Chet1028 Moves into Second Place in All Time Wins After Claiming His 10th
December 22, 2024

21 Players attended the 6th event of the 2025 season. This was the annual 6 player per table event.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, CLINTEASTWOODfl, fass1679, mywiferocks1023, VfrVendetta, and Mike Fishcakes finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 10th all-time win (and first win this season). This places Chet1028 tied for the second most wins in the series history with Shawn19151, and only two back from fass1679 for the most lifetime wins.

In addition to this win Chet1028 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 18 times, made the top five 31 times, with 28 money finishes and 43 final tables over 113 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

Randbo716 Wins his All Time 6th Tournament
December 5, 2024

26 Players attended the 5th event of the 2025 season.

The last hand: Randbo716 was in the big blind with 72,920 chips and Queen5OffSuit sat on the button with 57,080 chips. The blinds were 350/700 with 1,230 chips between blinds and antes. First to act, Queen5OffSuit wjo immediatly raised all in and Randbo716 called. Queen5OffSuit held pocket 10's (diamond and club) and led in the hand with a 56.5% win probability against Randbo716 with his KhQ6d (43.5% to win). The flop (JcQs8s) improved Randbo716's hand, while giving Queen5OffSuit a gutshot stratight draw, however Randbo716’s odds improved to 72%. The turn offered the Ad and Randbo716's probability increased to 84%. For Queen5OffSuit to win, he would need one of the remaining 9's or Kings to land (7 outs) as a 3rd Ten would give Randbo716 a straight. However, the river was the 5s and with that, Randbo716 secured the win.

The final table consisted of Randbo716, Queen5OffSuit, shawn19152, fass1679, Skimeister12, BassReeves47, donnie813, Chet1028, and dolphinz1209 finishing in that order.

This was Randbo716’s 6th all-time win (and first win this season). In addition to this win Randbo716 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 9 times, made the top five 13 times, with 13 money finishes and 17 final tables over 41 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Randbo716!!!

"You've gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' well, do ya, punk?"
November 10, 2024

29 Players attended the 4th event of the 2025 season.

The last hand: CLINTEASTWOODfl was in the big blind with 127,540 chips and Queen5OffSuit sat on the button with 17,460 chips. The blinds were 800/1,600 with 2,800 chips between blinds and antes. First to act, Queen5OffSuit raised to 8,000 preflop and CLINTEASTWOODfl moved all in. Queen5OffSuit called. CLINTEASTWOODfl held QTs (hearts) and led in the hand with a 69% win probability against Queen5OffSuit with his Q6s (clubs). The flop (7sQs4s) improved both hands, however CLINTEASTWOODfl’s odds improved to 80%. The turn offered the Jc. For Queen5OffSuit to win, he would need one of the remaining 6’s to land. He could stay alive with any 4 or 7 as well, as the two would chop if they landed on the river. However, the river was the 5c’s and with that, CLINTEASTWOODfl secured the win.

The final table consisted of CLINTEASTWOODfl, Queen5OffSuit, Scorpi0n003, Skimeister12, RickHarrisonn, BassReeves47, Frankindoodle, lesthanthrilled, and SUSEN527 finishing in that order.

The following players had knockouts:

This was CLINTEASTWOODfl’s 3rd all-time win (and first win this season). In addition to this win CLINTEASTWOODfl has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 5 times, made the top five 19 times, with 17 money finishes and 24 final tables over 46 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to CLINTEASTWOODfl!!!

kramdroog takes down PTS #3
November 3, 2024

29 Players attended the 3rd event of the 2025 season.

The last hand wasn't recorded. The match was volatile with several lead changes.

The final table consisted of kramdroog, IPIPEALOT, shawn19152, joytocha, snooks24566, prts4days, Skimeister12 and Zamboni716 finishing in that order.

This was kramdroog’s 2nd all-time win (and first win this season). In addition to this win kramdroog has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 8 times, made the top five 25 times, with 20 money finishes and 40 final tables in 101 tournaments that he has participated in. kramdroog joins 30 other players with multiple wins, out of over 225 players.

Congratulations to kramdroog!!!

BassReeves47 Wins another, clinching the first two events of the 2025 season
October 13, 2024

32 Players attended the 2nd event of the 2025 season.
 
The last hand: CLINTEASTWOODfl was on the button with 4,426 chips and BassReeves47 sat in the big blind with 91,574 chips. The blinds were 500/1,000 with 1,750 chips between blinds and antes. First to act, CLINTEASTWOODfl moved all in preflop and BassReeves47 called. CLINTEASTWOODfl trailed in the hand, only being 25.6% to win with his Kd8h against BassReeves47 (74.4% to win) while holding the KsJs. The flop helped BassReeves47 with the 2hJh3d. CLINTEASTWOODfl would need runner runner hearts or 8's. While the turn revealed the 8c, he would need one of the remaining two 8's in the deck to stay alive. The 9d landed on the river and with that, BassReeves47 would win his second tournament of the 2025 season (2 for 2) and a commanding lead for player of the year.
 
The final table consisted of BassReeves47, CLINTEASTWOODfl, nate383, Mike Fishcakes, BUsen716, snooks24566, Randbo716, El Surfista 8 and gatorz888 finishing in that order.

This was BassReeves47’s 8th all-time win (and second win this season). In addition to this win BassReeves47 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 13 times, made the top five 16 times, with 17 money finishes and 23 final tables over 55 tournaments that he has participated in. This win also moves BassReeves47 in a tie for 4th place in all time wins with El Surfista 8 (The Z Man) at 8, Chet1028 (Mad Dog) is 3rd all time with 9 wins, Shawn19152 is in second with 10 wins, and fass1679 (Fassman) leads all with 12 lifetime wins.

