RELAY CHALLENGE: MICHAEL CRAIG VS THE DUBLIN BELLYBUSTERS
DR FILL GOOD TAKES THE THIRD LEG AND SHOWS THE WORLD EXACTLY WHY HE'S CALLED 'THE FINISHER'!
May 7th/8th '09
May 8th, 00.32ET:
The stage was set. The platform was built. The Dublin Bellybusters held a $140 lead over a beleaguered opponent. Never since Sylvester Stallone at the end of Rocky IV had a man taken such a thrashing. LAPPIN had completed the double, winning both the NLHE and the HORSE. Rounder63 followed suit, stretching the Bellybuster lead with an even more comprehensive victory in both games. Dr Fill Good's topsy-turvy match was coming to its denouement. Seemingly out of it, Michael was desperate to inflate a pot. It was 'Hail Mary' time but how could he go long if his opponent boxed clever and small-balled him to points victory. Michael needed a knock-out punch versus an opponent with a bigger reach. Fill Good needed to see out the clock. It was the poker-equivalent of a giant holding a flailing midget at arms length.
May 7th, 21.30ET:
LAPPIN has softened him up in the first match; stabbing, jabbing, small-balling. Neither player took a significant lead until LAPPIN pulled away 45 minutes in and even then, a big No-Limit hand could have put Michael in front. As the dust settled on Match 1, LAPPIN showed a $40 profit in NLHE and $35 in HORSE.
May 7th, 22.30ET:
Rounder63 tagged in and upped the aggression level, landing some body blows and combination punches. Preflop 4-bets were followed up by fresh air bluffs. Rounder had a small profit in NLHE and a small deficit in HORSE. Michael adjusted and countered with some advanced plays of his own. The first big pot went his way and in the blink of an eye, all the Bellybusters hard work was undone. Michael was level but Rounder63 was unphased. He rallied with some roundhouses. The relentless pressure took its toll on Michael and determined to catch his opponent in a bluff, he was taken on numerous visits to value-town rounder63-style. By the end of Match 2, Rounder63 had pulled away, winning over $100 in NLHE and perhaps more remarkably, $40 in HORSE. Fill Good would enjoy a $223 lead going into Match 3.
May 7th, 23.37ET
After a short break, Fill Good came out swinging. Sadly for the Bellybusters, his first punch landed right between his own eyes and his second was a low blow to his own groin. Having enjoyed a $220 lead, courtesy of LAPPIN and Rounder63, the Bellybusters were suddenly on the ropes with a $180 deficit. Had Michael been rope-a-doping us - a Muhammad Ali-esque sleeping elephant routine? Like George Foreman, Dr Fill Good was in shock but this rumble in the Full Tilt jungle wasn't going to end in the eighth round. Fill picked himself off the canvas and fought back. A semi-bluff here, a trap there. By midnight, he was back within striking range. By 00.15, he had grinded out a modest lead. HORSE was also going his way as Michael succumbed to the pressure on two fronts. By 00.20, the Bellybuster advantage was $80. By 00.25, it was $120. With less than 5 minutes left, Dr Fill was on the brink of completing a great comeback.
May 8th, 00.33ET
With the finish line in sight and Susan Boyle warming up, Fill Good wakes up with Aces. Michael makes a standard preflop raise from the button and Fill is in two minds. A Skype Conference call was the order of the day. Rounder63 and LAPPIN answer.
FILL: I have Aces!
LAPPIN: No problem, just keep it small. There's zero point inflating a pot at this stage.
ROUNDER63: No way! You have to pipe it. This is our chance to beat him in all 6 games.
Fill hits the time button.
LAPPIN: Are you crazy?
ROUNDER63: But it's Aces!
FILL: Rounder has a point. I can't just play it scared.
LAPPIN: Well if you want to gamble then go all-in. You know you're about 80% and he might call coz it's his only chance to win te chalenge.
ROUNDER63: I like a raise to $18
FILL: Yeah, me too!
Fill raises to $18. Michael calls.
