Dale Hoy Wins PartyPoker’s World Open heat 5

14.48

Dale Hoy

1st Dale Hoy
2nd Toby Lewis
3rd John Tabatabai
4th Heather Sue Mercer
5th Phil Laak
6th Philipp Gruissem
7th Huck Seed
8th Jason Gray

14.47

Joy for Hoy

Toby Lewis

Toby Lewis raised to 80,000 from the button and Dale Hoy three-bet to 230,000 from the big blind. After a minute’s pause, Lewis announced all-in and Hoy called.

Hoy:
Lewis:

Board:

Despite a table brimming with proven talent, it’s amateur Dale Hoy who reigns supreme. He now takes his place in tomorrow’s final.

14.40

Lewis Adjusts

It seems as though Dale Hoy has opened his raising range of late, and on the last hand he made it 100,000 from the button with . Noticing this, Toby Lewis decided to pounce and announced all-in with . Hoy immediately folded.

14.36

Last Five Hands

(1) Toby Lewis folded his button with .

(2) Dale Hoy raised to 110,000 with and Toby Lewis folded rags.

(3) Toby Lewis raised to 80,000 with . Hoy folded , although almost called.

(4) Dale Hoy open-folded .

(5) Toby Lewis limped the button with . Dale Hoy checked his option with . Lewis then took down the pot with a bet of 40,000 on the flop.

Toby Lewis — 820,000
Dale Hoy — 1,520,000

14.20

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 960,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 1,380,000

14.18

Tabata-bye

With Dale Hoy moving in from the small blind, John Tabatabai had a tricky decision, but decided to make the call with . Hoy tabled .

“If you can hit your ten, I can hit my six,” warned Tabatabai alerting to a previous hand, but, on this occasion, his crystal ball was rather wayward as the flop came

A turn would have made it interesting, but it wasn’t to be, the dealer laying a turn and academic river on the felt to send him home.

Tabatabai hit a few hurdles early on, and made plays that some might debate, but as soon as he trebled up with kings, his confidence rose and his game excelled. In the end, he was unlucky not to have at least bagged a seat in the semi-final – that consolation prize will go to either Hoy or Toby Lewis.

14.16

Level 7

Men will be sorted out from the boys. Blinds are now 15,000/30,000.

14.14

Bouncing Back

John Tabatabai moved all in on the next hand and both opponents called.

Tabatabai:
Toby Lewis:
Dale Hoy:

Tabatabai was understandably tilted by the flop, especially when he re-checked his cards for spades. But his fears were ultimately unjustified as neither opponent had improved their hand, or even found a draw, meaning that only a bullet could eliminate the former WSOPE runner up.

A turn and river later, and a surprised Tabatabai did indeed survive, trebling through to 240,000.

14.06

Make Mine a Double

More doubles now than a twin convention as Dale Hoy increased his stack two-fold for the second consecutive time.

The hand was a straight-forward and inevitable affair, Hoy raising to 80,000, Tabatabai shoving all in and Hoy making the call.

It soon emerged that we were on our way to coinflipville as Tabatabai’s came up against . The dealer moved the cards into the middle, and for a brief moment, Hoy thought he was seeing the flop and had flopped quad eights.

But the real flop wasn’t that too far off the imaginary one, the dealer showing a bullet in the window, but following by one of two snowmen:

By the turn it was all over, and Tabatabai was left with a bowl of rice.

14.02

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 1,145,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 565,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 645,000

13.51

Dale Doubles

Dale Hoy decided to move up a gear and make his move from the small blind, pushing all in for 305,000 with . Tabatabai called with .

Board:

13.42

Running Good?

“I’m going to play like dinosaur Phil Laak,” chuckled John Tabatabai as he folded the button.

“You’re running good,” added Toby Lewis as he folded the small blind to give Dale Hoy a rare walk.

“No that good,” declared Hoy as he revealed .

13.38

Mercer-less

Heather Sue Mercer

Flop:

Mercer exits in fourth.

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 1,200,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 345,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 825,000

13.29

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 925,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 315,000
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer — 305,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 825,000

13.18

Laaking Phil

Phil Laak

As Laak hovered over the shoulder of the dealer, a flop hit the felt to put Lewis into the lead and leave Laak in search of a jack or an ace. But despite whispering for the knave, the dealer didn’t oblige, flipping over a followed by a .

