9:30pm BOB REYNOLDS IS THE CHAMP

Pat made a great laydown early in headsup play when Bob hit a flush on the turn.  Unfortunately he lost half of his stack as a result.  Shortly afterward, Bob finished him off to become our champion. 

A good crowd had gathered for the final table and Bob's cheering section was boisterous.  What a finish to an action-packed tournament.  It was the earliest we had ever finished a one-day championship event. 

9:00pm HEADS UP

In 3-way action, Pat Thelen and Jamie Hajek were decided underdogs due to their tiny chip stacks compared to Bob Reynold's monster stack...Both players were getting blinded out basically and I thought for a moment they were waiting for each other to bust.  Finally, Jamie pushed and Pat called.  Jamie had the best hand but Pat caught runner-runner flush (how many times have we seen this today?) and finished Jamie in 3rd place.  Jamie receives $200 cash for his accomplishment. 

Busting Jamie will really help Pat's chances to compete with Bob. 

Pat 172k
Bob 468k

One double up and Pat could have a real chance for an upset...

8:55pm THREE MORE GONE

Cindy VanMaanen - 4th

Troy Bonin - 5th 

Adam Bertsch - 6th

Cindy busted when she was put to the test by Bob.  After calling a preflop raise, Bob moved all-in on the flop and Cindy called with ace high after a long pause.  I can't blame her for calling here because Bob had been showing a lot of bluffs plus she had over 1/3 of her chips in play.  Bob had top pair in this situation and Cindy didn't catch one of her overcards.  Tough way to go, but a valiant effort indeed.

8:40pm

Scott Akert busted in 8th place.  Scott had a great tournament but came up short in the end. 

Dori Thompson busted in 7th.  She had an amazing run to get to 7th considering she started the final table with only 4k.  

BOB BUSTED DAN HART WITH RUNNER-RUNNER FLUSH IN A 160K POT

The hand of the tournament.  Bob is now the monster chip leader.  Dan raised preflop and Bob called with position.  The board gave Dan top pair with a queen kicker and he bet the flop.  Bob came over the top for all of his chips and Dan made the call after going into the tank...Good call, Bob was bluffing ace-high.  However runner runner diamonds gave Bob the incredible knockout. 

It is really going to be hard to stop Bob now.  He has a huge lead and his aggression is going to make things very difficult for the remaining players.  Someone will have to get lucky if they're going to beat him now.

Dori Thompson, down to 4k with the blinds 3000/6000, drew the small blind on the first hand.  She woke up to pocket Kings against Jamie Hajek's J-J to stay alive. 

Bob Paukert is the first player to bust on the final table.  He had pocket queens and lost when his opponent called with 8-9 suited and flopped the nut straight! 

Dori Thompson survived another all in.  She made it around to the big blind and was forced in with 3-5 offsuit.  She tripled up when the flop paired her three and held up.

8:00pm FINAL TABLE UNDERWAY

Okay folks, the action has been so fast it has been hard to keep up. 

The bubble boy was Dustin Snedeker (Jackpot Gamblin-Mitchell). 

Here are the players/chip counts:

1. Bob Reynolds 154,000 (Front Street Bar & Grill-Morgan, MN)

2. Dan Hart 100,000 (Sirloin House-Fairmont, MN)

3. Pat Thelen 79,000 (Starters-Redfield, SD)

4. Bob Paukert 75,000 (Brothers Bar & Grill-Rochester, MN)

5. Cindy VanMaanen 61,000 (Rumor Mill-Adrian, MN)

6. Adam Bertsch 48,000 (Sneakers-Mitchell, SD)

7. Troy Bonin 43,500 (LeMays Grill-Lake Crystal, MN)

8. Scott Akers 40,500 (Sirloin House-Fairmont, MN)

9. Jamie Hajek 35,000 (Moonlight-Mitchell, SD)

10. Dori Thompson 4,000 (Nasty Habit-Albert Lea, MN)

Everyone on the final table will now earn a CASH consolation prize! 

7:25pm GETTING TESTY ON TABLE 2

Bob Reynolds and Scott Akers are getting after it verbally.  One exchange got very heated and each player received a stern warning from tournament director Pete Bushey.  After a few tense minutes both players shook hands and everything was fine.

