Gareth Duncan picked up his first Concept Poker League triumph of the season by taking down Midweek Game #14 in Goodwood on Thursday night.
Despite arriving at final table with one of the smaller stacks, Gareth picked his spots strategically well. Showing selected bluffs to the table early on, he managed to get crucial double-ups late in the game, which set the foundation for the victory.
It didn’t take long for the action on final table to get heated as Ryan Goliath clashed with Cliffy Fortuin early on. Ryan raised under the gun before Cliffy shipped all in with the big stack. Ryan – who was making his Concept debut – called off his life with KJ off, which was dominated by Cliffy’s Qs and held, eliminating the newcomer in 9th.
Edwin Barlow was out in 8th when he shipped with A5 ♦️ suited in late position. Unfortunately, he ran into Alexander Orluv’s Qs, which did the damage again.
Stephen Ester was out in 7th as he tried to battle with the short stack. Gareth called from the small blind, before Stephen shipped in last action with 5s. With only two bigs to call, Gareth matched the bet with 10-7 off, which hit trip 7s.
Two hands then switched the momentum on the table.
On a KK5 flop, an enticing three-way pot brewed between Ben Umhau, Alexander and Cliffy. Ben opened the betting before Cliffy folded, then Alexander moved all in. Ben called, which saw Alexander celebrate, showing K6. But the Russian was crushed to see Ben hold KQ. The turn bricked for both players before a River 6 saw a big pot shift Alexander’s way. K6 is now his favourite lucky hand, he says.
Gareth then took the chip lead when he moved all in on Cliffy’s under-the-gun raise. Cliffy tanked before calling with AJ off, hoping for a race, but he was far behind as Gareth tabled As for a huge pot.
Alexander then got eliminated by Gareth in a blind-versus-blind action hand. Having bluffed all in on Alexander’s big blind earlier in the game, the Russian didn’t believe Gareth’s shove from the button and went all in with A9. But he was crushed to see Gareth table AK ♣️ suited, which secured a sizable pot and saw Alexander out in 6th.
Ben struggled to rebuild and was out in 5th, before Howard was blinded out to short stack and knocked out in 4th.
Cas then made a play with QJ and moved all in on Gareth’s raise. Gareth called with KQ, which outkicked Cas to the rail in third.
No deal was made heads-up as Gareth and Cliffy faced off. After a few pots exchanged, Cliffy mistimed an all in bluff with Q8, which was called and dominated by Gareth’s KQ – which was enough for the tourney win.
Midweek Game #14 results:
1 Gareth Duncan
2 Cliffy Fortuin
3 Cas du Toit
4 Howard Gabriels
5 Ben Umhau
6 Alexander Orluv
7 Stephan Ester
8 Edwin Barlow
9 Ryan Goliath