#306 - Moments of 2007, Part V – The End of Miss Lulu’s Wild Ride
December 27, 2007
THE VALUE OF A KING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Robert folds K-8 and gets K-5 on the following hand. “King-eight’s a better hand but king-five is close –“
Cate: “I HATE king-five.”
“All right,” Dallas says, “I was READY TO RAISE but the wife says, ‘I hate king-five.’ How can I raise when my wife says that?”
A couple hands later, Miss Lulu gets Ad-Kc under the gun. Miss Lulu limps.
Limps? This is a highly-advanced move, or at least an unorthodox move.
Clonie doesn’t like it. “A raise of 300,000 makes them want to come over the top with ace-queen, ace-jack.”
“I don’t want ‘em to come over the top. I want them to be suspicious. Automatically, traheho is thinking, ‘he’s got something, aw, I’ve got fours.’ I might have sixes. ‘I’m really perplexed. What do I do? Robert called instantly. He’s got something.’ This is the problem but this is the reward. Trust me.”
THEOLDLION moves all-in. And then tsarrast moves all-in.
Clonie: “Now you’re folding.”
“Believe it or not, I am folding.” Robert folds.
I protest but I immediately realize that it is an easy fold: with two all-ins, there is a great likelihood that someone has a pocket pair and someone else has one of his aces. (Of course, it’s even worse if someone has aces or kings.)
He doesn’t need to take chances. “I’ll outplay ‘em. I don’t need to gamble.” THEOLDLION has T-T and tsarrast has Ac-K. The flop brings and ace and two clubs. More clubs on the turn and river make tsarrast the nut flush.
It is a remarkable escape for Miss Lulu – trapping with ace-king, giving it up to two all-ins, seeing the possibility have having just four outs for a split, hitting one of those outs, and then losing with the second-nut flush to the nut flush.
Clonie and Robert go back to debating the limp. “I still like the 300,000 bet there.”
“But then I can’t get away from it.” Miss Lulu is getting pretty low on chips, not much more than ten big blinds. It would be hard, after betting 25% of his chips, to fold to anything.
THEOLDLION goes out in seventh and the cramped office space becomes even tighter because Robert needs Clonie’s help to shut off his observer chat and restore the screen background, which he accidentally turned to retina-burning red.
Blinds are now 60,000-120,000.
It’s raised to 350,000. Miss Lulu has Ac-9d. Robert is thinking about it. “I ain’t calling, that’s for sure.” Lulu folds.
Two deuces under the gun. “I’ve got one of the hard decisions right now.” He folds. Clonie restores the Final Table graphic.
Balfarios limps on the button while Robert has the Dog Hand, K-9, in the big blind. Miss Lulu moves all-in, and the small blind and the limper fold. Miss Lulu is up to 1.5 million.
Miss Lulu gets Ah-Jc in the small blind. “I might ship with this hand, I might not. I know everyone else in the world would, but I might not.” Boosted J has raised to 280,000. Miss Lulu pushes all-in.
“CATE! CATE FROM N.C. STATE! GET IN HERE!”
Cate rushes in.
“No insta-call. That’s good.” We take turns speculating on Boosted J’s two cards for what seems like fifteen minutes. Boosted folds.
DALLAS THREATENS TO WREAK HAVOC ON THE FINAL TABLE
Q-7o. Fold.
“I’m gonna get it on like Donkey King, that’s all I’m gonna tell you.”
Clonie: “You have to put maximum pressure on them. The blinds are too big. You can’t limp. You can’t screw around.”
Deuces in the cut-off. I want him to push.
“They got overcards. Sometimes, I play deuces like they’re aces. But these are aggressive players. Boosted J could make a play over the top of that and I can’t call.” He folds.
Miss Lulu picks up Malt Liquor in the big blind, 4-5s. “There’s a lot I like about this hand. A lot of straights, a lot of flushes.” But when tsarrast moves in for 6.3 million, it appears Malt Liquor has lost its potent kick.
4h-8h in the small blind. Fold.
tsarrast has 6.5M, Boosted 2.3M, Lulu 1.7M, Mych 1.5M, traheho 1.5M, Balfarios 1.1M.
Balfarios finished in sixth.
A couple hands later, Miss Lulu gets two red nines in the small blind.
Clonie: “All-in, that’s your only move.”
Robert: “No it’s not.”
Clonie: “Alright.”
It is checked around and Lulu pushes in for 1.54 million.
Mych folds but before he does he types, “Your time will come Lulu.”
On the button, Lulu gets As-6c. It is folded around and Lulu bets 360.000. “If they come over the top, I’ll lay it down.” MychKumstien in fact does come over the top, has does traheho in the big blind. They both get it all in. Q-Q for traheho, A-9 for Mych.
“No ace, no ace, no ace.”
There is no ace. “I look like the smartest man in America.” Mych, finishing fifth, gets $66,752.75.
traheho $5M
Boosted J $4.6M
tsarrast $4.2M
Miss Lulu $1.9M
On the next hand, Miss Lulu pushes all-in with 6-6, but the big stacks don’t do anything careless. They all fold.
“Come on. I want to gamble. But I want to gamble with 2-to-1 the best of it.”
Q-To? Folded. “I’ve got fifteen big blinds. I don’t have to make a move, but if I do, it’s all-in.”
Everyone heaves a sigh of relief as we go on break. When we return, it will be 80,000-160,000. Lulu has 1.4M. traheho has the lead 5.5M. Boosted J and tsarrast both have 4.5M.
It’s 3 AM.
OCTO-CRAB, KING JACKOFF, AND THE END OF MISS LULU
Lulu is showing tremendous patience at this final table. I couldn’t show this much patience and, in my online final-table experience, never have. Miss Lulu is here because of that patience. On the other hand, for all Dallas’s claims of waiting to outplay his opponents, his refusal to take chances has prevented him (as well as from busting) from accumulating a stack big enough to outplay opponents. It’s all-in-or-fold for Miss Lulu and, unless Miss Lulu gets a monster and gets called by a lesser monster, anyone who calls will have a good chance to take Lulu out.
8-3o, on the button.
“Octo-Crab!” bellows Dallas. “Now that’s a name hand. Miss Lulu folds Octo-Crab on hand #2 of four-handed play.
Hand #3, under the gun (which is also the cut-off position when playing four-handed) is K-Jo, the infamous King Jackoff.
“Oompa!” Miss Lulu puts it all in. traheho takes a long time but calls, with pocket sixes, The Devil in Disguise. It’s a race, with Miss Lulu slightly behind but with plenty of opportunity to double up.
An instant after the flop, Robert bolts out of his seat, past me and out into the hallway. What he saw, in a flash, takes a moment to register with me. 6-3-7. Miss Lulu is drawing dead.
A few seconds later, Robert Williamson III is out in fourth place, earning $89,271.75.
Clonie: “This was a big, big tournament. 3,200 players?”
Robert: “So now you’re gonna tell me that there are only three players better than me?”
Me: “No, Robert. As least one of those guys was lucky to get that far. You’re definitely better than that guy.”
Robert: “You sonuvabitch! I knew you were gonna say that!” After the laughs die down, he adds, “I was gonna say it too.”
Even though it’s past 3 AM, less than two minutes after he is out, Robert’s phone starts ringing.
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