Well another great tournament is over.  We had 25 players this week.  We made it into the third round before we lost our first player of the night Greg E.  He was followed soon after by Adam B.  Jeff J had the extra 4 point bounty on his head but was taken out by a non league player Darlene J.  Scott C had a nice evening with 3 hits and a trip to the final table but eventually was taken out in 7th by Gary R.  Yours truly was extremely short stacked most of the night but managed to make the final table.  I tried to avoid confrontation and back my way into a money spot but Gary R had different plans.  He took me out in sixth leaving me this weeks bubble boy, much to Matt F's delight considering that he didn't have many more chips than me.  Once he made the final money spot he was taken out by Christina M.  Darlene was next to go when Steve N took her out in fourth.  When Steve, Christina and Gary got to three handed Gary had an enourmous chip lead and I assumed I was going to have to put his ugly mug up on the website for a third time this season.  Steve and Christina managed to slowly but surely chip away at his stack and eventually Christina knocked him out in third.  That led to the shortest heads up battle of the season lasting exactly one hand.  Steves 10,10 held up against Christina's K,J and he got his firs GPL win.  Steve will have one of the bounties on his head next week and points leader Jeff J will have the other.

Also congratulations to Kelly M on her non league win at our Super Bowl party tournament.  She outlasted the other 8 and beat me heads up.  I wish the Steelers could have done the same but they'll be back next year.

Tournament #7 is in the books and it was our biggest one of the season.  We had the maximum 30 players for the first time.  Kevin H decided he didn't like crowds and exited first for the second tourney in a row.  We didn't lose another player for almost another hour until Scott C left in round four.  The pace certainly picked up as we lost four more before the end of the fourth round.  Mike S earned 4 bonus points when he sucked out  against me busted me out in 12 place.  The hitman of the night was certainly Will M who had an incredible 8 knockouts.  Jerry T had the misfortune of being this weeks bubble boy going out in 7th with Will's help.  Matt F was able to hold on to sixth place and pick up some cash.  Mike S was next to go in fifth followed by newcomer Blake M who finished fourth.  Amazingly that gave Will his fourth consecutive knockout and an amazing chip lead.

Will got three handed with Darlene J and Jeff J with virtually all the chips.  At one point Darlene was down to 500 and Jeff had about 1500 in chips and they were both all in against Will who had the remaining 43,000 chips.  Darlene went home in third and Jeff was able to double up and stay alive.  With a 10:1 deficit in chips when they got heads up Jeff basically made two plays, fold or all-in.  In the most amazing come back I've seen in our league. Jeff managed to avoid Will when he had big hands and tangle with him when he didn't.  After about 15 minutes of heads up Jeff completed the miracle come back and knocked Will out  Congratulations to Jeff on his second win of the season.  Of course as the current chip leader and previous winner both bounties will be on Jeff's head next time.

Well tournament number 6 is in the books and it was my personal favorite so far.  We had 28 players this week including 26 league members.  Kevin H was the first to go, heck I think the Ravens were still winning when Linda K busted him out.  The first of the special bounties was awarded to Don G when he took both Darlene J and Gary R out on the same hand.  Don earned the extra 2 points for taking out Gary the points leader coming into the week.  Tom J went out in eighth place as his pocket kings were cracked not once but twice in back to back hands.  Karen D got the bonus points for taking out Tom.  Matt F followed Tom out the door busting out in seventh and earning this weeks distinction as the bubble boy. Adam B made the money by finishing sixth followed by Kevin C's first tournament cash this season with his fifth place finish.  We played four handed for about 20 minutes before we finally lost Jeff J in fourth.  Jerry T soon followed in third leaving just Karen D and myself.  After seeing Karen repeatedly suck out with the worst hand all night I was a little nervous playing her heads up.  Luckily the good karma from the Steeler's awesome come from behind win stuck with me and I was able to win my first tournament of the season.

With this week's win I am also now the points leader meaning I will have both bounties on my head next time.  The next tournament is the 29th of January, hope to see everyone then.

