Poker After Dark Week 8 Recap

By Dennis Oehring

I doubt few would have predicted that Chris Ferguson, who started the last episode with only $9000 in chips when the blinds were $800/$1600, would emerge as this week's winner. This match featured more swings than an elementary school playground.

On the second day of the match, Sam Farha was the first player eliminated when he flopped a pair of jacks with a king kicker, only to lose to Ted Forrest's pair of jacks with an ace kicker. Talking with Shana Hiatt after the match, Sam admitted that he played too fast, and that this style of play, which Farha is known for, was probably the wrong strategy in this format.

Ted Forrest, the consensus favorite to win the match according to one poll conducted on an Internet forum, was eliminated shortly after Farha when his top pair and gutshot straight draw fell victim to Tony G's set of nines. This would set up nearly three episodes of fourhanded play before the next player would be eliminated.

The players passed their chips back and forth, dodging elimination on several occasions. At the start of play on the last episode, Tony G had over half the chips in play, and Ferguson was the decided underdog with less than 5 times the big blind in chips. But Tony would lose a couple of hands, giving Hansen the lead and making the spread only $18,000 between him and Ferguson on short stack when the blinds reached $1500/$3000.

Clonie Gowen pushed in her remaining $22,800 in chips from the small blind with a suited Q 8 against Gus Hansen in the big blind, but Gus woke up with a pair of kings to eliminate Gowen in 4th place. Hansen now had half of the chips in play when three-handed action began, but then the following hand came down.

Ferguson found pocket aces on the button, and moved all in for his last $20,500 in chips. Hansen went all in with a Q 8 suited, and Tony G called with an A 9. Ferguson's aces held up for the main pot, tripling him up, while Tony won the side pot with his ace high, and Chris now found himself the chip leader and Gus the short stack.

Hansen would then move all in for his last $20,900 with the K 10 of spades, but Ferguson called with pocket threes. Hansen did not improve, and play was now heads-up between Chris and Tony, with Ferguson enjoying a 2:1 chip advantage.

The conclusion of the match came quickly, as Chris picked up K Q and raised enough preflop to put Tony all in. With a K J, Tony called, only to find himself dominated. A flop of 9 3 J gave Tony the lead in the hand, but Chris picked up additional outs with a gutshot straight draw, needing either a Q or a 10 to avoid doubling Tony up. The turn blanked, but the river brought the 10 Chris needed to complete his straight and win the match. Congratulations, Chris, on a most impressive victory!