Perhaps scared after reading in regards to the other semifinal match taking up 19 hours, Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond and Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates had plans on stepping into a superior amount of hands in a miles quicker period of time. While last night/this morning's tilt between Team Online's Ike Haxton and Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky taking 19 hours to play 4,200 hands, our two superstars this evening took a bit over seven hours to run through just over 3,000 hands. After being down for many of the start hours of the match, Cates would storm back on the end and take the second one seat on the finals to face-off against Sulsky.

Hours 1 - 2 (Hands 1-759)

Annnnnnd we're off!

Sort of.

After a handful of hands on all four tables Cates called for a five minute day trip and began anew on all four tables after returning. The tables showing the "Join Waiting List" button as Daniel's Cookie Monster avatar was absent, but this author declined such a call for participation (no, they weren't REALLY searching for open and searching out players) because just paying the blinds on this $100/$200 blinds four-table match would cause some heavy perspiration. Also, not helping is the near 100% pre-flop button raise rate from both players and only after a protracted night of drinking would I consider even betting that quantity on a Pai Gow hand on the Gold Coast (and certain have a more robust chance of winning).

Another five minute pause by Cates half way in the course of the first hour came a couple of minutes after Phil scooped up a $17,400 pot on Table 4. After Galfond three-bet to $1,700, Dan would call the raise to look a J♠T♥4♠ flop. Galfond followed through with a $2,400 bet which Cates called again. 6♣ at the turn and Galfond kept the accelerator on with $4,600 bet which Dan would call a 3rd time. The river 2♦ saw the match's first all-in bet from Galfond as he put out $11,300 and Cates had no respond to the shove as Galfond would take a $2,775 overall lead after 111 hands.

Shortly afterwards Cates would suffer nearly back-to-back stackings. First one shown below:

Cates just wouldn't believe that Galfond had the ace as Phil shoved at the river with the board showing T♣ A♦ 3♠ J♣ 2♦ and turned up Q♠ A♥ for the $40,000 pot winner as Dan showed J♠Q♣.

Five minutes later with Phil holding a $31,177 to $22,556 lead on Table 4 and the board showing 6♦ T♣ 2♠ 7♣ 6♥ the turned seven would make the entire difference in this one with $12,054 already within the pot, Cates put out $10,200 at the river as Phil shoved for $25,150. Big time cooler for Dan with the turned straight 8♦ 9♥ as Phil notched a suite at the turn holding pocket sevens 7♦ 7♠ and filled up at the river for the $45,112 pot.

Early leader Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond

The $50,000 swing. As much as hand 216, Galfond gave the look to be accountable for the hole hour then a punch-drunk Cates taking a nine expect the mat, slowly got up while landing some big punches. On Table 1 with Galfond holding a $42,673 to $25,527 lead, the most important pot of the primary hour would shift the momentum to Cates. Watch below:

With the highest heavy board showing J♠ A♣ K♠ T♦ 9♠ with a potential flush or straight, Galfond trying stealing the $18,600 within the middle with a shove that covered Cates' stack holding big slick A♠K♦. Unfortunately for Phil, Dan liked his straight Q♥J♦ enough to make the winning call.

As the players broke for the primary hour break they'd both lead on two tables, but Jungleman Dan held the lead with a $45,410 overall profit.

Shortly after the break Galfond would strike back for a $58,054 pot after both players hit the 9♥A♠T♥ flop hard. Cates with the flopped set 9♦9♣ and Galfond the straight flush draw 7♥8♥. The flush would get there at the turn 4♥ and unfortunately for Dan he would miss filling up at the river 6♠ for an enormous lead this point as Phil began to fight his long ago trimming Dan's lead half way during the hour to simply $2,303.

Small pots paid off in a large way for Galfond in hands 522-590 as he turned the tables on Cates, taking up the lead within the latter a part of the hour.

MrSweets28:I dunno why I DO NOT trust my gut and checkw00ki3z.:I would break my laptop

This first conversation of the match came about shortly after Phil flopped trips with K♣T♣ and cracked Cates' aces A♠A♣ after the flop T♠ 5♠ T♥. But Galfond continued to bet at the turned ace A♦ and shoved at the river 8♣ handy over the $55,278.00 pot.

Phil however didn't let himself get down too much, nor did he suffer any damage to his laptop (to our knowledge) as shortly before the tip of the second one hour and already $17K within the lead, Galfond would notch the largest pot ($43,102) thus far. With the board showing J♦ Q♥ 3♥ 9♦ and $4,000 within the middle the 2 would trade bets from side to side until Cates was all-in holding the flopped two pair J♣3♣. Phil was happy to name with the nut straight T♣K♦. After avoiding a jack or trey at the river 4♣, Galfond's lead going into the second one hour break would climb to $70K.