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

BassReeves47 Wins the 2025 season opener (his 7th lifetime win)
October 6, 2024

35 Players attended the 1st event of the 2025 season. The turnout was the highest since we started having them on PokerStars eclipsing the 34 players we had on 4/24/2022. The most we have ever had was an in person tournament on 12/13/2008 where we had 50 participants. 

The last hand: BassReeves47 was on the button with 101,852 chips and Queen5OffSuit sat in the big blind with 73,148 chips. The blinds were 600/1,200 with 2,100 chips between blinds and antes. First to act, BassReeves47 called the big blind and Queen5OffSuit led out with a 3,600 chip raise (4,800 chips in total). BassReeves47 called. The flop was 9dThQh. Queen5OffSuit moves all holding Qc8s. BassReeves47 called with a suited 97 of hearts. This was a true race with Queen5OffSuit leading BassReeves47 51% to 49%. The 9c hit on the turn and that swung the odds in BassReeves47 favor (88.6% to win). The king of hearts improved BassReeves47's hand with a king high flush, securing his 1st win of the 2025 season.

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, Queen5OffSuit, prts4days, Randbo716, nate383, Clinteast72, Chet1028, donnie813 and IPIPEALOT finishing in that order.

This was BassReeves47’s 7th all-time win (and first win this season). In addition to this win BassReeves47 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 12 times, made the top five 15 times, with 16 money finishes and 22 final tables over 54 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

'So unacceptable' – WSOP investigates after player allegations of marked cards
Matt Hansen Poker.org
June 9, 2024

The WSOP has confirmed to PokerOrg that it has opened an investigation into marked cards in Event #15 of the 2024 WSOP, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed). 

That comes after complaints were made by players on X, including reigning WSOP Online Player of the Year Mike Holtz. 

We spoke with Holtz and the WSOP to find out what happened. 

On Day #9 of the 2024 WSOP, a woman in the nine-seat at Mike Holtz’s table noticed something strange about the flop. 

“Both of those aces are marked,” she told the table, according to Holtz in an interview with PokerOrg. 

The flop was ace-ace-seven, and the game was Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, where players get four cards and the pot is split between the high hand and the low. 

The table waited for the hand to finish and according to Holtz, the woman went on to prove her point. 

“She took out both decks and, without looking at them, pulled out every ace, deuce, three, and four with 100% accuracy,” Holtz said.

Holtz described the cards as “slightly bent in the middle," and the only cards affected were the critical low cards, the A-4.

WSOP responds

PokerOrg couldn’t identify this player for a follow-up, but Holtz told his side of the story on Twitter/X, adding that he was initially told by the floor that the WSOP were not going to investigate. 

Talking on X, he said, "I said you’re going to investigate, right? She [the floor] said no, we don’t do that. I said, Wait, we found two decks with every relevant card marked, and you don’t think that’s important to check cameras? She said, no, we don’t do that, we’re not going to investigate it."

After another player said something similar had happened to him in the same event, Holtz replied, saying, "So unacceptable."

Talking with PokerOrg, Holtz said that he'd since been told that an investigation would take place. 

This was confirmed to PokerOrg in a statement from the WSOP. The statement read: 

“Integrity of the game is of the utmost importance to the WSOP, and we take these and any similar allegations seriously. We did, in fact, open an investigation into the PLO8 event, and while we do not comment publicly on security protocols to keep them effective, we do appreciate players continuing to inform tournament staff of any irregularities they observe.”

What happened?

Not everything can be attributed to malice or cheating, so it’s fair to consider other options. 

Cards are handled poorly by players throughout the day and deformities happen naturally. Marked and deformed cards are frequently switched out by request and examined by floor staff, and entire decks are replaced if necessary. The lifecycle of a WSOP deck can be less than a day, with dealers getting fresh cards every morning. 

The pattern of marked low cards can also be attributed to the game. PLO8 incentivizes players to stay in a hand with lower cards like A-4, so they will be peeled more frequently than other cards. 

The WSOP uses Copag, a brand that makes 100% plastic cards out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC, or vinyl), the same material used to make credit cards and IDs. It’s a high-strength plastic that is resistant to chemicals and most inks. The cards also don’t absorb oils like paper would, making them good for rooms that allow food at the table. They're difficult to bend, but not impossible, and a test of a deck from 2023 created a similar mark with some aggressive peeling of a four-card hand. 

Cheating can’t be ruled out either, however, and there are many ways to go about it, so it will always be a difficult problem to solve. The results of the investigation will likely not be made public, and the WSOP will never disclose its preventative measures, but vigilance and awareness start with the players. If you see something, say something. 

BUsen716 wins the 2024 Series Championship
June 2, 2024

The top 18 Players attended the Series Championship. Two players, prts4days and dolphinz1209 were no shows for the event and were blinded out. 

Last Hand: Two handed play with Busen716 (53,486 in chips) on the button and kramdroog (36,514) in the big blind. Blinds were at 700/1,400 and the pot had 2,450 chips with blinds and antes. Busen716 calls and kramdroog checks. The flop was the 9c6h2s. kramdroog leads out with a 1,400 chip bet and Busen716 calls. The turn revealed the Ad. Kramdroog fires again, 2,800 chips as he leads off and again, Busen716 calls. The river was the 6c. There would be no straights or flushes in this hand. Kramdroog pushes all in for 30,739 and Busen716 calls. Kramdroog reveals trip 6’s with the A9 kicker. Busen716 also had trip 6’s and held a jack in his hand, outkicking his opponent and earning the Series title. 

The final table consisted of BUsen716, kramdroog, Queen5OffSuit, Mike Fishcakes, Taztecc7, fass1679, Chet1028, shawn19152 and IPIPEALOT finishing in that order.

