Douglas dominates at Dynasty

John Douglas out-played, out-managed, and out-bluffed his way through the competition across the channel on Saturday to win the 1st Birthday Celebration Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

Saipan’s new king of poker won early and won late to dominate the 27-player pack en route to reaching his second final table in a big money tournament and bagging $1,620 in cold hard cash.

“Unbelievable. I’m just so happy to have so many people and so many friends around me to celebrate with me. I got a lot of support from my friends and my girlfriend, Jennifer,” he said.

Douglas never gave up his seat throughout the tournament by establishing his dominance early on while several others floating on a sea of mediocrity bounced from table to table in search of better times through better hands.

Despite sweeping through the sharks with a chip stack advantage from start to finish, Douglas said that the latest Dynasty event was his most difficult challenge on the poker scene.

“There were more fantastic players than I have ever faced in a tournament. This was only my third tournament for money and out of the three this was the hardest. There’s a bit of luck that goes into it and there’s a bit of skill, but really there were some amazing competitors and I was just happy to be the best and come out on top,” he said.

Top players from Saipan, Tinian, and Guam were on hand to duel for the ducats on Saturday, and Douglas was faced with the crème de la crème when the final five came to play.

While his competitors preferred to withhold their names and images from the media, their casino hosts provided them absolute anonymity by offering the comforting words of “What happens on Tinian, stays on Tinian.”

Though they were cautious about their identity, they took off their gloves when they played at the money table. The first to go was a veteran player from Guam who took home $205 for fifth place. The Guamanian guru came to the table short-stacked and was knocked lasted only a couple of hands. The next domino to fall was one of Tinian’s best. While the mystery man stayed in the playing field for a while, he was out before too long with a fourth place prize of $405, leaving Douglas to duel with a fellow Saipan player and last month’s winner from Tinian.

Douglas suffered his biggest loss to the October tournament champ, as the Tinian native tripled his chip count thanks to the blunder, but Saipan’s big man took it in stride and continued to play with the same self-described “simultaneously cautious and aggressive” style.

“You have to have enough chips in your stack to bounce back from a bad loss, but if you have a bad loss you can’t be discouraged from playing your cards. You always have to play your cards. If you have the cards, play them. You’ve got to be aggressive—especially in tournaments,” said Douglas.

Douglas’ island-mate eventually knocked off Tinian’s last player—sending him home with $810—to set up an all-Saipan showdown in the ensuing head-to-head match. After trading hands and shucking unfavorable cards, Douglas caught a King on the river to complete his Ace high straight for the big money and the big title. Second place was pretty good too, as the runner-up pocketed $1,010 for his efforts on the table.

Even more remarkable than winning the tournament was that Douglas only recently picked up the game while vacationing in the mainland. While he spent some time practicing online, Douglas said that he picked up many tips and tricks by hitting the books.

“I went home to visit my family last summer and I was bored out of my mind so I sat for about two weeks, read about eight books about Texas Hold ‘Em and other card games, and started playing them as much as I could,” he said.

He’s all in now, and Douglas said that he can’t wait for the next tournament in Tinian to continue his poker playing odyssey. Before celebrating his win with his friends and fellow competitors, Douglas offer some advice and doled out words of praise to the tournament coordinators.

“There’s always a crowd of tough competitors at the Dynasty but with a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill anyone has a chance. It offers great competition with great people from the CNMI and abroad. Tony Jackson, Kiri Jackson, and the casino staff do a fantastic job. It’s a class act. Whenever I can, I like to come out here because not only do I like playing cards but I like seeing the people at the Dynasty and I like going around Tinian. I love the island of Tinian and I have a great time when I’m here—always.”