2023.01

 21 good time gamblers gathered ‘round to kick off the 15th (yes 15th!) year of poker fun in The Garage Around Back - the best home poker game on the planet (not an opinion, it’s science), the one and only Pepper Street Poker!

But before teh pokerz could begin, we had hardware to give out. The poker wrecking ball in 2022 known as Joe got his hands on the bad ass black beauty POY trophy in a stirring ceremony that left no dry eyes in the house. Pretty much that’s how it happened.

And with ceremony over - we were on our way!

Everyone made it to the first break, 90 minutes after play began, but we did have more than a handful of re-entries. Yours truly spun up a nice big stack early at table one, but our first exit was over at table three - Mr Andrew bid us farewell but left a lovely parting gift of Coke Zeros and iced tea. Very much appreciated by this host!

Dan L busted next, followed by Jason, Jeff S and Colin in that order. The third table broke, the second break came and went and we had another flurry of busts - Randall, Stephen B, Dan G and Jeff G in that order.

That last pic is the final table, photo courtesy of Ms. Priya who had exited after Kyle but before Jerry who was our final table bubble.

Babs arrived at the FT on the nub and was next to go, followed by Mr Philip and then yours truly who had recovered from a devastating bad beat earlier, flopping trips only to have my opponent fill up on a two outer turn, only to have a similar cooler to exit. Flopping three of a kind in the big blind with a trash hand and the other guy of course having the case card to also make trips with a higher kicker. That’s been my January that’s for sure! 

But at least I didn’t bubble, no that would be your 2022 Player of the Year Mr Joe, who got a hearty handshake and a laurel for his trouble.

And then we were in the monies, paying five players. A nice amount, a fair bit more for everyone with the new slightly higher entry fee. 

Allen R was the first to collect some of the prize pool - exiting in fifth for $140 and zero bounties, since we weren’t playing with bounties ha ha.

It was great to see Emanuel back after a long absence from the game, he’d played quite expertly (as is his usual) but in the end he had to settle for fourth place and $160.

Three handed play continued for awhile but Art found himself truly card dead at the worst time, waking up with 72o in his big blind at one point. He finished in third for a not too shabby $240.

And then there were two…

A few hands were played, but the hour was late and a deal was proposed and accepted. 

Lea Anne took 2nd place and $340, Ian took 1st and $400 even. 

Well done the both of youse and congrats to this guy!

A huge thanks to each and every one of you who came out and made our first tournament of the year a super good time! We are just getting started and I’m excited for all the poker to come!

Our next monthly tournament is scheduled for Feb 18, mark your calendar and stay tuned for the evite.  

Next Fridays cash game has been canceled as some stuff has come up, but hopefully we will reschedule soon.

For now I wish you all the best and I bid you a hearty Peace and We Out!

Friday Cash - 2023.01

The threat of rain loomed over the garage around back on a foreboding Friday the 13th as evening approached. But that didn’t stop no less than 13 degenerate gamblers from showing up anyways to partake in the first all-cash game evening of 2023 at Pepper Street!

We had two tables going almost from the start, at first it was six and six and then six and seven.

Table one, in the foreground, was all mix games - including Badugi and SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha and Hold-‘Em). In the background, table two just partook in the Cadillac of poker, aka no limit hold ‘em.

Both tables had lots of action and lots of fun. Yours truly chipped down a little bit and then climbed back up. All night I really didn’t have any monster pots to speak of, but there was a giant hand at my table, a three-way all in featuring AK, QQ and AA.  Believe it or not, the bullets held up!

We played for almost four hours before a few folks got tired and racked up. Then it was back to a single table of Mix Games and more hilarity ensued.

As you can see I was a little bit above my buy-in amount, but just after midnight when the game broke I was up over $100 in profit. A nice little win to book after 3 days of not cashing in poker tournaments in Vegas.

