Janurary 06, 2006

2005 Oregon Poker Tour Championship

After 100 poker games in 2005, it all came down to this. Eight players sat around the last table of the OPT 2005 Season, all playing for the $220 in the OPT Championship fund.

The players each started with $1,500 in tournament chips. The tension mounted as the laptop and video camaras were being set up. After a short interview with each player, the game was ready to begin. Here were the seating assignments:

Seat #1 Christina Zimmerman After Christmas Poker Classic Seat #2 Gregg Hart OPT 2005 Sweepstakes Winner Seat #3 Mike Payne OPT Power Rankings Tournament

Seat #4 Luke Shortridge Halloween Poker Challenge

Seat #5 Tim Dugan OPT 2005 Leaderboard Wildcard

Seat #6 Micah Sawyer Spring Break Poker Showdown

Seat #7 Matt Headlee OPT 2005 Leaderboard Tournament

Seat #8 Matt Braun Mid-Summer Poker Open

Christina, winner of the 2004 OPT Spring Break Poker Championship, and Tim Dugan, 2004 OPT Leaderboard Wildcard, were the only two players who knew what it was like to play for the championship. Dugan pulled off the victory last year, but with three more players at the table, would he be able to do it again, or would Co-founder Luke Shortridge keep his hot streak in major tournaments going, or would Gregg Hart use his newly found luck from winning the OPT 2005 Sweepstakes seat and turn it into a Championship, or would anyone else step up the plate and win it all?

For the first fourty minutes, the players moved chips around. The first large pot came when Matt Braun tried to make a move on Matt Headlee as he pushed all in with King-Queen pre-flop only to run into Headlee's Ace-King. Both men were close in chips, but Braun had Headlee covered only by a little over a hundred in chips. Later, Christina took many of those chips away from Headlee as she caught him bluffing with only ace high against her two pair.

Luke looked to take a pot down from Micah, but Micah moved all in with a set of duces. Luke folded, but still lost over $400 in chips. Soon after, Luke tried pushing Mike out of a pot by setting him all in with just King High. Mike responsed with "If you've got it, you've got it," and pushed the rest of his chips into the middle, showing Ace-Queen and top pair of aces with only the river card left. Luke was crippled, left with just over $200 chips.

Luke picked up Ace-Jack under the gun and pushed all in. He was called by Mike and Micah. After the flop, of 7-7-6, Micah went all in himself, and after some thought, Mike called. Mike had pocket queens, but Micah had flopped a full house with pocket 6's. Mike did not improve and Micah raked in a pot of over $3,000, busting out Co-founder Shortridge at the same time.

Soon after, Braun pushed all in, but was called by Micah, who ended up being a 70% - 30% favorite. Braun did not improve, and Micah busted him out.

The very next hand, Mike found two cards to go all in with, and was called by two players. Christina held Ace-King and after hitting an ace on the turn, she took Mike out of the championship.

The game played on. Soon after, Dugan looked directly at the camara and uttered his famous line: "I'm below average and desperate." (puns intended). Dugan's chip stack was falling. Finally, Dugan found pocket tens and moved all in with hardly over $1,000 in chips. Micah called quickly. Micah, however, only had pocket fives, and didn't improve. Dugan doubled up and found himself with chips again. Headlee fell under $1,000 and tried doubling up, but ran into Dugan with pocket tens again. Dugan flopped trips, which dropped Headlee from the tournament.

The game continued. The players shuffled chips around for fourty minutes without much happening. Dugan, however, kept accumulating chips. Gregg started making move and hitting hands as he tried to gather chips himself, and even ended up all in against Dugan with Ace-King against Dugan's Ace-Ten suited. But, Dugan flopped a 10, and Gregg didn't improve on his ace high. Dugan bounced Gregg out of the tournament.

Christina was on the short stack and found ace-nine in the hole while in the small blind. However, Dugan had pocket sixes and called instantly. Christina didn't improve her hand and Dugan took her out of the tournament. It was down to two: the 2005 Spring Break Poker Showdown winner, Micah Sawyer, and the 2004 & 2005 OPT Leaderboard winner and OPT 2004 Champion Tim Dugan. This was for everything; the winner would walk away with $220 and the title of OPT 2005 Champion, the loser would leave with nothing.

Dugan caught Micah pushing all in after the flop with King high after Dugan flopped top pair of aces with ace-ten of diamonds. Dugan's hand held up and he repeated as OPT Champion.