Making a Tournament Deal

Last night I watched a little bit of greed cost a couple of players $1,000’s because they were being pretty ridiculous.

Late in the poker tournament when there are just a few players left and the payouts are super high, there is always someone that wants to make a deal.  In this case there were four players left.

1. United States – Hidden1s

2. New Zealand – Kiwidownunder (fitting right?)

3.  French – dscoa

4. Norway – -AAelTigre

The chip stacks were are all pretty close with the short stack being off by the most, but totally still in it.  The prize pool for this tournament was:

1. $123,491 2. $79,926 3. $59,339 4. $44,807

It turns out that the Chipleader at the time was in control.  The numbers were spread pretty well if you ask me, but the 4th place guy, who was the short stack, decided he wanted more.  So for about 20 minutes the lame bickering continued.  The three leaders were giving the French guy a lot more than he should have been offered in the first place.  He didn’t accept the deal.  He felt like he was going to win the tournament.

The Deal offer came down to this:

1. $80k

2. $75k

3. $72k

4. $70k

Obviously a big difference between 1st and 4th, but the difference was small when you could end up in 4th taking home $44k.  That is $26k guaranteed whether you stop right now or not.  The most outspoken guy, just wanted a deal.  He was willing to give up a few grand just to make the deal happen.  By the end of this dealing the French guy, said no go.  They continued playing.  Of course you know in poker things can change in a heart beat.  I watched the French guy donk off several hands in a row.  They kept offering the deal, but no takers, so it closed out just like you would think.

The original chipleader when the dealings were taking place, ended in 4th place.  Instead of $80k he got the $44k.  Sucks for him.  The French guy ended in third with a take home of $59k, which is better than 4th place, but he still ended with $11k less in the end.  It turns out, the two guys in the middle, who were being very fair during deal making finished in first and second place.  They didn’t get greedy.  They made an deal/offer right away.

1st – $108k

2nd – $95

These two guys made out real well in the end, but it just shows you that being greedy over a small percentage is not worth it sometimes.  Although it was still a nice payday, how long do think the low ballers are going to be kicking themselves for?