On the whole a successful night for the Allies, ended with multiple Final Tables and a few decent cashes, but again it may have been a story of what could have been!
The main score of the night came from the Visionary in the Party High Roller, eventually picking up a 2^nd place finish for $21k! During the lead up to the final table he went through several up and down moments before winning a big pot just after the bubble and when he has chips he doesn’t normally give them up! He went in to the FT 3/10 and as is the norm at big Final tables, most players started out quite cagey, with the first ladder not coming until about 15 minutes in. Unfortunately he lost a big pot with AJs to drop down, but got the momentum back and managed to win a couple of key pots, knocking a couple of players out with AQ and then AA, to get to 4 handed play. At this point there was one player with a 200k CL on the other 3 with Neil lying in 2^nd place. 4 handed play didn’t last too long as the chip leader did the Visionary’s work for him, first giving him a 3k ladder and then a whopping 10k ladder, to allow the Visionary to get to HU, but with a big chip deficit. He went in to HU play a 5-1 underdog, but there was still some play left and the 2 got involved in a big pot almost straight away. Visionary opens K2s and gets a call from the villain, the flop comes 2 5 6 rbw  and the Villain check calls the Visionary’s flop bet. The turn was a T and the villain led, which didn’t really fit with how the hand had played out, the Visionary decided to make the call for a large portion of his chips. The river came an 8 and both players checked, with the Villain showing down q8, hitting the river to cripple and subsequently knock out the Visionary, for a 2^nd place finish and that $21k prize……still a great showing and a great score, congrats!
(At the time of posting, Visionary can be seen carving up the field in the iPoker High Roller, currently sitting 1 of 3, lets hope he brings home the bacon!)

The other main news of the evening was the 2 deep runs in the Ongame Champion Chip, where Puggy82 and Benwa1 were hoping to repeat their recent High Roller performance. Both players were slightly up and down prior to the FT but Benwa1 definitely had the edge in the chip counts, fluctuating mostly between the top 5 spots with around 20 left. Puggy, on the other hand was down to under 20bbs at one point but chipped up from 100k to 500k, mainly by 3 betting one particular player on his direct right, which he did 5 times in 15 minutes with the guy folding each time. They reached the FT with most of the players in quite a tight bunch with between 400k and 600k, although one player had quite a healthy CL with over 1 Million chips. Once the blinds went up near to the start of the FT, the stack sizes became slightly more awkward with both our players having to wait on decent spots to either open or 3 bet jam. The field was reduced to 9 with the 1^st ladder of the FT, but with both our players in need of a hand and a double, they unfortunately got neither; Puggy eventually shoving 55 off 13 bbs and getting called by one of the CL’s, whose JJ held to send Puggy to the rail with $3.8k for company. There was not much more action before Benwa followed him to the rail with his A5 not able to improve to beat Dima’s AK and he walked away with $4.9k. A great run by our two players but obviously not the finish that they wanted…….better luck next time guys!

Another FT for Hammyhole on a Sunday, found him battling it out once again in the Party 20k.  He got to the FT lying 2/10 and in a great position for an assault on the $11.5k 1^st prize. However before they could really get started, he got in to a huge CL pot, with his AA up against his opponents KK and when the flop came A K x the celebrations began, only for the river to be the cruellest of mistresses yet again, bringing the case K and a shocked silence from all concerned. This was clearly a big blow for him but in true Hammy style, he battled on, chipping up slightly and seeing a few players fall by the way side and to his credit got to 4 handed play.  But that was where the ride would come to an end for him, taking home a consolation prize of $3k for his troubles……..really unlucky Steve, tough pill to swallow!

Elsewhere on a fairly eventful evening for the Allies, Beej continued his good relationship with the 848 109’s, Final Tabling both, unfortunately finishing 9^th in the ‘Poke-Allies’ but taking 2^nd in the 7.5k for 1.7k, losing HU when all in on the flop with a Pair and an open ender v a Flush Draw, which got there on the river. He also FT’d both the Canadian daily’s, but couldn’t beat a 5^th place finish in either, not able to add to the MatchBall he recently won!

All in all a fairly successful Sunday for the Allies but one that could have definitely reaped more rewards…….still the signs remain good and another Major win seems just around the corner!