Live Bloggin the ToC

12:25 pm ET: It's over!! Ck pushes allin for 20k and actyper hesitates before calling with Q8o and a massive stack. An 8 on the turn and ck's WSOP Main Event dreams are history. JJok and actyper will win the 10k prize packages, and karmarules and ck31 take down the 2k scores. Congrats to all involved in the BBT4 and the Tournament of Champions!

12:20 pm ET: karmarules was gone in 4th place before I could even open up the window to see how she busted. It's actyper with a sick chip lead, jj at 46k and ck at 20k, with the top two finishers winning the 10k seats.

12:19 pm ET: I busted on the bubble in 5th place when I took ATs, easily the best hand I received in the past three hours, and ran it into a flopped set on a QT4 flop where I just couldn't put actyper on a Queen. actyper, jjok, ck31 and karmarules will share in the 24k in prizes being put up by full tilt for the BBT4 ToC.

12:14 pm ET: actyper has opened up another big chip lead, up at 79k to jj's 41k and my 39k. All five players remaining are reasonably close other than actyper, with even the last place stack sitting currently at 22k. It's still wide open folks.

12:06 pm ET: ck's AT turns broadway and bests big chipleader actyper's QQ for another double up for ck. as actyper drops out of the chip lead, one hand later he is allin with AK vs the A7 of qrs, and AK holds. qrs is out in 6th, and we are up to the cash bubble in the ToC. I'm still at 39k, but that is now 4th of 5 after all the sucking out going on at this table.

12:06 pm ET: ck doubles up again with 55 against kickyourace's KQs. kick is out, we are down to 6. actyper remains out in front with 72k, and I am still second with 43k, with jj right behind me at 40k.

11:55 pm ET: Fourth break is here. Here are the chip counts:

actyper -- 60,230
hoyazo -- 43,423
jjok -- 41,032
karmarules -- 29,402
qrs1 -- 26,172
kickyourace -- 10,624
ck31 -- 9117

Still anybody's game as I've been saying. Blinds will resume at 800-1600 with a 200 ante after the 5 minute break.

11:52 pm ET: I just took out smboatdrinks after karmarules sucked out against him with Q9o over boat's AK. Down to 7 left, and my stack rises slightly to 40k, still 3rd place of 7 remaining.

11:50 pm ET: actyper's KJs outlasts iaatg's A5o allin preflop and iaatg is the first player out of the BBT4 ToC final table. Meanwhile, actyper's stack has swelled to the large chip lead, sitting at 73k while jj remains in 2nd place with 41k and me with 37k. Break time coming up again shortly.

11:37 pm ET: Massive postflop suckout by ck after smboatdrinks correctly instacalled ck's flop push with 93 on a 972 flop. CK immediately nailed a second 7 on the turn to double through smboatdrinks. Still all 9 of us remaining at the final table, with me at 38k in chips, back in 3rd place behind jj and actyper.

11:32 pm ET: I drop to 34k in my biggest chip loss of the night when my 33 runs into the final table short stack's AA. That puts me in 4th of 9, behind jj and actyper in the mid 40s, and now SmBoatdrinks at 35k as well. Still anyone's game, but if the short stack did not pick up AA again at the final table I would be ok with that too. ;)

11:28 pm ET: Heffmike is out on the final table bubble and we are down to 9 remaining. Unfortunately it was once again jj who recaptured the chip lead from me when his TT bested heffmike's AJ, putting jj now in first with 49k and me in 2nd place as the final table begins with 41k in chips.

11:22 pm ET: I just eliminated F-Train when he reraised me allin and I opted to call with my A9o after seeing F-Train push allin a few times in the past half hour or so. He flipped up A8o and my kicker held to bump me up to 42k and back into the chip lead. Seconds later, smokkee lost his first race of 2009 and we are down to 10 players remaining. I am in the lead with 43k, with actyper in 2nd with 39k and jj at 38k. Still anyone's game, but we are now just one player away from the ToC final table.

