding. Mike tried to tilt me, saying “In that case, you definitely don’t want to know what I had!” [Note from Michael Craig: I had pocket eights.] I still think it was a good fold. For the second big hand, I had J9 and three-bet to 9. Mike called. The flop came J86 and I bet 9. Mike called. The turn came a queen. I bet 24 and Mike raised to 77. I wasn’t convinced but felt there was no value in raising. I called with the intention of folding to a big bet on the river if it came (assuming I didn’t make two pair or a straight). The river came a 4. I checked and to by surprise Michael surrendered, tabling K6. In HORSE, I was down $20 after only 10 hands but slowly made ground to grind out a $35 win. I was actually more pleased with this result as michael is a killer mixed game limit player.
ROUNDER’S REPORT

Well first off good game. I was worried to start off about the HORSE game because I am unfamiliar with how to play anything but no limit holdem and omaha. In No limit holdem I felt pretty confident about my game. After 20 minutes of playing No limit hold-em, I realized michael had good notes on me and wasn’t scared to put chips in the pot. There were two hands that I had lost where there was over 80 dollars and michael made exceptional calls. For one of them I had 7 4 suited and I re-re-re preflop but he must have smelt a rat and called me down with ace high. I regained momentum and started turning into a aggressive beast and going to value town to the far extreme. In HORSE, I am pretty sure micheal was cussing me out on some pots that I had no business playing the way I did but it worked out. I am sure if i played him he would beat me 9/10 but this happen to be the 1/10 time. Overall I won 100 in holdem and about 40 in horse…….I had a good time and it was all for charity.
DR FILL’S REPORT

I thought I was out of my depth in the HORSE so was pleased to keep it close early on. About half an hour in, I caught a few hands and took a lead which I never gave up, finishing up about $40. The NLHE was the location of all the real action, however, as I immediately contested a big pot. I had the A3 of spades and the board came 259 with 2 spades. Michael bet the flop strong and I re-raised, Michael shoved and of course, I called. Michael had the 57 of spades, leaving me with 14 outs and a little over 50% equity. I missed and Michael won the $400 pot. Ten minutes later, there was another big one. This time, I had Q8 and I overplayed a double-bellybuster on a AJ10 board. My big flop raise committed me so when Michael shoved, I called, needing a King or a nine versus his AJ. I missed and Michael took down another $400 pot. According to David, who was keeping track of the overall scores, this put me about $150 behind. I worked hard for the next 30 minutes and played smart poker, winning lots of small pots. With 15 minutes left, I took the lead which I extended (with the help of my HORSE profits) to well over $100. There were just 5 minutes to go when I picked up aces and…, well I’m sure LAPPIN’s account is detailed enough. I saw an opportunity to go for the clean sweep but my play was akin to 5 putting the final hole of the Masters with a 4 shot lead, missing an empty netter shot with 5 seconds left in a tie game in hockey or missing 3 free throws with no time left on the clock in basketball.

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