This was Busen716’s second win of the 2024 season, and his first series championship

In addition to the win, Busen716 has made heads up 2 times, made the top five 15 times, with 14 money finishes and 19 final tables 65 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Busen716, 2024 Series Champion and fass1679 for finishing as the #1 player in 2024 standings!!!

Clinteast72 wins his second Heads Up Championship in 3 years!
May 19, 2024

The 2024 Heads Up Championship featured the top 16 players in the series (1 player was unable to attend). In seasons past, this tournament would be played out in a bracketed format where the #1 seed faced off against the #16 seed, #2 versus #15, #3 versus #14, etc.. This year however, with the field at 16, controlling seeding would be a task that would inevitably be played out over 5-6 days which was unworkable on PokerStars. Therefore, this was a straight shootout style tournament where PokerStars determined the pairings when the tournament began.

*Shawn19152 (ranked #1), defeated BUsen716 (ranked 11th)
*fass1679 (ranked 1st), defeated IPIPEALOT (ranked 6th)
*dolphinz1209 (ranked 13th), defeated El Surfista 8 (ranked 3rd)
*Clinteast72 (ranked 10th), defeated kramdroog (ranked 16th)
*AlexCaruso6 (ranked 14th), defeated prts4days (ranked 8th)
*Queen5OffSuit (ranked 15th), defeated CLINTEASTWOODfl (ranked 5th)
*natel383 (ranked 7th), defeated Skimeister12 (ranked 17th)
*Taztecc7 (ranked 4th), defeated RickHarrisonn (ranked 12th)

In the quarterfinals, shawn19152 defeated fass1679, Clinteast72 defeated dolphinz1209, AlexCaruso6 defeated Queen5OffSuit and natel383 defeated Taztecc7. At this point in the tournament, down to the final four players, all were in the money. The winners would play for the championship and the losers would tie for 3rd place, each taking home money.

Clinteast72 would take down his match with shawn19152 and AlexCaruso6 would defeat natel383. That ultimately led to the final table. #10 Clinteast72 versus #14 AlexCaruso6.

Key Hand: AlexCaruso6 (1,757) on the button and Clinteast72 (4,243 in chips) in the big blind. Blinds were at 75/150 and the pot had 265 chips with blinds and antes. AlexCaruso6 doubles the big blind and Clinteast72 raises to 940. AlexCaruso6 comes back over the top, moving herself all in and Clinteast72 calls. AlexCaruso6 held AdJc (56.4% to win) against Clinteast72 and his KcQc (43.6% to win). The flop was 3s5s8h and AlexCaruso6’s odds improved to 76.7%. However, the king of hearts landed on the turn and swung the odds in favor of Clinteast72 by 93.2%. The river revealed the 3 of clubs and with that, Clineast72 won his second heads up championship.

This was Clinteast72’s first win of the 2024 season, and second major championship (all heads up championships, Series Championships and Tournament of Champions are considered majors), in fact, Clinteast72 has won the heads up championship twice in the past 3 seasons. He joins InterpolBlue (JayLeft) as the only player to have won the heads up championship multiple times. This also represented Clinteast72’s 3rd lifetime win in 49 events played. In addition to the win, Clinteast72 has made heads up 6 times, made the top five 12 times, with 10 money finishes and 22 final tables. Lastly in a stat that may interest only me, in the heads up championship, Clinteast72 holds a 9-1 win/loss record.

Congratulations to Clinteast72, 2024 Heads Up Champion!!!

Fass1679 Wins 3rd event of the Season (12th all time)
May 12, 2024

23 Players attended the 14th event of the 2024 season.

After nearly 20 minutes of heads up play, the key hand that really decided the contest had fass1679 on the button with 56,868 chips and BassReeves47 in the big blind with a slight lead holding 58,132 chips. The blinds were 500/1,000 and the pot held 1,750 chips with all blinds and antes. fass1679 called the big blind and BassReeves47 checked. The flop was 7d4c5s. BassReeves47 checked and fass1679 moved all in. BassReeves47 called revealing a middle pair, a straight draw and a backdoor flush draw (3d4d). fass1679 held pocket 6’s (6s,6d) and was the favorite in the hand 80.6% to 19.4%. The jack of spades landed on the turn, followed by the 8h on the river. After winning that hand, fass1679 had a 99 to 1 chip lead over BassReeves47. Two more hands would transpire to conclude the contest giving fass1679 his 3rd victory of the season, and 12th lifetime. 

The final table consisted of fass1679, BassReeves47, shawn19152, Mike Fishcakes, Clinteast72, InterpolBlue, AlexCaruso6, RickHarrisonn, and IPIPEALOT finishing in that order.

This was fass1679’s 12th all-time win (and 3rd win this season). In addition to this win fass1679 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 17 times, made the top five 31 times, with 28 money finishes and 48 final tables over 100 tournaments that he has participated in. fass1679 leads all players in lifetime wins with 12 victories.

Congratulations to fass1679!!!

BassReeves47 Wins his 4th event of the Season
May 5, 2024

26 Players attended the 13th event of the 2024 season.

In the last hand, prts4days was on the button with 40,796 chips. BassReeves47 sat in the big blind with 89,204 chips. The blinds were 500/1,000 with 1,750 chips between blinds and antes. First to act, prts4days led out with a 3,250 chip raise. BassReeves47 moved all in and prts4days called. prts4days was slightly behind (48.5% to win) when he showed AcTc, against BassReeves47 and his 6h6s (clubs). The flop was 8s9dQc, raising the odds for BassReeves47 slightly. The 2d fell on the turn and the river (5s) offered no help to prts4days and secured BassReeves47's 4th win of the season.

