HSOP 2011 Final: A bumpy ride to victory!

Yesterday the long wait was finally over. The final 8 players sat down to compete for the title of HSOP 2011 Player of the Year. And this is how the stage looked like:

Niels Blommaert: 23.000
Dimitri Van Rooy: 14.000
Cédric De Caluwaert: 24.000
Jessica De Roeck: 26.000
Michiel Maes: 32.000
Thomas Vanbrabant: 37.000
Michiel Clippeleyr: 28.000
Jeroen Van Acker: 26.000

During the five preliminary events players earned points in order of their finishes. The better you do in the preliminary events the better your chances for the HSOP Player of the Year title. As you can see I was third in chips when we started the HSOP Final. I had position on the two bigger stacks: Thomas and Michiel. In the beginning I goofed around a lot just because we had so many chips and I could afford it. But that resulted in me giving my chips away. Most of them to my immediate left right into the hands of Mr. Van Acker. It even went so far I only had like 6,5k left.

Time to regroup! I doubled once and was hanging on around 15-20k before the first player of the night hit the felt. It just wasn’t his day. Baller NeoNiels couldn’t win any flip and was eliminated in 8th place. I believe it was a big disappointment for Niels. Next to hit the felt was our chipleader at the start of the event: Thomas Vanbrabant. He lost a major hand against Jeroen in which Thomas held Kings and Jeroen Aces. The hand practiculy played itself, giving Jeroen a massive chipstack.

So six players remained. The blinds were getting real high and most of the players had around 15-20 bb’s left. Apart from Mr. Michiel Moss, he held the chiplead at the time and built a massive ‘Berlin Wall’ with his black chips. Kinda funny, but in the end we were able to knock it down. I doubled through him to gain the chiplead, only to double Michiel back up again. At that time I kinda had it with six handed play and tried to knock somebody out. That person was Jessica De Roeck, she pushed all in with A8 or A7 (I kinda do not remember anymore). But I called with QT knowing I was behind but feeling lucky. I made a flush on the turn and eliminated Jessica in 6th place.

Five handed it was. But that didn’t last long. In a somewhat strange hand Jeroen busted out with had KQ against Cédric’s Ax on a pretty dry board. That left us four handed with two big stack: Cédric and Michiel and two small stacks: Dimi and me. The next memorable hand that left us three handed in the end I believe I will never forget! I didn’t really follow the action but Michiel Maes went all in. And I heard Cédric say: you’re all in? YES OR NO????? But like really excited! Cédric snapcalled and was a huge favourite with his Aces against Michiel’s pockets 3’s. Nothing happened for Michiel and we were down to three players!

At that time I was the smallest stack at the table, but felt comfortable anyway. I knew I would have a chance to double and get back in the running. That double came with a sweet 5 on the river to earn me a set against Cédric’s flopped top pair. I was back in the game. A few hands later Dimi busted out in 3rd place against Cédric, so it was down to heads up play: me against the bubble boy!

We made a deal to give the second place finisher a small portion of the prizepool so Cédric wouldn’t bubble this event :-p. I was willing to take it because I had a huge chip disadvantage. I knew I had to double in the first few hands to get a real fighting chance for the title. My A7 held up against his A2 and the fight was really on now. After that hand I put the pressure on Cédric and never really looked back. He eventually made a stand with A8 against my pocket Aces and the fight was over for him. Great job Cédric!

So with this win I’m continuing my legacy as HSOP POTY! For the third year straight I have won the title of HSOP Player of the Year. I kinda feel proud :-). Apart from this awesome feat, along with my Forumblik Championship win I really have a shot at the Togenblik Triple Crown this year. The only thing I have to do now is win the TPT Grand Final and the Triple Crown is mine! Wish me luck!

Mickey C

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