I have to say, we have had some super super fun nights playing just cash at Pepper Street over the last year, but last night was really something special. For whatever reason the chemistry was just right, and there was so much laughter and boisterous shenanigans. We really had the best crowd of the very best people. Mike C, Barbara, Lea Anne, Art, Priya, Alan R, Jeff S, Jeff G, Stuver, Jason, Colin, Ian and myself really were the funnest bunch of poker playing fools ever!

We are doing a tournament next Saturday at a slightly different time, 5:30 PM, and it’s now $60 also. Read this post to find out why the time change and the price increase.

The following week on Friday night we are having our first NL Hold-Em only cash game in a while at 7:30 PM. Buy-In is $40-$120, and there will be a single dollar blind instead of quarters. 

Can’t wait to see you all again on the felt soon, until then, peace and we out!

TOC 2022

 A cool and crisp January afternoon was the perfect setting for a tremendous Tournament of Champions at Pepper Street in the garage around back. 18 gambling legends, some who won tournaments others who qualified through points, gathered around to throw down in our annual thousand dollar prize pool free roll. 

Most players started with 35K in chips, but Allen R. got 40K for winning a second tournament, Jeff G got 45K for winning three tournaments and Joe got a record 50K also for winning three tourneys plus taking down Player of the Year! Nice!

With 25 minute levels and a nice flat structure, there was tons of play early on. Yours truly took a big hit when his top two pair on the flop was run down by a turn from hell, but I still had almost 50 big blinds remaining and was able to hang on for quite a bit longer.

We had a few dropouts before the second break, Jeff G, Mike C, Eric L, Kyle and yours truly were the first out, in that order. Jeff, being first to bust, went home - but then came back when we texted him about starting up a cash game!  We got underway shorthanded, and shortly there after Ian and Joe both joined us. Then, thanks to a smart and timely text by Eric, Barbara joined us! Also fantastic, my father-in-law Paul wandered in and sat down to gamble.  Poker poker poker baby!

Jason busted next and joined in the cash game shenanigans, and then in the tourney it was final table time!

Next out was Dan L, then Art (who was nice enough to stay and deal) and then Stephen B.  Lea Anne was next to fall and joined in the cash fun. 

It wasn’t bubble time when Priya busted in fifth place, the TOC only pays three, but after her exit the four remaining players made a deal for a bubble safety. So everyone left was in the money!

The first to exit with money in his pocket, was Mr. Allen R. He took home 100 bucks for fourth place. Actually he didn’t go home, he took an immediate left turn to the cash game!

And then there were three remaining, and they battled for quite a while before Jerry, who at one point had all of the chips, succumbed in third place for $200.

He seemed happy enough, but chose not to join us for cash. At this point there was something going on that has never happened before. There were enough players to have two tables of cash game play, plus of course the heads up battle that was raging in the tournament.

The battle between Stuver and Josh was quite prolonged and intense. Since the host was knee-deep in the cash game streets, they had to shuffle and deal themselves. So I know it was tiring. The chip lead went back-and-forth more than once, and with 8 PM approaching Stuver proposed a deal. They were both about even in chips, but Josh had a slight advantage. Stuve offered 1st place money to Josh, $400, and he would take the second place cash ($300) and the trophy!

Josh it turned out was as tired as Stuver, and was happy enough to take the cash and concede the title. And we had our winner! The guy who supposedly hates tournaments, but always seems to cash when he plays and now takes down the big one. Very gracious of Josh, but also smart because he gets an extra hundred bucks. Well done the both of you!

The tourney was over by 8, the cash game continued until well after 9! Now that’s some gamble!

All in all the event was a tremendous success, I am so so appreciative of all of you who came out to gamble. I appreciate the folks who just stuck around for the tournaments, and of course I also really appreciate the hard-core gamblers who threw down in cash. Most of all I am grateful for each and every one of you for always making it fun!

I am super excited about a full new year of poker goodness in the garage around back. We have a cash game coming up this Friday the 13th, and then our first regular tournament of the year on Saturday the 21st, 5:30 PM. Don’t forget, a slightly higher entry fee of $60 and no dinner break, so eat before you come!

Until then, have a very Happy New Year and peace and we out!