On Saturday, the second and last semifinal of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship aired on GSN. The one-hour episode featured four teams vying for the two remaining spots at the series’ final table. Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson began with 350,000 in chips, the lowest total of the group, while Erick Lindgren and Johnny Chan, the season’s points leaders, started with 630,000. Other teams at the table included Tony G and David Benyamine (410,000 in chips) and Phil Galfond and Annette Obrestad (530,000 in chips).
Players accumulated 5,000 in chips for every point generated during the regular season. Teammates alternate action by street on the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship, which features David Tuchman and Brandon Adams on the call. Full Tilt Poker’s Lacey Jones provides commentary from the floor of the makeshift poker room at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas.
In the first major pot of the episode, Ivey moved all-in with K-J on a flop of 6-10-J with two hearts for top pair. Obrestad made the call and tabled 10-9 of hearts for middle pair and a flush draw, but two black cards on the turn and river secured the double up for Ivey and Ferguson, who became the new chip leaders. The duo won a three-way tiebreaker to claim their seat in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship semifinals.
Ivey and Ferguson’s new influx of chips would quickly evaporate, however. Ferguson called the all-in of Galfond with A-J and “OMGClayAiken” tabled pocket sixes to set up a race. This time, the pocket pair held when Galfond and Obrestad found a set on the flop, leaving Ivey and Ferguson drawing dead to the river. Obrestad and Galfond promptly handed over a chunk of their stack to Lindgren and Chan, who drew out on pocket tens with pocket fours. A four on the turn left Obrestad and Galfond drawing to two outs on the river, which was an eight.
After the bad beat, Obrestad and Galfond’s run finally came to an end. The youngest players at the table were all-in with 10-7 before the flop and up against Ivey and Ferguson’s A-5. Ivey auto-called with the hand and then flopped top pair. Obrestad and Galfond failed to make the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship finale and exited in fourth place.
Lindgren raised to 60,000 before the flop with K-Q and Ivey moved all-in over the top with A-9. Lindgren called all-in and the board came 10-J-10-7-8, sending his team away in third place. The two remaining teams, while assured a spot in the finals, played on for a larger starting chip stack. The winning semifinal team would enter the final with 600,000 in chips, while the runner-ups would get just 400,000.
Small ball was the name of the game heads-up. On the final hand, Benyamine peeked down at A-J of diamonds and made it 110,000. Ferguson picked up pocket tens and moved all-in; Benyamine called to put Ivey and Ferguson at risk. The flop of 2-K-3 provided no help to Benyamine and Tony G, but an ace on the turn catapulted the team into the lead. Tony G, a PartyPoker pro, triumphantly yelled “Ace from space” when the card hit. The river was a four and Tony G and Benyamine emerged victorious from the second semifinal.
Joining Ivey, Ferguson, Tony G, and Benyamine in the finals will be Allen Cunningham, Huck Seed, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer. Cunningham and Seed and Tony G and Benyamine will start with 600,000 in chips, while Gordon and Lederer and Ivey and Ferguson will have 400,000. You can catch the conclusion of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship this Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.