“You can’t send me away,” pleaded Laak as he returned to his seat. “Pleeeeeeeeease. Rebuy!”

To the relief of tournament director Marty Wilson, the sit-down protest was short-lived, and a playful, yet clearly devastated reigning champion left the stage. Gone, but certainly not forgotten.

13.13

Laak Lives

John Tabatabai raised it up to 45,000 from the cut-off only for Phil Laak to raise to 220,000, leaving himself just three 5,000 blue chips behind.

“I just want you to know that I’m not going all in. I’m leaving these behind so I can bluff the flop if I miss.”

Tabatabai hesitated.

“You’ve got a million chips why do you want more?”

Tabatabai asked the dealer to spread the pot.

“Don’t do that,” interjected Laak .”It’ll show you the odds you need to call.”

At this point, Laak decided to assist with the calculations. “OK, we have that in the middle, and you win that too, and these ones [points to remaining blue chips] are going in too.”

Eventually, Tabatabai opted for the fold allowing Laak to live another day.

13.05

Level 6

Medics on standby. Blinds are now 10,000/20,000.

13.00

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 517,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 277,000
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer — 338,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 930,000
Seat 8: Phil Laak — 308,000

12.42

Interview – Timoshenko

Whilst the players are enjoying a well-deserved Kit-Kat, it’s time to join the easy-on-the-eyes Tatjana Pasalic as she speaks to yesterday’s Heat 4 victor Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

12.30

Right Moves, Wrong Time

Philipp Gruissem

In a battle of the blinds encounter, Philipp Gruissem got ‘em all in from the small blind with , and was looked up by John Tabatabai in the big blind who had . With the coin in midair, the flop came , and after a turn preceded a river, Gruissem was gone.

A professional player from Germany, Gruissem doesn’t have too many live results to his name, but is rumoured to be a titan online where he has played more hands than the rest of the table combined. He is well versed in Single Table Tournaments, and it showed over the last couple of days as he seemed to know exactly when to move his chips into the middle and when to release his hand. The only problem was that in the two or three big pots he played, he hit the top of his opponent’s range, and was unable to find the luck he required to stay alive. Still, a cracking talent, and someone we’ll surely be seeing again soon.

12.18

Not a Kojak Fan

The action folded around to Phil Laak in the small blind who chose to make up the small blind with . But Toby Lewis hasn’t come to warm the seat, he’s here to win, and despite only having , he pushed his entire stack of 525,000 over the line.

Laak had less, 350,000, but it was a tough decision, and one that he wasn’t enjoying. “OK, I’m going to fold, but I want Philipp to tell me what he would have done,” commanded the Unabomber as his cards hit the muck.

“I would have raised, and then called,” came the reply.

12.14

Level 5

Stop the press! Blinds have gone up to 7,000/15,000.

11.59

Seedless

Huck Seed had been hovering around the cemetery after his accident with pocket queens, but now he’s pushing up the poker daisies after losing what should have been a split pot.

All in for just over 100,000, Seed had his nose slightly in front with versus the of newly crowned EPT Champion Toby Lewis, but despite his hopes of at least getting his chips back, the board came to send him crashing out in seventh.

11.52

Fade to Gray

Jason Gray

Short and vulnerable, Gray found himself all in with versus the of John Tabatabai, and although he was in dominating shape, the Poker Gods slapped him firmly in the face with a wet kipper by laying a cruel board onto the felt.

“Sorry,” apologised Tabatabai in victory. “Unlucky.”

11.49

Showing No Mercer

Whilst the gremlins continue to run rampant through the cyber world, Jason Gray is in the unenviable position of being crippled by Heather Sue Mercer. After flat calling a preflop raise with from his red-haired foe, Gray faced a continuation bet of 55,000.

Mercer’s tight image was obviously an influence, as Gray stalled with his overpair before finally moving all in. Mercer, who has shown a willingness to release big hands, didn’t make that mistake this time around, and although she did momentarily consider that option, she ultimately made the right decision and called all in with her .