11:16 pm ET: Shabazz Jenkins is out in 13th place after KQ flopped a boat against him allin preflop. 12 runners left, all of my top 5 in odds are now eliminated. I've been stealing like a banshee, haven't had a good hand in over an hour at this point, and am happy to be clinging to my third place position with still 27k in chips. jj and actyper still each hold 37k for the top two spots on the current leaderboard.

11:07 pm ET: Update: I understand that stoner has just busted in 3rd place in WSOP Event #13, when his AK could not beat KK and he loses to the tough loss to swallow 3-handed. That said, I'm expecting that the $202,000 stoner just won will help him to swallow the loss, at least just a little bit. Congratulations sprstoner!!!

11:03 pm ET: sprstoner is down to 3 left in the $2500 nlh WSOP event #13. And I have lost my lead in the BBT4 ToC, as jjok calls down jamyhawks allin push with a short stack and with jj's 88. The 88 held and jj moves to 36k vs my 29k, and as I write this, actyper eliminates Snarf as well, jumping his own stack up to 35k and placing me now in third place.

10:55 pm ET: Third break, down to 16 players remaining in the ToC. As mentioned, most of the heavyweights from the BBT4 leaderboard have been eliminated at this point, although for the first time in a couple of hours I have a guy right on my ass at the top of the leaderboard. I am still in first, with 29,935 in chips as we break for 5 minutes, but jj has now climbed to 29,070, while actyper is a close third with 26,597 in chips. It's still anybody's game, but obviously I can't complain about where I'm at with just 12 spots left until the money positions in this badboy.

10:50 pm ET: Whoa! Somehow I missed this, but Jordan is also gone, out in 21st place, so that is yet another of the "Tier I" guys that won't be winning WSOP packages in the BBT4 ToC. The only guy left that I had in that first group is Shabazz Jenkins, who currently sits in 13th place out of 16 remaining.

10:48 pm ET: I elim LJ when I make the mandatory call of her short-stack raise preflop when I hold 66 utg. I hold against A5s and move to 32k, with 2nd place still jj at around 22k in chips.

10:41 pm ET: And another early favorite goes down. Chad is out when he pushed allin from the small blind with K2s, and was instacalled by Vinnay who woke up in the big blind with QQ. Chad is out in 23rd place, and Tony Eusebio goes just a minute later leaving 21 blonkeys remaining. in the ToC. My 28k is now ahead of jj in 2nd place with around 22k in chips.

10:33 pm ET: And another early favorite bites the dust. 1ueensup1 is out of the Tournament of Champions in 25th place of 44 who started 2 and a half hours ago. I didn't see how it happened, but it doesn't really matter I guess. So far TJ and Queensup are both out in the top half of the field, leaving this a wide open race for the 4 wsop prize packages and the two 10k seats. Meanwhile I just raised with, won and showed my fourth hammer of the night. Eat it.

10:26 pm ET: Over 30k and still comfortably in first place after knocking out mclarich who pushed the turn with just an oesd and two unders on a K89 flop (he held 67). I could not find a reason to fold 97o to his stack that is barely a dent in mine, and I dodged 8 outs once for the big jump. Second place is now smboatdrinks at around 15k, so I am still sitting pretty way ahead of the pack with 25 runners left.

10:14 pm ET: Up over 25k as my Q9 outflops ck's TT and I withstand one bet from her before we both wisely check down the river. With 30 runners remaining, I'm just over 25k with second place (still ck) just a shade over 14k. Meanwhile I am out of the 40k per my earlier post. Right now it's just the ToC open on my pc, though that is likely to change as this thing wears on.

9:55pm ET: Second break, and I sit with 21,730 chips, still good for first place with 32 bloggers remaining in the BBT4 Tournament of Champions, about 4k ahead of second place which is ck31 at the moment. My stats through 159 hands in the ToC are pretty effing amazing if I don't say so myself -- I have won an astounding 24 hands preflop (15% of the total hands dealt at my table!), plus another 2 on the flop, 2 on the river, and an equally incredible 10 out of 12 showdowns, which is a testament to my having had AA and KK already tonight in addition to making two straights and a flush all in the first two hours of this thing. That means a total of -- get this -- 23% of the total hands dealt at my table have been won by me, and this at an event that's had 7 or more players at each table throughout and which has been mostly 9-handed. I'm suuuuure that will continue as the ToC rolls on!