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, prts4days, El Surfista 8, IPIPEALOT, Chet1028, BUsen716, shawn19152, CLINTEASTWOODfl and Fetti0011 finishing in that order.

This was BassReeves47’s 6th all-time win (and fourth win this season). In addition to this win BassReeves47 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 10 times, made the top five 14 times, with 14 money finishes and 20 final tables over 52 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

CLINTEASTWOODfl Wins His First Of The Year
April 14, 2024

23 Players attended the 12th event of the 2024 season.

Last Hand: The action started on the final hand with shawn19152 (7,242) on the button and CLINTEASTWOODfl (107,758) in the big blind. Blinds were at 800/1,600 and the pot had 2,800 chips with blinds and antes. shawn19152 raises all in holding Qd5h and CLINTEASTWOODfl called holding 7sTs. This was a coin flip situation with shawn19152 holding a 53.6% to 46.4% advantage. The flop was kind to CLINTEASTWOODfl (9dTd2h), increasing his odds to 80.6%. The 2s landed on the turn offering shawn19152 no help. Lastly, the 3h would river and CLINTEASTWOODfl would win with two pair, Tens and twos, giving him the tournament victory.

The final table consisted of CLINTEASTWOODfl, shawn19152, RickHarrisonn, Queen5OffSuit, VfrVendetta, BUsen716, Taztecc7, fass1679, and dolphinz1209 finishing in that order.

This was CLINTEASTWOODfl's 2nd win all time (and first win this season). In addition to this win CLINTEASTWOODfl has compiled the following stats: he has made heads up 3 times, made the top five 17 times, with 15 money finishes and 21 final tables over 38 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to CLINTEASTWOODfl!!!

Chet1028 Wins His 9th and 3rd in a row this season
March 24, 2024

21 Players attended the 11th event of the 2024 season.

The heads up match was a rematch of the heads up battle in PTS #10 between Chet1028 and Taztecc7. 

Last Hand: The action started on the final hand with Chet1028 (97,228) on the button and Taztecc7 (7,772) in the big blind. Blinds were at 500/1,000 and the pot had 1,750 chips with blinds and antes. Chet1028 raises to 2,000 and Taztecc7 moved all in holding Qs4h. Chet1028 called holding 7d9d. Taztecc7 had a coin flp lead over Chet1028 (52.2% to 47.8%). The flop landed with the 5sAc6h, the turn was the 2d and the 9h landed on the river, pairing the board for Chet1028 and ensuring the the win for him.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, Taztecc7, IPIPEALOT, Queen5OffSuit, natel383, El Surfista 8, kramdroog, shawn19152, and Mike Fishcakes finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 9th win all time (and third win in a row this season). This places Chet1028 in 3rd place in all time tournament wins, behind fass1679 with 11 wins, and shawn19152 with 10 wins. The truly remarkable stat is that Chet1028 has won 9 tournaments in the last 38 events PTS events dating back to the 2022 season. No one has won nearly as many in that period of time. 

In addition to this win Chet1028 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 17 times, made the top five 29 times, with 26 money finishes and 38 final tables over 103 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

Chet1028 Wins His 8th All Time Tournament
March 17, 2024

23 Players attended the 10th event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: The action started on the final hand with Chet1028 (82,758) on the button and Taztecc7 (32,242) in the big blind. Blinds were at 800/1,600 and the pot had 2,800 chips with blinds and antes. Chet1028 raises to 3,200 and Taztecc7 calls. The flop is 4h8s2d. Both players check and the turn is the Qc. Taztecc7 leads with a 3,200 chip bet and Chet1028 calls. The river is the Ts. Taztecc7 pushes his remaining chips in the center and Chet1028 calls. Taztecc7 held two pair (tens and fours) when he turned over Th4d. The ten on the river however gave Chet1028 the queen high straight (he held Jd9h), providing Chet1028 the win.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, Taztecc7, El Surfista 8, KonigFlamme, Clinteast72, dolphinz1209, CLINTEASTWOODfl, and donnie813 finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 8th win all time (and second win this season, having won 2 events in back to back fashion). In addition to this win Chet1028 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 16 times, made the top five 28 times, with 25 money finishes and 37 final tables over 102 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

Chet1028 Wins His 7th All Time Tournament
February 25, 2024

23 Players attended the 9th event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: The action started on the final hand with Chet1028 (81,188) on the button and shawn19152 (33,812) in the big blind. Blinds were at 1,000/2,000 and the pot had 3,500 chips with blinds and antes. Chet1028 raises to 4,000 and shawn19152 comes over the top with an all in move holding TdTh. Chet1028 calls holding Jc8s. shawn19152 holds a 71.3% to 28.7% advantage. The flop changed all of that when the board showed 3c6sJd. The turn was the Qd and shawn19152 received no help on the river when the Qh landed, giving Chet1028 the win.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, shawn19152, Randbo716, Queen5OffSuit, CLINTEASTWOODfl, prts4days, El Surfista 8, Taztecc7 and fass1679 finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 7th win all time (and first win this season). In addition to this win Chet1028 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 15 times, made the top five 27 times, with 24 money finishes and 36 final tables over 101 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

fass1679 Wins His 11th All Time Tournament
February 4, 2024

14 Players attended the 8th event of the 2024 season.

There wasn't a recorded hand of the last event to review. fass1679 did finish with a full house (Fives full of Jacks) and there was no low hand.

The final table consisted of fass1679, BDv9, natel383, El Surfista 8, AlexCaruso6, Taztecc7, CLINTEASTWOODfl and Mike Fishcakes finishing in that order.

This was fass1679’s 11th win all time (and second win this season). Those 11 wins represent the most wins by one player in PTS history. Shown19152 is in 2nd place with 10 wins. In addition to this win fass1679 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 16 times, made the top five 30 times, with 27 money finishes and 45 final tables over 94 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to fass1679!!!