Her rewards: a ragtastic turn and river, and a timely double through. Now armed with a few chips, it’ll be interesting to see how she adjusts to the dynamics of the table and the ever-increasing blinds.

11.43

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 293,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 403,000
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer — 184,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed — 106,000
Seat 5: Philipp Gruissem — 328,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 451,000
Seat 7: Jason Gray — 211,000
Seat 8: Phil Laak — 409,000

11.33

Johnny Be Good

John Tabatabai

On the very next hand, Seed was back getting his hands dirty, finding a beautiful pair of ladies, , in the cut-off and raising it up to 22,000. One seat down, Philipp Gruissem deduced that Seed’s raising range was wide, and so decided to shove behind with .

But what neither of them could have known was that John Tabatabai was sitting on a goldmine in the small blind with , and after peeking down at his hand, he announced all in for 147,000 and began performing internal cartwheels.

He wasn’t safe yet, as Seed made the call and hands were on their backs. But Tabatabai swung those hips like a belly dancer and dodged the four outs, the board coming an uneventful to treble him through.

Incredibly, there were no casualties, but what is probably more amazing is that John Tabatabai has gone from short stack to chip leader in one hand! It wouldn’t happen online…

11.28

Laak of an Ace

I’m going to have to ask you to turn a blind eye, and pretend that you haven’t just seen this post and that it was indeed posted at the published time. If Matchroom can utilise the ‘magic’ of TV, then I can certainly wave my wand in the virtual world.

Anyhow, back to the action which has… ahem… just occurred. After snapping up the blinds on the first hand with K-6, Phil Laak flat called a raise of 21,000 from Philipp Gruissem on the second with . Gruissem held , and quickly checked the flop. Laak also checked.

On the turn, Gruissem assumed that Laak was playing ace-less, and fired out with a bet of 28,000.

“Philiiiiiiipp?” prodded Laak. “I need to have a word with you, young man.”

Moments later, Laak’s cards hit the muck, and Gruissem took his first pot of the day.

11.10

Suspend Belief

Philipp Gruissem

Before we get back into the thick of the action, I always like to commence the day by highlighting my errors to any prospective employees, and must confess to a slight slip-up in the early hand yesterday involving Dale Hoy and John Tabatabai. As some of you may have deduced, Hoy didn’t flop the cards in his hand and make ‘a move’ with quads. He did indeed have pocket sixes, but his raise of Tabatabai’s lead with queens was executed on what I believe was a K-7-3 flop.

My faux-pas aside, that hand was an oddly played one, and whether or not Hoy knew his battle plan before he set out, you can’t fault his courage on the flop, and he managed to get Tabatabai to fold a pretty big hand. This pot was the predominant reason as to why Hoy returns today as one of four players with their heads above water, the chip leader being the increasingly dangerous Phillipp Gruissem.

Somehow, their are still eight lives still in tact, but with the blinds now at 5,000 and 10,000, and John Tabatabai on life support with 15 big blinds, I can’t see the opening level of the day being casualty-free. But, it’s been a strange heat, and I wouldn’t be surprise to see the oddities continue.

00.00

00.00

00.00

23.46

Phil-ing His Boots

Phil Laak has been as unpredictable as a ping pong ball in a gale today, raising it up preflop with a wide range whilst mixing up his post-flop play by adopting a number of different styles. On his last encounter, the Unabomber raised to 26,000 from under the gun with , but ran into resistance from Heather Sue Mercer who made it 55,000 in the cut-off with .

Mercer has been snugger than a Italian waiter’s pants so far, but with the reraise being so small, Laak deduced that he could make the call and reevaluate on the flop. The three community cards, however, seemed destined to lead to a check-fold as the dealer lay an onto the felt, but after Laak tapped the table, Mercer checked behind.

He may have been planning the bluff anyway, but Laak’s turn bet morphed into a semi-bluff as he found his gin card: . As expected, Mercer did indeed make the fold – albeit with a suspicious eye – and Laak swept up the pot.

And on that note, play has concluded for the night, with all eight lives in tact. Part Deux of this fifth Heat will resume tomorrow at 11pm, and with the blinds reaching dangerously high levels, there should be plenty of action for you to feast on. So don’t be late!