9:46pm ET: I just elim'd pushmonkey when he pushed allin on a reraise with what turned out to be AJo against my TT. I got some chips from Snarf in the process as well, but could not get him to commit fully when I flopped a set on a scary JT9 board. The 8 on the turn prevented me from betting, but luckily I held against pm's flopped TPTK and I shot up over 22k in the process.

9:42pm ET: I just took another sickass beat to get essentially eliminated from a poker tournament, this time in the 40k where I got allin with QQ against 77 and A8s, and watched 77 make its set on the turn to send me essentially to the rail. It's hard to believe I still play this game sometimes. Although, I did just double back up and am now only about a third of the average stack with about 200 runners left until the money. Meanwhile, in the ToC I am just over 18k and still in 1st place wth 33 runners remaining.

9:24pm ET: Just elim'd dueyv when he bet half the pot on the flop and I called with an oesd. My oesd filled on the turn, he checked to me and I opted to bet out 2/3 of the pot, which duey quickly raised allin for another 2k more. Holding the nuts, I called of course, expecting to need to fade some outs to a boat, but instead duey showed ATo unimproved and was drawing dead. That bounced me up to 14k and second place, and then the very next hand saw Aposec push allin on a reraise to my pf raise from middle position, which I felt I had to call with AKo. He showed AJo, and somehow another favorite held up, vaulting me over 16k in chips and into first place on the leaderboard with 35 left out of 44 runners who started about 90 minutes ago.

9:20pm ET: Over 10k and into 4th place overall after F-Train instacalled me on the river with his 77, third pair on the board, and lost to my pocket Aces. At the moment the Asshat Frat Crew is representing in a really big way, with Chad in 1st, Don in 3rd and myself in 4th. Goooooo crew!!!!

9:04pm ET: Booom Tuscaloosa Johnny becomes the first of the Tier 1 favorites to be eliminated from the BBT4 Tournament of Champions. TJ flopped bottom set, but lost to flopped broadway. That's brutal. But what a run for TJ, over not just this BBT series but the last two of them overall.

8:56pm ET: First break. I have 8455 in chips, good for fourth place after 55 minutes of play. Meanwhile, at the second break of the 40k, I am 274 out of 480 with just under 5k in chips. Chad is in the final 20 of the Sunday Brawl on full tilt, already in place to win well into the four digits, and sprstoner is in 3rd place with 5 players remaining in WSOP event #13!

8:52pm ET: Up to 8600 in chips after I turned 12 outs, called a 2/3 pot bet against Aposec based purely on implied odds, and then rivered the nut flush. I raised aposec's river bet and he correctly folded with the runner-runner diamond flush showing on the board. I am currently in 2nd place on the leaderboard, but right above me in first with more than twice the starting stack is Chad, who I already had at 6 to 1 as one of the favorite to win this thing. Love that he has that sized stack early.

8:40pm ET: I just nabbed the rest of lucko's 540 remaining chips when he pushed allin ahead of me when I held QQ. He flipped T9s and somehow the biatches held, bumping me over 6000 chips for the first time and into 6th place and simultaeously eliminating one of the toughest players from the ToC field.

8:25pm ET: I got down to 4100 before caling a blind steal from lucko on the button with my K2s. I flopped two more 2s and just smooth called two bets from lucko on the flop and turn, including when I made quad ducks with the case 2 on the turn. On the river I bet out big for the full pot, and lucko called for most of his stack with 73o for the rivered boat. Up to 5900 just like that, good for 10th place out of 43 left as Julkeus has become the first player eliminated from the ToC.

8:07pm ET: First fucking of the night came early, and I managed to minimize the damage in any event. I called a 2/3 pot bet on the flop with a hidden flush draw, made my flush on the turn, but failed to get it allin thank god. The river made a 6-outer boat for aposec and I could have easily been allin there with a massive lead for the early double-up as my opponent held A and was n0t about to fold. Down to 4700 from 5000 starting stack in the very earlygoing.

