Familiar Territory

The CIPT’s 12th Season ended with a bang. As usual, it was a competitive affair coupled with lots of laughs and some surprises.

This was the first season we implemented a new chip amount for the top 3 spots. 1st place was + $1000, 2nd place +750, and 3rd plus $500. Those spots went to Jay, Pierre, and Damion. It didn’t seem to matter to the rest of the field much as Stella struck early and hard winning significant pots from Dame and Pierre, and was the early chip leader with a massive tower of greens and reds. This allowed her to see a lot of flops early and outkick Jay in a hand that saw both of them with trip jacks. Uncharacteristically, Jamie and Jay were short-stacked early and had to tighten up and strategize their entries. Don was the quiet one at the table as far as action. The ever-verbal analyzer used his instincts to get him away from potential chip-leaking hands.

By the time we reached the 400/800 levels, Dame pushed with the first all-in of the evening. This time there was no contest and Dame was able to add the additional $1200 to his short stack. A few hands later, Jay decided it was time to try his luck at doubling up. He found a caller in Stella. The hands were a little light (Jay 10/4 vs Stella 10/6) and as stated, Stella was a huge chip leader at the time and could afford to see the hand. Jay prevailed and got the much-needed double-up. Next, we had Dame going all in with KJ and getting a confident call from Stella with QQ. (Stella clearly wanted that work) Dame was able to get his king paired and doubled up at Stella’s expense. It was a huge expense as the towers that were once so prevalent in Stella’s kingdom had quickly turned into vacant lots. One of the most pivotal hands of the night saw Jay, Stella, and Dame all in. Jay was on the shortest stack looking to triple his pleasure. As luck would have it, he was able to Jeezy (trips) his way into winning the ever-so-needed chips. Stella won the additional side pot. As we reached 500/1000 levels, we still had all 6 players but that would soon change. We got another 3-way showdown with Dame AK, Don AJ, and Stella QQ. Stella dodged the overs and eliminated both Dame and Don, coming in 6th and 5th respectively. Stella had recaptured her groove and looked like she was feeling good about her chances.

As we all know, the winds can change drastically in no limit hold em and the landscape of this game would do just that. Jamie on a short stack, started to pick her places to push and steal some blinds off of her opponents. While Stella got her groove back, it was a short tango as she and Jamie were heads up in a game changing all in moment. If we had a sponsor this would have been the sponsor-backed moment of the game. Jamie had obtained and lost as the game went on and at this point, she was down to a paltry $2600. She drew Stella into a massive pot and more than doubled up. A few more hands against Stella and she had improbably become the chip leader. Jamie would soon catch a body as she dispatched Jay with a QJ vs 10 10 showdown. Jay gets paired but it doesn't matter as Jamie wins with trip 10s and ends Jay’s evening. From here on out, Stella bumped heads with both Jamie and Pierre, doubling up and winning pots. Stella’s tournament was sort of like a heart rate during interval/hiit training. Her highs were right on time but the one low that mattered most, saw her finish in 3rd place and set up Jamie vs Pierre part 2.

Before Stella was knocked out, Pierre was doubled up by Jamie, who at the time had a significant chip lead. Pierre came out firing taking down pots as they blinds rose to an astronomical $3000/$6000. No fear in Jamie, she folded in deliberate fashion. It was clear that she did not want to gamble on doubling up her opponent on hands that she felt she would be behind in. A few rounds of Pierre’s incessant all ins and he was close to pulling even until… Jamie was on small blind and limped in, Pierre looked at his hole cards and saw an A3 and pushed again. This time, Jamie snapped called and turned over cowboys KK. Ultimately, no A showed to save Pierre who once again ceded the CIPT Championship to Jamie.

Jamie has the patience to withstand most obstacles and is never out of a game until she is out of the game. We have seen her do this before in season. With this win she joins a short list of champions (Jerry) who have multiple bracelets and more impressive is that she is the first back 2 back winner. Congrats to Jamie. Who can knock her off this perch? We’ll see in Season # 13!!!!!