Eric Bandy - Water Tank Champion February 2007

Water Tank Championship 2/22/07 

(photo from our home games)

On Thursday 2/22, 42 out of 64 qualifiers came prepared to play one long five hour game where blinds were slower, stacks were deeper, and skill was more of a factor in making the final table than a good run of cards.  The big story was chip leader Eric Bandy, starting the final table of 8 with 310,000 -- nearly HALF the chips in play.

The competition was tough however with Jay Hayley and Daniel Vaughn at the table, both quiet and dangerous and both having finished as top 10 point leaders this session.    Also present were tight/solid players Kyle Picone, Mike Wheeler, and Garrett Bary.  Then there were the ATC wildcards Patrick Morgan and Shawn Brown who could easily take it should the cards cooperate.  Only the top 4 would get a piece of the $300 prize pool, with $200 for first.

Starting chip counts:

Patrick Morgan – 90,000

Eric Bandy – 310,000

Kyle Picone – 60,000

Mike Wheeler – 60,000

Daniel Vaughn – 90,000

Garrett Bary – 80,000

Jay Hayley – 60,000

Shawn Brown – 10,000

Action was fast with two eliminations on the very first hand.  With the blinds at 10/20k, Shawn was already all in in the bb for 10k and his tournament life.  Patrick moved all in under the gun for 90k, and Kyle also moved in for 60k behind him.  Shawn showed AKh, Kyle had pocket QQ and Shawn turned over 75o.  The board came A J T 3 7, and Kyle and Shawn were both eliminated by Patrick’s “top top”.  He was now up to 160k in chips.

He would lose most of what he made on the next hand when he and Eric engaged in a battle of the blinds.  Everyone folded to Patrick in the sb who limped, Eric checked the bb.  The hand was checked to the river, the board showing 2 2 3 Q 6.  Eric fired 50k into the pot on the river.  After thinking about it, Patrick called with K7o showing King high, but Eric turned over a bb special 24o for flopped trips!

Mike Wheeler is the king of the chip and a chair theory.  After folding through the blinds Mike was left with 10k.  On hand #6 he chose to move it in with A8o on the button.  Daniel completed the sb and Garrett checked.  They checked to the river with a board of 6 T T K J.  Daniel turned over 92o, Garrett show Q9 for a rivered straight, eliminating Mike Wheeler in 6^th place.

It was clear Daniel couldn’t get much in the way of cards either at the final table.  Having been whittled to 30k, he pushed in with A8 on hand #9 and was called by Patrick and Eric in the blinds.  The board came A T J K 5, and the blinds showed QJ and Q2 for a four card straight.  Daniel’s top pair wasn’t enough to keep him from being the bubble boy.  We now had our 4 money finishers!

On hand #10 Jay, who had steadily worked his stack up, pushed all in utg for 210k.  Eric and Garrett both called; Eric having Jay covered and Garret looking to triple his 80k.  Garrett took his chances with QJ and it paid off when Jay and Eric both showed AK and the board came J 9 2 5 5.  It was now anyone’s game.

On hand #11, Patrick pushed all in for 80k with the blinds now at 20/40k and Jay called.  Patrick showed QTo and Jay K9d.  Neither player connected with the 7 7 8 2 3 board, and Jay’s King high eliminated Patrick Morgan in 4^th place ($20).

The next few hands were a lot of shoving all in preflop to take the blinds, or checking the flop down.  It wasn’t until hand #20 that Garrett pushed in for 100k with J8o on the button that we saw a significant pot.  Eric after thinking for a minute, called with Q5o in the bb.  The board came Q 5 4 Q 9 and even though he didn’t need it, Eric’s turned full house sent Garrett to the rail in 3^rd place ($30).

Going into heads up Eric had Jay outchipped by roughly 2 to 1 so all it would take is one double up for Jay to take the chip lead away from Eric for the first time.  However, with the blinds at 40/80k there wasn’t much wiggle room and all the chips were in preflop no more than 10 minutes into the match.  Jay limped on the button and Eric pushed all in.  Jay beat him into the pot to show KQ, but Eric was in a commanding position with AK!  The board didn’t improve either hand and Jay was eliminated in 2^nd ($50), while Eric took down the big $200 first place prize with A high.

Congratulations again to Eric Bandy, and to all the players for qualifying!

Final Results:

1)      Eric Bandy - $200

2)      Jay Hayley - $50

3)      Garrett Bary - $30

4)      Patrick Morgan - $20

5)      Daniel Vaughn

6)      Mike Wheeler

7)      Kyle Picone

8)      Shawn Brown

9)      Patrick Roney

10)  Sherri Frost

11)  Bill Wofford

12)  Yvonne Breone

13)  Jason Porter

14)  Paul Rowe

15)  Sabrina Delisle

16)  Archie Mckonnen

PokerStars Launches North American Poker Tour

PokerStars Launches North American Poker Tour

This could get really huge and if successful could kill the WPT in my opinion.

