Interesting hands leading to PCA championship for Ambrose...

[swarm]

These are 4 hands in the last 15 hands that led to Ambrose wining 1.3 million and take PCA championship. Shows how lucky you have to be to win a WPT final table.

Starts out with following stacks down to final 3:

1. David Singer - $4,000,000 (seat 2)
2. Steve Paul-Ambrose - $1,600,000 (seat 1)
3. Brook Lyter - $1,600,000 (seat 3)

Hand 1:

Hand #90 - Steve Paul-Ambrose has the button in seat 1, Paul-Ambrose raises to $200,000, and Singer calls from the small blind. The flop comes As-8d-7d, Singer checks, Paul-Ambrose bets $500,000, Singer raises to $1.5 million, and Paul-Ambrose thinks long and hard before he moves all in for $95,000 more, and Singer obviously calls. Paul-Ambrose shows Kd-2d (flush draw), while Singer has Ad-9h (pair of aces). Paul-Ambrose needs to improve to survive.

The turn card is the Ah, and Singer makes trip aces. Paul-Ambrose needs a diamond to stay alive.

The river card is the 4d, and the crowd goes wild as Paul-Ambrose hits his flush to double up in chips. (His friends and family make up the largest portion of the crowd.)

Stacks for Hand 2; 7 hands later:

1. Steve Paul-Ambrose - $3,840,000 (seat 1)
2. Brook Lyter - $1,960,000 (seat 3)
3. David Singer - $1,300,000 (seat 2)

Hand #97 - David Singer has the button in seat 2, Lyter raises to $220,000, and Paul-Ambrose calls. The flop comes 8d-6c-2h, Lyter checks, Paul-Ambrose bets $400,000, and Lyter calls. The turn card is the Qc, Lyter checks, Paul-Ambrose bets $500,000, and Lyter says "All in" for a total of $1,255,000. Paul-Ambrose carefully considers the situation for several minutes before he calls with Qd-Jc (pair of queens). Lyter shows pocket eights (8c-8s) for a set, and Paul-Ambrose is drawing dead. (The meaningless river card is the 4s.) Brook Lyter wins a huge pot to double up to about $4 million -- and the chip lead.

Stacks for Hand 3; 2 hands later
1. Brook Lyter - $4,000,000 (seat 3)
2. Steve Paul-Ambrose - $1,900,000 (seat 1)
3. David Singer - $1,400,000 (seat 2)

Hand #99 - Steve Paul-Ambrose has the button in seat 1, Paul-Ambrose raises to $225,000, and Singer calls from the big blind. The flop comes Qh-Jh-4d, Singer checks, Paul-Ambrose bets $350,000, and Singer moves all in for a total of $1.11 million. Paul-Ambrose calls with As-Ks (two overcards, gut-shot straight draw), but Singer shows pocket kings (Ks-Kh) for an over pair.

The turn card is the Ac, and Paul-Ambrose makes a higher pair to take the lead. Singer needs to catch a king (for a set) or a ten (for a straight) to stay alive.

The river card is the Qd, and David Singer is eliminated in third place, earning $436,200.

Final Hand; 6 hands later:
Ambrose 3.7 mill
Lyter 3.4 mil

Hand #105 - Steve Paul-Ambrose has the button, he limps, Lyter raises to $380,000, and Paul-Ambrose calls. The flop comes Js-9s-2c, Lyter bets $300,000, and Paul-Ambrose raises to $1.5 million. Lyter asks for a count of Paul-Ambrose's remaining chips while he makes his decision.

He really takes his time, and we're talking ten minutes here.

Lyter eventually moves all in for $3.02 million, and Paul-Ambrose reluctantly calls with Qs-10c (overcard, open-ended straight draw). Lyter shows Kc-Jd (top pair, king kicker), and he's made a great call here to hopefully double up, but he needs his hand to hold up first.

The turn card is the Qh, and Paul-Ambrose makes a higher pair to take the lead! Now Lyter is behind, and he'll need to catch a ten (for a straight), or a jack (for trips) to stay alive.

The river card is the Kh, and Steve Paul-Ambrose makes a king-high straight to win the hand -- and the tournament.

Brook Lyter is eliminated in second place, earning $681,500. Steve Paul-Ambrose wins the 2006 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, winning $1,363,100 and a $25,500 entry into the WPT World Championship.

It's good to get lucky.

[restrikt]

Luck is a part of poker. Deal with it...

[amulet]

you are missing the point. yes luck is part of poker, and we all need to accept that, or as you put it "deal with it." however, good poker is about making correct decisions. and many of his hands at the final table were not good poker. i congratulate him on his win, but not on his decisions.

[Rick Diesel]

[ QUOTE ]
you are missing the point. yes luck is part of poker, and we all need to accept that, or as you put it "deal with it." however, good poker is about making correct decisions. and many of his hands at the final table were not good poker. i congratulate him on his win, but not on his decisions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, you are definitely right. We should only judge him on the 4 hands listed here. What about the hand where Singer hit runner-runner on him to get the stack he had in Hand 1.
Quit bashing fellow 2+2ers.

[amulet]

i did not know anyone was a 2+2'er. however, i would say what i think regardless of them being active here.

as for david singer's runner runner str8, yes that was luck. however, he had top pair on the flop at 3 handed table, on a heads up hand. that is very very different then the other hands discussed. i am not saying it was a good play, i was not at the table, i am only saying it made a lot more sense then the other posted hands.

as for the only 4 hands comment, that is fair to point out. again, i was not at the table and don't know enough to comment on anyone's overall play. but i want to remind you that i was responding to a group of specific hands that were posted, which is what we do.

i think you need to relax and not be worried if we are talking about a regular 2+2 poster.

i think they all worked hard to make the final table out of over 750 opponents. and they all played well and also got lucky at times.

i think that singer making his 2nd WTP final table in the last few months is impressive, and i think ambrose winning is also impressive.

[shermanash]

[ QUOTE ]

as for david singer's runner runner str8, yes that was luck. however, he had top pair on the flop at 3 handed table, on a heads up hand. that is very very different then the other hands discussed. i am not saying it was a good play, i was not at the table, i am only saying it made a lot more sense then the other posted hands.


[/ QUOTE ]

what about ambrose's AQ? top pair top kicker on the flop on a heads up hand 3 handed... hmm isn't that nearly the exact same situation?

[bbysux]

[ QUOTE ]
Quit bashing fellow 2+2ers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been lurking here for awhile and love all the info on here but I find this post funny. Are we not allowed to critique fellow players? I don't think anybody called him a bad player. Congrats to stevepa on a helluva run he got lucky on a few hands down the stretch which I think we can all agree on is needed to win a MTT.

[N 82 50 24]

"Paul-Ambrose calls with As-Ks (two overcards, gut-shot straight draw), but Singer shows pocket kings (Ks-Kh) for an over pair."

I'm told he had AQ for TPTK. Makes it look a bit better...

[amulet]

From down there I was told it was AK not AQ. I think my information is correct. If so, it was a poor call, but a nice win.