On Tuesday night, 37-year-old Mark Heintz had a dream come true when he got the opportunity to compete against six top pros on Poker After Dark’s 888poker Week II. While he didn’t have a fairy-tale ending, Heintz, who hails from Alberta, Canada, got to play under the bright lights against the best for all the world to see.
For just $1, the Canadian won a $10,000 seat via an 888poker qualifier to appear on Poker After Dark against seven pros, who each put up $10,000 of their own money to create a $70,000 prize pool. The winner was slated to take home $50,000 while the runner-up would receive $20,000. The other five players would leave empty handed.
A Star-Studded Affair!
The pros in the game were 888poker Ambassadors Dominik Nitsche, Hollywood actress and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly, film producer Randall Emmett, 2018 Global Poker Award winner for “Breakout Player of the Year” Ali Imsirovic, and 15-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.
“Watching the sit and gos on Poker After Dark back in the day was always so exciting for me,” said Nitsche. “It’s always one of my favourite TV shows … I’ve never played on Poker After Dark before. It’s amazing that 888poker truly gives anyone the chance to play on Poker After Dark. For me it’s amazing to be on it and I can only imagine what it feels like for a recreational player.”
Moorman echoed those sentiments: “When I first started playing poker, I just watched Poker After Dark on the TV. I’m excited to just try to do my best and hopefully take it down … I still got a lot to achieve in this game so hopefully I can build on that and win this sit and go.”
Some Big Hands for the Qualifier
In one early pot, Tilly raised to 3,000 holding the A♠10♥ under the gun and Heintz, who was playing poker in Las Vegas for the very first time, defended his big blind with the A♦Q♠. Heintz checked and Tilly bet 4,000. Heintz woke up with a check-raise to 8,000 and Tilly called to see the 3♦ turn. Heintz bet 10,000, Tilly called, and the K♠ river gave Heintz the nuts. He coolly bet 20,000 and Tilly wisely laid it down.
In another big hand, four players saw a flop of 10♥J♠A♣ and Moorman bet 3,000 holding the A♠Q♠. Only Heintz, who had the A♥6♠, made the call and he took the lead by making two pair on the 6♣ turn. Moorman bet 6,000 and Heintz min-raised to 12,000. Moorman called and spiked a Broadway straight when the K♦ peeled off on the river. Moorman bet 15,000 and Heintz paid him off. The 888poker Ambassador got the best of the 888poker qualifier in that particular hand.
Heintz Outlasts 888poker Ambassador
Like Heintz, Nitsche was making his Poker After Dark debut. Unfortunately, the four-time WSOP bracelet winner didn’t fare too well as he was the first player to fall after losing with ace-queen to Hellmuth’s pocket kings all-in preflop.
Tilly was the next to go – the result of losing a flip with pocket threes to Imsirovic’s ace-queen – and then Heintz followed her out the door in fifth place.
It happened when Heintz got his stack all-in preflop holding the A♥Q♠ and was flipping against the 10♦10♠ of Ali Imsirovic. The 6♦K♣3♥ flop was no help to Heintz, who was being cheered on by the other pros at the table. The 9♠ turn meant he needed to catch either an ace or queen on the river, but it wasn’t in the cards as the 7♥ bricked on the river.
Thanks in large part to winning that flip, Imsirovic held a nice chip lead and would go on to bust Emmett in fourth place thanks to a bad beat. Emmett got his stack in holding ace-jack against Imsirovic’s ace-six only to have his opponent catch a runner-runner straight.
Moorman and Imsirovic clashed several times with the former even taking over the chip lead for a single hand. Then both players flopped top pair of queens but Imsirovic’s queen-ten had Moorman’s queen-nine crushed. Imsirovic doubled back through and finished Moorman off four hands later when Moorman jammed with ace-queen only to run them smack dab into Imsirovic’s pocket aces.
Imsirovic vs Hellmuth for the Title
In the second hand, the duo saw a flop of 7♦4♥2♦ and got the chips in. Hellmuth had flopped top pair with his 7♠8♦ but he discovered his kicker was no good as Imsirovic held the 7♥J♣. The 3♦ turn gave Hellmuth a flush draw, but he missed when the 9♣ bricked on the river.
Interestingly, Hellmuth was 24 years old when he rose to poker prominence after winning the 1989 WSOP Main Event, the same age as Imsirovic was when he emerged victorious in the Poker After Dark 888poker Week II.
