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| 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!
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| Mike K. - the absent warrior. And who are those other two dorks? |
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| 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.
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| I know they don't look friendly, but believe me - they were! |
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.
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| Suck it Norman Chad. (He hates AQ) |
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!
