61 runners turned out for the Alpine Cup online finals on December 27th at bwin, which would see the top three finishers all grabbing a $8,000 trip package to the Alpine Cup live poker event, which will be held in March 2009 at the luxurious Alpine Palace ski resort in the Austrian alps.
Once there, bwin Team members will not only be competing for a huge payday at the poker tables, but will get to experience all of the skiing, snowboarding, and fun they can handle, treated like the poker elite they are.
As the action wound down in Saturday's online finals it looked like we might see some former Team members book a return trip, as .hades., wild_c4ll, dj_stiff, and Pech gehabt were all still alive and in the mix when the field was narrowed down to 15 players.
wild_c4ll, .hades., dj_stiff, and Pech gehabt made deep runs but came up just short
With just five players left, though, it was all fresh faces as they battled out to see who would get the three trip packages:
Seat 1: PlayboyRoyal ($74,212 in chips)
Seat 3: Hydro8 ($60,050 in chips)
Seat 4: Don Cool ($67,691 in chips)
Seat 7: kingmemo36 ($41,302 in chips)
Seat 9: badblatt61 ($61,745 in chips)
PlayboyRoyal's day would end in 5th, as he got it all-in preflop holding pocket eights, but found himself up against kingmemo36's pocket tens. While PlayboyRoyal's prayers for an 8 on the flop were answered, so too were kingmemo36's as each player flopped a set on a T♠ 2♠ 8♥ flop, with kingmemo36's bigger set holding up.
That left the following four players to battle it out on the trip bubble, with three players getting $8,000 trip packages and the unfortunate 4th place finisher getting $224 plus an online finals ticket:
Seat 3: Hydro8 ($70,550 in chips)
Seat 4: Don Cool ($59,691 in chips)
Seat 7: kingmemo36 ($102,014 in chips)
Seat 9: badblatt61 ($72,745 in chips)
Play was very cautious on the bubble, with the big blind getting a walk more often than not, until the inevitable confrontation came. kingmemo36 and badblatt61 found themselves all-in pre-flop, with both players holding a big pair; kingmemo36 held T♣ T♦ but badblatt61 was well ahead with Q♣ Q♥.
Well ahead, that is, until a flop of T♠ 9♣ 4♥, with the T♥ on the turn just rubbing it in, giving kingmemo36 quads and eliminating badblatt61 in 4th.
That meant that kingmemo36, Hydro8, and Don Cool each collected a $8,000 trip package to the 2009 Alpine Cup and added their names to the bwin Team roster.