111 Hands Galfond +2,775216 Hands Galfond +14,517262 Hands Cates +$42,710306 Hands Cates +$52,010410 Hands Cates +45,010522 Hands Cates $2,303590 Hands Galfond $27,251653 Hands Cates +$7,439710 Hands Galfond +$17,260759 Hands Galfond +$70,681

Hour 3-4 (Hands 760-1,671)

At the beginning of the third hour, a railbird could clearly see who had the higher hand as Galfond sported six figure stacks on both Table 1 and a couple of while conceding modest results in Cates on Tables 3 and 4.

Cates was not keen on letting Galfond run over him just yet nevertheless it would a lucky turn card to forestall the bleeding a bit of. With Phil holding $96,606 to Dan's $24,802 on Table 2 after Phil four-bet to $3,200 preflop, Daniel decided to shove for $24,802 as Phil made the decision with big slick A♥K♠. Cates went searching for a jack holding A♦J♦ and would find one to his liking at the turn T♠ 5♠ 7♥ J♠ 5♦ because the $49,604 pot temporarily stopped Galfond's bull rush on Cates' stack.

Galfond would open a small door for Cates in a $38,008 pot on Table 4. With a board showing A♥ 7♦ 5♦ 4♠ 7♠ Cates shoved $11,004 at the river and turned over the simpler ace K♣A♣ to Phil's A♠J♥.

The last hands of hour three and 4 weren't kind to Mr. Cates, just watch certainly one of two $40K+ pots swing Galfond's way below:

After Cates flopped a ship with 5♦4♥ and got Galfond to commit his $22,000 stack at the turn with the board showing 4♦ 5♥ 5♣ A♣, Phil's pocket sevens 7♠7♥ found some love at the river 7♦ costing Cates the $44,000 pot as Galfond took the primary six-figure lead of the showdown while taking a break for the third hour.

Small ball was the word for hour four of the tourney as Galfond held to his six-figure lead for almost all of the hour with just one pot climbing over $20,000. Then, towards the close of the hour the players got some Red Bull of their systems because the action picked up. First, there has been a possible $30K pot on Table 2. With the board showing T♦ 6♦ 4♥ A♥ 6♣ and $15,600 within the middle, Cates shoved for $12,200 but after about 40 seconds of thought, Galfond refused the offer and handed over the pot without further contesting.

A little while afterward Table 1, Cates would allow Galfond to do among the betting for him. With the board showing A♥ 3♠ 2♣ 9♥ 6♥ Phil would check-call the flop, then check-raise the turn as Cates called. At the river holding top two 9♦A♦ Galfond shoved $13,100 and Cates called again with the flopped set 2♦2♠ taking down the $41,000 pot. Shortly before the fourth hour break Cates would strike again with a flopped set, this time on Table 2 and faded a flush draw for a $45,102 pot which helped Cates visit the fourth hour break only $65K down.

817 Hands Galfond +$82,786904 Hands Galfond +$85,3481,019 Hands Galfond +$82,3511,034 Hands Galfond +$88,2981,134 Hands Galfond +92,6761,206 Hands Galfond +$65,5621,262 Hands Galfond +$106,0691,311 Hands Galfond +$109,9201,499 Hands Galfond +$88,2481,535 Hands Galfond +109,2041,671 Hands Galfond +$65,456

Hour 5-6 (Hands 1,672-2,636)

Sometimes the massive bluff works...

... and other times not such a lot. Watch below as this $46,204 pot unfolds:

With the board showing J♦ 2♦ 9♣ J♥ and $6,800 already within the pot Cates would check as Galfond bet $4,800. Cates came back with a check-raise to $10,200 as Galfond thought for a moment and decided to shove while covering Cates' stack at Table 3. With the turned trips Dan made the decision K♥J♠. Galfond didn't however have the nice and turned up the now lame pair of ducks 5♠2♠ because the river didn't matter, sliding $46,204 over to Cates.

A lot of items were sliding to Cates because the hour five break approached. Momentum and more importantly money, as Jungleman Dan continued to near the space after which hit an enormous pot on Table 1. Holding $58,953 to Galfond freshly, unsealed $20,000 stack, Cates would three-bet preflop to $1,600 because the two saw a A♦ 4♠ J♠ flop. Bet-call $1,800 by Cates, and another bet-call at the turned K♠ this time for $4,600 because the river K♥ didn't change Cates' aggressiveness and shoved to greater than cover Galfond's stack. A COUPLE OF clicks of the timer did nothing to switch Phil's decision to name with A♥T♠. Cates however would turn over a rather better hand. Big slick K♦A♠ would seal up the $40,000 pot and knock Galfond's lead under $50K.

