For the past few years the Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout places on the last Sunday of each month. A culmination of battles in the SnG arena where the point system set up according to the buy-in level at which the players choose to built their bankrolls. Some players like Team Online’s Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez and March 2012’s winner Jackal69 have become regulars in this month-end reward for the dedicated SnG player. Tonight, 455 fellow SnG enthusiasts joined Javier at this freeroll to take a shot at the $12,000.00 first prize and after three hours and winning two SnGs, only the eight others at the final table stood between him and the title.
It was tournament that should have ended at the first table during the opening 10/20 blind level where Dominguez got his money in good with pocket kings versus pocket eights of Muha 77 and watched nearly his entire starting stack slide to the Kazakhstan rounder when an eight hit the flop. Instead of giving up, Javier dug in and doubled up off MarToMchat with a reversal of fortune for the Spaniard as he hit the lucky two-outer of pocket sevens versus MarToMchat’s eights. A mere half-hour later Javier was heads up against Muha 77 with a 7,160 to 1,840 chip lead as Dominguez shoved 5♦ Aâ™ into Muha 77’s pocket sixes 6♥ 6♦ and watched the board spit out two high pairs 9♥ 10♣ Q♥ Q♦ 9♣ to counterfeit the sixes and move Javier to the second round where all 81 first table winners were assured at least $195.00.
On to the second round with nine full tables of nine and the Team Online player would once against stand over his opponents but this time it would take a little longer. With the blinds at 100/200 and Javier sitting on a 9,240 to 4,260 chip lead Javier would min-raise from the button as Mudrik shoved all-in. Holding a decent ace Q♥ A♦ Javier would make the call. Mudrik’s A♥ 5â™ almost found a way to win after turning an open ended straight draw 8â™ 8♥ 7♥ 6♣ but the barely missed 3â™ river would vault Javier to the final table below:
Seat 1: nabroden (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: L1VE FOREVER (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: cj19841029 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: bogdaniel111 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Team Online Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: ZOUZOUNI1998 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: kaplake (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: stralucescu (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: danhp134 (1500 in chips)
In what is becoming commonplace for this tournament, someone always tries to get the table to join in for a nine-way chop and usually gets a few nods. However, not all were looking to deal and some, like Javier, simply stayed slient and wanted to play it out.
Game on!
Despite the continued pleas for a chop, the players could not reach everyone into dealing up the final table cash as play continued as normal with all nine surviving into the 25/50 blind level when danhp134 and cj19841029 found themselves wrapped up into 2,725 chip pot after a 2♦ A♥ 10♦ flop. cj19841029 covered and flipped up top pair top kicker Kâ™ Aâ™ as danhp134’s 10â™ A♦ out-flopped big slick and rode the two pair on the turn 6â™ and river 9♦ to victory collecting the chip lead.
Three hands later cj19841029 was all-in for 150 chips and danhp134 scooped up those as well giving cj19841029 ninth place cash ($775.00).
Nabroken
After the blinds moved up to 50/100 so did the action. nabroden holding just 889 chips on the button would raise to 250 as bogdaniel111 shoved and covered holding a suited big slick A♣ K♣ . No position raise here as nabroden was happy to call with pocket queens Q♦ Q♣ . Happy until the turned king 6♥ 3♠9♠K♥ 7♦ at least as nabroden was broken in eighth place ($1,200.00).
Javier wakes up
Watch below as the Team Online member finds a double up in the critical 75/150 blind level after remaining around the 1,500 starting chip stack the entire table:
Flipping big slick K♦ Aâ™ against danhp134’s jacks Jâ™ J♥ proved to be profitable, as Javier found an ace on the flop 7♥ A♦ 2♥ 9♣ 3♥ taking down the 3,470 chip pot giving him a little breathing room. danhp134 however went searching for those lost chips and decided to take them from someone else. Three hands after doubling up Dominguez, danhp134 would call kaplake’s short 855 chip shove from the big blind holding Aâ™ 6♣ . kaplake’s Q♦ 9♦ failed to find the necessary connection on the 4♣ 6â™ J♣ 4♦ K♥ board to take seventh place ($1,700.00).
