Stud Hi/Lo Final Table

Tonight was the final table of Event #33 that I mentioned in the last post. First things first, we had to get through Day 2. Day 2 was yesterday... and today. We started at 3:00pm with 120 players and had to play down to the final eight before we could leave for the night. Morning, rather. Play very sleepily concluded just before 7:30am. To say it was a long day would be a gross understatement. That is the nature of the job though, particularly on day twos. Because of the rocky tight filming schedule for final tables, ESPN insists that we play all the way down to the final grouping by the end of the day, regardless of how many we start with. So far, I have pulled a couple of 6:30 mornings, and now one 7:30 morning. What a bitch. Howard Lederer was the final table bubble boy, more on him in a minute.

So today was the final eight players, being that it was a stud event. It truly was a great tournament to cover because of the pro factor, and we still had a few left at the start of today. Annie Duke is one of my favorites, and she was alive and playing fantastic poker. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was there, as well as Marcel Luske, The Flying Dutchman. I have something of a pseudo-personal connection with each of those players. Ferguson was the very first pro I ever met in person, at the Turning Stone in upstate New York. I got to meet Annie Duke the last time I was in Vegas, at her and her brother's poker camp. Her brother is the aforementioned Howard Lederer, and I got to have lunch with him at said poker camp. It was disappointing to see him go out on the bubble; a Duke/Lederer final table would have been legendary. And Marcel Luske was there at that camp, and Dallas and I got to have an excellent poker conversation with him. I always hated Marcel until I got the chance to meet and talk to him in person. He is the kindest, friendliest man on the planet, and has one hell of a poker mind. The way he speaks about the game is way above board. So, I was rooting for all three of these players today.

Unfortunately, none of them were able to take it down. Annie was the first to go, in 5th place. Marcel was right behind her in 4th. Chris made it to heads up, with a big chip lead no less. A couple hours before the finish, he had his opponent, Sebastian Ruthenberg, down to just 150,000 chips, while he was sitting on over 2.4 million. At one point, Ruthenberg was all in, but leading with two pair. Ferguson had one card to come, and he had a flush draw and a higher two pair draw for the win, plus a low draw to chop the pot. He blanked off though, when a raggy [9d] hit him on seventh street. One card away from the bracelet, and he missed it. Ruthenberg never quit though, and in the end he was able to best the pro and take home the bracelet. It was disappointing for me (much moreso for him, no doubt), but still a fantastic spectacle to watch.

Tomorrow, I have another stud final table to cover, this one not populated by any big names. One redeeming feature about this one is that it's not Hi/Lo, so the endless string of split pots won't be an issue. It's going to be lame, but at least it will mean a short day -- *fingers crossed. If all goes well, I should be out of there well before midnight. And Dallas is in town, so I should have something fun to do afterwards.

That's all... it's getting light again, and I need to catch up on some sleepage.