Happy New Year to everyone.  Sorry for the slow posting on the results but the holidays and year end at work got in the way.  Tournament number five is in the books and it was another good one.  We had 28 players including a few first timers.  I almost managed to be the first player out two weeks in a row when first timer Simo H managed to cripple me early.  I had 9,9 and managed to get all of his chips in while he had A,7.  I was looking great when the flop brought a third 9 for me and an ace for Simo.  Unfortunately the board also brought an 8,6,10 so that Simo backed into a straight leaving me with only about 200 in chips.  Fortunately for me Christina M must have had some last minute shopping she remembered about because she decided to be the first to leave.  Mike S took her out and that started to turn into the theme for the night.  Mike took out 5 of the first 11 players of the night. 

Dave M ended up being the bubble boy for the night busting out in 7th place.  Jeff J took the last paying spot finishing sixth followed by the nights hitman Mike S.  Mat K was next to go followed by Dominic D.  Tom J and I had a great heads up match that lasted over 30 minutes.  The tournament finally ended when I got pocket aces and managed to beat Tom's pocket 10's.  Oh wait, Tom's picture is at the top not mine you say?  That can't be right unless of course he sucked out and caught his ten on the board and finished me by cracking my aces.  And of course that is exactly what happened.  Congratulations to Tom on his win.  Tom will have the extra bounty on him next tournament as well as Gary who continues to be the points leader.  The next game is January 15th, hope to see everyone there.

Tournament number 4 is now in the in the books.  This one saw some new faces in the money.  The night ended extremely early for me when my KK got run over by Jim B's AA.  I got sent to the rail before Mat and Linda even arrived.  Last weeks third place finisher Darlene followed my to the rail next.  As a matter of fact 3 of the first seven out this week were at last weeks final table with Matt F and Will also making fairly early exits. 

Jeff J got the first of the nights bonus hits by taking last tournaments winner Linda out in 10th place.  The next bonus hit went to Kelly M who took out points leader Gary R in 8th place.  This was pretty much the theme of the night with Kelly and Jeff combining for 11 hit on the evening.  Paul V was this weeks bubble boy when his AK lost not one but two hands in a row to send him to the cash game one spot out of the money.  Dave D had a good showing finishing 5th for his first cash of the season after being taken down by Kelly.  Next saw Jeff send Tom J to a 4th place finish.  Next it was Kelly's turn again as she sent Jim B, and my chips, home in 3rd place.

Jeff had a huge chip lead when he got to heads up with Kelly but hadn't had a chance to view the second disc of his Poker For Dummies DVD yet and let her right back into the game.  Both came to the heads up battle with 5 hits each for the evening.  The sixth hit for the night was the one to get.  After a short heads up battle Jeff finally got Kelly pot committed with her raise with K7 and came over the top with A10 and got Kelly all in.  When the board missed Kelly, Jeff had his first win of the season and a huge jump in the standings.

Sorry this update was so late.  The third tournament of the season was ladies night with 3 of the final 5 players being ladies.  Todd B was the first out of the night getting knocked out by Bob L.  Darlene then took out the next two players to start her night off well.  Steve N had the big knockout of the night by getting both bonus 2 point hits eliminating Gary R.

The final table was absolutely owned by Linda who ended up knocking out 8 of the other 9 players on her own.  First she eliminated her husband Mat, then she took down Steve and followed that up by sending Kevin C to the cash game.  Next saw Tom J bust out on the bubble, again at Linda's hands.  Paul V was next taking the 6th place money soon followed by Karen in 5th.  The only player not removed from the final table by Linda was Will who was taken out in 4th by Matt F.  Darlene parlayed her early success into a third place finish after being knocked out by the evenings assassin, Linda.

After a great heads up battle that lasted almost 20 minutes Linda finally finished off the most dominate final table we've ever had by sending Matt F home in second place and winning her first GPL tournament.