With the rise within the blinds from $100/$200 to $200/$400 arising at the 3,000th hand, Galfond's lead continued to slip steadily throughout the sixth hour and likely enough before the sixth hour the nearly 2,000 hand reign of Galfond had ended as Cates stormed back into the lead convincingly. After all it didn't hurt hit a flop or two like in this hand:

Cracked kings for Galfond, and a flopped straight (and rivered flush) for Cates contributed to Jungleman's epic rise after being under Galfond's thumb for almost all hours two through five as Cates would take a $66,688 lead into the sixth hour break.

1,778 Hands Galfond +$75,0871,826 Hands Galfond +$84,2041,930 Hands Galfond +$63,0852,120 Hands Galfond +$59,4632,203 Hands Galfond +$49,9972,267 Hands Galfond +$44,6412,393 Hands Galfond +$27,9612,564 Hands Cates +$40,3852,602 Hands Cates +$74,0412,636 Hands Cates +$66,688

Hour 7-8 (Hands 2,634-3,051)

Things might need gotten our two combatants little loopy within the seventh hour after a nine would have given Galfond a suite and Cates a straight:

MrSweets28: GREAT POINT I DID NOT HIT A 9w00ki3z.: YES IT WAS AN EXCELLENT THINGw00ki3z.: NEXT TIME TRY HARDER PLEASEMrSweets28: OKw00ki3z.: I NEED YOUR CHIPSMrSweets28: NO I DO

And after this overuse of caps the 2 would sit like gentlemen and continue towards seeing who would walk away with at least $250,000 and a shot at Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky who may well be somewhat loopy himself after his 19 hour semi-final match with newly minted Team Online's Ike Haxton.

Back-to-back stackings at Table 2 would nearly close down our first table of the match as both Cates and Galfond would notch a rivered straight with the board showing 3♠ 5♦ Q♣ 7♥ 4♥. However, Cates' 8♠6♠ outpipped Galfond's 6♦7♣ and the $40,000 pot slid to Dan. At the next hand with $9,478 remaining at the auto-reload Galfond tried a semi-bluff check-raise with the board showing 8♠ 4♠ 9♥ 3♥ holding T♠7♥ and got called by Cates' two pair and a flush draw 9♠3♠. The rivered 2♠ gave Cates the $18,956 pot closed the table for slightly until Galfond worked his funds around like a tight Wall Street broker and commenced up the table again with a fresh $20,000.

The 3,000 hand barrier can be crossed somewhat before the seventh hour and two up to date tables of $200/$400 blinds were hand-crafted by the best... well they're made especially our All Star Showdown as these later hours have favored Jungleman.

On the sixth hand of $200/$400 play on Table 4, Cates would knock Galfond all the way down to his last stack. Watch below:

With the board showing a straight 7♠ 4♠ 6♥ 5♦ 8♣ and $15,200 already within the pot, Galfond tried to push Cates off his hand with a shove for $38,702. Unfortunately for Phil, Dan already had what he was representing, a greater straight 9♠A♦. Galfond showed he was playing the board J♥K♠ and Table 4 had nothing but a Cookie Monster avatar and $80,000 under his name as play moved to Table 1.

MrSweets28: SO TILTED I CANT SPELL

But moments later being the nice man he is, Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond would need our second All Star Showdown finalist Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates good luck within the finals.

Down to $6,316 of his starting stack of $200,000 Galfond would check the limped button to peer a 2♦J♣7♦ flop. He would check again as Cates led out for $400 as Galfond called. K♠ at the turn and Galfond would check-call a $1,200 bet. The 4♥ at the river will be the card of the match as Phil check-called for the third straight time, this time for all his chips holding the flopped top pair J♠3♦. However, Cates turned the simpler pair 3♣K♦ and took home the last $12,632 pot in conjunction with assuring himself $250,000 for reaching the All-Star Showdown final with Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky.

Hand 2,636-2,722 Cates +$78,505Hand 2,722-2,765 Cates +$102,005Hand 2,765-2,913 Cates +90,859Hand 2,913-2,967 Cates +$117,000Hand 2,967-3,022 Cates +$169,378Hand 3,022-3,042 Cates +$180,382Hand 3,042-3,051 Cates +$200,000

Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates All-Star Showdown finalist

Be certain to check back here on the PokerStarsBlog for the entire action as Cates takes on Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky at 18:00 CET tomorrow (November 4th) for $550,000 and the primary All-Star Showdown trophy!

David Aydt is a contract contributor

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: All Star Showdown]