The Red Hot Poker Tour's^® Season 13 Tournament of Champions

Life of Brian: Hurricane Hurley Blows Through Tournament Of Champions XIII

Red Hot Poker Tour - Season 13 Tournament of Champions winner Brian Hurley Saturday, April 4, 2009

Red Hot dealers Livaline Ringseisen and Michael Bennett Leroux have run the registration area at the Tournament of Champions for the last half-dozen seasons or so. And every season they choose one unlucky player as the victim of a practical joke. This season, for reasons that would only become clear in hindsight, they chose Brian Hurley.

"Do you have your membership card?" asked Michael as Brian approached the registration desk. Handing over his card, Brian was stunned by what Michael said next.

"You're not on my list."

"I'm not?" Brian pleaded. "But I have enough points!"

Michael turned to Livaline for help.

"Brian, you played in one of the Wildcard events," she said, straight-faced, "and that automatically disqualifies you from the Tournament of Champions." Brian was aghast. He looked at Michael for help.

"I didn't play - I just watched it!" Brian said, flustered. Michael just shrugged.

"Well your name was on the list I received, so I gave away your spot," said Livaline. "Sorry, Brian, there's nothing I can do."

Brian looked distraught for a moment. But Michael let him off the hook quickly.

"Gotcha, Brian! Just joking, you'll be on Table Nine."

Brian let out a big smile -- "Man, you guys are bad!" -- relieved that it was all just a put-on. It would not be the last time we'd see Brian with a big smile on his face this day. But more on that later.

As players took their seats, Nick McGowan welcomed all once again to the Brick Yard BBQ for another Tournament of Champions. He introduced this season's superlative performances: Jennifer Garlicki was the Top Female, Gary Biggar was the Hardcore Champion for playing in the most tournaments, and Bill Bawden barely blinked when he was introduced for the umpteenth season in a row as the overall Points Champion. John Lawson, last season's Tournament of Champions winner, was then introduced to say those four familiar words that start every tournament:

"Shuffle up and deal!"

It didn't take long before a lot of chips got into the middle, and players were sent to the rail. Both Bob Goddard and Giancarlo Marrelli ran queens into aces and were busted within the first 20 minutes. Bob's son Shaun, sitting just one table over from his old man, was faring much better, having already doubled-up. At the other end of the room, Doris Edgar raked in a huge pot when, after raising preflop and getting three callers, a lot of chips went into the middle. The J-7-2-A board was great for her pocket jacks, and even greater when it was revealed that her two all-in opponents had 77 and AJ.

The Feature Table saw a stretch of huge hands. First, Srdjan Sekulic pushed all-in with AK and lost when his opponent's pocket jacks flopped a set on the turn, and rivered quads. Then, on the very next hand, another Goddard - this time Steve -- got his chips into the middle. Steve's pocket sixes were in trouble against Sal Villaluz's pocket kings (Mahmoud Zarei was also sticking around with A8s). The flop brought no help, but a six on the turn helped triple Steve up. 

As the afternoon moved along, tables collapsed from 7 to 6 to 5. Some players began breaking away with big stacks. Corinna Matteliano and Brian Hurley were both pushing 40,000 chips, Helen McGill was a hair over 30,000, and Jason Acton, Gary Nakashima, Randy Barron, Mahmoud Zarei and Stephan Sabourin were all comfortably over 20,000.

Play ended for the dinner break. Players lined up, eager to chow down and then get back to action. Brian Hurley was at the front of the line, talking to Livaline as both waited for the food to come out.

"How's your day going?" she asked. "I hear that you're the chipleader!"

"I'd be really surprised if I was the chipleader," he said, modestly. "But I am doing pretty well."

Brian's pleasure turned to melancholy, though. "Today is probably my last shot at winning the Tournament of Champions," he said, "because next season I won't be able to get out as much." Before any more could be said, the Brick Yard's dinner spread was brought out, and Brian lead a long procession of players as he dug right in.