8:02pm ET: Stole first hand dealt to me on the night with a 3x open-raise from middle position. That's always a good feeling.

8:01pm ET: Shuffle up and deal! I got Al, Snarf, Aposec, duey, F-Train and shipfaced at my starting table. GL to everyone who is playing!

7:48pm ET: Well so much for my nice stack in the 40k. QQ < KK on a Ten-high flop vs. a short stack took care of that one. Ahhh typical, dirty, poker. T minus 10 minutes on the BBT4 ToC!

7:32pm ET: Sprstoner (Shawn Glines) is in the final 8 at WSOP event #14!

7:26pm ET: Just doubled up early in the full tilt 40k, which started at 7pm ET. Called preflop raise with T9s and flopped flush, eventually getting the lone Ace of the flush suit allin on the turn and fading the 8 outs on the river. Gotta love full tilt mtt players.

7:05pm ET: T minus 55 minutes until the BBT4 ToC. Meanwhile, sprstoner is down to the final 10 of WSOP event #14.

5:35pm ET: 44 runners and counting have signed up for tonight's BBT4 Tournament of Champions. Get out here and let's see if we can break 50!!

Just kidding. This is a freeroll and you are only registered if you "earned" your way in by "winning" a BBT4 tournament over the past three months. But you can still come out and watch the junk-kickery!

4:20pm ET: Well, the day is finally here. T minus 3 hours and 40 minutes as I write this until the biggest day of the year in poker blogdom, as far as I'm concerned. Two lucky bloggers will walk way after tonight's BBT4 Tournament of Champions with $10,000 prize packages to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Two more of the 44 runners in tonight's freeroll will snag $2,000 WSOP prize packages for their efforts, with just worse than 1 in 20 odds for everyone to win some kind of cash for the WSOP this summer.

Over the past few days I have done a little writeup on each of the 43 other runners who will be joining me tonight at 9pm ET on full tilt. You can go and read those in my previous three posts before this one. Here is a quick recap of my odds of each player to win, in alpha order as best as I could do in my current state:

125Will -- 20 to 1
1Queensup1 -- 5 to 1
actyper -- 23 to 1
AlCantHang -- 35 to 1
Aposec72 -- 28 to 1
Asphnxma -- 30 to 1
Bone Daddy -- 19 to 1
Buddydank -- 14 to 1
chiefroger -- 35 to 1
ck31 -- 32 to 1
columbo -- 16 to 1
cracknaces -- 7 to 1
Dr. Pauly -- 15 to 1
dueyv9 -- 28 t 1
ElSnarfGrande -- 10 to 1
heffmike -- 9 to 1
highonpoker -- 6 to 1
hoyazo -- 15 to 1
iaatg6296 -- 14 to 1
inguri -- 35 to 1
jamyhawk -- 22 to 1
Jimdniacc -- 17 to 1
jjok -- 27 to 1
Joanne1111 -- 15 to 1
Julkeus -- 20 to 1
karmarules -- 28 to 1
kickyourace -- 24 to 1
lucko21 -- 11 to 1
mclarich -- 24 to 1
Miami Don -- 11 to 1
nightranger -- 22 to 1
pushmonkey72 -- 35 to 1
pvanharibo -- 15 to 1
qrs1 -- 20 to 1
rake feeder -- 29 to 1
rubbishat -- 40 to 1
Shabazz Jenkins -- 9 to 1
ShipFaced -- 18 to 1
SmBoatDrinks -- 18 to 1
smokkee -- 12 to 1
tgrazz -- 33 to 1
Tony Eusebio 20 to 1
Tuscaloosa John -- 7 to 1
Vinnay -- 25 to 1

I'm looking forward to starting up the action in just over 3 and a half hours. In the meantime, go think about sprstoner who is right around average with just 20 runners left in WSOP Event #13, the $2500 nlh tournament that started with 1088 runners and pays out $506,000 and change to the winner.