Tournament #7 of Season 4

Well we are past the half way point for the season.  We had 31 players this week including Joy's son Kevin, a first time player with us.  Ron T was first out this week when Jerry T sent him to the rail.  Steve S had one of the hottest runs I've seen in a tournament in a while.  He had three full houses before we broke down the first table.  This helped him amass a huge chip stack which would eventually carry him to the final table.  Steve also picked up the first extra bounty of the evening by eliminating the points leader Karl M.  I made it to eleventh place when Karen D got me.  The final table was set when Mat K was taken out by Bob S.  Don G was the first to exit the final table at the hands of Steve S.  Bob L was next gone also by Steve S.  Mark L picked up the second extra bonus of the week by taking out last weeks winner Joy C in seventh place.  Unfortunately for Joy this was this weeks bubble position.  The first money spot, sixth was filled by Bob S who was also taken out by Mark L.  Karen D took out the next two players,  She got Jeff J in fifth and then Gary R in fourth.  Steve S was finally gone in third at the hands of Mark L. leaving Karen and Mark heads up.  Mark had an enormous chip lead and the heads up battle lasted only about a minute and a half when Mark got his first league win.   

Tournament #6 of Season 4

Well the season has reached its half way point and the points are starting to settle them selves out.  We had a few firsts this week.  I was first out, unfortunately not one of the firsts I was referring to.  I was soon followed by Dave D, Jeff J and Bob S.  One of the firsts happened when Greg E took out Tom J, Kelly M and Scott A all on the same hand.  Taking out Scott also earned him the first extra bounty of the night.  The final table was seated when Karl M was taken out by Karen D, earning her the other extra bounty.  Paul V was first to leave the final table when Joy C got him.  Next to go was Mike S also at the hands of Joy.  Bob L was next to go when Gary R took him out.  The bubble this week belonged to Karen D when Kevin C got her.  The first paid spot went to Greg E when Joy took him out.  Fifth place was claimed by Matt F when Kevin C finished him.  Fourth place went to Gary R when Mat K busted him.  The next to go was Kevin C at the hands of Joy.  Kevin's third place finish was his best of the season.  The heads up battle only lasted about four minutes when Joy eliminated Mat and took down her first victory.

Congratulations to Joy, one of the original members.  The win vaulted Joy into second place in the standings, less than a half point ahead of Dom.  Karl M is still in the lead thanks to a win, second and a fourth place finish.  19th place and 24th place are only separated by 10 points.

Tournament #5 of Season 4

Happy New Year, sorry for the slow posting of the last tournaments results.  We had 29 players last time we played.  Janine R must have had had some Christmas shopping to get done and made an early exit as the first out at the hands of Tom J.  Steve S was next out when Kevin C got him.  Ron T and Bob S were next to go.  Kevin H picked up the first of the bonus hits taking out points leader Karl M.  The knockouts came pretty evenly spaced and the final table commenced when Kevin H took out Darlene J.  Gary R was the first knocked out at the final table when Tom J got him.  Tom however was next to go when Kevin H got him, picking up the second bonus hit of the week.  Kevin wasn't done yet taking out Christina M on the bubble.  Kelly M took fifth when Jeff J finished her off.  Scott A then took out Mike S in fifth, Kevin H in fourth and Bob L in third.  When Scott A and Jeff J got heads up they decided to split the pot and just play it out for the points.  It took about 15 minutes and Scott got his first win.

This weeks bonus points will be on Scott A as the previous winner and Karl M as the still reigning points leader. 

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.

Tournament #2 of Season 4

Tourney two is in the books and is was another good one.  We had 31 players this week including a few first timers with us.  One of the first timers, Mitch C, decided to be the first out which was very exciting to me.  I was down to about 300 in chips and was dreading being first out two weeks in a row.  Bobby D was right behind Mitch being second out.  I was able to hang on for a while but was eventually put out of my misery in 22nd place by another new comer Steve S. 