LAPPIN: Uuuugh! That's the worst possible raise you can make when you're $400 deep!
The FLOP comes 9-6-4 rainbow. Fill bets $33 and Mike calls. The TURN comes a 5. Fill checks and Mike bets $65. Fill hits TIME.
FILL: What the fuck do I do now?
LAPPIN: You have to fold.
FILL: But he would do that with anything. He has to win the hand.
LAPPIN: That's exactly why you shouldn't have dug yourself into this mess. He was always gonna put youto the test in this hand.
ROUNDER: I think you have to go with it.
FILL: I'm thinking that too.
LAPPIN: Fill, he could have 78 and your dead.
FILL: Aaaaaaaaagh. This is so dumb! What the fuck was I thinking.
LAPPIN: If you fold, we still have the lead.
FILL: But he might have nothing!
LAPPIN: I don't think it's worth the risk!
ROUNDER63: I think it is.
FILL: Aaaaaagh!
Having used up 55 of his 70 time-bank seconds, Fill Good puts Michael all-in for his remaining $136. Michael insta-calls, flipping 78.
FILL: Nooooooooooo!
LAPPIN: Fucksake. Fucksake guys.
FILL: Oh my God!
LAPPIN: Good job, you fucking idiots!
A moment of silence.
LAPPIN: And you call yourselves professionals!
Fill Good mutes Skype so that he can scream in pain. There are about 5 hands left and he shoves his stack each one of them. Michael folds each time and despite losing 5 of the 6 games, sneaks home for a $74 victory.
Fill un-mutes skype and, being the class act that he is, tells Rounder that he takes 100% responsibility for how the hand played out. "It was me who clicked the buttons!". LAPPIN apologises for his attrocious 'heat-of-the-moment' words, FILL and ROUNDER graciously accept and we all console ourselves with two important facts:
1. the money is going to a great cause
2. most of that money is Dr Fill's
Congratulations to Michael on his skill, guile and perseverance throughout the challenge. A 3-hour stint in 6 different games versus fresh opponents is an uphill battle but battle he did, fighting ceaselessly in all games. He may be considered a 'friend' of Full Tilt but this title is unbefitting. Michael is more of a pro than over half of Full Tilt's stable and time and time again, he proves himself under pressure. It was interesting to see how he switched his game up, changing tactics versus each opponent, changing gears when the time was right. We may have dropped our guard with one minute to go but he landed the Knock-Out punch, playing his hand to perfection.
In total, the Bellybusters donated $422 to RELAY ($250 of which came from FILL!), a tremendous cause that we will continue to support.
JACARANDA TAKES THE 101 CHALLENGE... FINAL UPDATE
"IF HE HAS IT, HE HAS IT!" (HE DIDN'T HAVE IT BUT HE GOT IT)
September 28th '08
Jack Cranley's dreams of 101 glory are over. He battled valiantly but in the end, his false-start in the mine-field of the $5 SNGs was irrecoverable. 6 games into the $10 phase, Jack was on his last buy-in. He had to cash to keep it going. Here's what happened in Jack's own words:
"In the final hand of the challenge I held 66, the button position and a semi-short stack. I called a raise that came from mid position and the flop came out with only 1 over... a Queen. He checked to me, so with a "if he has it, he has it" attitude, I pushed the remainder of my stack in - a slight overbet to the pot and a bet that represented more than half of my opponent's stack. I knew I was ahead when he didn't insta-call. He thought and thought almost all the way to the end of his time and decided to CALL with AK. Well I'm sure it comes as no surprise that once again, a horrible call was rewarded on the river in the form of a big ugly King."
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Jack on his efforts and for being the first to take on this imposing challenge. As Jack pointed out, the 101 challenge is more difficult than it would first appear. I believe that only a very good player could do it and even then would probably only do it once in every 4-5 attempts. I hope someone else in the near future takes on this prop bet as I am fascinated to see how people get on and would be more than happy to shell out the $101 if they hit their mark.
