Championship Sunday
Monday, January 19, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Yesterday millions of folks tuned in to watch the NFL Championship games. God knows I did–I’m from Pittsburgh, I bleed Black and Gold, and after an emotionally-draining rollercoaster of a game I’m basking in the glow of gridiron glory. But even with the Steelers locked in trench warfare with the hated Ravens my attention was diverted yesterday. A million dollars can catch just about anybody’s eye.
Because that’s what was on the line yesterday during the final event of the UltimateBet Online Championship. We’d guaranteed a $1 million prize-pool, but with an astonishing 1,115 entrants we easily eclipsed that figure. And it was a star-studded field, with the full roster of Team UB pros playing and scores of online superstars taking to the tables in hopes of taking down the $245,188.50 first prize.
It took nearly twelve hours for the winner to finally reveal himself, but as you look at the final table you get some idea of the caliber of the field:
And two of those online superstars tangled in the first decisive hand of the final table, as Thayer “UCF_THAYER” Rasmussen used pocket Tens to send Steve “ZUGWAT” Silverman out in 9th place, good for a $18,955 payday. Mohsin “CHICAGOCARDS1″ Charania then eliminated UBRAMAUCCH when he called an all-in with pocket Nines and they held up. UBRAMAUCHH collected $26,760 for finishing eighth, and after being knocked out in 7th place METROCAT took home a tidy $37,352.50.
CHICAGOCARDS1 was the next to be eliminated, but before you feel too bad for him you should know that in addition to the $48,502 he collected for finishing sixth he also final-tabled another major event last night (at another, unnamed site…OK it was Full Tilt) and that’s not a bad evening’s work. BOOTSWILD was next to go, winning $59,652.50 after he was taken out by the two pair Hafiz “YUNGMONEY209″ Khan made holding Ace-Jack. And then it was Dave “DOUBLEDAVE22″ D’Alesandro’s time to go–after some good-natured banter at the table about how well he’d been running, UCF_THAYER brought an end his final-table run when he rivered a flush to send DOUBLEDAVE22 out in 4th, good for a $71,917.50 payday.
And so the three-handed battle commenced between Thayer “UCF_THAYER” Rasmussen, Shane “THEBUBBLE1″ Pacheco and YUNGMONEY209. UCF_THAYER had the shortest stack of the three but was still very much in contention before his somewhat unfortunate hand. THEBUBBLE1 shoved from the small blind and UCF_THAYER made the call holding As-5s. His hand led THEBUBBLE1’s 9c-7c, but the 4h-7d-6s flop paired THEBUBBLE1 while giving UCF_THAYER an open-ended straight draw to go with his Ace. But the board ran out 6d and Jc and as Pacheco typed “gg sir, sry bout that” Rasmussen was eliminated in third, with $99,792,50 to console him.
The heads-up battle began with the players holding nearly identical stacks and neither was able to land a serious blow until THEBUBBLE1 won a big pot after turning a straight to give him a 2-1 chiplead. But YUNGMONEY209 turned the tables when THEBUBBLE1 re-raised all-in holding Kc-3c and YUNGMONEY209 called holding pocket Jacks. They held up and just that fast YUNGMONEY209 had a $4M to $1.5M lead.
A lead he never relinquished. After the two traded chips back and forth for a dozen hands THEBUBBLE1 open-shoved from the button and YUNGMONEY209 made the call holding pocket Fours. He was racing against THEBUBBLE1’s Qs-10S and with a UBOC title and nearly a quarter of a million dollars on the line it came down to your typical coin-flip situation.
And this time the pocket pair carried the day, as the 2c-5d-Kh flop didn’t change the status quo. The 9s on the turn gave THEBUBBLE1 a gutshot draw to go with his overcards, but the river brought the 7h and that was all she wrote. THEBUBBLE1 won $144,615.50 for finishing as our runner-up, but after nearly twelve hours of battle it was Hafiz “YUNGMONEY209″ Khan who won the $245,188.50 first-prize and the coveted UBOC championship title.
Tags: chicagocards1, dave d'alesandro, hafiz khan, hafizzle, shane pacheco, steve silverman, thay3r, thayer rasmussen, ub, ub tournaments, UBOC, uboc championship, UCF_THAYER, ultimatebet, ultimatebet online championship, ultimatebet tournaments, yungmoney209, zugwat