BassReeves47 Wins his 3rd event in his last 4 played
January 11, 2024

24 Players attended the 7th event of the 2024 season.

The last 3 hands of the tournament were wild as BassReeves47 took out 3 consecutive opponents. In the last hand, BassReeves47 was on the button with 101,842 chips. natel383 sat in the big blind with 18,358 chips. The blinds were 400/800 with 1,400 chips between blinds and antes. First to act, BassReeves47 led out with a 2,400 chip raise. natel383 moved all in and BassReeves47 called. natel383 was instantly behind (29.1% to win) when he showed KJs (diamonds), against BassReeves47 and his KQs (clubs). natel383's tournament ended when BassReeves47 flopped the nut flush (4cAc9c). 

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, natel383, Fetti0011, fass1679, Frankindoodle, joytocha, Clinteast72, prts4days and IPIPEALOT finishing in that order.

This was BassReeves47’s 5th all-time win (and third win this season in his last 4 events played). In addition to this win BassReeves47 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 9 times, made the top five 13 times, with 13 money finishes and 19 final tables over 48 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

BassReeves47 Claims His 2nd Win of the 2024 Season
December 17, 2023

24 Players attended the 6th event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: The action started on the final hand with BassReeves47 (102,229) on the button and prts4days (17,771) in the big blind. Blinds were at 600/1,200 and the pot had 2,100 chips with blinds and antes. BassReeves47 calls the big blind and prts4days checks. The flop was KsQdQh. prts4days moves all in with his remaining 16,421 chips holding top two pair with a 7 kicker (Kd7c) and BassReeves47 calls also having top two pair with an 8 kicker (Kh8h) and held a 64.1% probability to win the hand. The turn revealed the 4h and the river revealed the 2d giving BassReeves47 the win.

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, prts4days, Taztecc7, dolphinz1209, InterpolBlue, and RickHarrisonn finishing in that order.

This was BassReeves47’s 4th all-time win (and second this season). In addition to this win BassReeves47 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 8 times, made the top five 12 times, with 12 money finishes and 18 final tables over 47 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

BUsen716 Grabs His First Tournament Win
December 10, 2023

25 Players attended the 5th event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: dolphinz1209 (11,595) on the button and BUsen716 (113,405) in the big blind. Blinds were at 600/1,200 and the pot had 2,100 chips with blinds and antes. dolphinz1209 calls the big blind and BUsen716 moves all in holding As6c, having dolphinz1209 well covered. dolphinz1209 calls holding 4d4s and being a slight favorite in the hand (55.3%). The flop was 7s5s5d. The chances for dolphinz1209 to double up grows to 60.3%. The 9s hits the turn evening each players chances of winning to 50% each. The river was the 9h, counterfeiting dolphinz1209’s two pair giving BUsen716 the win with two pair, 5’s and 9’s with an ace kicker.

The final table consisted of BUsen716, dolphinz1209, InterpolBlue, kramdroog, Queen5OffSuit, Taztecc7, fass1679, Clinteast72, and donnie813 finishing in that order.

This was BUsen716’s first all-time win. In addition to this win BUsen716 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 3 times, made the top five 16 times, with 15 money finishes and 21 final tables in 70 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to BUsen716!!!

The Law Man Claimed 8 Bounty’s On The Path To Victory
November 19, 2023

28 Players attended the 4th event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: It was the 4th hand into heads up when all of the action started with shawn19152 (54,225) on the button and BassReeves47 (85,775) in the big blind. Blinds were at 600/1,200 and the pot had 2,100 chips with blinds and antes. shawn19152 doubles the big blind and BassReeves47 reraises to 6,000. shawn19152 calls. The flop was K45 (all clubs). BassReeves47 leads with a 7,200 chip bet that is called by shawn19152. The turn revealed the 2h. BassReeves47 moves all of his remaining chips to the middle of the table and is called by shawn19152. BassReeves47 showed AhKd (93.2% to win) against shawn19152 and his Ks9h. The only card that could help shawn19152 was a 9 of any suit and only 3 of them remained. A 4d landed on the river, ending the tournament and giving BassReeves47 the win.

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, shawn19152, natel383, kramdroog, RickHarrisonn, I Is Coco, IPIPEALOT, Skimeister12 and BUsen716 finishing in that order.

BassReeves47 collected 8 bounty’s on his way to victory. shawn19152 earned 6 bounty’s, BUsen716 earned 4 bounty’s, RickHarrisonn and Stakes Steaks each claimed two bounty’s while kramdroog, I Is Coco, IPIPEALOT, Queen5OffSuit and prts4days all claimed one bounty each. Historically within the series, Mike Fishcakes and prts4days sit on top of the bounty leaderboard having each earned 26 bounty’s lifetime.

This was BassReeves47’s 3rd all-time win. In addition to this win BassReeves47 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 7 times, made the top five 11 times, with 11 money finishes and 17 final tables over 45 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

Prts4days wins the third event of the 2024 PTS Season
November 12, 2023

26 Players attended the 3rd event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: It was the 4th hand into heads up when all of the action started with prts4days (71,407) on the button and fass1679 (58,593) in the big blind. Blinds were at 600/1,200 and the pot had 2,100 chips with blinds and antes. prts4days calls the big blind and fass1679 checks. The flop was Tc7d6h. fass1679 checks and prts4days bets the minimum. fass1679 then moves all in and prts4days calls. fass1679 held KhTh and enjoyed a 68.3% chance for his top pair to hold against prts4days and his 5c4d. prts4days needed any 8 or 3 to complete his straight. The 8d would land on the turn and would flip the advantage to prts4days at nearly 96%. The river offered no help and prts4days would win his first event of the 2024 season. 

