2023 Tournament of Champions

Perfect poker weather descended on the Garage Around Back for the 8th Annual Pepper Street Poker Tournament of Champions! 21 champs (monthly Tournament winners and top ten point finishers) got to enjoy the pleasure of un-bagging their chips, stacking them up and throwing down in the No-Limit Hold-Em Tournament streets for a free shot at a thousand dollar prize pool and the glory of gorgeous silver hardware!

But the first order of business was to induct two players to the PSP Legacy Hall of Fame, Ken and Joe respectively. Ken has been a regular for going on a decade and has had very good results including Player of the Year a few years back. Joe hasn’t been around quite as long, but he - like Ken has been Player of the Year (in 2022) and is also a great guy who almost never misses a tournament.

And then we were underway!

New spiffy sign!

Starting chip stacks varied from 30K to 54K, but everyone tried to make the best of what they had. No one busted before the first break I believe, but several did right after. Legacy player Mike K. Was first to exit via a set over set cooler. Last year’s champ Stuver busted next, followed by Ken, Jerry, and Gareth in that order.

Gareth busted right after the second break, which was a half hour stop down for dinner. He was our last player with three tables, so we were down to two tables going forward, after wolfing down pizza and Barbara’s amazing brownies.

Thanks for the snap Mr Jeff S!

Yours truly had a great afternoon, spinning up a big stack and outlasting the aforementioned Jeff G for once. Eric P was out next followed by Joe, Jeff S., Allen R. and Chris R.

Priya was out next and was the final table bubble. Graciously, she took a picture of the final nine.

Jason and Barbara were next out, each battling valiantly with their short stacks before succumbing. Your humble host had seen his stack go in the wrong direction and unfortunately my check raise jam with second pair got snapped off by Ian who had top top which held and saw me out in 7th place. Boo!

And so I slid into the dealers box - and we continued six handed. As always in the TOC we were only paying three, so there was plenty of poker to play.

Next out was Mr. Colin followed by Art, and then it was bubble time!

Lea Anne proposed a bubble safety, and the other three players agreed. Fourth would get $100 (taken from the $500 first place prize).

And that fourth place finisher turned out to be the one and only Mr. MC, who was a bit beat after almost six hours of tournament play and happy to depart a c-note up in profit.

Lea Anne had played expertly all day but in the end had to settle for third place and $200.

And then we were heads up…

Both players were relatively deep and play could very well have continued for an hour for more, but it turned out that a two pair over two pair cooler would put an end to the heads up battle after only about 15 minutes.

The 42 belonged to the always formidable Legacy player Stephen B, who accepted defeat graciously and scooped up $300 in second place.

And so $400 and the trophy went to this guy!

It’s been quite a year for Mr. Ian as POY and now TOC winner. Well done good sir!

But 2024 is wide open and the slate is clean. 12 slots are now open and the coveted Player of the Year trophy is back up for grabs!

 Our first event of the year is in two weeks. Saturday, January 20 at 530pm - good old fashioned No-Limit Texas Hold-Em! 

Very much looking forward the tournament and all the tournaments afterwards as well as what will hopefully be a record number of cash games!

Keep your eyes peeled for Evites!  See you on the felt soon!

Until then, peace and we out!