Thursday, October 05, 2006

The Hammer in Action

I'm going to assume that you read the UB blog and know who won the tournament and all that. Devon Miller, the guy who DID win, went on a completely ludicrous hot streak over the last 2 days. How ludicrous? How about This stat--once they got down to 18 players, he knocked out all but one. Took out 16 of 17 opponents. That's sick.

There was one hand that will appeal to my readers. I was watching a different table when we heard there was an all-in. That wasn't unusual, as players were slinging chips pretty much the whole tournament. I arrived to find Miller all-in and his opponent contemplating a call. It was a battle of the blinds, Miller raised, the other guy re-raised, and Miller made a huge overbet and pushed.

The guy thinking over the call was somewhat notorious for taking a lot of time over his decisions. And he was the sort to talk out loud as he deliberated--you know, "If you have AK, I'm in trouble...but you could have a small pair...you could make that move..." Blah blah blah.

The guy has a lot of chips, and if he doubles up he's primed for a deep run. He keeps thinking, thinking, shuffing his cards. Miller calls the clock after about 4 hours of this and we start counting down. I think the guy has to fold. Miller had been playing like a maniac, but he'd shown down some big hands too. Miller's quite capable of making a move like this with junk, but the way he'd been running I wouldn't be comfortable taking a flop with him.

With about five seconds to go the guy says, "Know what? I call." He pushes in his stack and turns over A-4. Miller turns over...the Hammer. Suited, mind you, but he turns over the Hammer.

I think I was the only person in the room who KNEW a deuce was coming on the flop. Everyone goes nuts, but the other guy does have a wheel draw. And on cue the three of spades falls on the turn to give the other dude the straight. But it also gave Miller a flush draw. And, yes, the river is a spade and the Hammer reigns supreme. A totally sick hand.

At the party on Saturday night they have Miller his bracelet, and Jack McClelland, who I don't think is often given to hyperbole, said he hadn't seen a display like Miller's "since Stuey Ungar passed." No small praise. Miller himself said he got incredibly lucky. Somewhere in between lies the truth.

posted by Gene @ 5:09 PM   |