The final table consisted of prts4days, fass1679, AlexCaruso6, El Surfista 8, IPIPEALOT, ElvisDust, Skimeister12 and CLINTEASTWOODfl finishing in that order.

This was prts4days' 4th all-time win. In addition to this win prts4days has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 6 times, made the top five 19 times, with 17 money finishes and 34 final tables over 79 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to prts4days!!!

Scorpi0n003 wins the second event of the 2024 PTS Season
November 5, 2023

22 Players attended the 2nd event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with Scorpi0n003 (69,126) on the button and El Surfista 8 (35,624) in the big blind. Blinds were at 1,500/3,000 and the pot had 5,250 chips with blinds and antes. Scorpi0n003 doubles the big blind and El Surfista 8 moves all in. Scorpi0n003 calls holding Kd8s. El Surfista 8 held As8c and the 76% to 24% advantage to double up. The flop would flip the script on the remainder of the event (4h3dKs). Scorpi0n003’s % to win changed to 86%. El Surfista 8 wouldn’t receive any help on the turn and river (Jc and 7h respectively). 

The final table consisted of Scorpi0n003, El Surfista 8, CLINTEASTWOODfl, Frankindoodle, Clinteast72, natel383, shawn19152, IPIPEALOT and joytocha finishing in that order.

This was Scorpi0n003’s 2nd all-time win. In addition to this win Scorpi0n003 has compiled the following stats: has made heads up 5 times, made the top five 12 times, with 11 money finishes and 22 final tables over 67 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to Scorpi0n003!!!

fass1679 wins 3rd PTS event in a row dating back to 2023
October 8, 2023

32 Players attended the 1st event of the 2024 season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with Clinteast72 (31,855) on the button and fass1679 (128,145) in the big blind. Blinds were at 1,000/2,000 and the pot had 3,500 chips with blinds and antes. Clinteast72 checks and fass1679 moves all in. Clinteast72 immediately calls holding pocket queens (QcQd). fass1679 held AcKd, and this offered the classic coin flip race with Clinteast72 holding a slight advantage 56.4% to 43.6%. The flop radically sealed Clinteast72’s fate with KcKhAd. Clinteast72 would need runner-runner queens to pull this out (0.1%). The turn was Ks, giving fass1679 quad kings and the title, his 3rd PTS event win in a row dating back to the 2023 heads up championship, and series championship.

The final table consisted of fass1679, Clinteast72, Zamboni716, natel383, BDv9, shawn19152, Mike Fishcakes, AlexCaruso6 and CLINTEASTWOODfl finishing in that order.

This was fass1679’s 10th all-time win, tying him with shawn19152 for the most wins in PTS history. fass1679 also becomes only the second player all time to have won 3 consecutive PTS tournaments in a row.

With this win fass1679 has compiled the following stats: 10 tournament wins, has made heads up 14 times, made the top five 27 times, with 24 money finishes and 41 final tables over 87 tournaments that he has participated in.

Congratulations to fass1679!!!

Grand Jury Indicts Seven Defendants For Their Roles In Rochester Illegal Sports Gambling Business
Monday, July 10, 2023
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging seven individuals for their roles in an illegal gambling business headquartered in Rochester, NY. Named in the indictment are:

Louis P. Ferrari II, Dominic Sprague, and Tomasso Sessa are charged with two counts of conspiracy, one count of transmission of wagering information, and two counts of operating an illegal gambling business.

Anthony Amato, Joseph Lombardo, Jeffrey Boscarino, and James Civiletti are charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of transmission of wagering information, and one count of operating an illegal gambling business.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan K. McGuire, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment and a previously filed complaint, the defendants conspired to operate illegal poker games at 565 Blossom Road and an illegal sports betting operation through the website sport700.com. Defendants Ferrari and Sprague co-owned and operated the illegal poker games at 565 Blossom Road, and Ferrari operated the illegal sports betting book through sport700.com, managing individual bettors and overseeing sub-agents, including Sprague, who had their own books of individual bettors. In addition, Ferrari owns and operates Ferrari Excavating on Steel Street in Rochester, where he collected cash payment of gambling losses from players and then laundered the illegal proceeds through the Ferrari Excavating business. Sprague also owned and operated a pawn shop on Stone Road in Greece, NY, where he collected cash payments of gambling losses from bettors and paid gambling winnings to bettors.

Defendant Amato administrated sport700.com and assisted Ferrari and others in creating accounts, usernames, and passwords, and managing individual bettors and overseeing sub-agents who had their own books of individual bettors on sport700.com. Defendant Sessa managed the day-to-day operations of the illegal gambling operation at 565 Blossom Road. Defendants Lombardo and Boscarino were sub-agents under Ferrari through sport700.com. Defendant Civiletti was an employee of Sprague’s pawn shop, collecting payments of gambling losses from people on behalf of Ferrari and Sprague.

During the course of the investigation, investigators intercepted a series of calls and text messages between targets of the investigation, sub-agents and individual bettors discussing the placement of bets, collection of winnings, and payment of losses. The investigation revealed that Ferrari generated $1,241,172 in winnings, while Amato generated winnings totaling $8,945,629.

On April 17, 2021, as investigators arrived to execute a search warrant at 565 Blossom Road, they interrupted an ongoing illegal card game, which sent individuals fleeing. An unknown number of individuals successfully fled, eight were temporarily detained. Investigators seized multiple items such documents, which included gambling ledgers and timestamped website printouts of online gambling player account activities. That same day, they also seized the cell phones of Ferrari and Sprague, which both contained evidence of sports bookmaking.

