Thank goodness I postponed the start of our 14th year, because it seems like almost everyone got Covid under their Christmas tree or in January.
For me it was the latter. I went to Vegas and played in the Moose Lodge International tournament series (went 0-7 in tournaments by the way) and came back with the Rona'. I wore a mask and was pretty careful, after not wearing a mask while playing during the WSOP in October - but I still caught it.
I had a dry throat, mild runny nose and a bit of fatigue for about five days. I wouldn't have known I had it for sure, but I tested myself as my daughter had friends coming over - and BAM. Positive.
No fever, no cough, no trouble beyond a slight malaise and post-nasal drip. Very grateful to get through with super mild symptoms. Tested positive for two weeks, then negative on the third week. This was three weeks ago tomorrow.
So it was great to get back into the garage with a clear head and clear conscience and finally get this year underway!
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| New chips - AGAIN. No one really noticed. |
One cool thing - we had no less than 7 women playing poker last night. A FAR better percentage than the Main Event in the World Series of Poker, that's for sure! VERY cool.
Also, again we were honored to have Michele with us from up north - she travels far, but seems to make a lot of these tournaments! (Of course she's also visiting her dad down here so there's that).
And we witnessed the return of the prodigal son - Mr. Eric T. came back for the first time in almost 5 years! Eric is an original O.G. of the game who was the first to cash in the WSOP for us, among many other outstanding achievements in the home pokerz. He's been away from the felt for a while, but hopefully he had a good enough time that he will be back soon.
Play, as always, was raucous - but there was also an extra spice of joy from just about everyone. I certainly felt it and had an amazing time. Running good also helped.
Our third table broke a good amount of time after the dinner break.
After another hour or so, we were down to the final table. I luckily had managed to run up a bit of a stack, so I had Jason - who had busted out and was waiting with Teresa for the cash game to start - snap these delightful shots.
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Unfortunately our NorCal guest Michele busted before the money, but thankfully she joined Jason, Teresa and newly arrived Stuver in a cash game at the small table!
After another couple eliminations, it was bubble time - and this time around it was Mr. Gareth who was the unfortunate bubbler.
Busting next in 5th for their money back was the one and only Eric T. - thank goodness he cashed! Hopefully this means he will be back sooner rather than later.
And then there were three...
Art had expertly navigated the final table with one of the shorter stacks - putting on a clinic in patience and timing to snag himself a third place finish and a $180 payout.
Most of Julie's giant stack had gone to my opponent Mr. Joe, and I was unable to find a double up in our brief but exciting heads-up battle. I finished 2nd for $280 plus $25 in bounties. Very happy to start the year off with a cash!
That left this guy as our winner and the first recipient of our brand new extra meaty and beefy card protector...
Congrats Joe! Overdue and well deserved! You've got an automatic seat in the 2022 TOC, to happen in January of 2023.
Speaking of TOC, we still need to schedule the 2020-21 TOC for this year. Staring hard at my calendar now trying to figure out when we can do it. At the moment April is looking like the most likely month. I will send out the Evite as early as I can to give everyone the best shot at being able to make it.
If it turns out the date is bad for you - you can come play with us in January 2023 if you don't qualify this year.
And so that wraps it all up - the fun was over... wait... (RECORD SCRATCH SOUND HERE)
The cash game continued for another hour and a half! (AIR HORN SOUND HERE)
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| Happy host! |
We all had a blast - and unfortunately we got too tired to keep playing. This just reminds me that I have to get back to hosting regular cash games. They are always the most social and most silly and frankly, most enjoyable. Whereas tournaments we pay 25% of the field, on a good cash game night 60% or more of the participants can make money. Love friendly low stakes cash games!
If the wife is ok with it, starting in March I'm going to be hosting bi-weekly Wednesday night cash games. We'll be playing the exact same stakes we do online, and we'll be playing 3 hours only. 730-1030 pm so we don't stay up too late on a school night. The invite list will be smaller, but if you are very interested in attending on the regular be sure to text me or hit me up in my DMs as the kids say.
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Thank you all so much for coming out and as always making Pepper Street Poker the bestest and most funnest home game known to human kind! I feel so fortunate and blessed to have such a great group of players that I also consider my good friends.
Our next monthly tournament is No-Limit Hold-Em and will take place on Saturday, March 12. Stay tuned for the Evite.
Until then, peace and we out!
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| O.G. Wrecking Ball - 2 time WSOP Satty Winner and Casher |
