Bodog poker is trudging forward, undaunted, with its upgraded $200,000-guaranteed pre-Super Bowl tournament this Sunday (double the guarantee, but still a $109 buy-in with entry fee), despite having even larger overlays in the aftermath of the NETELLER pullout.
The event was widely expected to have an overlay in the first place, even before the NETELLER situation, considering the normal $100,000-guaranteed tournament (with the same buy-in and held at the same time) has only surpassed its posted guarantee once (Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007). The $100,000-guaranteed tournament had 801 entrants last week, its first run since the NETELLER news broke, meaning Bodog put up a $19,900 overlay.
The site is also continuing its $70,000-guaranteed tournaments, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (today), despite huge attendance dips (and increased overlays) in those tournaments, as well. Last night's tournament had 801 players, with a $50 buy-in apiece, thus building a $40,050 player-generated prize pool and leaving Bodog to pick up the $29,950 tab. Today's $70,000-guaranteed tournament will likely be a similar story.
Tuesday Bodog $70,000 Guarantee
The Tuesday $70,000-guaranteed tournament had incredible comebacks, close matches, and unlikely nosedives. The comeback in question started when short stack Gee Que was down to just $79,000 in chips with the big blind at $16,000 and the chip leader (Rossy) at $667,000. That was with seven players remaining. By the time it was down to four-way play a half hour later, Gee Que was in the chip lead with $1.3 million – almost twice as much as Rossy in second.
The close matches were particularly apparent during the four-way play, when each of the four players held the chip lead at least once. Unfortunately for Gee Que, the unlikely nosedive also pertained to him (unlikely because he had held such a huge lead). Gee Que lost the majority of his stack in two hands in which he held ace-rag against an all-in opponent preflop (once when he called, once where he pushed). In the first, rizzagizza's K-J hit a king on the flop to overtake him and cut his stack by about a third. In the second, Rossy's pocket fives held up to take Gee Que down to $94,000. He was eliminated soon thereafter when his 10-5 was beaten by (guess what!) ace rag. He earned $4,550 for fourth place.
When it was down to two players, rizzagizza had $1.9 million in chips versus Rossy with $511,000. Rizzagizza, like Gee Que, found himself in a nosedive situation in the match. His stack started its downward slide when he pushed all in on a flop of A
Q 2 and Rossy called and showed pocket aces for a set. Rizzagizza held 4
3
and needed a 5 (and to avoid the board pairing) to keep Rossy from doubling up. The turn was the 4
and the river the A, to give Rossy quad aces to take the hand and put himself over $1 million.
Rossy then crippled rizzagizza when rizzagizza pushed all in on a flop of A 8 3 and Rossy called all in instantly and showed K Q. Rizzagizza was behind with 6 5 and an unneeded third club on the river gave Rossy a flush to take the hand and leave rizzagizza with only $52,000.
Rizzagizza pushed all in for less than the big blind in the very next hand and showed 4 2 and was up against Rossy's 7 5. Both a 7 and a 2 came on the flop, and Rossy's pair of sevens held up to win the hand and the tournament. Rossy pocketed $17,500 for his first-place finish.
The final standings were as follows:
1) Rossy – $17,500
2) rizzagizza – $9,800
3) Stange10 – $6,300
4) Gee Que – $4,550
5) WFU2254 – $3,780
6) roja28 – $3,080
7) TeamPockets – $2,380
8) thecure19 – $1,680
9) DoomSwitch – $1,085
The $200,000-guaranteed pre-Super Bowl tournament will be held on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. EST. The $70,000-guaranteed tournaments are held every Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. The tournaments at Bodog have been regularly spreading huge overlays, providing excellent value for players. Those interested in taking advantage of these overlay tournaments can do so by clicking here.