BELLYBUSTERS VS BADBEATS CREW... UPDATE
PLANS CONFIRMED FOR HEADS-UP CLASH STARTING OCTOBER 5TH
September 26th '08
It's on! The much anticipated showdown between two Goliaths of the Online Poker Community is starting October 5th. For 10 weeks, the best of DBB and BBP will take to the Full Tilt virtual-felt to do battle in a Heads-up death-match for the title of... well, there is no title. But hell, there's a truckload of cash. And by a truckload I mean one of those toy Tonka trucks. And by cash, I mean US dollars which of course have no real value in the current economic climate.
Four matches will be scheduled for Sundays at 16.00ET, 16.20ET, 16.40ET and 17.00ET. They will be $20+2 Heads-Up matches (hopefully double-stacked) with the players either staking themselves or partly staking themselves, the difference being met by the team captains (Scott Cook for Badbeatspoker.net and David K Lappin for The Dublin Bellybusters). Each team will consist of between 12 and 20 players and each player will be expected to play a minimum of two matches and a maximum of 4. We will do a weekly promo on all the upcoming games and results from the previous week. Good luck to all the participants!
JACARANDA TAKES THE 101 CHALLENGE... UPDATE
"SOME UGLY BEATS NEAR THE BUBBLE"
September 26th '08
Jacaranda has negotiated his way through the $5 portion of the 101 Challenge. It has been far from smooth sailing, however, as his bankroll has been almost cut in half. Despite the setback, Jack is confident that he can mount a comeback on the $10 tables where he believes the improved standard of play will allow him to better outplay and out-think his opponents.
Here are Jack's stats so far:
Total Buyins: $165
Total Prizes: $121.50
Net: -$43.50
ITM: 7X
ITM%: 23.3%
ROI: -26%
Remaining Bankroll: $57.50
Results Breakdown:
1sts - 4
2nds - 1
3rds - 2
4ths - 6
5ths - 4
6ths - 5
7ths - 1
8ths - 4
9ths - 2
Jack made the following comments:
"Day two saw some improvement on my results... but not much. I made some adjustments to my game which helped but some ugly beats near the bubble a few times has kept my winnings down... I'm off to the $10 SNG's where I hope I can fare much better. I'll have to cash within my first 5 attempts to keep hope alive!"
JACARANDA TAKES THE 101 CHALLENGE... UPDATE
"IT'S A MINEFIELD OUT THERE"
September 25th '08
One day and 7 tournaments in and Jacaranda has seen first-hand how tricky things can be at the lower levels. His bankroll is down but not by much and a win would see him back in the black.
The following is an extract from Jack's 101 Challenge Diary:
"Well, I got off to a bumpy start on my 101 challenge. On day One, I completed seven $5 SNG's and only cashed in one of them. That was a $9 3rd place.
I had forgotten the level of poker player you encounter at these lower buy-ins. It's like a minefield out there... with opponents pushing every straight and flush draw, overusing the all-in, and generally not leaving many opportunities to out play them post-flop, opting instead to flip the coin and let fate work out the winner.
So at the end of day One my $101 bankroll was down to $77.50. At this rate I wont even make it out of the $5 phase of the challenge!!! Hopefully I can adjust my play a little and figure out a way to get a couple wins so that I can at least make it to the $10 SNG's where I believe my skill will at least have a chance."
Here's the breakdown of Jack's results so far:
Tournament # 1 - 4th
Tournament # 2 - 6th
Tournament # 3 - 8th
Tournament # 4 - 3rd ($9 prize)
Tournament # 5 - 9th
Tournament # 6 - 7th
Tournament # 7 - 4th
JACARANDA TAKES THE 101 CHALLENGE
September 24th '08
Following in the footsteps of The LAPPIN/Rounder63 $30K Challenge, Jack 'Jacaranda' Cranley has taken the '101 Challenge'.
