2017.05

Finally the heatwave that gripped Burbank for the last two weeks abated - and players were pleased to sit down in a reasonably temperate garage around back for an unusual poker gathering - an Omaha Eight or Better Tournament!  And best of all - it was No Limit!

The return of the madness!

Action was hot and heavy from the start - and although everyone was having a blast, there were noticeably less hands per round, as reading the board and frequently chopping up pots consumed a fair amount of time.  Still - a great break from NL Hold-em and we will for sure do it again next year!

I was first to bust, despite my good friend Allen Q. bringing me this awesome card protector for good luck -

"Hey John, you should raise pre-flop more often."

After my exit the busts came fast and furious as 10pm passed - the departures were so rapid that we had quite the scrambling of players as they hopped from table to table in order to keep the numbers balanced.

Wait Eric's here now and Allen and Jerry are over there?

As usual, Tony's PISSED!

So the second break hit at the 3 1/2 hour mark, and we were one player away from a final table of nine.  Then five minutes after we got back, a player busted and it was indeed final table time.

You'll notice the renowned poker playa Dog in the above pic, he didn't make the final table - in fact he didn't make any table, he just stopped by for a visit after busting out of the Ed Asner celebrity poker tournament for Autism earlier in the evening.  Bravo for giving back Dog, and thanks for stopping by.

Seriously guys, deal me in already!

And then it was crunch time - Barbara was our unlucky bubble, but then she got lucky after all when she spun the wheel of fun and earned herself a super powerful extra special Show Em chip for the next tournament.  She didn't seem too thrilled, but that will likely change when she realizes she can use the chip TWICE, including after the break if she chooses!  It could give her a bit of an edge for the next event!

Finishing in 5th place to earn his money back was new player George who cashed for his second tournament in a row - of course last time he took down a single table SNG, but this time he simply got unstuck.

Our next in 4th place for double his buy in plus $20 in bounty chips was chip collecting juggernaut Jerry who looked to be a sure bet to take this one down - until he took a couple of big hits with some unlucky run-outs.

And then there were three - and busting in third place was Omaha/8 aficionado who came all the way from somewhere far away that I can't remember, Jeff R. who collected $100 for his efforts.  It was also great to see his wife Tina who dropped in half way through the evening to shower us with yummies from KFC.

And then there were two -

The heads up battle lasted over half an hour, and it was nearly 1am when the dust settled with Josh finishing second for $140 and Nick taking it down for $200 plus $10 in bounties.

 I have to say, Josh had shown a pretty remarkable resilience in making it so far.  He had a couple of questions earlier in the afternoon about the rules of the game - and yet here he was.  Also, I had sat and watched him for awhile and he was dealt some fairly crappy starting cards for a long period of time, including this one -

Damn Daniel.

And yet, much like Jennifer Harman who had never played 2-7 Lowball single draw before playing in the WSOP tournament that she won, Josh succeeded wildly beyond likely his own expectations.

And then there's this guy -

Nick as many of you old PSP vets know, has been around for a long while - yet he had to take a bit of a hiatus getting trained and certified for his career.  Well he's cleared that hurdle, and now he's back, with a vengeance it seems!  He took down our Crazy Pineapple tournament a week ago, chopping it up with Jason, and now he's locked up a seat in our Tournament of Champions.   Good on ya Nick!

Our next monthly will be Saturday, October 7 at 7pm.  Hope to see you there.

Until then, peace and we out!