Tao of Poker: Dr. Pauly's WSOP Poker Blog and Sports Betting Discourses

Solanthos Wins Saturdays with Dr. Pauly

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

It was a sincere pleasure to host this year's only edition of Saturdays with Dr. Pauly. Hard to think it's been almost seven months since the last one (won by Alexe55 when he beat Change100 heads up). I've been too busy this year and didn't have the necessary time to host a lengthy series, but I was itching for the PLO action and camaraderie. I threw this together at the last second and was stunned that we got 48 runners for this event. Last year, we had only one week where we had more than that number (and that was when I added a $215 seat to the Sunday Million to the winner) so you can say that the turnout this weekend was stupendous.

Since we had 48 runners, the top 9 got paid out. You had to make the final table to get your money back and even then it was top heavy.

My Starting Table:
Seat 1: Solanthos
Seat 2: chompy_jr
Seat 3: Skow-go
Seat 4: Zestaaayyy!
Seat 5: April (TX)
Seat 6: Your Hero
Seat 7: markoflnk
Seat 8: SmBoatDrinks

Yeah, we had a Supernova playing in the event and I had to draw him to my friggin' table. Zestaaaayyy! is an Aussie pro and I'm sworn to secrecy about his real identity.

Chitwood unfortunately took down Gigli honors. He was crippled to his last 100 chips when Change100 took him out in 48th place.

I lost most of my chips to April early on with set over set. I busted out shortly after in 39th place. I got it all in on the flop with Ah-Kc-Qd-2d. I had top pair and a flush draw against markoflnk's set of Kings. I turned top two but whiffed on the river. Busto.

By the first break, twenty players busted while DrChako held the chip lead with 6K. Then it was time for on_thg to go to work. He was a vacuum and sucked up chips at a rapid pace. For most of the tournament, no one was close to catching him except DrChako, that was until BigSwede emerged as the one to beat.

Sidney Lane bubbled off the final table in 10th place with Big Swede holding the lead. Yeah, a Scandi was in the top spot ith nine to go and plenty of familiar faces including two players who had won Saturdays with Dr. Pauly in the past.

The Final Table:
Seat 1: DrChako (8402)
Seat 2: on_thg (14725)
Seat 3: zagga (5750)
Seat 4: BIGSWEDE_2 (18289)
Seat 5: Solanthos (5790)
Seat 6: MinDaddy (8670)
Seat 7: mean g (4150)
Seat 8: markoflnk (3534)
Seat 9: Hatchet826 (2690)

On_thg snagged the lead when he busted MeanGene in 8th place. On_thg held the chiplead at the second break, until BigSwede jumped back into the top spot wit 6 to go. The two battled back and forth for the lead with their 20K plus stacks, while the other four players jockeyed for position.

The last Brit in the mix, Acornman, hit the rail in 6th in when DrChako rivered a straight to snap off Kings. That decisive hand propelled Chako into the chiplead, but he doubled up Solanthos on the next hand to lose it.

DrChako regained it after dragging a monsterpotten against the BigSwede when his Aces held up. The BigSwede was crippled and went out in 5th place on the next hand. With four to go, DrChako was closing in on 30K as the chip leader. That's when his rush continued. He had on_thg outchipped 2-1 when they were involved in the largest pot of the tournament up until to at point. It was the battle of the blinds... DrChako opened to 2.4K. On_thg made it 7.2K. DrChako bumped it up to 21.6K which essentially put on_thg all in... and on_thg called.

DrChako: Ac-Ad-4d-4h
on_thg: Qd-10s-9s-8d

The board ran out... Ah-6s-3h-9c-10c... and DrChako won the 31K pot wit a set of Aces while on_thg was busted in 4th place.

Once it got three-handed, the action went fast. Cliff took the lead when he flopped a set of Queens against DrChako. Then MinDaddy was eliminated in third place setting up a showdown between an Iraq War veteran in DrChako and Solanthos (otherwise known as Cliff Fisher, one of Michalski's boys from Dallas).

The heads-up showdown lasted just one hand. Cliff had almost 2-1 lead on Chako, but that did not matter. DrChako opened to 2.4K from the small blind and Cliff called. The flop was Ks-5c-4s. Cliff fired out 3.2K. DrChako raised to 14.4K. Cliff shoved for 44.1K and he had DrChako covered. DrChako called.

Solanthos: Kd-Qd-8s-3s
DrChako: Kc-9s-7d-6c

Both players flopped top pair, but DrChako picked up an OESD. The turn was the 4h and the river was the 5h. Cliff faded the straight draw and won the pot with Kings up and a better kicker. And in one hand... it was all over. DrChako bowed out in second place, while Cliff won Saturdays with Dr. Pauly.

Cliff going deep in the WSOP Donkulus where he finished 285th out of 6,012

The Money Winners:
1st: Solanthos (Cliff) - $144.00
2nd: DrChako - $96.00
3rd: MinDaddy - $57.60
4th: on_thg - $48.00
5th: BIGSWEDE_2 - $38.40
6th: zagga - $31.20
7th: markoflnk - $26.40
8th: MeanGene - $21.60
9th: Hatchet826 - $16.80

Thanks to everyone who played and pimped the event. I had so much fun, that I'll try to sneak in at least one more of these sometime this year. Stay tuned.

* * * * *
If you're an avid reader of Tao of Poker, you might know Cliff as one of the pros who I signed up to TAO Management. Yes, I'm Cliff's sleazy agent, but I assure you that there were no shenanigans in this tournament. It was a sheer coincidence that I happen to rep him and he went on to win it all.

FYI... I'll be sending out a press release shortly pimping my clients deft PLO skills. Here's a sampling from Tao of Pauly Media...

Fisher Beats Iraq War Veteran for PLO Victory Worth Over 2,500,000**

Cliff Fisher outlasted an international field of players to win one of the most prestigious online poker tournaments. Fisher's victory in Saturdays with Dr. Pauly on PokerStars was an astonishing feat considering that it was his first ever Pot-Limit Omaha tournament.

The Dallas, TX native survived several difficult tables which included Ricky Bobby (Atlantic City cash game legend) and an anonymous pro from Australia (rumored to be Tony G playing incognito). It took only one hand for Fisher to knock out DrChako, a popular internet figure most known for his patriotic service during a tour in Iraq.

"Even though this was my first PLO tournament, it was an easy game in my humble opinion," said Fisher in his interview with the Huffington Report. "I've played PLO cash games but I mainly learned Omaha playing hi/lo limit in an illegal game in the back of a strip club in Fort Worth. It feels great to take it down. It's a confidence booster. Dreams can come true. I can't credit the team at TAO management enough. They're the reason why I won today."

"We couldn't be more excited," said Paul McGuire, Fisher's agent and President of TAO Player Management Services. "This victory should get him sponsorship to the upcoming PokerStars Arctic/Antarctica Tour. Get used to hearing about Cliff Fisher. He's already a huge star in Belgium and it's a matter of time before everyone knows about him on all seven continents."

**currency units are in Vietnam Dong