Former New York State Trooper Thomas Loewke, who was charged separately in connection with this case, was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

Defendants Ferrari, Lombardo, and Civiletti were arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark W. Pedersen and were released on conditions. Defendants Sprague and Amato will be arraigned on July 11, 2023, and defendants Boscarino and Sessa will be arraigned on July 12, 2023.

The indictment is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso, the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Brian Ratajczak, the Greece Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Wood, and Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Smith. Additional assistance was provided by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

fass1679 wins the 2023 Series Championship
June 4, 2023

The top 18 Players attended the Series Championship, exactly 17 years (to the day) after the first ever Series Championship was played.

Key Hand: Two handed play with Scorpi0n003 (43,135 in chips) on the button and fass1679 (46,865) in the big blind. Blinds were at 500/1,000 and the pot had 1,750 chips with blinds and antes. Scorpi0n003 calls. Immediately, fass1679 moves all in with 8dKd. Scorpi0n003 calls with AcTd and led 61.9% to 38.1%. The flop was 7d9s4s, increasing the lead in the hand for Scorpi0n003 to 72.4%. The turn is the 8c, swinging the odds in favor of fass1679 who became a 68.2% favorite. The river added insult to injury with the 8h, giving fass1679 trip 8’s and the Series title. 

The final table consisted of fass1679, Scorpi0n003, AlexCaruso6, Chet1028, CLINTEASTWOODfl, brandon1823, joytocha, El Surfista 8 and Clinteast72 finishing in that order.

This was fass1679’s second win of the 2023 season, as well as second major championship having won the heads up championship the prior week. fass1679 has won the big three titles, Series Championship (2023), Heads Up Championship (2023) and seasonal points leader (2022), and joins shawn19152 and El Surfista 8 as the only others that have that honor. fass1679 became the first player in history to win the Heads-Up Championship and Series Championship in the same season.

Additionally, fass1679 moves into sole possession of second place in all time wins (9 tournament wins) and trails only shawn19152 who has won 10 events. In addition to the win, fass1679 has made heads up 13 times, made the top five 26 times, with 23 money finishes and 40 final tables over 86 tournaments that he has participated in.

Other points of note, Chet1028 led for the most wins in 2023 with two (fass1679 had 2 and 11 others earned one victory each). Lastly, CLINTEASTWOODfl finished the season as the #1 player in the standings. 

Congratulations to fass1679, 2023 Series Champion and CLINTEASTWOODfl for finishing as the #1 player in 2023!!!

fass1679 is the 2023 Heads Up Champion!
May 28, 2023

The 2023 Heads Up Championship featured the top 16 players in the series (3 players were unable to attend, therefore players ranked 17-19 were invited as well). In seasons past, this tournament would be played out in a bracketed format where the #1 seed faced off against the #16 seed, #2 versus #15, #3 versus #14, etc.. This year however, with the field at 16, controlling seeding would be a task that would inevitably be played out over 5-6 days which was unworkable on PokerStars. Therefore, this was a straight shootout style tournament where PokerStars determined the pairings when the tournament began.

*Shawn19152 (ranked #1), defeated Zamboni716 (ranked 14th)
*Scorpi0n003 (ranked 9th), defeated natel383 (ranked 10th)
*IPIPEALOT (ranked 16th), defeated InterpolBlue (ranked 19th)
*Clinteast72 (ranked 11th), defeated aybroker (ranked 12th)
*El Surfista 8 (ranked 3rd), defeated joytocha (ranked 18th)
*fass1679 (ranked 15th), defeated Chet1028 (ranked 4th)
*BUsen716 (ranked 5th), defeated brandon1823 (ranked 13th)
*CLINTEASTWOODfl (ranked 2nd), defeated AlexCaruso6 (ranked 17th)

In the quarterfinals, Scorpi0n003 defeated Shawn19152, IPIPEALOT defeated Clinteast72, fass1679 defeated El Surfista 8 and CLINTEASTWOODfl defeated BUsen716. At this point in the tournament, down to the final four players, all were in the money. The winners would play for the championship and the losers would tie for 3rd place, each taking home money.

IPIPEALOT would take down his match with Scorpi0n003 and fass1679 would defeat CLINTEASTWOODfl. That ultimately led to the final table. #15 gass1679 versus #16 IPIPEALOT.

Key Hand: Two handed play with IPIPEALOT (3,454 in chips) on the button and fass1679 (2,546) in the big blind. Blinds were at 25/50 and the pot had 87 chips with blinds and antes. fass1679 checks and IPIPEALOT raises to 162. Fass1679 calls. The flop was Ts7cTd. IPIPEALOT leads out again with a 50 chip bet and fass1679 calls once again. The turn is a 7s. IPIPEALOT fires off another bet matching the pot of 436 chips and fass1679 moves his remaining 2,328 chips in the middle. IPIPEALOT calls with pocket queens. fass1679 however held Th2h, giving him trip tens and a 95.5% chance for the win. The river revealed the a 2c, improving fass1679’s hand to a full house and giving him a 5-1 chip lead in the match. The contest would end on the very next hand and fass1679 would win his first heads up championship.

This was fass1679’s first win of the 2023 season, and first major championship (all heads up championships, Series Championships and Tournament of Champions are considered majors). This also represented fass1679’s 8th lifetime win in 85 events played. In addition to the win, fass1679 has made heads up 12 times, made the top five 25 times, with 22 money finishes and 39 final tables.

Congratulations to fass1679, 2023 Heads Up Champion!!!

prts4days Wins 3rd Lifetime PTS Tournament
May 21, 2023

29 Players attended the 14th event of the season.

About 20 minutes before the session went to heads up, Queen5OffSuit (who finished in 3rd place) commented to prts4days in the chat that he hoped that in the event he wasn’t able to win, he wanted prts4days to take the tournament down.

