Ahhhh, what to do now?  The Fall Poker Classic concluded Friday as Brad Berman won yet another Main Event title and $74K, pretty awesome!

I like to tell the story that I had something to do with Brad winning as he and I got involved in a crucial confrontation with roughly 45 players remaining.

The blinds were 1,500-$3,000, Berman was in the 5 seat, I was in the 8 seat.  Berman had $27,000 remaining, I had $35,000 and was in the BB.

I had played with Brad for about an hour, his strategy was clearly to pick up blinds and pick off obvious steals of his blinds.  Other than that, he definitely did not get involved often without a big hand.

I knew before the hand that if it folded to him he would push with anything as this was his style.  And if he did, my call range was wide.  Before looking at my cards, my call range in my head was pretty much any A, KJ, any pair, etc.  This would be a critical hand for both of us as if one could double up, he would have plenty of chips to work with and the loser would be out or crippled.

The action folded to him, as anticipated he pushed all in with Q-10 offsuit.  Certainly the right play, he was 9X the BB and needed to make a move, with blinds and antes there was $6,200 in the pot already.

In the BB I looked down at A-10 suited which was well within my range here and called.  Unfortunately on this day Berman hit a 4-card flush to his Qh and I was crippled, he was back in action.  That’s poker, we both played how we should have in that situation.

He used those chips wisely and fought his way to the final table before eventually hitting a nice rush for a massive stack.  It was clear he was comfortable and experienced at crunch time.  He played well, it was obvious the other players knew of his presence and accomplishments and that earned him much respect.

He played a tight-aggressive style, he didn’t play a lot of hands but when he picked up one he liked, he would put pressure on you by slinging his whole stack.

Congrats to Berman for an amazing feat, 2 Fall Poker Classic Main Event titles!  That’s unbelievable!

Brad Berman is one of the most established poker players in Minnesota, having won more than $800,000 in live tournaments including a World Poker Tour final table and a 2006 Fall Poker Classic Main Event title.

On Friday night, Berman added another FPC Main Event title to his belt, outmaneuvering a shark-filled field of 234. He is the first player to win the FPC Main Event twice.

The chip leader for nearly the entire tournament, Mike Pickett, won a WSOP circuit event in February, 2008, and he has over $300,000 in live tournament winnings, but he wound up finishing in 4th place.

Brandon Meyers, who plays on PokerStars as “oncommand” is the top-ranked internet player in Minnesota. He bowed out 13th.

Runner-up Don Eagen spent time working behind the scenes for the Heartland Poker Tour a few years ago. He currently plays poker professionally and worked a 9-handed short stack into a heads-up chip lead, but eventually fell victim to Berman.

For a more detailed write-up, be on the look out for the December issue of Minnesota Poker Magazine.

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The Fall Poker Classic $200 second chance tournament can be a bittersweet time, simply because it’s played in the same room as the final two tables of the Main Event.

But don’t tell that to Scott Axtell, who won over $11,000 in the FPC’s final event of 2009. Axtell outlasted a field of 186.

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Two lessons were learned this weekend at Running Aces and neither one had to do with playing a wrap draw with heavy betting behind and one card to come.

The first lesson was freeroll players do not all fit the stereotype. They come to play and play hard, especially when some awesome prizes waited at the final table of the 2009 Desert Heat Shootout courtesy of the Minnesota Poker League held at the convention room at Running Aces. The players all had stickers with their names and the bar/VFW/freeroll site they qualified from that gave them entry into this tournament.

The prizes?

Nine entries into a $2,000 buy-in tourney at Red Rock Casino with accommodations paid for. The field would start around 140ish for these players playing down to 20. Once at 20 players their chip stacks would be bagged up and given fresh stacks and blinds, then the tourney resumed to play down to the nine players who would get those excellent poker trips to one of the best off-strip casinos in Vegas. Call it a double satellite if you will since the strategy wasn’t to bludgeon the table and risk your stack on a coin flip because finishing 20^th was just as good as finishing as the chip leader.

The play was a mixed bag at my table as players started with 100BBs holding 10,000 chips at 50/100 blinds and 25 minute gradual levels. All of them played vastly more live poker than yours truly, and the mood around the table was lighter than what I’m grown accustom to. Then again, I usually play with players twice my age who tell me to get off their lawn. Willmar, Hutchingson, Park Rapids, all vying for those seats as the cards I shuffled would ultimately determine how these players would start their journey in the tournament.

Yep. I was the dealer.

Lesson number two, it’s definitely not as easy as it looked in the box when you’re the one washing and shuffling the cards. Now the players were kind enough to put up with my virgin journey as a card-thrower, as I hoped to run a tight game and give the players as many hands as possible so skill would prevail and not have it come down to getting AA vs. KK (which happened, and resulted in the only bust-out at my table for the first four levels).

No bridging the cards, thumbs up, clean cut, remind the players of the blinds, announcing raising, calculating the to-call amounts all needed with every hand even when folded around to the big blind. Those who know me know that if I wasn’t a database/accounting monkey I’d love to hop behind the box and deal for a living. Just being in the cardroom with fellow degenerates for hours would complete my day as with being a father and a husband the swings of playing Omaha professionally would be too much for them and my psyche (as seen by my *ahem* run into variance this week).

