PSP TOC 2015

High noon came quickly in the Garage Around Back, on a brilliantly bright Saturday.  The battle field was set and ready for it's warriors.

Complete with groovy pictures.

After burgers at quarter to one, and after 12 tournaments over the last year, 10 champions sat down to do battle for the monies and the glories in the second semi-annual Pepper Street Poker Tournament of Champions free roll.

But lo, one champion was missing.  USC made the pac 12 championship, so rather than take a shot at free money, Mike K. instead preferred to watch Stanford whoop USC's ass.  Oh well. We missed you Mikey!

Mike K. - the absent warrior.  And who are those other two dorks?

The spoils - up for grabs.

We started at just after 1pm and the action got hot and heavy real fast.  Everyone at the table knew to come in raising, and there was no shortage of aggression.  3 betting and even 4 betting abounded, even with surprisingly light holdings at showdown.

Action was so intense that I was remiss in my photo taking duties.  So remiss, that three players had dropped before I had a chance to take the first pic.

Julie was the first to fall, after finding a call with a set of jacks that was indeed against the nut flush.

Lalaine was out next, getting her money in with way the best of it and falling to a six outer on the turn.

Marc busted about 90 minutes later - finding his 2 pair no good against a flopped straight.  It was about then that I remembered to take a picture.




It was then another good hour before Dan L. hit the rail with a mountain of chips heading over to Sheyna, followed shortly thereafter by Jason who had played well but struggled to accumulate for most of the afternoon.

And then it was bubble time.  Jeff S. looked for awhile to be a sure thing for making the monies - but took a couple of unlucky beats and found himself departing with a hearty handshake but no cashola.

And then there were three.   Sheyna still had a gargantuan stack, yours truly was in the middle and Jeff W. had played the short stack perfectly to be guaranteed at least $200.

And, as it turns out, that's exactly what he ended up with - unable to overcome the juggernaut of Sheyna's chips.   Jeff was happy enough to made some bucks, especially since he had only played one tournament in 2015, and had happened to win it.  Well done Jeff!

And then it was heads up time.

Because the action had been so intense, and so many players had dropped so quickly, there was still lots of poker left to play.

I managed to accumulate a bit until we were almost even, then it was 7pm and all of the sudden we had an influx of degenerates!  It was time for a No Limit Hold-em cash game!  I was very happy to see so many friendly and familiar faces.

I know they don't look friendly, but believe me - they were!

Meanwhile, the battle between Sheyna and myself continued.   I took a fairly bad hit soon after the cash game gang arrived, but managed to steady myself and start grinding back.

It was almost quarter to 8 when the dust finally settled, though to both Sheyna and I it felt like one in the morning.

I am incredibly grateful and humbled that I was lucky enough to end up ahead at the end.  Sheyna made it very tough and I had to get lucky to pull it off.  She collected $300 for second place, and was gracious but firm in her assertion that she was going to take it all in 2016.  Well done Sheyna and I have no doubt we will see you in the TOC arena next year.

Suck it Norman Chad.  (He hates AQ)

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for another great year of poker in my little garage - and again, very humbled to have had such great results in such a short period of time.  But mostly I'm thankful to you all for making poker about as fun as it can get, by being friendly and dope yo.

I'm afraid I can't fit in any more poker this year, with the holidays upon us, as well as Star Wars weekend - it just doesn't look very likely.  So our next event will be the first monthly tournament of the year on Saturday, January 9th at 7pm.

I don't expect much to change with the game next year - at one point I was pondering hosting Wednesday night games, but for right now I'm putting them on hold.  We will still throw down at least once a month in our regular monthly tournaments.

I look forward to seeing you all then.  Until then, have the happiest and safest of holidays.

Peace and we out!

2015 TOC Preview

Herewith is the traditional annual TOC preview post, peppered in profanity, back-handed compliments and some outright insults.

The action starts Saturday, December 5th at 1pm!  Non-participants are of course invited as well to stop on by and rail our champions, hard.  If you happen to show up a bit early there will be grilled meat products to consume including burgers and big juicy wieners.

Also, there will in fact, 100% be a cash game, starting at 7pm for sure.  We already have 7 confirmed players who are not in the TOC, and there will very likely be some bust outs who also take part.  Buy-in is the usual $50 with 25c/50c blinds - it is No Limit Hold-em only.  There will be a break at 10pm and an anonymous vote to add PLO8 to the mix - if we get at least 8 players to go along with it, so it will be.

