New players - there were four. Amy L. brought her friend Ark. Noah P. (in the throes of sleep deprivation from a new baby at home) brought along Andrew V.F. And Josh F. did one better and brought two new friendly faces Norah B. and Carl G. All the newbies seemed to have fun and I hope they'll be back soon. Amy, Noah and Josh - be sure to send me their e-mails!
I tweaked the structure a teeny but significant bit, removing the 150/300 level, and that did the trick. We broke the first table after just over two hours, broke the third table after three hours and the number two table broke just an hour after that, giving us our final table at 11pm and a conclusion to the tournament just after midnight.
Believe it or not, running a tournament for 32 players wasn't as harrowing as I thought it might have been. There was only one instance where I was a bit frazzled, and that was in the matter of rebuys and add-ons. It was a Herculean task, to say the least, to write down and track all the add-on's and who pre-paid and so on and so forth.
One tweak to the rules I'd like to implement to combat this TDF (Tournament Director Fatigue) is this: From now on - In tournaments of 25 or more players, we will have a $40 freeze-out, instead of the usual re-buy/add-on format.
I know it seems like we should probably just go to the $40 freeze out format altogether, but I kind of like playing with a cushion in the first hour and twenty minutes, knowing that if you do bust you have a second chance. This helps to insure, though it doesn't guarantee, that players get a full 90 minutes of poker playing in before busting out. I'm happy to discard the one rebuy or add-on format though, when the attendance numbers start to get really big.
Our first player to bust, just after the break, was Mike M. After Mike, there was an avalanche of players to the rail, yours truly included. Thankfully, a nice little (and not so little at times) cash game broke out to keep us degenerates happy. At one point we were 7 handed, which is another record that I'm happy to see broken at Pepper Street.
As I mentioned, the final table formed at around 11 - Allen R. had the delightfully disgusting luck of having his aces cracked All In Pre-Flop by ace ten. On the bright side, he got to scoop up an unopened box set of The Simpsons season 11 DVD.
Busting next in 7th place, and getting her entry fee back, was Barbara N. Yes, we know Barb, you hardly ever cash.
Out in 6th for $80 was Mike P., who was flipping pre-flop, hit on the flop and then fell to a two outer on the river.
Next to fall was 2011 co-Player of the Year Marc F., who snagged a hundred bucks and as usual graciously stayed and shuffled for the remaining players.
Finishing in fourth place and pocketing $130 was our World Series of Poker representative for 2012, Jason H.
And then there were three. Jeannie N. couldn't overcome the monster stacken of Stephen B. and finished in third place for $150.
With the blinds high and the hour late, Garner K. and Stephen agreed to chop the monies. Garner took $350 and Stephen took 400. Since Stephen had the chip lead he also got the trophy. Well done fellas!
Overall the evening was a spectacular success, not the least because we also had these...
Ahhhh.....
Yes, I'm very happy with my late Christmas present to myself.
Our next tournament is Saturday, February 18 at 7pm. Yes, you can see how long we have to go by the new countdown feature at the top of this blog.
We also have a new twitter feed on the right hand side, where you can follow my periodic adventures into live poker.
And finally, you may have noticed the big black video window.
I am planning to stream our next tournament out live over the internet. It will likely be a wide shot and fairly blurry - but it will give a chance for my degenerate gambling friends in Northern California (as well as the ones in L.A. who can't make it) to peek in and be very jealous of all the fun we're having.
As I said, the picture will not have close ups, but you should be aware - if you are at all reluctant to have your image beamed out to the interwebs, that Pepper Street Poker is going live to the "masses" next month.
Also, FYI, this website is not searchable - only those with the link can view it, so it's likely 99% family and friends. If someone is browsing Blogger, they cannot stumble across it by clicking "next blog".
I do track the statistics, and we probably get 20 views on an average per week and maybe 50 or so right after a tournament. Not exactly high traffic, but there ya go.
Anyway, hope you can make the next one. I can hardly wait!
