2014.12

It was a surprisingly cold December evening in Burbank that found 15 of it's sharpest poker minds sitting down for a fine evening of Yuletide degeneracy; kicked off with these delightful stocking stuffers.

Fifteen frantic coin scratchings later, nobody had won anything except yours truly.

Ship it!

So with that bit of gambool out of the way - the evening kicked off and the cards and chips flew.

There were plenty of big pots early on, but miraculously everyone managed to hang on until well after the first break when Julie A. became the first to hit the rail.

As always, the mounting pressure of the blinds did the job - and what was first a trickle of bust outs became an avalanche until we had our final table at about 10:30 or so.  To everyone's delight, all final table participants who didn't cash got a little something something.  A sammich!

Eat Fresh!   

The final table got whittle down fairly quickly, until it was bubble time.  This time around it was Barbara who got the honors - but the pain was eased a bit because of the sammich, plus she also got another scratcher and this time...

Boom!

And then there were four.  Dog busted first, taking his buy in back and a couple bounties.

That don't impress me much...

He, like the other two players remaining, had to contend with Michael K.'s mountain...

$40 in bounties and a gang o' chippies.

But in the end, for yours truly, it was Dan G. who busted me with his AQ besting my QJ by spiking a broadway straight on the river.

And then there were two...

Once again, Dan found himself in contention for a trophy and a seat...   And once again...

Yes, once again Dan had to settle for second place, $180 - and only his 10th cash in 2014.  The good news is Dan, if we were still under the old points system, you would be player of the year.  As it is, you get nothing, though you do get a grip o' monies.  Mike K. gets the trophy and a seat to our $1000 free roll.

Utterly thrilled.

The free roll that Mike will play in likely won't be until 2016, as this year's tournament of champions is already full.  I decided before we played last night to cap it at one table, as 11 is an awkward number.  No worries Mike, there will still be a mountain of cash waiting for you - eventually.

Everyone is welcome to come on down and cheer on our champions on January 10th at 1pm.  I will likely send out an evite for a cash game for later in the afternoon, hopefully we can get enough bodies as well as a few bust outs from the TOC to partake.

As I do every year, I have to take a moment here to say a huge thank you to each and everyone of you, old players and new, who came out this year to the garage and helped make this little game the best and friendliest one I know of.  It truly humbles my heart to have you all drop in every month for a bit of low drama degeneracy and fun.  I can't wait to do it all again in 2015.  Our first regularly scheduled tournament is on Saturday, January 24th at 7pm.  I hope to see you there, if not sooner at the TOC.

Until then, peace and we out!