ANNOUNCEMENT!

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: ALL POKER IN THE GARAGE IN JANUARY 2022 HAS BEEN CANCELED!

But let not your heart be troubled - watch your host in this explanation video!

Hope it all makes sense.  

We are very, VERY likely to have our TOC on the first Saturday of February, the 5th.  The Evite will go out the week prior if this is the case.

Remember, if you aren't comfortable coming or can't make it because of your schedule - just let me know and you don't have to specify your reason - and you will have a seat for the TOC in 2023.

Our first regular tournament of the year will then likely be the following Saturday, the 12th.  I am out of town on the 19th and 26th.

Until I see you all again - stay safe and be well!

2020-21 Year in Review, Player of the Year, TOC Preview and a 2022 Sneak-Peek

Wow, this last year at Pepper Street Poker was one HELL of a ride!  At times awful and infuriating, with an unplanned year long shutdown, but also triumphant with a joyous return to the felt of fellowship and friendship!

1st Tournament AFTER the awful pandemic...

My favorite pic of the year, so many faces say so much!

1st Cash Game post-pandemic

The return of the good Dr. Dave

The DOG returns

***********

In the end, with the summer of 2021 came the salvation of our game and a great time was had by one and all - after all!

The year concluded with no less than FOUR women tournament winners out of ten, a new and welcome record.   

Though we lost our Barbara to the delightful charms of the piss stained streets of NYC, we also gained two new big time poker enthusiasts in Lea Anne and Laura, who have both already made deep runs and will likely take down tournaments in the very near future.  

2021 also saw the return of two players who have been away even before the pandemic - the always affable Dog and my beloved brother Dr. Dave!  Great to have you both back, now please come back again before several years go by!

Dr. Dave was inducted into the Legacy Hall of fame, along with these folks!

 

 

******

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Yours truly wrested the Player of the Year point lead from the at one time unstoppable Mikey P. - but as we all know, I am entirely ineligible for POY because of the inherent mathematical advantage of playing 100% of all tournaments.  Even though we only count 10 tournaments, I still get to discard more lower scores than everyone else by virtue of living next to the garage - so there's that.

But Mike was unable to attend some of our final tournaments and so that opened up a window for several competitors, and the lead changed more than once, but in the end...  THIS GUY ended up on top, thanks in no small part to two 2nd place finishes and a non-NLHE tournament win down the stretch.

Congrats to Eric L.!    I see a trophy in your future!  Also your name will go up on the plaque! 

If you're curious, you can see who finished where in the POY race by clicking here.

********

TOC PREVIEW

Our 2020-21 Tournament of Champions will take place on Saturday, January 8th at 1pm in The Garage Around Back.

We pay 3 only - 3rd gets $200, 2nd gets $300 and 1st place gets $500 plus this sexy silver thing...

...AND they also get their name on the wall on our perpetual plaque and glory for generations to come or something.

Let's meet the players!

Priya won her first tournament at PSP all the way back in January of 2020, back when the world wasn't quite as shitty as it is now.  She took the cash and her starting cards in hand and posed for this picture as if to say - "There's a new sheriff in town!"  And she was right!

Mike P. didn't waste any time after winning the TOC in 2019, coming back and taking down yet another tournament right away.  Geez Mike, you already had your 2020 TOC seat locked up as the previous year's winner - you didn't need to rub our noses in it!  Jerk!  Anyways, this was such a disruptive win that a global pandemic happened right after and we didn't see poker in the garage for over a year after this!  Blech!

Art somehow dimly remembered that his better half had won a tournament all the way back in twenty-aught-twenty, so he figured he should come back after getting jabbed and freaking take it down!  And he did! 

2018 POY Kenny came out of nowhere to flex his Mix game skills and take down our one and only Omaha/8 tournament. There were less runners than the normal NLHE, but since O8 is a thinking person's game it was just as difficult to win this as a Hold-Em tourney with twice as many runners.

Ms. Julie looked at the wall of winners so far, saw only one female and decided that had to change.  She took this one down no sweat, even though it was hotter than July (in August) when this all happened. Ian's elbow took second place.

Mike reassured everyone that his February 2020 tournament win wasn't just him being a jerk - he actually has mad skills and wanted to make sure to put his stamp on 2021 as well.  Yes, there are TWO card capper trophies in the pic.

