A late run of good form saw Lionel Nicholas secure top honours at Concept Midweek Game #20 in Goodwood on Thursday night.
Lionel showed the value of patience during the earlier stages of the freezeout phase, which included a strong field of 42 players. While building up from a modest stack, he scored important pot wins late in the game and this set him up nicely on final table.
This continued among the final 9, as the cards fell in his favour at critical moments, which propelled him to first place.
Cas du Toit was first out in 9th as he was all in with 8s. Unfortunately he ran into Matthew Fabing’s Js, which held up.
The Concept QG defending champion Dean van der Merwe was struggling with the short stack, and made a move with Q7. Lionel called from the big blind with J3, which flopped top pair and sent Dean to the rail in 8th.
Matt was the overwhelming chip leader at the break, but struggled to continue that form midway during final table. After losing a few big hands, he found himself all in with Js. Unfortunately, he ran into Jason Fried’s pocket Ks, which held up and saw Matt eliminated in 7th.
Concept log leader Vicky Moodley has enjoyed hot form all season – but he experienced a bad beat to end in 6th. Chad Hughes raised big in early position with A9 ♣️ suited, which was enough to put Vicky all in with Js in the small blind. The flop saw the pair holding up, but the Turn and River showed 9s, which saw Chad win with a set.
Pine Pienaar was then out in 5th. After losing most of his stack to Chad, who won it with a set of 7s against KQ in the previous hand, Pine put the last of his chips in with pocket 2s. He found himself in a three-way pot with Lionel and Bentley Louw, and was knocked out when Lionel hit a broadway straight on the River.
A big pot between the two chip leaders then ensued. Chad raised under the gun, before Lionel shipped with the second biggest stack on the table in small blind. Chad made the tough call with A♠️K♥️, and found himself ahead against Lionel’s A♣️Q.♦️ But the board ran four ♣️s, which saw Lionel take an overwhelming chip lead.
Soon thereafter, Chad was out in 4th when his K8 was beaten by Jason’s 8s.
Bentley did well to float with a small stack on final table, but his run came to an end in 3rd. He made a move on the dealer button, and was called by Lionel in big blind, who thought he was behind with J6. But it dominated Bentley’s 75 off, which couldn’t connect on a dry board.
With a 3-1 chip lead, Lionel then offered an ICM pot split to Jason, who wanted to split the prize 50-50. They couldn’t reach an agreement and decided to play heads-up.
Lionel won notable pots before making a big preflop all-in call with Q10. But again, he was surprised to find himself ahead as he dominated Jason’s Q4. A 10 on the flop secured Lionel the tourney triumph.
Results from Concept Midweek Game #20:
1 Lionel Nicholas
2 Jason Fried
3 Bentley Louw
4 Chad Hughes
5 Pine Pienaar
6 Vicky Moodley
7 Matt Fabing
8 Dean van der Merwe
9 Cas du Toit