2013.05

As 7pm approached on a surprisingly cool evening in May the stage was set for some super hot poker action.

19 players gathered round and settled in for what turned out to be a very fun but slightly odd evening at Pepper Street.  Slightly odd because barely a half hour in, a transformer blew up down the street!  A tremendous bang and the power briefly dipped.  After we saw that the large plume of smoke down the street was too far away to threaten the game, we promptly sat back down and let Burbank burn.  Hey, there was a poker to be played!  As usual, we started with a big ass stack o' chips.

Bored before game time, so I got a little artsy.

I was at the big green table, which was fine and dandy - but it sounded pretty rollicking and fun over at sexy red.

Plus, new to PSP, food service!

On more than one occasion shouts and cheers went up and I brought my camera over, only to have players laugh at me and say something like "Oh, you don't want to see that hand! Yikes!"  Sounds like a good old time was had at the red table, though clearly they didn't pay any heed to this sign.

Before I go any further, allow me to say - and I have witnesses to this, that I proclaimed before the tournament started that the player who was going to sit in Red 5 (red table seat 5) on May the 4th (as in "May the 4th be with you." as in, Star Wars day) was going to take it down.

Despite the rollicking and rolling at the red table, including a brand new player - Jeremy D. brought on by Marc F., who seems to bring new players just about all the time - acquiring and then quickly losing a monster stack, the first out was over at the green table. Dan G., who ran into Amy's set of 9's with TPTK on the rivah.

Myself, I seemed stuck in the land of second best, plus I didn't play very well.  Still I hung on and finally figured out the way to get some chips - get my money in BAD.  First I sucked out on Josh F. when all the chips went in pre-flop with my AJ (which was like the fifth time I had it) vs. Josh's JJ.  Ace on the flop.  I suck.  And then there was this revolting bit of business.

I made a hand committing raise with J9 and Noah P. let it rip with AA, which I had to call, having put over a third of my chips in with my initial bet.  The flop is on the left.  I know, I suck.

And then it was bubble time, and Carlos T. found himself making the money - well, at least he made his money back, in sixth place.

Next out was Barb N. who collected double her buy in for 5th place - but more importantly she vaulted to the top in the Player of the Year race.

And then it was my turn, I was very happy to bust in 4th, stupidly getting my money in good for a change, and collect $100.

Third place payed the same and it was Marc F., who is now nipping at Barb's heels in points for POY, who locked it up.

And then there were two.  No one stayed to help shuffle or deal, so it was all me who saw the battle royale between Dr. D and Stephen B.  If you have some time, it really is worth watching their duel, the chip lead went back and forth a couple of times.  Finally though, 15 minutes after midnight a victor emerged.

Yes, my brother David M., aka the guy who began the evening sitting in Red 5, made a smashing return to PSP in 2013 (he's been in baby land since having a kid last September) by taking it down for $260 and the priceless PSP trophy.  Stephen B. graciously collected $180 and all the accolades that 2nd place brings.

A big thanks to all that came out, again kudos to Marc for bringing in new blood, I hope Jeremy will come back soon.  Thanks also to Julie who was far more helpful than I was in getting cards slid down the table, for some reason I was a bit flakey on that duty.

Our next regular tournament is Saturday, June 8 at 7pm.  Don't forget the World Series of Poker is coming and we are having one more satellite, this time with a slightly lower buy in to play for a single 1K bracelet seat.  Click here for the date and info.   Hope you can make it, and if not I'll see you on the 8th!