Time to go get a Cap’n Coke and fire up another round of low limit tourneys to get over those bad afternoon rivers

Tony Lazer from Plymouth, MN built a mountain of chips halfway through the final table, and he used that ammunition to knock off 2008 Fall Poker Classic Main Event champ Naser Alkhatib on Wednesday night, securing a $22,000 payday in event 13.

Alkhatib earned over $11,000 for his work. Event 13 brought the third-largest prize pool of the ‘09 FPC so far.

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Generally speaking, I am a far superior live game limit player than I am a no-limit tournament player.  I did, however, decide to try my hand at one of the Fall Poker Classic lead-up events, a $200 buy-in no-limit hold’em affair.

Each player started with 10,000 in chips, and the first few rounds came and went with very little eventfulness.  At 50-100, one player limps, and the player to my right raises to 350.  At this point I had about 11,000 in chips, and look down at A-Q off.  Knowing little about my opponent, and being somewhat suspicious of the limper, I decide simply to call.  The player to my left also calls.  As does the big blind, as does the limper, and we take the flop off 5-handed, with 1,800 already in the pot.

The flop comes down A-K-K, with two diamonds.  The big blind checks.  The limper checks.  The pre-flop raiser also checks.  I thought this odd, and decided to check as well.  The player to my left made sure the action checked around, and we went to the turn for free.

The turn was a total blank, the 3 of clubs.  The action once again checks around to me.  I think for a moment, analyzing the action.  I figure both the big blind and the limper for nothing.  The pre-flop raiser concerns me slightly.  The flop check may have meant A-K, but the turn check doesn’t add up.  Of course, this player looks to be a novice, and could be falling in love with his own deception.  Furthermore, there is a player left to act behind me.  I decide once again to check.  The player to my left bets 500, and action folds around to the pre-flop raiser who calls.

I truly had to consider my options now.  The bet was very small in relation to the size of the pot, and, knowing the player to my left the way I do, he is absolutely capable of betting with position in an attempt to steal a pot, even if it was 5-handed.  The pre-flop raiser’s call could mean a number of things.  Although the possibility of him having a huge hand still lingered in my head, I figured he may have check-raised in this spot if that were the case.  I thought it was altogether likely that the pre-flop raiser had a hand like A-10, A-J, or maybe even A-Q.  He could be as soft as 9-9, calling with the hopes that the player who bet 500 was simply on a steal.  I called.

The river brought another blank, the 2 of hearts.  The pre-flop raiser checked, as did I.  The player to my left now bets 900.  The pot, before this wager, was at 3,300.  And, with the action back to the pre-flop raiser to my right, he tanks for about 30 seconds, and begrudgingly calls.  I was really quite confused, but actually thought there was at least a 50-50 chance of my hand being good, and given that my pot odds cost me 900 to call a pot of 5,100, I simply had to call.

The player to my left said, “Dammit, you guys win, I had a flush draw,” and mucks.  I thought, “Yes, my hand must be good!”  Just as I say this, and table my A-Q, the pre-flop raiser flips up his K-6 of clubs, for trip Kings.

What?!?

I replayed the action in my mind, and simply could not see how I could’ve put him on this hand.  He raises before the flop, an amount from middle position (with a limper already in the pot) that was almost certainly going to be called.  He then manages to flop golden, hitting trip Kings against his 4 opponents.  Then he runs and hides behind a rock!!  What are you doing?!?  You’re playing a prime brand of what I’d like to call anti-poker: playing aggressively when you have shit, and playing soft, missing value bets when you’re strong. (Ah-hem, Jamie Gold…)

He showed no aggression post-flop, and had no reason to suspect he was beaten.  Granted, in a field so large, he could have been beaten by a bigger King, but grow up and play your hand like a man.

So, I was really quite frustrated and quiet for the next several moments, contemplating where I went wrong, as the player to my left broke the silence.  ”Did you have a flush draw too?”  Oh my god, sir.  You’ve got a good read on me; yes, I called the river without a pair, hoping my four diamonds would be good enough to take down the pot…

Who are these people?!?  The better question then becomes, Why did I do so poorly in this tournament?!?  Haha, dammit…

Tony Lazer from Plymouth, MN built a mountain of chips halfway through the final table, and he used that ammunition to knock off 2008 Fall Poker Classic Main Event champ Naser Alkhatib on Wednesday night, securing a $22,000 payday in event 13.

Alkhatib earned over $11,000 for his work. Event 13 brought the third-largest prize pool of the ‘09 FPC so far.

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Ryan Schmitt from Eden Prairie, MN was a short stack with two tables to go, but a hero call with 5th-pair on the river gave him a stack and some much-needed momentum. Schmitt eventually took down event #12 for a $17,769 first place prize.

Also at the final table was Minnesota State Poker Champi0n Alec Anderson, who nearly busted with 11 players left. Much like Schmitt, Anderson worked a short stack into a large stack, but the state champ came up just a bit short on Tuesday night.

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