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Colorado Café
Captures a Second NJFP-500 Trophy
The Colorado Café in Watchung may be a new addition to the NJ
Free Poker schedule, but the players originating from there
are definitely not new to Texas Hold’em Poker. For the second
time in a row, a proud player from the Colorado Café took
home the gold in the NJFP-500 Tournament of Winners, which
took place on his home turf, Saturday, May 10.
This time the honor went to previous winner, Michael
O’Hare’s, friend and mentor, Allan “Where’s My Jacket?”
Pines, when he overcame more than 70 other players, to grab
first place and an NJ Free Poker $500 sponsored seat to a
Casino Cash event.
It was certainly an up and down final table for Pines, as he
himself would admit. He actually started by making a tactical
blunder that cost him to lose a huge portion of his chip
stack. When Lee “Hair Gel” Balestier made one of his many
all-in moves, Pines, being VERY conservative, decided to fold
his A-K of spades. After everyone else at the final table
also folded, Balestier showed that he had an ace as well, but
implied that he didn’t have a great kicker. Had Pines called,
he would have had the dominating hand and most likely would
have doubled up, compliments of Balestier’s considerable chip
stack…, but who knew?
However, he certainly made up for it, when he took down a
monster pot in one of two turning points of the tournament...
Hand of the Match:
It was about as daunting a pre-flop task, as any poker player
can imagine...All-in with 6-7 against pocket aces. But that
was Pines’ fate, as he committed all of his chips in a hand
against Danny DeJesus’s pocket rockets. It seemed like Pines
was doomed, although the flop gave him a glimmer of hope with
a gut-shot straight draw (an approximate 19% glimmer)
But this time, Rob “Lord of the River” Grosch didn’t wait
until fifth street to crack the dominant hand, and revealed a
nine on the turn. Pines got his straight and new life, in
addition to, the devastated DeJesus’s chips, and making Rob
“Tyrant of the Turn” to Danny, who finished in 7th place.
Hand of the Match 2:
Ken Asuquo started the tournament with a small chip stack,
but managed to hang on. Now, with six players left, and under
the gun, he went all-in with his last $19,000 with A-Q
off-suit. The small and big blind both called him. When the
flop came, 7-7-4, the small blind went all-in, and the big
blind folded. Much to everyone’s surprise, the small blind
had A-6 off-suit, which put Ken in a great position to
possibly triple-up. The turn blanked, but the river revealed
another 6, and the two-pair knocked Asuquo out. Had he won
the hand he would have had $60,000 in chips and near the chip
lead. As it was, the poker gods were not smiling on Asuquo on
this night, and almost doesn’t count.
There were quite a few notable NJFP power players at the
final table, such as Balestier, Grif “Mortgage Broker” Auld,
and Chris “Black Eyed Peas” Van Cleve. But in the end, it
came down to Pines versus Mark “Fist Pumper” Kline.
With Jon “by the rules” Simons taking over at the helm, and
after a small battle, Kline decided to go all-in with A-3, in
his hand. Pines immediately called with A-Q, giving him a
dominating lead. Unfortunately, for Kline, the board would
not pair his lower kicker, and that meant Pines would follow
in the tradition of Michael “Grey Shirt Guy” O’ Hare, as
another of Colorado Café’s NJFP-500 winners. I guess we will
have to just wait and wee see if that trend continues the
next time around.
Congratulations to Allan Pines, and to everyone who
participated, for another successful NJ Free Poker Special
event. Thank you to all of the NJFP Dealers for a job well
done, with a special thank you to Rob Grosch for organizing
the tournament.
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