Well after the second tournament of the season the only word that comes to mind is WOW!!  We had a couple of firsts this week.  This first one I don't know if I have ever witnessed, we had quads lose to a better set of quads.  With a flop of 6,6,5 Kevin C and Kip both were loving their hands.  A three on the turn made no difference and when a 5 came on the river all the chips when in.  Kevin new he had the hand won with a pair of 5's in the hole to give him quad 5's, at least he knew he had it won until Kip showed him his pocket 6's for better quads.  By far this is the worst beat in the league and has put Kevin in a huge hole for the season standings but it is early.

We had a total of 26 players this week with the top five making the money.  Mike S, a late arrival, got kicked in the butt by karma and ended up busting out on the bubble in sixth when Mark L took him out.  Kip ended up making good use of Kevin's chips ending up in fifth place.  Tom J turned his season back in the right direction by taking down fourth place.  Mark L used his tournament high four knockouts to finish in third place.  This left Adam and last weeks winner Gary heads up.  Gary, with 4 additional points on his head played a great heads up match.  After finally knocking out Adam, Gary became the first back to back winner in Gananda Poker League history.  Look out Johnny Chan there is a new back to back winner in town.

We had a couple rules questions arise on Saturday and I have done the research.  There was a discussion of how to handle a situation where someone busts out leaving the small blind position empty.  Todd had one thought of how it should be handled and I had another.  Turns out we were both right according to Robert's Rules of Poker.  I have included the section of the rules that pertain to this.  In our league we are using the dead button or dead blind version to handle this situation.  Here is the rule:

SECTION 16 - EXPLANATIONS

1. The only place in this set of rules that an alternative is mentioned other than in this section is in the method of button and blind placement. That rule (the first rule in “Section 4 – Button and Blind Use”) is repeated in an abbreviated version below for convenience.
“Each round all players must get the button, and meet the total amount of the blind obligations. Either of the following methods of button and blind placement may be used:

(a) Moving button – The button always moves forward to the next player and the blinds adjust accordingly. There may be more than one big blind.

(b) Dead button – The big blind is posted by the player due for it, and the small blind and button are positioned accordingly, even if this means the small blind or the button is placed in front of an empty seat, giving a player last action on consecutive hands.”

Poker tradition has a lot to do with the fact that both of these methods are in widespread use, but neither method is superior in all situations. The moving button makes sure no player gets the advantage of last action twice on a round (a big advantage at no-limit or pot-limit play). On the other hand, a player may get to post a blind when on the button, which is more advantageous than posting in front of the button. The moving button creates a situation where two big blinds may be posted on a deal, which speeds up the action. At tournament play this speed-up can be undesirable, as when dealing is being done hand-for-hand to balance the pace of play between two remaining tables. A cardroom may either decide for the sake of simplicity to use only one method, or decide to tailor the method to the game and situation.

The other question arose when someone wanted to know if they showed one card of their hand did they have to show the other and I said yes.  That I can find in the rules this is only partially correct.  If the hand was eligible to be involved in the showdown a player may request to see the cards.  I don't however find a rule that states if you show one card when folding your hand that you have to show both.  The "show one, show all" rule pertains to someone showing one player their hand they then must show it to everyone.  Will was correct, I apologize.  Here is the section of the rule book that pertains to this:

THE SHOWDOWN

5. Any player who has been dealt in may request to see any hand that was eligible to participate in the showdown, even if the opponent's hand or the winning hand has been mucked. However, this is a privilege that may be revoked if abused. If a player other than the pot winner asks to see a hand that has been folded, that hand is dead. If the winning player asks to see a losing player’s hand, both hands are live, and the best hand wins.

6. Show one, show all. Players are entitled to receive equal access to information about the contents of another player’s hand. After a deal, if cards are shown to another player, every player at the table has a right to see those cards. During a deal, cards that were shown to an active player who might have a further wagering decision on that betting round must immediately be shown to all the other players. If the player who saw the cards is not involved in the deal, or cannot use the information in wagering, the information should be withheld until the betting is over, so it does not affect the normal outcome of the deal. Cards shown to a person who has no more wagering decisions on that betting round, but might use the information on a later betting round, should be shown to the other players at the conclusion of that betting round. If only a portion of the hand has been shown, there is no requirement to show any of the unseen cards. The shown cards are treated as given in the preceding part of this rule.