Baby's here, getting a few sessions in

Well my temporary love affair with SNGs has come to a grinding halt now that I'm someone's Dad. My baby Aubrey was born almost 2 weeks ago and since coming home for Kristina it's been an ongoing cycle of feedings, diaper changes, and trying to get sleep in when we can.

With the way things are at the moment I can only really play cash games since I can quite whenever I need to. I love tournaments and I do really want to get refocused on grinding out $5 sngs month to month but until things settle down I just can't.

The last few sessions I was on a little hot streak, for me anyway. One afternoon I was only on for about 30 minutes but made almost 2 buyins just from getting good cards and action. The biggest hand I had was a 3 way pot where we all had flushes and I had the nuts. Everyone hit it on the turn so it turned out to be a decent pot.

I've only been playing the full ring 9 player tables, instead of my normal 6 max preference. The one thing I've noticed is SOOO many players are grinding anywhere from 4-20 tables at a time. I think this just says a lot about the state of poker and how good everyone's gotten, to where there are people all the time grinding out $10 buyin cash games. I mean, you gotta start somewhere but it just means that there are fewer and fewer weak easy money spots online. Now when I sit down I start searching everyone's names and noting how many tables they're at. It's good information to have because the one thing I can safely assume is that they're not fucking around when they put big $ in the pot. Why would they be? They're at so many tables they'd have to really be psychotic or have good reads to be able to splash with so much going on at once.

Joe Cada's on Letterman tonight!

Late Show - This Week's Guests - CBS.com

E:60 Four Days With Phil Ivey - ESPN Video - ESPN

E:60 Four Days With Phil Ivey - ESPN Video - ESPN

World Poker Tour -- Bellagio Festa al Lago Main Event Day 4 - CardPlayer.com

World Poker Tour -- Bellagio Festa al Lago Main Event Day 4 - CardPlayer.com

My man Freddy Deeb gonna wreck shop! Just you watch. Deeb is a pimp and a half.

The defining hand

I took 2nd in a $6.50 knockout the other night which got me a nice little $80 profit. If I'd have made this call I'd have the uber mega chip stack and a better chance at first. As it ended up I was outchipped 4-1 by the time the winner of this hand took the rest of the guys out and lost a flip to get back in it.

I mean look at it and tell me how I could have called after they both shove? If just one is in there I'm all over it, but with the way I played it and the action that came up I don't see how I couldn't think I was beat here.

Of course, really the best action should have been folding preflop, yes I know that. :p

Full Tilt Poker Game #15371626424: $6 + $0.50 KO Sit & Go (112703139), Table 4 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:47:12 ET - 2009/10/16
Seat 2: Dray (65,566)
Seat 7: ser-il76 (86,828)
Seat 8: joeashsnow23 (63,856)
Seat 9: PrematureFlush (53,750)
Dray antes 750
ser-il76 antes 750
joeashsnow23 antes 750
PrematureFlush antes 750
Dray posts the small blind of 3,000
ser-il76 posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Jd 8h]
joeashsnow23 folds
PrematureFlush calls 6,000
Dray calls 3,000
ser-il76 checks
*** FLOP *** [6h 4c Jc]
Dray checks
ser-il76 bets 80,078, and is all in
PrematureFlush calls 47,000, and is all in
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray folds
ser-il76 shows [Js 7d]
PrematureFlush shows [Qc Tc]
Uncalled bet of 33,078 returned to ser-il76
*** TURN *** [6h 4c Jc] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [6h 4c Jc 3h] [3s]
ser-il76 shows two pair, Jacks and Threes
PrematureFlush shows a pair of Threes
ser-il76 wins the pot (115,000) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 115,000 | Rake 0
Board: [6h 4c Jc 3h 3s]
Seat 2: Dray (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: ser-il76 (big blind) showed [Js 7d] and won (115,000) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
Seat 8: joeashsnow23 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: PrematureFlush (button) showed [Qc Tc] and lost with a pair of Threes

WOW - Awesome comment on AJ Benza's blog

So I was reading the link from the last entry about Benza being booted from High Stakes Poker, and then I found the comments below from an apparent anonymous person at GSN. So it sounds like he's being replaced by Vanessa Rousso who I really don't care for at all, but man this anonymous comment is AMAZING! Calling everyone out:


Anonymous said...