So who is playing the TOC this time?  Let's meet our champs!

Mike K. is a stone cold pimp who knocks back more Coors Light than anyone except Tommy of course.  He also enjoys long moonlit walks on the beach, golden retrievers and hates dirty fingernails and rude people.

This is his third tournament trophy in his nearly decade long stint at PSP, one was a H.O.R.S.E. trophy so it doesn't really count - but Mike is pretty much a cashing machine, he has like, Barbara statistics.  Crazy right?

Chris M. is a right bastard who typically luck boxes his way into the money and somehow managed to bink a tournament early this year.  When asked how he managed such a feat, after taking down only 3 tournaments prior in over a decade of PSP play, he responded  "Hell if I know.  God the music here sucks.  When are they going to play some Skynard?"

Chris M. says most of his poker strategy is centered around trying to get Tony G. off a hand - strangely enough, even when Tony G. isn't playing.  He can often be seen at the table mumbling quietly under his breath to himself his most famous catch phrase "I can't believe I'm losing to these assholes..."

Jason H. saw that Chris had won the previous months tournament so immediately concluded that he would have to win the next one so he could suck out on Chris once again with a 3 outer to eliminate him and take down the TOC.

To insure that this would happen, he wore his eye bleeding-ly orange lucky jacket, which he has also refused to wash since he won the previous TOC wearing it.  Good news is, we will know when he arrives even before turning our heads to see who it is.

Julie A. won 3 tournaments in 2013, then got tired of embarrassing people and didn't win any in 2014.  Well it looks like she's back to her soul crushing ways.

Like Mike, Julie also loves golden retrievers and happens to have 3 of them.  Unlike Mike, she has no qualms about defending her small blind with J3.

Onetime Player of the Year winner Marc F., the second such winner to make the TOC this year after Jason, plays poker about as well as he shuffles, yet still finds away to crush in the aquarium that is the PSP garage.

This picture is for sure the greatest ever, eyes closed, donkey sign right over the head.  Yes, it was my revenge for losing to Marc, yet again.

What in the heavenly FUCK is this jerk-wad doing here again?  Oh yeah, looks like a broken clock is right twice a year I guess.  Now he will be absolutely insufferable, especially with an extra 5K in chips at this years TOC.  Who came up with that provision anyways?

Representing the new guard at PSP in 2015, Lalaine, star of stage and screen, will be bringing her enthusiasm and mad skillz and almost always hidden face to the table in the TOC this year.

Since the poker bandit is new around these parts, we'll spare her the usual blatant insults and instead wish her all the best in her mad rush to stack off with top pair.

JHMFC.  Who keeps donating to this donkey?  And a bracelet too? And another 5K added to his TOC stack?  Good job PSP players, you let dip-shit think he's God's gift to poker.  Just be sure you don't  let him win this one, it will be the ever-loving end.

This year, the guy who only showed up once and won a trophy category, will be filled by Jeff W.   Like Greg H. last year, Jeff carries on a proud tradition in the long line of poker players who think "Oh yeah, this poker shit is easy.  It's like free money.  Just show up, sit down and CASH IN."

As soon as Jeff S. found out that another Jeff had won a trophy this year, he made it his life's mission to take the next tournament down and did so with aplomb.  Also his quiet table demeanor, massive amounts of bluffing and keeping his cards secret at all costs.

Noticing that there were no Dans yet with a trophy in 2015, Daniel L. put a stop to it and quick.  Using his formidable acting chops to cut through the competition like a hot knife through butter, Dan rocked the short stack and the big stack hard like only he can.

He was proud of his win, especially since he took it down with the dope ass Q9 of diamonds, aka, the DAH.  (Dope Ass Hand).

Just in under the wire, Sheyna locked up the last regular tournament of the year, dealing her nephew Randall a devastating blow in the heads up battle to two-out her way to victory.

Like Lalaine, she is a newer player here so we will spare her the usual needling and instead wish her the very best of luck in her perpetual quest to get her chips in as a massive underdog.



So there you have it.  All of our champions and their secrets laid bare.  While it may seem that this blog post is little more than a passive aggressive rant, hammered out hastily just to belittle and disparage - at least I did include myself, so therefore all is forgiven.