23.33

Gruissem Shoves

Toby Lewis opened for 20,000 with , Huck Seed flat called from the button with , and Philipp Gruissem announced all in with . John Tabatabai folded in the big blind, and the remaining two players followed suit.

Gruissem increases his stack to 457,000.

23.24

Tabatabai Survives

John Tabatabai

On the flop, the action checked to Gray who bet 32,000 with his pair, but found himself faced with an all in as Tababatabai grabbed his remaining columns and slid them across the felt. Despite it being just 62,000 more to call, Gray incorrectly deduced that his foe held a bigger pair and managed to find the fold.

23.05

Level 4

This next level could lead to our first exit, and with just 115,000, that man could well be John Tabatabai.

Blinds are now 5,000 and 10,000.

22.48

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 308,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 453,000
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer — 294,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed — 212,000
Seat 5: Philipp Gruissem — 367,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 128,000
Seat 7: Jason Gray — 270,000
Seat 8: Phil Laak — 353,000

22.40

“Daaaaaaaale?”

With so few pots of interest, this has probably been one of the less exciting Heats thus far, but thankfully Phil Laak is maintaining the rail’s interest with his usual concoction of eccentricity, incessant chatter and child-like humour.

At the moment, Phil is running better than most with 347,000, but he did just lose the last pot. After Dale Hoy had limped from under the gun with , the action folded right round to Laak in the big blind who checked his option (with what I believe was a queen-rag hand), before leading out for 12,000 on a flop. After a brief pause, Hoy raised to what looked like 40,000.

“Daaale?” said Laak as if warning a pet away from the dinner table. “Daaaaaaaale?”

“I was going to say there’s no shame in folding,” he continued, “but now I think there’s no shame in me folding.”

Laak then turned to neighbour Jason Gray and asked him whether he should be folding top pair. “It depends what he’s got,” answered Gray astutely.

That comment was enough to signify his intentions, and Laak did of course fold.

“Even though you hurt me, Dale,” he beamed, “I still love you. I like pain in a sick way, because I know I can give it later on.”

22.27

Upping Gears

Recent EPT winner Toby Lewis seems to have gone up a gear. A few hands ago he squeezed Phil Laak and Huck Seed preflop with just , and just now he opened to 12,000 with . Heather Sue Mercer, however, held two seats along, and after raising it up to 30,000, Lewis relinquished his hand.

Lewis has his head just below water with 293,000, but after an initial period of inactivity, seems keen to start getting his hands dirty.

22.11

Gruesome for Gruissem

Philipp Gruissem raised to 11,000 from the cut-off and Phil Laak defended his big blind.

Laak check-called a bet of 13,000 on a flop, before checking the turn. Gruissem checked behind.

On the river, Laak bet 34,000, Gruissem called, and cards were revealed:

Gruissem:
Laak:

Laak seems to be winning a number of smaller pots at the moments and has clawed his way up to 371,000.

22.11

Level 3

Blinds are now 3,000 and 6,000.

Dale Hoy is still the chip leader ever since taking that early pot from John Tabatabai. He has 405,000, whilst his victim is the short stack with 155,000.

22.05

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 285,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 411,000
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer — 289,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed — 254,000
Seat 5: Philipp Gruissem — 414,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 155,000
Seat 7: Jason Gray — 283,000
Seat 8: Phil Laak — 309,000

22.02

Ex-Seeding Expectations

Phil Laak

On the flop, Laak made the near-obligatory continuation bet (15,000), but Seed was going nowhere and quickly made the call.

As both players checked the turn, it appeared as though Laak had given up on the hand, but once Seed led for 25,000 on the river, Laak surprised us all by raising to 91,000.

Being a betting man, I would have put my bottom dollar – and even gambled with my girlfriend’s too – on Seed making the call, but he concluded that he was behind and folded his hand.

21.44

Seed Gives It Up

Huck Seed raised it up from the button with and Philipp Gruissem flat called in the small blind with .

Flop:

Seed bet 17,000; Gruissem called.

Turn:

Seed bet 60,000; Gruissem called.

River:

Seed contemplated firing again, but conceded at the last second, meaning Gruissem too the pot with third pair.

Gruissem now chip leader with 436,000.