I have to post this anonymously because under the Nazi-like environment that David Goldhill has created at GSN, I know they will try and identify and fire me. I've even gone so far as to have someone else post this and send from their computer so there's nothing that can identify me. He's even rewritten in his own language and spelling because he's a better writer than me and this way they can't recognize any style that's mine.
As long as you're naming names, from GSN's side of things, credit for the success of High Stakes Poker goes to one person: Kevin Belinkoff. He was a long time GSN executive who was forced out about a year ago, just after the production of the last season of High Stakes Poker. Belinkoff campaigned vigoursly on the show's behalf. The stories of his own compulsive gambling are legendary. He would work every angle he could to keep the show going. Other the AJ, he was the only one who would talk the press to promote the show. He'd work with GSN's ad sales department to woo advertisers. The giant billboard in Las Vegas was his idea. And it was Belinkoff's idea to cast AJ Benza as the host with Gabe Kaplan, seeing the need for a non-poker expert to balance out the show. Beyond that, Belinkoff stayed out of the way and let the show become the best poker show on television.
But when Goldhill arrived a little more than two years ago, there was no room for intelligent or creative thought at GSN. Countless longtime executives were forced out, including Belinkoff's boss, a harmless British guy named Jamie Roberts. He was replaced by Kelly Goode, a black woman with a chip on her shoulder and no idea about game shows, poker shows, reality shows, or anything other than the horrible crap she developed before she got chased out at Lifetime. She went to Harvard --she'll mention that any chance she gets--but this is not an intelligent woman. She has no people skills, no creative instincts, and it's well known throughout GSN and outside that she has no idea what she's doing. Belinkoff quickly left after her hiring, but it's unkown whether that was his choice or he was fired.
Goode is disliked by virtually everyone at GSN. She micromanages her department and makes everyone miserable. There are countless stories of television executives like that, but they are successful and know what they're doing. Goode is incompetent. The only people that like her are David Goldhill and his Nazi right hand Steve Brunell. Every decision made at the network, large and small, goes through those two guys. Goode is merely their puppet and with no real authority or job to do, she spends her time making everyone else miserable.
October 12, 2009 10:19 AM
Anonymous said...

Goode had it out for AJ from day one. No one is exactly sure why. It was likely that she wanted to make changes at her new job to assert her authority. That's not unusual, but it's better when they know what they're doing and have some track record of success. Belinkoff refused to replace AJ on the last season of the show. It doesn't require you knowing a whole lot about television to know that once the audience is comfortable with one host, you face a huge risk replacing him with another. It' good to take risks, but not when you have no clue what you're doing.
Without Belinkoff, production of the last season of High Stakes Poker was overseen by Mike Bevan. He's a nice guy and is best known for sitting in his office and playing solitaire on his computer for hours on end. The show wasn't as good, but it's the great poker play that people care about, and with the new players in the mix, the show still worked. But the ratings didn't show that. GSN stopped doing any kind of promotion or marketing for the show. After long time success on Monday nights, they moved it to Sunday and put on five consecutive hours of the show. Ratings suffered and it looked like Goldhill would get his wish and poker would disappear from GSN.
But everything Goldhill and Brunell have done at GSN has been an expensive failure. They spent a small fortune buying out contracts of top level executives. Expensive programming initiatives like the Game Show Awards and a live show on Saturday night have been colossol failures. Their own arrogance led to losing their most popular new show, Lingo, and most of the classic old shows. As sponsors have fled the network in the wake of their incompetence, the ad sales representives came to Goldhill and Brunell with a simple message: The only thing anyone cares about any more on this network is High Stakes Poker. When faced with the amount of money GSN would lose if they cancelled the show, they reluctantly ordered another season, more than one year after the previous one.
But now, the collection of non-poker playing incompetents took over. They cut the show's budget. So the new season will have fewer cameras and lower production value than ever before. David Schiff, who made the move to take over the show after firing Bevan, says a female host will bring in more female viewers. Read that again. The change to Vanessa Rousso isn't designed to bring in more men. Schiff thinks that she'll add more female viewers to the audience. At no point was a single person who knows anything about poker or the show consulted. Rousso was hired without an audition. Nugent was brought in as the head of talent, but he has little authority either. His greatest contribution is an upcoming reality show with Carny Wilson, and early reports on it is that her crass style won't sit well with viewers. So with one stupid decision after another, Goldhill and his crew of scared incompetents have ruined GSN and its best shows.
Someone at GSN will see this and there will be an investigation trying to figure out who I am. I hope that they don't identify the wrong person and fire them, but the environment at GSN is a horrible one and they do everything they can to silence any dissent. AJ, you know everything I say here is true. Thank you for having the balls to say something.

AJ Benza's replaced on High Stakes Poker

Yup he's getting replaced by a female cohost apparently. He's not too happy about it either. Read his blog about it here

Phil Ivey Interview from WSOPE