The Doubles Poker Championship rolled on over the weekend on GSN. Another two regular season matches were held beginning at 9:00pm ET on Saturday night and David Tuchman and Brandon Adams had the call. Full Tilt Poker sponsors the series.
Each team received 50,000 in starting chips and the blinds began at 500/1,000. Every player coughed up a $50,000 buy-in and two-person teams were randomly drawn. The action alternated players by street and every team received one 30-second time out to talk strategy.
In the first four-handed match of the hour, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad teamed with fellow young gun Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Mike Matusow teamed with Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon partnered with Erick Lindgren, and PartyPoker’s Tony G teamed with eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel. The latter two were the first to go after their K-Q could not draw out on Gordon and Lindgren’s A-10. They received no points toward the regular season standings.
Matusow committed his team’s chips pre-flop with A-5 of spades and Gordon isolated with a wired pair of sixes. Gordon and Lindgren flopped a full house when the first three cards came 2-2-6 and no help came on the turn or river for Matusow and Ferguson, who collected four points toward the regular season standings. Lindgren and Gordon entered heads-up play against Obrestad and Galfond with a 2:1 edge.
Obrestad and Galfond quickly doubled up with A-3 against K-2 to take the chip lead, but Gordon and Lindgren struck back. Gordon shoved with 9-7 pre-flop and Obrestad insta-called with A-10. Gordon and Lindgren flopped a nine and never looked back to double up. Then, Obrestad and Galfond were all-in pre-flop with Q-7 against Lindgren and Gordon’s A-Q of spades. The board filled out 6-2-6-4-8 and Lindgren and Gordon claimed 20 points for the regular season standings after knocking out each team in their match, while Obrestad and Galfond earned 11 points.
During the second half-hour of coverage, former World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner David Chiu teamed with Jennifer Harman, UB.com pro Annie Duke teamed with David Oppenheim, Gus Hansen teamed with Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger partnered with Huck Seed. Interestingly, Seed won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 1996 when Lichtenberger was just eight years old.
Duke and Oppenheim were the first casualties of the second match of the night. Hansen raised to 8,000 pre-flop with pocket fives and Duke moved all-in for 24,200 with A-K of diamonds. Hansen called and the board came five cards 10 or lower. Duke and Oppenheim received the goose egg for points as a result. The top 16 players at the end of the regular season will move on to the playoffs.
Seed raised to 45,000 with 10-8 and Chiu came all-in over-the-top for 53,900 with A-K. Seed called and Chiu and Harman stood to double up until a 10 hit on the river. The pair received four points as Seed’s pre-flop aggression paid off.
In the final hand, Smith pushed all-in for 70,200 with A-J and Seed made the call with A-Q. Seed and Lichtenberger were a 71% favorite to win pre-flop and the board filled out 3-4-6-7-7. Seed told Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship floor reporter Lacey Jones, “It was a lot of fun. I thought [Lichtenberger] played very well. I thought we played very well together.”
The tournament was filmed at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. Catch the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship every Saturday night on GSN. Check your local listings for more information.
