"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Charles Dickens started his seminal "A Tale of Two Cities: with the aforementioned quote. Those words eloquently describe the The CIPT Season #8 Championship. This season ended much like the season started out; in a hot contentious showdown between friends and rivals. Cory, Tino, Lloyd, Nitin, Dre, and Ivory would all put on a great showing for this championship event. Like most tournaments, it was not without its drama and nail-biting moments.

Match play started with a table of five as Tino missed the first level and arrived about seventeen minutes into the game. By that time, Cory had already won a nice sized pot and was up in chips. Afterwards, he would fold many hands and pick and choose his spots. Ivory took a few early pots with aggressive position betting and was able to stay right there with Cory. Nitin was the unfortunate fellow to not get many good hands and then have his post flop bluffs called. This resulting in very regrettable plays that led to folding, after facing a raise after gaining no equity at the turn or river. No surprise, he was the short stack early on. Lloyd was playing pretty well early. He won a couple of pots that kept him within eyesight of the chip leaders; Cory and Ivory. Dre and tino mostly sat back and watched their stacks dwindle, until they would meet in a pivotal hand. However, Dre would first see Nitin in an important hand that held Nitin’s tournament life at stake. Nitin was short stacked and forced to call Dre’s all in and Nitin led up until the dreaded river. Nitin would be the first to bow out after a good season showing.

Dre would then meet Tino and put him to a tough decision with a big bet for about sixty percent of his chips. The flop displayed possible straight potential up and down. It was a hand in which Dre was able to limp in on his blind so Tino was hard pressed to confidentially guess what Dre was holding. It was an intense moment and Tino pondered it feverishly. Eventually the call was made and Dre turned over a ten to complete the straight that Tino assumed he had. Tino was now the short stack at the table but he would soon triple up, reinvigorating his tournament life. The blinds currently were unkind and it was again time to push all in for Tino. This time, there would be no reprieve and Tino was done for the evening.

Soon Lloyd and Cory would follow Nitin and Tino and we would have our showdown; Dre v Ivory. This is the only matchup we wanted and we got one helluva heads-up match. Ivory had Dre out stacked by about 2-1. If Dre were to pull this out, it would take skill and also some luck. Dre was up to it as he put the pressure on Ivory early and did not let up. Ivory tried to counter with reraises here and there but Dre either saw through it or had the goods. He would go over the top which caused Ivory to fold his hands. In a snap, Dre had Ivory 2-1 with his fierce play. This is the same guy who says he is just a cash game player trying to get better at tournaments. He was clearly outplaying Ivory until a pivotal hand caused Dre to go on tilt. Ivory called a big bet with a raggedy hand and got paid off on the flop. A few hands later, Ivory was able to get him to call an all in with an irritated preface of “fuck it.” I can understand Dre’s frustration and drive for the bread and the coveted title as the first person to win two championships. It was just not his night and Ivory became the man of the hour. I was pulling for everyone, but I can’t deny that it makes me feel a little warmer that Ivory won. I have been around him enough to know that he has not been on top often enough in his life. It would be great if everyone was promised a moment like this, but we are not. Ivory was just lucky enough to nab one and I hope he holds on to it for awhile. (you got the juice now)

P