Season 4: Game 8 – Angela Whang

We have our second 2-win champion of Season 4, as well as an incredibly tight race at the top of the standings.

21 players turned out for Game 8 – a $22 buy-in no limit hold ’em tournament.

Here were the chip counts at the start of the final table:

Seat 1: Daniel Klocman – danielssssss (16,400 in chips)
Seat 2: Angela Whang – harearies (11,890 in chips)
Seat 3: Nina L. – pobear111 (3,864 in chips)
Seat 4: Bob Cox – Go fish U 2 (5,465 in chips)
Seat 5: Nipun Java – Javatini (12,062 in chips)
Seat 6: Rick Aluzzi – roxycobb (29,968 in chips)
Seat 7: Leon Marzillier – Madelfman (3,194 in chips)
Seat 8: Greg Mauk – greg641 (13,235 in chips)
Seat 9: Jamey Schrick – Raymond Shaw (8,922 in chips)

We lost Bob in 9th, Nina in 8th and Jamey in 7th, at which point we were on the bubble for both points and the money. This week’s bubble boy was last week’s victor. With blinds at 350/700, Angela completed from the small blind and Nipun, with 8,839 behind, shoved with 6c 9s. Angela, who had been playing her Ah 7s a little slyly, made the call and was ahead going to the flop. The board ran out Kd Jd Kh 4h Ad and Angela’s hand held up to send Nipun to the rail in sixth place.

We weren’t five-handed for long. A few hands later, Daniel decided to get sneaky with Ah As by just calling on the button. Angela called from the small blind, and Rick checked his option. The flop came 9s 6s 3d. Angela immediately bet 1,691, Rick got out of the way, and Daniel raised it up to 3,500. Angela shoved and Daniel made the call for his last 5,260, then got the bad news. Angela showed 6h 3s for a small blind special – she had out-flopped Daniel with bottom two pair and he would need some help to survive. The Qc turn and 5c river were not what he was looking for, and Daniel was out in fifth place, winning $34 and adding 21 points to his season total.

With blinds at 400/800, Greg pushed in his last 7,676 on the button, with Angela making the call from the small blind to put him at risk. Greg flipped up 5s Qc while Angela showed Ts Ac. Her hot streak continued as Greg got no help from the 6s 6c Jc Ad 8s board. He was out in fourth, cashing for the second time this season, for $42 and 63 standings points.

Things slowed down a tad, until a while later when Angela crippled Leon by turning trips and rivering a full house. On his final hand, Leon shoved in his short stack of 2,350 from UTG with Ah 6s, and once again Angela stepped forward to try to play executioner, making the call with Qc Ts. For once Angela was behind, but only temporarily. Five clubs fell as it came 9c Ac 7c Kc 5c, and Angela made the nut flush on the turn to eliminate Leon in third. For his third cash of the season, Leon took home $66 and earned another 105 points.

Here were the chip counts at the start of heads-up play:

Seat 2: Angela Whang – harearies (74,859 in chips)
Seat 6: Rick Aluzzi – roxycobb (30,141 in chips)

With a 5-2 chip lead to start, Angela pushed her advantage even further over the course of the next twenty or so hands. Finally, with blinds at 500/1000, Rick found himself at nearly a 9-1 disadvantage. He limped in on the button with As 9c, inducing Angela to raise to 3,000 from the big blind with a dominated Ad 4d. Rick shoved and got a quick call from Angela, who was going to need help to claim her second victory of the season. Rick was still looking good after a flop of 8h Kd 8s, although Angela did pick up some outs to a chop. She wasn’t thinking chop after the 4c turn, however, which vaulted her into the lead and left Rick drawing thin. The 3h on the river would end matters, and Rick was out in second, earning a $113 payday and 147 points. Angela notched her second victory, adding $168 and 210 points to her season totals.

1st – Angela Whang – $168

2nd – Rick Aluzzi – $113

3rd – Leon Marzillier – $66

4th – Greg Mauk – $42

5th – Daniel Klocman – $34

With her win, Angela is now trailing me in the standings by only 12 points (she beat out two larger fields to win, but I still hold the edge thanks to my two additional point finishes). We are one-two on the Money List now as well, and her five knock-outs move her into a tie for third place on this season’s Bust-Out List.

Leon moves back into a Championship spot with his third place finish here, but Rick and Daniel are nipping at his heels in 10th and 11th place overall, respectively.

Todd Ullman is still well out in first place on the Bust-Out List, but now he may actually have some competition. Nipun racks up another three bust-outs tonight to go to 15 on the season, now only 8 back of Todd’s mark.

-T