As seen on the badbeatspoker.net forum, Jack will, as of tonight, attempt to go from a starting bankroll of $101 to a finishing bankroll of $500 or more without ever going broke by playing in order the following 101 9-handed SNGs:
30 $5+50
25 $10+1
20 $20+2
15 $30+3
10 $50+5
1 $100+9
If anyone else would like to take the challenge, ship me $20 on Full Tilt. If you do it, I will send you back $101. Good luck to Jack - I will be keeping tabs on his progress and publishing his results here.
THE DBB TRIPLE CROWN BONUS
September 24th '08
DBB are offering a bonus to anyone who can win all three of their prestigious events in a row. That's right! If you can, at any one time, hold all three Bellybuster Titles - The Classic, The Turbo and The High-Roller - you will win the opportunity to play LAPPIN heads-up for $100. The only stipulation is that there must have been a minimum of 9 players in each of the tournaments. In the event of someone doing the treble, a special heads-up tournament will be organised at LAPPIN and the winners availability. LAPPIN will deposit $55 into your account to pay for your buy-in to the event with the winner taking the $100 prize.
BELLYBUSTERS VS BADBEATS CREW... UPDATE
September 23rd '08
Plans are coming together for the much anticipated Heads-up clash between the DBB posse and the badbeatspoker.net crew, lead by Scott 'Chipless Wonder' Cook. Rules/Guidelines for the event are being negotiated between both camps in a discussion thread on the badbeatspoker.net forum.
It looks as though there will be 10 weeks of 4 match ups per week, starting on Sunday the 5th of October. At the moment, we have 18 names on our provisional list with competitors being expected to play at least 2 matches each. If anyone has any thoughts which they wish to voice, please go to the new DBB Forum and start a thread.
CARRILLO PROVES THERE IS SOME IRISH IN HIM AFTER ALL AS A BOOZY NIGHT IN VEGAS PUTS AN END TO HIS WAGER WITH LAPPIN
September 19th
For those of you who were following the LAPPIN/Rounder63 Challenge, it may have looked over early as Nick Carrillo struggled to find the desired results early in the month. In fact, one week in and he was still only break-even. In typical Rounder63 fashion, however, he turned it around with 3 consecutive $1K days . Suffice to say, things were back on track. That was until Nick went on a bender in Vegas the other night, drinking dozens of beers and coming home full of inhibitions and, so it would transpire, bereft of his short-term memory. Nick proceeded to 'fire up some goads' as he would like to put it, some of which exceeded the terms stipulated in the wager. As they say in video game land, GAME OVER. I would, however, like to point out to any doubters out there - and you are many - who thought this was an impossible task, even for the top $24 45 man SNG player in the world, I would like to state on the record that while I thought Nick wouldn't make it (hence the bet!), I do believe that had he not breeched the terms of the wager, he would have come damn close.
BELLYBUSTERS VS BADBEATS CREW
September 11th '08
The DBB posse have thrown down the gauntlet with a challenge to the stars of badbeatspoker.net. The challenge? To take us on in a Heads-up Battle of the Titans over 10 weeks. The prize? The honour of your webiste and bundles of cash. We await their response...
The LAPPIN/Rounder63 $30K Challenge
September 1st '08
Starting September 1st and continuing for 3 months, my good friend Nick Carrillo (Rounder63) will try to prove me wrong. I have bet him (an undisclosed sum) that he cannot make 30K in 3 months playing only $33+3 dollar buyins or less on Full Tilt. He has been the No.1 player in that format since the format was invented (my ROI is actually 0.4% better but he plays double my volume)!
Nick will mostly play $24+2 45 and 90 player tourneys in order to achieve his target but no doubt he will throw a handful of $30 and $33 18 players SNGs and some MTTs into the mix. I wish him luck with this challenge - it will test not only his skills (of which he has many) but also his discipline and money management (his 3K morning swings are legendary!!!)
To all Bellybusters, I urge you all to encourage him from the rail if you see him but to take his chips if you are at his table. I will be keeping tabs on his progress daily make weekly updates in this thread. All stats will be taken from a combination of Sharkscope, OPR and Nick's Full Tilt History (necessary to keep tabs on the KOs).