Chris aka the host and yours truly - hadn't taken down a tournament in awhile, over 3 years if you include the crap-demic, so he finally got the monkey off his back and demolished his friends and grabbed a gang of points to take the POY lead and never look back.  Alas, he is not (nor has he ever been) eligible for Player of the Year - that title goes to someone else...

Kat took down her first trophy when her opponent graciously offered an even chop and also gifted her the TOC seat despite him still having the chip lead.  Kat thought about it for less than one micro second and happily locked it up.  Emanuel is a class act for his kindness, though I also imagine he knows he will be back in the winners circle soon enough.

Eric decided he had terrorized people long enough online during the shit-demic, now he came to life in the garage and brought the hammer to live poker in the biggest and baddest variant out there - PLO.  Nicely done.  This also was a nice feather in his cap to compliment his recent induction to the Legacy Hall of Fame and it was also the result that positioned him to take down Player of the Year.

Jeffrey got back from a highly successful trip to the WSOP, (he cashed a bunch so that's successful ok?) and celebrated by pummeling everyone and running hotter than the sun and taking down a tournament.  Great, now everyone at the TOC will have to deal with this dangerous and sticky player.  Boo.

Chris is a real dick for winning two of these things, that is all. 

Carla took down the last tournament of 2021, getting into the TOC under the wire.  Her heads-up battle with Dan was the longest in recent memory, pushing way past 11pm.  Carla is also the fourth female of our tournament seat winners so that's cool!

OK so that's all the tournament winners - but there's also a list of 10 others who qualified based on POY points. 

From most points to fewest the non-tournament TOC qualifiers are -

Colin, Ian, Jerry C. (automatic qualifier as 2019 POY), Allen R, Dan G, Jeff S, Lea Anne, Jason H., Joe S, Dan L. & Laura G.

********

2022 PREVIEW

Let's keep this poker thing going right?

I am super excited about 2022 in The Garage Around Back.  Here is the plan -

MONTHLY TOURNAMENTS

In 2022 we will have 12 monthly tournaments (one per month) including 

• 8 No-Limit Hold-Em events for $45 ($40 entry for 20K in chips plus a $5 bounty)  
• 4 Different Game events for $40

All of the non-NLHE events will have an entirely optional $20 Last Longer bet as well.

All 12 of these monthly events award a Tournament of Champions seat to the winner as well as points to all players who attend for the Player of the Year race.  

All 12 of these monthly events now have TWO re-entries before the break, plus an optional stack surrender and re-entry during the break regardless of prior re-entries.

Included in the 8 NLHE tournaments,

•  "PSP Main Event" returns, with an $80 tournament in July.  Trophy for the winner.  
•   Mystery Bounty tournament, $60 entry with bounties ranging in value from $5 to $100
•   "High Roller" event, same entry fee but 2 Million in chips (plus fancy plaques) to start!

Our non-NLHE events (which are worth DOUBLE POY points) will include -

• Omaha/8
• H.O.R.S.E. (Fix Limit Hold-Em, Omaha/8, Razz, Stud & Eight or Better Stud)
• PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha High Only)
• Crazy Pineapple 

CASH GAMES

We will have 6 cash games, likely one every other month.

For 2022 I am bringing our cash game into line with the exact stakes we played online during the pandemic.   

• $40-$100 buy-in, top up to $100 any time.  
• .25¢/.50¢ blinds for big bet games and $1/$2 small and big bets for fixed limit play.  
• Stud games also include a .25¢ ante from each player.

As always, play in all of our cash games and receive an automatic invitation to the TOC.

LEGACY INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT

The first ever Legacy Hall of Fame Invitational tournament - only Legacy players may attend.  

An all day $80 Mix tournament that includes both big bet and fix limit games.   

A gorgeous golden trophy for the winner.  Expect this to go in the first half of March.

POKER LABS & WSOP SATELLITE

Two more of these, one in March, one in April - with the satellite to be held in May.

Right now we have $480 in our WSOP seat pool - hoping to add enough so we can award two WSOP seats.

And so that's it for what's coming up in 2022!   Hope you can join us!

To close it out - let me just say a monster THANK YOU to all of you who have come to play both pre and post pandemic in The Garage Around Back for the past two years.

This game really means the world to me - and the biggest reason it does is the friendships I've found through it.

These friendships have grown even stronger because of the adversity of being apart and the joy we found when we got back together.  

