Tournament #4 of Season 4

Another one is in the books.  We had 30 players this week.  Previous champ Gary R decided he was going home first this week at the hands of Bob L.  It take almost an hour to get our first knockout which is longer than normal.  Janine R was next to go when Kevin C got his second hit of the season.  Mike S was next to go followed by first time player Eric G.  Not long after I was done when Joy C finished me off.  Sharon B was next to go when Tom J got his first of many knockouts for the night.  We got down to the final table of nine when Mat K was knocked out in tenth by Theresa C.  Steve N was the first out of the final table when Greg E got him.  From here on out it was pretty much the Tom J show.  Dom D was next to go soon followed by Paul V on the bubble, both at the doing of Tom J.  Theresa C took down the last paying spot when Tom knocked her out in sixth.  Joy C spoiled Tom's dreams of running the whole final table by knocking out Ron T in fifth.  From then on we were back to the Tom J show knocking off Karl M in fourth and collecting all the bonus points.  Joy C made a great showing hanging on to third place.  The heads up battle between Tom and Greg E was pretty short lived with Tom having most of the chips in play when they got heads up.

Tom put on one of the strongest showings we've seen knocking out 10 players.  This performance vaulted him all the way into fourth place in the standings.  Greg's second place finish makes him the highest ranking player without a win this season, sitting in fifth.  The next tournament will see Tom J with one of the bounties on his head and current points leader Karl M will have the other.

Tournament #3 of Season 4

Another great turnout with 34 players this time.  Don G decided he wasn't going to stay long this time exiting 33 minutes into the tournament when Ron T busted him out.  He was helped out the door on the third hand of the tournament by Janine R when her quad queens beat his full house and crippled his chip stack.   Bob L followed him out the door a couple of minutes later at the hands of Mark L.  Theresa C picked up the extra bounty points when she took previous points leader Linda K out in 25th.  The final table was set when Mark L was taken out by Karl M in tenth place.  The other extra bounty went to Karl M when he took out last weeks winner Dom D in ninth, the first to leave the final table.  Mike S was next to go in eighth when Theresa C got him.  That left the next out on the bubble.  This week's honor goes to Janine R who was sent to the rail by Matt F.  The first one out in the money was Theresa C when she was eliminated by Karen D.  I then managed to get the next three taking out Karen in fifth followed by Steve S in fourth then Matt F in third.  This left myself and Karl M heads up.  Our heads up battle lasted only about ten minutes when I got all my money in with 4,4 and was called by Q,J.  The flop came A,8,2 and I was feeling good.  The turn brought the Q and the river missed me with a 10 and I was done.

This was the longest final table I can remember.  The final nine were seated at 10:16 and the tournament didn't end until 12:56.  Over 2.5 hours has to be our record.  The chips stacks were very even with the final nine and it seemed every time someone got all in they caught the right card to hang on.  Steve S went from having less than a big blind to having a very strong chip stack at least four or five times.  When we play again in two weeks both the bounties will be on Karl M as the previous winner and points leader.