There is a stark contrast of the type of play on the remaining two tables.  Table 1 has much less chips in play and the players are less aggressive.  Table 2 there are tons of chips and extremely aggressive play.  The tables are shortstacked and the blinds are getting up there

6:55pm BIG BLUFF

Bob Reynolds bluffed Kristi Boll to take down a 40k pot, showing nine-high.

A few hands later, Kristi busted to Pat Thelen, who is now the chip leader.

6:35pm PAT THELEN DOUBLES THROUGH KRISTI BOLL

Pat Thelen (Starters-Redfield, SD) doubled through Kristi Boll with an ace-high straight in a huge pot.  Pat (pictured right) is now one of the chip leaders. 

The action is furious.  We're down to 12.

We lost several South Dakota players:

Michelle Bathke (Moonlight-Mitchell)

Josh Brenden (Moonlight-Mitchell)

Ron Fink (Starters-Redfield)

Jarrod Hanstad (Baby Boomers-Aberdeen)

6:20pm DOWN TO 17

The action continues.  Kristi Boll has been playing a lot of pots, but has taken a hit to Bob Paukert from Brothers Bar & Grill.  She still has around 70k. 

Kevin Lonnemann busted.  He had been among the chip leaders all day.  Chuck Scatvold (Baby Boomers-A berdeen) also busted. 

5:45pm OOPS -- BAD CALL

Scott Akers got a bonus.  He made quad 6's and his opponent (who we will not name ) called his all-in and proudly flipped over A-5 for ace-high.  Oops, he thought he had A-6.  A very costly mistake -- there was 50k in the pot!

Most of us who've played this game a lot have made this kind of mistake at one time or another. 

Meanwhile, we've lost another 4 players. Down to 21.

5:00 DINNER BREAK

We're down to 25 players already...

Two of the chip leaders, Bob Reynolds and Kristi Boll are sitting right next to each other.

Here is the top 4 stacks at the break:

1. Dan Hart (pictured right) 71,400 (Sirloin House-Fairmont)

2. Bob Reynolds 65,600 (Frontstreet Bar & Grill-Morgan)

3. Kristi Boll 60,000 (Magnolia Steakhouse-Luverne)

4. Bob Paukert 41,500 (Brothers Bar & Grill-Rochester)

Note: all of the chip leaders are MPL players.  Dan Hart got his chip stack when he hit runner-runner flush with A-J to knockout his opponent's pocket queens. 

4:00pm KRISTI BOLL MAKES A MOVE

3-time championship qualifer Kristi Boll (Magnolia Steakhouse-Luverne, MN) has taken the chip lead.  She is seated to the right of Bob Reynolds, who has been extremely aggressive.  In a huge hand versus Joe Kroll (Longbranch Saloon-Worthington), Kristi (pictured right) insta-called with a flush to Joe's all-in push.  It was the wrong time to bluff for Joe and the pot was enormous: 70k.  So far that is the hand of the tournament and Krisi has become the new chip leader.

3:10pm LOTS OF ENERGY

Out of the three championships so far, this crowd definintely has the most energy.  I don't know if it's the nice weather outside or what, but these players are firing chips like crazy!  There have been a plethora of big hands.  We saw Helen Morehead hit quad eights and shortly after that another player hit quad queens. 

2:20pm FIRST BREAK

At the first break we are down to 51 players...

Here are the early chip leaders:

Bob Reynolds - Front St. Bar & Grill (32,125)

Kevin Lonnemann - Rumor Mill (31,825)

Pat Thelen - Starters Lounge (30,500)

1:00pm

There has been a lot of action for the first couple of levels - we've lost 5 players already.  Our first bustout occurred 25 minutes in when Mary Blakely (Nickel Spot-Sioux Falls) got all her chips in preflop with pocket Aces versus Matt Brewester's pocket jacks.  Matt (Rounders) got lucky and spiked a set and sent Mary to the rail.  Mary was in good spirits despite the early exit, not much you can do but get your chips in a 4 to 1 favorite.  Mary did receive a $25 cash prize for first out.

Matt (pictured right) is running extremely well.  Shortly after busting Mary Blakely with a set of jacks he flopped another set, this time threes, to bust another player.  He is the early chip leader.

Alright!  We're here at Borrowed Bucks Roadhouse in Sioux Falls ready to get the Blast at the Bellagio championship #3 underway.  A week ago today blizzard conditions forced us to postpone the event until today...

Stay tuned for updates and a report on our eventual winner.