I am truly forever grateful for you all!!!

  

2020.12

 It was a cool and crisp 62 degrees on a Saturday in Burbank in The Garage Around Back.  25 hardcore gambling fools squeezed in and threw down for the final monthly event of 2021.

Legacy Chips in play!

Allen also brought Gingerbread Oreos - they vanished quickly - these did not ha ha!

Full house almost!

Despite nearly 3 full tables, there were ZERO bust-outs before the break and only a handful of re-entries.  When someone finally did bust it was the freshly inducted Legacy Hall of Fame playa Mr. Eric L.   Second month in a row that the first out was a new Legacy player - Dan L. busted first last month!  Uh oh!  Is it a Hall of Fame curse?  Probably.

Play continued into the night and it was awhile before the third table broke - but break, it inevitably did.

Alas, one of the early departures was non other than Legacy Palmdale resident Mr. Allen Q - who graced us with a rare appearance, bringing the much appreciated and aforementioned Gingerbread Oreos as well as his always effervescent poker persona.  Great to see you my friend!  Very much appreciate the effort, I know it's a heck of a drive!

Often illuminated last night!

Photo courtesy of Mr. Ian

Photo courtesy of Mr. Ian

The final table hit well after 8pm - alas, yours truly was the final table bubble - unable to overcome card deadness and dying a death of a thousand cuts rather than my usual spew time punting.

Our money bubble was Mr. Ian who just missed out on a $40 money back min-cash which instead went to Jeff G. in sixth place.  He had re-entered so he was still stuck, but not by as much as he might have been.

Busting next in 5th place for $80 and some bounties was the always affable and energetic Mr. Andrew.  Nice to see you back my friend, don't be a stranger in 2022!

Exiting quietly in 4th for $100, was cashing machine Mr. Josh.

And then there were three...

Three handed play lasted quite a bit longer than four and five handed play had.  The chip lead rotated from player to player, but then Jeff S. was eliminated in third place after turning two pair only to have Carla spike the bottom end of a wonky straight on the river.  Jeff got a very nice $180 for third and a grip o' bounties for a near $200 payout.

And then there were two...

In hosting for almost 15 years, I have dialed in the structure to near perfection - almost guaranteeing that we are done before 10:30 because the tournament ALWAYS ends on the 8K/16K level.

Well, that didn't happen last night.  Not only did heads up play last through 10K/20K - it continued on into 15K/30K!   Crazy!  And an absolute record for the game.

Carla and Dan were both bringing their A-games, and neither wanted to chop or surrender.  Heads-up play lasted well over an hour, and as I said, into levels heretofore unknown in the PSP Monthly.  Crazy!

In the end though, it came down to a couple of flips, that both went to Carla - and so when the dust settled Dan had to settle for a chunky $280 plus bounties - an amount typically more in line with a first place payout.

Carla took the top prize of $360 plus another $20 in bounties, and the TOC seat and the coveted PSP Card Protector.  Well done Ms. Carla!

da' Champ!

A great big thanks to all who braved the chill and came out to gamble it up for one last time in 2021.  It has been a long and fairly stressful year, though much better than 2020 that's for sure - and that's because we are back to doing what I love most - playing the greatest game on the face of the earth!

Our next event will be in January, the TOC is at 1pm on Saturday, Jan 8.  The seat winners know who they are and should've already gotten their Evite.  

The qualifiers who didn't win a tournament are - Colin, Ian, Allen R, Dan G, Jeff S, Lea Anne, Jason H., Joe S, Dan L. & Laura G.

If you see your name and didn't get an Evite be sure to let me know.

Our next open tournament won't be until two weeks after the TOC, Saturday Jan 22 at 5pm.  I am going to wait until next year to send the Evite for that one as it's a ways out and my schedule may change of course.

There's a small chance also that there may be a small cash game this month, Saturday Dec 18 at 5pm - if there is an Evite it will go out well into next week.

Anyways, thanks AGAIN to all of you who made this year a heck of a lot of fun.  I appreciate each and every one of you and value your fellowship and friendship!  I'm all warm and fuzzy thinking about what a great year it turned out to be overall and I am SUPER excited about 2022.  Stay tuned for a post with the traditional TOC preview profiles as well as our plans for the new year.

Until then, peace and we out!

Tournament Crusher/Beast - WSOP Legend 10K Winner