We had one of the most interesting hands of the season with seven players left.  Keep in mind that the top six make the money.  Three players were involved, Karen D, Steve S and Dominic D all moved all in.  When we turned over the cards Karen had A,A, Dom had 10,10 and Steve was a mile behind with 4,4.  Things got better in a hurry when the flop and turn came 5,6,7,8 giving Steve the straight and sending Karen to the rail on the bubble.  Oh wait we still had the river card to come and guess what, the 9 comes giving Dom the better straight, crippling Steve's chip stack and leaving Dom about 75% of the chips on the table.  It was one of the wildest swings in one hand I've seen in a long while.  From there it was basically a matter of time for Dom to start collecting the remainder of the chips at the table.  As a matter of fact he was able to eliminate the remaining players in only sixteen minutes.  Steve S went in sixth, followed by Mat K then Linda K.  Gary R hung on for a third place finish and Bob L had a great second place finish.  This was Dom's first league win.  The amazing part was that Dom and Karen combined to eliminate 12 of the last 13 players.

We also had a rules question come up during a hand that two people at the table said they new the answer to.  We went with their interpretation and moved on.  Later in the week it was brought to my attention that the ruling may have been incorrect.  The hand went as follows:

Small blind posted $25
Big blind (Jerry T) posted $50
Steve S raises to $100
Paul B goes all-in with $120
Greg E(not a blind) wants to raise to $300 with KK to scare away Steve (who had A-4).


Greg was told he could not re-raise because the previous raise did not meet the minimum raise.

After further review it looks like Greg should have been able to re-raise.  The rule that I am citing is from Roberts rules of poker section 14:

3. All raises must be equal to or greater than the size of the previous bet or raise on that betting round, except for an all-in wager. Example: Player A bets 100 and player B raises to 200. Player C wishing to raise must raise at least 100 more, making the total bet at least 300. A player who has already acted and is not facing a fullsize wager may not subsequently raise an all-in bet that is less than the minimum bet or less than the full size of the last bet or raise. (The half-the-size rule for reopening the betting is for limit poker only.)

Because Greg had not acted he should have been allowed to make his raise.  I believe the rule that the other referred to was from limit play.  Here is Roberts rules section 3:

7. In limit play, an all-in wager of less than half a bet does not reopen the betting for any player who has already acted and is in the pot for all previous bets. A player who has not yet acted (or had the betting reopened to him by another player’s action), facing an all-in wager of less than half a bet, may fold, call, or complete the wager. An all-in wager of a half a bet or more is treated as a full bet, and a player may fold, call, or make a full raise. (An example of a full raise on a $20 betting round is raising a $15 all-in bet to $35.) Multiple all-in wagers, each of an amount too small to individually qualify as a raise, still act as a raise and reopen the betting if the resulting wager size to a player qualifies as a raise.

My apologies to Greg.  In the future if there is a question and someone disagrees with the answer let me know and we will pause the clock and research the rule before moving on.

Tournament #1 of Season 4

The first tournament of the new season took place Saturday and it was another good one.  We had 22 players including a few first time players.  I lasted a mere 28 minutes when my full house of kings over queens was rivered by Bob D's aces full.  Ominous start to my season.  Mark L was next to go when another first timer Karl M sent him packing.  After a few more bust outs Tom J was taken out in 15th by Linda K collecting her first hit of the evening.  When Adam B took out Janine R in 11th place the final table was now set.  Don G went out on the bubble in sixth place at the hands of Adam B.  With everyone left in the money it the became the Linda K show.  She proceeded to run the table dispatching of Adam in 5th, Bob D in fourth, Greg E in third.  After a great heads up battle with Karl M, Linda's A,5 held up against the Q,J and we had our first winner of the season.

We do still have a couple of open seats for full league membership if anyone is interested.  We will also have a few open seats available each week for non-league members.  These will be available on a fist come first served basis.  I think I have my invitation software all figured out for this season so things should be back to normal starting next time.