Not immortal
As the blinds moved up to 100/200 Javier would wittled down to 1,136 chips as bogdaniel111 made raised to 550 from UTG as it folded around to L1VE FOREVER who shoved from the big blind for 2,772 chips. Holding big slick Kâ™ Aâ™ and covering, bogdaniel111 made the call. L1VE FOREVER’s Q♣ A♣ was in need of improvement and could not find it on the 7♥ 6♥ 4♦ A♥ 3♣ board ending the tournament life of the immortal L1VE FOREVER in sixth place ($2,200.00).
Team Online’s Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez Finishes in fourth place
Definitely a case of the “haves” and “have nots” with the blinds still at 100/200 bogdaniel111 was sitting on a 6,858 chip stack as only danhp134 had slightly over the starting chip stack. ZOUZOUNI1998 and stralucescu decided to combine similar stacks while shoving all-in preflop for a 2,910 chip pot. Pocket jacks Jâ™ J♣ for ZOUZOUNI1998 as stralucescu showed two overs Qâ™ Kâ™ for the coin flip. Nothing over a seven hit the 3♥ 4♥ 5♣ 5♥ 7♥ board and stralucescu hit the rail in fifth place.
On the very next hand right before the fourth hourly break “El_Cañonero” felt the pressure to double up immediately and call all-in to danhp134’s button shove holding J♥ Qâ™ . The two face cards would need a little love on the board against danhp134’s small ace A♦ 5♣ . Perhaps the dealer found the Omaha Hi-Lo deck as another all-low board came out 3♥ 8â™ 6♥ 2♣ 6♣ ending the Team Online’s tournament in fourth place ($3,350.00).
10 plus 5 does not equal a chop
Five minute hourly break plus a 10 minute discussion over giving $300.00 to bogdaniel111 did not end well. No amount of maneuvering got the chip leader to budge nor the other two players from giving more as play moved on.
Three was crowd
Just the second hand back from the break danhp134 and ZOUZOUNI1998 decided to further the compacting of the chip stacks by shoving preflop for a 6,524 chip pot that would challenge bogdaniel111 for the title. Watch the last hand before the chop take place below:
danhp134 had the bigger kicker and bigger chip stack as the VIP Supernova flipped up big slick A♥ K♣ facing off against ZOUZOUNI1998’s Aâ™ 9♥ . Hitting the kicker did not happen Jâ™ 5♦ 10â™ 3♥ 7♥ as ZOUZOUNI1998 had to claim a few thousand less after the chop talks broke down cashing in $4,500.00 in third place.
Immediately the final two sat out until the PokerStars Host hopped back on the table to assist with the much quicker financial resolution seen below:
bogdaniel111 $9,500.00
danhp134 $10,000.00
After locking up the funds bogdaniel111 and danhp134 threw the worthless chips into the middle as danhp134’s 5♥ 6â™ found a six on the K♥ Kâ™ 6♥ A♦ 4♦ board to take the official May Battle of the Planets triple shootout victory!
Players entered: 457
Prize Pool: $50,000.00
Buy-in: Freeroll
$50,000 May Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll results (05-27-12):
( * denotes part of two-way deal )
1. danhp134 (Colombia) *$10,000.00
2. bogdaniel111 (Romania) *$9,500.00
3. ZOUZOUNI1998 (Greece) $4,500.00
4. El_Cañonero (Spain) $3,350.00
5. stralucescu (Romania) $2,735.00
6. L1VE FOREVER (United Kingdom) $2,200.00
7. kaplake (Russia) $1,700.00
8. nabroden (Belarus) $1,200.00
9. cj19841029 (China) $775.00
