Ronald Napala fought his way from short stack to victory at Concept Midweek Game #4 in Maitland on Thursday.
Ronald arrived to final table as one of the players short on chips. But with patience and good timing with the moves he made, he reached the final 3.
The odds were still stacked heavily against him, though, as he only had 10% of chips in play against Peter Jacobs and Clifford Fortuin. Peter was also running hot and had the overwhelming chip lead.
However, Ronald scored three consecutive double-ups (two against Peter and one against Cliffy), which set the foundation for his victory.
He beat Peter in a tough heads-up battle, which saw the two players compete for 40 minutes.
All in all, it was a fun game of poker, with 37 players entering the tournament (including the two on-duty committee members).
Back-to-back eliminations just before final table saw Kershnee Julie unfortunately bubble in 10th place as Chris Hadzi fell short in 9th place – the latter securing the extra log points.
FINAL TABLE REPORT:
8th place: Samier Jamodien
Samier was crippled with a very low stack and put it all in with QJ ♣️ suited. Unfortunately, he ran into Cliffy’s Kings, which scored the knockout.
7th place: Ramees Miller
With no deals made, Ramees Miller was the bubble boy as he made a play with KJ. After raising, he was called off by monster chip leader Peter Jacobs. On a A54 flop, Ramees made a play and shoved all in, but he was called by Peter, who tabled AJ for the pot win.
6th place: Gareth Duncan
In the very next hand, Peter raised big Under The Gun. Gareth moved all in over the top with pocket 7s, but unfortunately ran into Peter’s Aces. Gareth flopped a gut shot straight draw, but the Turn and River bricked to see him hit the rail.
5th: Bentley Louw
With a short stack, Bentley managed to make the money and enjoyed on jump on the prize pool. But with a raise and re-raise in front of his big blind, he couldn’t resist to put in the rest of his chips with AQ. He was called by Cliffy, who tabled pocket Kings again. Bentley managed to hit two-pair on the board, but his Ace on the River brought a four-card Broadway straight for Cliffy.
4th place: Shane Solomons
Shane got it in good with A8 against Peter’s KJ, but the latter was running good on final table. The King flopped, which was good enough for the knockout.
3rd place: Clifford Fortuin 🥉
In a tight three-way battle, Cliffy fell short after losing an important race against Ronald. He was eventually all in with K10 against Ronald’s A4. Cliffy managed to spike the 10 on the River, but Ronald hit a four-card bottom straight as his 4 connected on a 567810 board.
2nd place: Peter Jacobs 🥈
With no deals made, a 40-minute heads up battle ensued.
Peter got an early, fortuitous double up with KQ against Ronald’s AQ. But the stacks eventually played out even.
Peter then had bad timing when he made a big bluff, which was hero called by Ronald to secure a big chip lead.
Soon after, Peter was all in with A5, and called by Ronald with Q10 ♦️ suited. The 10 flopped, which held up for the tourney win.
1st place: Ronald Napala 🏅
BONUS LOG POINTS
Bounty: Concept newcomer Pieter van Zyl gave defending champion William Francis a bad beat to secure the bounty. With 103 vs A9, the 10 hit to earn Pieter 2 log points.
Special hands: Jason Fried hit quads with pocket Jacks against a full house on the table to earn 2 valuable log points.
Well done to all the winners!
Results from Concept Midweek Game #4:
1) Ronald Napala
2) Peter Jacobs
3) Cliffy Fortuin
4) Shane Solomons
5) Bentley Louw
6) Gareth Duncan
7) Ramees Miller
8) Samier Jamodien
9) Chris Hadzi