Also you may have noticed I just cut and pasted that paragraph from last years preview post.  If you did, you need to get out more often.  It's a perfectly fine paragraph so fuck right off.  I'm about to cut and paste the next one as well.

Good luck to all of us, every one!  And don't be cheap bastards and take off right after you bust.  Hang out, help shuffle or deal, do something productive for once.  When 7pm rolls around there will also be a cash game going so you can get unstuck.  Oh wait, this is a free-roll!  You have no excuse!

December 5th can't get here soon enough!  See you then!

2015.11

Another lovely afternoon turned into a divine evening in beautiful Burbank at the garage around back.  I found myself setting up not for the 18 players that had signed up over the last 30 days, but for a whopping 24 players, 6 of which had responded over the last 24 hours.

First time in awhile I was able to do this.

7pm came and went and not everybody showed up on time, so they missed out on the bonus chips.  But interestingly, we had 5 new players who didn't know about the bonus chips, and every single one of them managed to find parking and walk in through the gate before 7!

Jessie and his better half Kat, Ken, Brad and Josh V. all joined us for the first time.  All were friendly and fun additions to the fray and there was lots of hot and heavy gambooling early on.

Action was so hot and heavy, sweaty really, that we lost 2 players just before the first break.  The third table broke around 10:30 and two tables formed up for the next hour or so.  Sadly, I was not among the surviving players.

Set over set bad beat - 9 in the window, ace underneath on the flop.

The final table formed up at 11:30, there were some crazy ass bad beats there as well.

Final table gang.

Yep, your full house is no good sir - the river gave your opponent quads with an ace kicker.  Please play better.

Not from Pepper Street, but me getting 3 outed after all the chips went in on the flop.

And finally, just after midnight, the bubble burst and we had our money gang.

Regular Allen R. was first to fall and collect his buy in back, plus a single bounty for an exact recoup of his expenses.

Finishing in fifth place for double his buy in was Brian C. who at one point had a freaking mountain of chippies and looked to be the for sure winner.  Oh well, poker.

Next to bust was friendly new fella Brad, who tripled his buy in and also still had a bounty or two in fourth place.

And then there were three.  Kramer at this point had a prohibitive chip lead, but a fairly big cooler saw him exit in third place for $180 in and another $20 in bounties.

And then it was heads up time!  A family affair between aunt and nephew!

The battle didn't last long, but it was intense - culminating in one of the craziest deciding hands I've ever seen at PSP or anywhere else.

Yes, the 8 was the river.  2 outers feel great.

Randall played the hand expertly, getting Sheyna to call off on the flop dead to two cards.  A harmless ace peeled off on the turn, and then the card from hell hit on the river.  Randall was crippled and all in for less on the very next hand, which held for Sheyna.   He got $240 plus bounties for second place, an amount that typically is close to first place cash.

Our champ Sheyna got $300 in first place monies plus several bounties on top, plus the last remaining seat for December's Tournament of Champions.  Well done Sheyna!

Cha-ching!

All in all a great evening to cap off poker in 2015.  We aren't entirely done however, we still have the TOC, at 1pm on Saturday December 5.  Even if you don't have a seat, feel free to drop by and rail our champs - we might even get a cash game going for the bust outs.

After that there won't be any monthly tournaments until January 2016 -  I may have a few mid-week single table tournaments and cash games; I invite senior players to these events first, so don't feel bad if you don't get an evite, these games fill up fast.

Once again I can't thank you all enough for keeping it cool and fun at Pepper Street.  Next year will mark the 10 year anniversary of this little home game, which is not so little any more and keeps getting bigger and better.

Stay tuned for the January 2016 evite - until then, peace and we out!

2010.10

Mercifully, it was only in the 80's as evening approached on yet another Saturday monthly tournament in the garage around back.

Ready for gambool.

It was October so that could only mean one thing, everyone showed up in costume!

Nah, just kidding, that is so 2012.  This is the new hotness...

Doubly festive.

On Friday there were going to be 14 players, but by Saturday night we had four more for 18!

Action was hot and heavy at my table, with plenty of three betting and stacking off.  