21.26

Bullets for Gray

Jason Gray has been very quiet so far, but he sparked into action upon finding on the glass, and with Philipp Gruissem opening to 11,000 with , Gray resisted slowplaying his bullets and three-bet to 30,000. Gruissem let it go, but the hand could have been slightly different if John Tabatabai had played his from the seat sandwiched inbetween.

21.20

Level 2

Exciting news!

Blinds are up: 2,000/4,000.

21.18

Latest Chip Counts

Seat 1: Toby Lewis — 291,000
Seat 2: Dale Hoy — 432,000
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer — 291,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed — 356,000
Seat 5: Philipp Gruissem — 283,000
Seat 6: John Tabatabai — 208,000
Seat 7: Jason Gray — 286,000
Seat 8: Phil Laak — 247,000

21.14

Surprisingly Snug

I joined the hand on the flop, but it appeared as though Phil Laak had raised it up with and been flat called by Dale Hoy with . Laak chose not to continuation bet the flop, instead check-calling a bet of 9,000 and reevaluating on the following street.

The turn was a great card for Hoy, but he decided to slow-play his trips by tapping the table after Laak had checked. On the river, Laak check-called 23,000, but was soon shown the bad news.

Play has been surprisingly snug so far, and this is yet another pot that could have got a lot messier than it did.

21.01

Curious & Curiouser

Huck Seed

Under the gun with , Philipp Gruissem opened for 6,000 and received action – although he could easily have been three-bet – in three spots: John Tabatabai UTG+1 with , Phil Laak in the hijack with , and Huck Seed in the big blind with .

Incredibly, Seed flopped a straight as the dealer lay the first three cards onto the felt: .

Seed checked, triggering a bet of 10,000 from Tabatabai with the tens. Despite the low flop, Laak must have dreamt about this hand last night as he somehow found the fold. Seed just flat called, as did Guissem.

Seed continued his sneaky ways by checking the turn, but his two opponents didn’t bite, instead opting to keep the pot small by checking behind.

The river came the , and Seed led out for 35,000. Somehow, both opponents folded, and I began to check the monitor for smears.

A truly incredible hand, and it’s unbelievable that it remained so small.

20.51

Ship A-Hoy

On just the third hand, we witnessed a hand that left us scratching our head like Stan Laurel with an itch. It was John Tabatabai who lit the first spark, raising it up to 6,000 from under the gun with . Two seats along, however, Phil Laak decided to get busy with , and bumped it up to 20,000. What nobody expected was for Dale Hoy, in seat 2, to peek down at and just cold-call, putting the decision back on the initial raiser.

With the other three players side-stepping out of the way, Tabatabai decided to try and find out where he stood here and now by putting in a four-bet to 84,000. Laak folded, but Hoy called for a second consecutive time.

The flop wasn’t perfect for Tabatabai, but he deemed there to be a strong chance that he was still ahead so decided to lead out for 32,000. At first, Hoy looked as though he was contemplating either a call or a fold, but out of the blue he reached for green chips and placed a reraise to 84,000 onto the felt. If Tabatabai felt a little irked by the flop, now he was twitching like a frog in a blender.

Tabatabai didn’t fold instantly, though – he knew something didn’t quite make sense, but with the clock barely ticking, and Hoy such an unknown entity, he eventually opted for the safer option and made the fold.

20.30

Planting the Seed

After a lighting issue interrupted play for several minutes, Dale Hoy kicked off the second hand of the Heat by raising it up from the button with . Huck Seed defended from the big blind with .

Both players checked the flop, but on the turn, Hoy made a delayed continuation bet of 12,000 which looked destined to take the pot. Seed, however, had other ideas, and with a raise to 40,000, was able to take down the pot with just ace high.

20.15

First Blood

First blood went to John Tabatabai who snapped up the blinds with .

20.11

Here We Go Again…

Eight new faces, the same one dream: to become a contender. Enter Heat 5…

Seat 1: Toby Lewis
Seat 2: Dale Hoy
Seat 3: Heather Sue Mercer
Seat 4: Huck Seed
Seat 5: Philipp Gruissem
Seat 6: John Tabatabai
Seat 7: Jason Gray
Seat 8: Phil Laak