World poker championship held in Durham CT

By Dave Smith
Photos courtesy MOJO News Service

On Christmas day evening, five absolutely crazy die-hard poker players each paid their $5 entry fee, and slugged it out at the Sixth Annual Durham CT World Poker Open. After hours and hours of expert play considerable donkery, there were two players left and MOJO and Adam agreed to a chop.

"I've never been in contention for a world title," said MOJO, "so I wasn't sure if I should have agreed or not. In the end, I think I did the right thing."

"I could have taken him down," said Adam, "but he kept mentioning that it was the holiday season and laying other guilt trips on me. It was pathetic, actually."

When asked if this really qualifies as a world championship, the players emphatically agreed that it does.

"We've invited Phil Ivey and all those guys, but they are afraid of us," said MOJO.

"We'll take on any of those TV hotshots," added Maegan. "We're not scared of anyone. Bring 'em on!"

"I wish Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow would play with us," said Ken. "We'd could show him some real mouth," he joked.

Play began, and joking stopped. The players knew what was at stake, and it was all serious business. The first to exit was KT. She was twice the victim when Adam held disguised straights.

"Adam is so lucky," said KT. "That's what keeps donkeys like him coming back makes this game so exciting."

The next to bust out was Ken. He twice lost big pots on the river to Adam. On the key hand, he had ♠A ♣Q in the hole. The flop was terrific for him: ♠Q ♥Q ♦4. He led out and Adam called. The turn was the ♣6 and Ken bet and Adam again called. The river was the ♦10. Ken bet two-thirds of the pot and Adam raised! Ken called and Adam showed ♣Q ♣10. Adam had been behind until the river when he hit his kicker to make a full house. This left Ken crippled and he was the next player out.


Ken won the Durham CT World Poker Open in 2005.

Meg was playing the short stack. She moved all in twice to take down medium pots. On the last one she played, she held: ♣K ♦K and raised. MOJO called. The flop was ♦J ♠9 ♣6. Maegan moved all in and MOJO quickly called and turned over ♥9 ♥6 for a flopped two pair. He dodged a king or a jack to get to heads up with Adam.


Maegan was the Durham CT World Poker Open champion in 2006.

Adam held the chip lead, but MOJO managed to make a come-back. When the chips were nearly even, the chop was agreed upon.


Adam was the champion in 2007 and is now co-champ in 2008.

Entry fee to a poker tournament: $5
Beer and other goodies: $25
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