With bellies full, the dinner break ended and the number of tables steadily decreased. Bob Clemmer was holding court at the featured table, cracking jokes and telling his opponents just where they screwed up. Randy Barron was his latest victim, after he called an all-in with just an open-ended straight draw, and got there on the river to bust James Arseneault. Down to two tables, Craig Williams and Shane Alexander were seated next to each other, and between the two of them they had seemingly all the chips on the planet. Some players still alive were vying to make multiple Tournament of Champions final tables, including Gary Nakashima, George Kuzmanovic, Jason Acton, Jennifer Garlicki and Bob Clemmer (who was in the hunt for final table #3). Bill Bawden, the league's all-time points champion, was holding on with a short stack, looking for his first shot at the Big Dance.

With the final table so close, tensions were at their highest. Jennifer Garlicki eliminated Bob Clemmer in a huge pot, when her A9 outraced his AK, flopping a 9 on the flop and a boat on the turn. At such a crucial stage of the tournament, a beat like that left at least one of the parties none too pleased. I'll let the reader use his or her imagination on that one. 

With ten players left on two tables, Matt Hageman from HBO shoved QT from the small blind, and was called by Brian Hurley and his K7o in the big blind. Brian's king-high won the pot, and made Matt the unfortunate final table bubble boy.

Before the final table could begin, players had to have their chips counted by Red Hot staff, and that count must be verified by Tournament Director Scott McFadyen with the player standing by as a witness. In the rush to get chips counted, Brian was left again standing alone with Livaline, and he was eager to go out for a smoke.

"Scott needs to sign off on your chipstack, so you need to wait," she told him. Then, in an attempt to ease his nervousness, she said, "Sit down and talk to me. How was your day?"

"I didn't want to say, earlier, but when I woke up this morning, I really had a good feeling about this day," said Brian. "This is the last chance I'll have. I didn't want to jinx it earlier."

Scott came by, and a relieved Brian made his way outside, followed closely by the Fates.

With all the formalities out of the way, spectators were then allowed into the Brick Yard's back room, where chairs were set up, huge monitors and screens adorned the walls, and Big Red, Red Hot's traditional final table, was positioned in the corner of the room. As dealer Brandon Farrell prepared the table, announcer Michael Bennett Leroux introduced the lucky nine who had just earned their seats:

With the blinds soaring at 3000/6000/1000ante, the action promised to be swift, as the shortstacks felt the pressure. And sure enough, we saw a slew of quick bust outs.

Jason Acton was the first to go, lasting all of one hand. He raised from the small blind, and got Chad to call from the big blind. Jason moved the rest of his chips in on the J-J-3 flop, and Chad instacalled with his J3 for a flopped full house. Jason was drawing nearly dead with his pocket twos. After winning a huge pot off of Brian the very next hand, Chad busted the next player, when his pocket eights held against Corinna's AK.

Craig Williams then lost a huge chunk of his stack when, after raising preflop and getting Shane to call, he shoved the A-5-J flop. Shane called with AQ, and Craig, like Jason before him, showed that pocket twos are tricky to play postflop. Shane took down the next pot, and then, completely wrestling the early final table momentum away from Chad, eliminated two more players on the eighth hand of play. After calling Craig's open-shove, Shane was left with a decision when Nicholas Beeby, a qualifier through the Student Poker Championships, reshoved behind him. Shane made the call with his KJ, which was in rough shape against Nicholas' pocket queens. Until, that is, a king hit the flop. Nicholas' hand got no help, nor did Craig's A4.

