3rd and last Morning Poker of week 4. And last Morning Poker of 2009 on PokerIsland. We had some serious raise races, a flush on the river and a lot of raise and fold. But at blind level 100/200, the game heated up. Illir on the small blind called, Pablo on the big blind reraised all in and Illir called. The Spanish with ace-little (A/4) against 8/9 by Illir. On the flop we got 2/9/10. The turn 8 brought another pair for the Swiss and river 7 didn’t help Pablo at all. So goodbye Pablo!

Blinds 200/400 and Alex went all in with K/9 called by Stefan with K/8. On the board we had 6/6/2/8/Q and Alex was washed away from the table. Next hand, next decision. Stefan raised 1200 pre flop, Michael called and Illir reraised all in 2410. Stefan and Michael called. So the flop came down with 5/K/A, Michael checked but Stefan raised all in – Michael folded with a heavy heart. So showdown! Stefan with A/6 vs Illir’s 4/5 suited of hearts. Turn 2 and river 8 now killed Illir’s hope for a upgrade for Friday’s final.

Head up between Michael (1900) and Stefan (13100) and first hand Michael went all in pre flop with 8d/10c and Stefan called with A/3. In the end on the board we had 6/K/5/Q/3. And Stefan was the lucky guy who won the chip upgrade for the final on Friday. So Michael, Illir and Stefan got the upgrade for tomorrow. But remember, it actually doesn’t matter if you watch the outcome of the last weekly finals. Last week, Charly was the winner with no upgrade. Like in the first week when Paul won the ticket for the big final! So good luck to all of you!

It was the first Morning Poker of week 4. And it turned out to be the longest one we had so far. Our five new player, Alex (Germany), Illir (Switzerland), Michael (Germany), Pablo (Spain) and Stefan (Germany) played very tight and cautious in the beginning. And it took about an hour till the game heated up. Blinds were 50/100 and all in a sudden weh ad our first decision. The flop came down with 4/6/6, Pablo bet 300, Stefan raised all in and Pablo called! So the Stefan with pocket Q vs pocket J by Pablo. On turn and river, we got aces – and Pablo was the first one leaving the table.

Blinds now 100/200. Michael doubled up nicely with crabs vs Alex’ American Airline (8/4/3/J/9). By now, Michael was chipleader with 8310 chips! Alex on the other hand had 780 left to play.

Blinds 200/400 and Alex kept on coming back. Illir called on the small blind and Alex raised all in 1060 and Illir called. So showdown! A/10 by Alex vs Illir K/3. The board came down with K/J/2/5/8 and Alex was smashed by King Kong on the flop.

Blinds 300/600 and Illirs time had come. Michael went all in pre flop and the swiss guy had to call with 2200. Michael with A/7 in his hands against Illir’s K/10. The board came down with 7/3/5/4 and on the river 2, Michael hit a straight and kicked Illir out of the game.

Heads up between Stefan (3420) and Michael with (11580). After a lot of back and forth, we had break even. Blinds were 1000/2000 by now and after a quite a slugfest we came to the final showdown: Stefan with Qd/8d and Michael with K/2. On the flop K/4/6, Michael hit the pair. Turn 10 and river 4 sealed Stefan’ s fate! Congratulations Michael! You have a 1000 chip upgrade for Friday’s final for sure!