The final table of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship began airing on Saturday night on GSN. The cable station is in the midst of showcasing the 13-week franchise, a $50,000 buy-in tournament whose field of 32 has been slimmed down to just eight. In the final pairings, Huck Seed and Allen Cunningham began with 600,000 in chips, as did Tony G and David Benyamine. Coming armed to the final table with 400,000 in chips were Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson along with Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon.
A colossal $1 million first place prize is up for grabs for the winning team. Second place will earn $500,000, while the third place team will walk away with $200,000. The fourth place team receives $100,000, essentially getting their buy-ins back. Players alternate action by street and cannot discuss strategy while seated at the table with cards. Instead, teams in the finals are allotted three 60-second timeouts each.
In a major pot, Seed and Cunningham raised to 300,000 with A-7 of clubs on a board showing K-10-J-3-7 with two clubs for a busted flush draw and a pair of sevens. Lederer and Gordon, who held K-10 for two pair, took a time out to talk over the situation. Gordon told Lederer that the team should call, while Lederer insisted that Seed and Cunningham had them beat. In the end, Gordon called to scoop an 800,000-chip pot. As a result, Lederer and Gordon held more chips than the other three teams at the table combined.
Short-stacked, Tony G and Benyamine were all-in with Q-J against Cunningham and Seed, who flipped up pocket tens. The race was on and the flop of 2-J-Q bode well for Tony G and Benyamine’s chances for a double up. A seven on the turn and a five on the river completed the board and Tony G and Benyamine doubled up to 217,000.
With Gordon and Lederer struggling to get on the same page strategy-wise, Ivey tried to take advantage. The eight-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner raised to 30,000 before the flop with A-Q and an aggressive Gordon called with 7-3 of clubs. The flop came A-K-5 with two clubs, giving both teams a piece of the action.
Lederer checked, Ferguson made a continuation bet of 35,000 with top pair, and Lederer came over the top all-in for 248,000. Ferguson called all-in for his tournament life and a seven hit on the turn. Needing the river to fall a club, seven, or three, Lederer and Gordon watched in agony as their gamble failed to pay off when the nine of diamonds hit. Ivey and Ferguson doubled up to 561,000 after the better hand held.
In the final hand of the show, the always-animated Tony G raised to 30,000 with a wired pair of nines and Seed pushed it to 190,000 with A-9. Tony G moved all-in for 2,000 more and Seed made the easy call. The board fell 2-3-3-5-6, giving Tony G and Benyamine a late double-up to 389,000 to bring a little bit of momentum into this Saturday’s episode. Tony G proclaimed, “This will be the greatest comeback in television history” and added, “I’m getting three tandem bikes for all of you.” Tony G, a PartyPoker pro, remains one of the top trash-talkers in all of poker.
You can catch the next installment of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship finals on Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN. Four teams remain.
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