Poker After Dark Week 11 Recap

By Dennis Oehring

While watching Week 11 of Poker After Dark, it was easy to see just how much winning meant to each of the players. The table talk, for the most part, was strictly business, and at times even got personal as players took issue with some comments made by others. Almost everyone at the table enjoyed the chip lead at one time or another during the match, but in the end, Jennifer Harman prevailed and won the $120,000 winner-take-all prize. She also earned well-deserved bragging rights over what turned out to be a very tough table.

What had to make the victory even sweeter for Harman was that she found herself down to only $4000 in chips on Day 3 when her pocket nines did not hold up against Jennifer Tilly's 5 6 after a flop of 4 8 5. Harman called Tilly's all in bet and had her covered, but a 5 on the river gave Tilly trips and left Harman with only 20% of her original stack. But Harman fought back, and eventually found herself with a 3:2 chip lead going into heads-up play.

On Day 2, Erick Lindgren found himself all in with A Q against Phil Gordon's pocket nines. When Lindgren didn't improve, he was left with only $100 in chips as Gordon doubled up. Erick would be eliminated soon thereafter in 6th place by Jennifer Tilly's pocket aces.

It took two more episodes before the next player would be eliminated. Jennifer Tilly called a short-stacked Phil Gordon's all in preflop bet with pocket nines, and was a favorite over Gordon's A 2. A board of J 2 3 10 Q did not help Gordon, and Tilly had claimed her second victim going into the last episode.

But Tilly would go out in 4th place when she moved all in preflop with an A 7 against Patrik Antonius' K J. Tilly caught a 7 on the flop, but Antonius spiked a J on the river to send Tilly to chat with Shana Hiatt about her aggressive play.

Next to be eliminated would be Phil Ivey, who on the short stack, moved all in preflop with A 4, only to be called by Jennifer Harman's dominating A 10. A flop of J K 10 all but sealed Ivey's fate, and the running 4s he needed to win the pot or a Q to split it did not materialize on the turn or the river, leaving Harman and Antonius to battle it out heads-up.

With the blinds at $2000/$4000, Harman, with the chip lead, found pocket 6s and raised preflop to $12,000. Antonius went all in with pocket 3s, inducing a call from Harman, who found herself a 4:1 favorite. Patrik couldn't catch one of the two outs that he needed to double through Harman, and Jennifer won the match.

In all, another highly entertaining week on Poker After Dark, and one that generated considerable discussion on various Internet poker forums. In providing a format where viewers can see not only poker played by the game's best players but also get a better insight into their personalities, the interest generated by the show is probably just what network executives and producers envisioned during its infancy stages.