Speaking of stacking off, Allen Q. was really curious if Andrew R. had the monster he was representing, so with top pair he jammed 160 big blinds into him.  Turns out, Andrew did have a set after all.  After the dust settled, the Q had a whopping 275 left over from the 20,000 he started with.  No doubt Allen would be the first to exit, and probably before the break.

Peace out and up yours!

Green table shenanigans.

Quad aces over jacks full - they flopped it.  Yowza.

Tony, pissed as usual.

Turns out he did make it till after the break, so he would probably go out shortly thereafter right?

Wrong.

There was actually, a lot more poker left in Allen, and he managed to hold on - not just past one or two bust outs, but actually 11 of them.

That's right, he made the final table AND outlasted three others there, including myself!  Holy crap!

I am loathe to admit it, because his ego doesn't need it - but even though he didn't make the money, Allen's accomplishment it is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen in a home game.  Now let us never speak of this again.

Allen Q busted in 7th place, two from the money.  After the other Allen, Allen R., made his exit we had our money gang.

From this bunch, Randall was the first to exit, winning his buy-in back in 5th place.

Next to fall was Marc F., who had rebuilt his micro stack expertly as well to lock up double his money in 4th place.

Finishing third, after a rather intense and lengthy 3 way battle (my hands were starting to cramp from shuffling) was the Dog, who pocketed triple his buy in and a few bounties as well.

And then there were two.  Daniel L. and Sheyna saw the chip lead bounce back and forth several times over almost 3 levels of play, that's nearly an hour!   As 1am approached Daniel led out on the flop for all of his chips, a bit of a suspicious over bet.  Sheyna thought so too and found a call with middle pair.  Turned out Daniel was crafty and had actually flopped 2 pair.

The chips were counted, and it was close, but we had our winner!

Sheyna took home four times her buy in and another $15 in bounty action, not too shabby after all!  Well done Sheyna! 

Daniel locked up his first 1st place win at Pepper Street. six times his buy in in prize money plus another $25 I believe in bounties.  Rock on Daniel!  I forgot to tell you, you've also won a seat in our Tournament of Champions on Saturday, December 5 at 1pm.  Clear your calendar, because the TOC is a free tournament for all of our champions and there is a $1000 prize pool.  Hope you can make it!

Speaking of the TOC, there's only one regular tournament left, one final chance to get a seat for it!  PSP 2015.11 will take place on Saturday, November 7 at 7pm.  Hope to see you there!

Until then, peace and we out!

2015.09

Another month, another tournament - another hot and sticky!  I made my own gravy setting up and was barely able to sneak in a shower before the degenerate horde showed up to gambool the night away.

I smell good.  Really, really good.

Once the sun sank it got a bit nicer - weather wise, but it got a lot nicer because of the fine folks who showed up.  Unfortunately, this months hotly anticipated Oreo did NOT taste good.

Fail.

19 runners pushed through the burnt/gross flavor of this monstrosity, and had a good time in spite of the searing pain in their guts.  We made it past the first break this time before the first bust out, which was actually 2 bust outs.  Andrew sauntered in an hour late (after taking down a home poker tournament elsewhere) and promptly took out both Matt and Randall.  Kind of a bummer, but at least Matt left some gum for the table.

There was plenty of good times and plenty of hot, though not sticky, action.  While this month wasn't quite as nasty as last month, the breeze remained elusive - even when the final table was formed at 10:30.

The money bubble burst just over 45 minutes later, thanks to yours truly, and everyone left was guaranteed at least some cashola.

The money gang.

First to bust was Brian C., who got not only his entry back but a bounty as well.  Next out, in 4th place for double her money was Brian's better half Lalaine, plus another $20 in bounty action.

Three handed play continued for another half hour. Both Jeff S. and Allen R. had both been severely short earlier, but managed to recover and battle admirably until Allen succumbed in third place and snatched up $100 plus a bounty or two.

In the end Andrews chip lead, which he had held most of the night, was not enough to overcome Jeff's run of cards and savvy play.  Andrew picked up $200 for second place, including bounties, while Jeff locked up his TOC seat and $300+ for first place plus bounties.   Well done Jeff!

Our next tournament is Oct. 17, remember, there are only 2 seats left this year for the TOC, good luck to one and all!  Thanks everyone for coming out and making a super groovy and fun evening.  Until next time, peace and we out!