The carnage continued 2 hands later when, after a Shane raise, and a Brian call, Jennifer moved all-in for her remaining chips from the blinds. Brian's turned pair of kings was enough to win the pot, and eliminate Jennifer, who, wearing her Season 9 champion jersey, had just become the first female to make a second career Tournament of Champions final table. And just like that, only 9 hands into the final table, we were down to four players. Shane and Chad were the big stacks, having ridden their early rushes effectively. Brian was still healthy, stopping the bleeding after a few early missteps. And Randy was in a bit of trouble, having not many chips left and big stacks surrounding him everywhere. He managed to hang on for another 7 hands, finally losing with AT to Chad's QQ.

Randy's elimination brought us, quicker than expected, to the prize bubble. Two of the remaining three players would win a trip to Vegas this summer, and the third would end their long day of poker empty-handed.

Momentum changed rather quickly, due to a terrifying and gutsy calldown by Brian. After limping from the small blind, he faced a big raise from Chad in the big blind. Brian called, and saw a 7-Q-K flop. Brian bet out and Chad called. The 9 on the turn caused Brian to check and then call after a big bet by Chad. The river was another 9. Brian again checked. Chad took his time counting out a bet, repeatedly going back to his stack for more and more yellow 5000 chips. After some time he finally settled on a bet of 50,000. Brian agonized for a long time, brushed his hand through his hair, squinted and squirmed... before finally making the call. Chad tapped the table, and showed A7 for bottom pair. Brian, relieved, flipped over his winning Q5. There were about 200,000 chips in that pot, and it left Brian as the big stack, yet again. Just in time for the blinds to raise to 4000/8000/1000ante.

Chad fought valiantly from then on, always maintaining an aggressive style. The problem was that Shane, an even more aggressive player, was right behind him. Chad would make some headway, take down some pots, and then Shane would reraise him all-in and force Chad back down to where he started. This heavy action finally caught up with Chad when, after a Brian raise from the button, Chad shoved the rest of his chips all-in. Brian didn't take long to call with just JT. Chad's A9 was ahead, until the flop came Q-8-Q-J-Q, giving Brian a boat and busting Chad out in third.

And with that Brian Hurley and Shane Alexander had won seats into event #54, a $1500 buy-in No Limit Hold 'Em tournament, at this summer's World Series of Poker. The players didn't take up too much time congratulating themselves, or planning their trips. For there was still the little matter of a Tournament of Champions to win.

With relatively equal stacks, it would take two big hands running into each other at once to finish things up. Both players showed no fear, using aggressive big bets to take down pots. The chiplead swung back and forth several times, with neither player taking a clear advantage.

Then, on hand #57 of the final table, with the blinds at 5000/10000/2000ante, we got the huge pot we'd been waiting for. Action started with Brian limping on the button, and Shane making a big raise from the big blind. Brian called, and the players saw a Q-6-2 flop. Shane, with extreme confidence, immediately moved all-in. And just as fast, Brian called. Shane had Q9 for top pair with a nine-kicker, but Brian had him dominated with KQ. The turn and river were no help to Shane, and Brian won a pot worth over 450,000 chips, which represented about 75% of all the chips in play.

"At least I still get to go to Vegas," noted Shane, trying his best to look on the bright side.

He managed to hang on for another ten hands or so, doubling-up nicely when he flopped a straight, but losing a lot of chips in another hand when he tried slowplaying pocket kings, only to learn that Brian, bluffing on the flop, went runner-runner two-pair on him. After doubling up yet again on hand #67 with a blind all-in that he turned into a flush, Shane's day ended on the very next hand when he open-shoved the small blind. Brian was more than happy to call, and then slam pocket aces down on the table. Shane was in rough shape with his A7. He couldn't figure out if he wanted to suck out with a flush or a straight or trip sevens. He got none of the above.

And with that, Brian Hurley had won the Red Hot Poker Tour's 13th Tournament of Champions.

After the final hand, Livaline, who had been running the "flop cam", stood up from her station in the back, and walked around front to take a picture of the new champ. Brian, holding the winner's trophy, wearing his new Team Canada Poker jersey, and sporting a huge smile, looked over at her and said, simply, "I told you!"