Travel Report: EPT11 Grand Final, Day 7 -- Take Nothing Less Than the Second Best

Some might recognize that title from Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” -- kind of an odd line, actually, that I’ve never really contemplated too deeply thanks to the joyous sounds pulsating around it.

The line was stuck in my head somewhat last night while following one of the side events at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final, something called a “Second Best Hold’em” tournament that I believe has never been tried before.

As the name suggests, in this variation of regular NLHE the second best hand wins the pot at showdown. Or perhaps the name doesn’t immediately suggest that to everyone, as I’m pretty sure one player who sat at the start thought it referred to the player finishing second winning the most prize money or some sort of bonus.

The format perhaps translates into a quirky version of lowball when hands are heads-up, but with three or more players it becomes very hard to imagine how best to play. Or should I say, how to play second best.

Jennifer Shahade played the event and ultimately cashed, and spoke with her briefly about strategy during a break, if you’re curious. Here’s that post: “An event for those good at making second best hands.”

Like I say, it’s an odd line in the song (I’ve always thought), and it was an odd tournament as well. One of many side events, though, that are keeping things interesting.

The media event was last night also, where I struggled along before running pocket eights into pocket kings, and five cards later my hand was second best.

For more from the EPT Grand Final, keep visiting the the PokerStars blog.