Key Hand: Bounty tournament. Two handed play with CLINTEASTWOODfl (41,569 in chips) on the button and prts4days (103,431) in the big blind. Blinds were at 1,250/2,500 and the pot had 4,380 chips with blinds and antes. CLINTEASTWOODfl raises to 7,500. prts4days calls. The flop was QsTd2d. prts4days immediately bets all in and CLINTEASTWOODfl calls with 5dKd (47.3% to win) against prts4days and his Qc5s (52.7% to win). The turn is a Ts, The river revealed the Js and prts4days clinches his win, almost poetically with a hat tip to Queen5OffSuit from earlier, holding Q5o in his hand. 

The final table consisted of prts4days, CLINTEASTWOODfl, Queen5OffSuit, BassReeves47, BUsen716, shawn19152, El Surfista 8, Scorpi0n003 and joytocha finishing in that order.

This was prts4days’s 3rd PTS win in 76 events played. In addition to the win, prts4days has made heads up 5 times, made the top five 18 times, recording 25 knockouts (8 in this event alone), with 16 money finishes and 33 final tables. 

Congratulations to prts4days!!!

The "Godfather of Poker," Doyle Brunson has Passed Away at 89
Jon Sofen, Senior Editor U.S., pokernews.com
May 14, 2023

The poker world is mourning the loss of one of its most iconic superstars, Doyle Brunson, who passed away this weekend at the age of 89. Details of his passing and the cause of death weren't available at the time of publishing.

“It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of our father, Doyle Brunson," Brian Balsbaugh shared on behalf of the Brunson family. "He was a beloved Christian man, husband, father and grandfather. We’ll have more to say over the coming days as we honor his legacy. Please keep Doyle and our family in your prayers. May he rest in peace.”

"Texas Dolly," as he was often referred, rose to poker fame in the 1970s and was a staple in the high-stakes world right up until his death. He even appeared on in some televised poker games over the past year, including the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

Brunson leaves behind quite a legacy in poker, including 10 WSOP bracelets, tied for second behind Phil Hellmuth (16), and competed in the highest stakes cash games for more than 50 years.

Prior to becoming a poker pro, Doyle was a talented basketball player in the 1950s at Hardin-Simmons where he starred on the hardwood in college. The future poker legend had a shot at making the NBA but a knee injury derailed those aspirations. Instead, he took on a career path in poker that worked out quite well.

Brunson's impact on the poker community spans far beyond his incredible accomplishments on the felt. He wrote Super System and Super System 2, still to this day two of the most iconic poker strategy books ever. He was also an ambassador for the game for decades, and recently served as an ambassador for the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Daniel Negreanu, who faced Brunson countless times at the poker table, broke the devastating news on Twitter. He wrote that "there will never be another Doyle Brunson."

On the felt, Doyle was pretty much unstoppable from the 1970s all the way up until he passed away. He was the 1976 and 1977 world champion, won 10 WSOP titles, was a WPT champion, made millions playing against some of the best players in the world for decades in cash games in Las Vegas, and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988.

Brunson's son, Todd Brunson, is also a Poker Hall of Famer (2016). The elder Brunson was born in 1933 in Longworth, Texas, a small town PokerNews visited on its Texas Week road trip last year, but spent most of his adulthood in Las Vegas. He's been married to his wife, Louise, since 1962, and just a few months after the nuptials, Doyle woke up with a sore throat. Before he knew it, the sore throat and pea-size lump on his neck had swelled to the size of a hen's egg.

After two surgeries, Doyle managed to pull through, even though he was not expected to live. Since money was tight, Louise and Sailor nursed him 24 hours a day for two weeks. Eventually he was strong enough to recuperate at his sister's home, and soon enough he was back playing poker.

Doyle grew up with his brother and sister in a small home his father was able to provide them by working at the Planters Gin Co. He recalled his father as "The calmest, most even-tempered individual I've ever been exposed to," and from Doyle's later accomplishments in poker, he must have inherited his calm demeanor from his father.

As a seventeen-year old senior he was the best high school one-mile runner in the state, and later at Hardin-Simmons College he was chosen as one of the top ten college basketball players in the country by Dell's Basketball Magazine. But instead of earning a living with his jump-shot, Doyle did so with an uncanny ability to pull off a massive bluff with no fear.

Poker Community Reacts to Losing "Biggest Legend of Them All"

Tributes from poker's most influential names quickly made their way to social media after news of Brunson's passing.

"Sad day," tweeted Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel. "We’ve lost @TexDolly the most iconic player in poker’s history, his legacy will live on forever. I’ve been so inspired by his passion & his ability to play at such a high level well into his 80’s. It’s the end of an era."

"I’m forever grateful for Doyle’s contribution to the poker world," said Josh Arieh. "I definitely wouldn’t be where I’m at today, if not for him growing the game. He will always be one of my idols! Poker world will never be the same!"

Jennifer Harman, who played with Brunson in the fabled Bobby's Room, agreed that Brunson was a "Legend of Poker" but added that "to me, he was more of a father."

"I will miss him dearly," Harman tweeted.

Phil Hellmuth credited Brunson with inspiring "3 generations of poker players w his play, his award winning book “Super System,” and his fabulous style and grit."

"Doyle always played hard: the man absolutely hated losing!!" wrote Hellmuth. "Doyle ruled the high stakes cash games in Las Vegas for 50 years!!"

Other players and industry professionals who paid tribute to Brunson include Phil Galfond, Darren Elias, Brad Owen, Scott Seiver, Lex Veldhuis, Sean McCormack and Chance Kornuth.

Leaving his Mark on the Poker World

Brunson played an integral role in poker becoming mainstream in the 2000s. He was one of the most recognizable and popular players on TV shows such as High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark. It was always must-watch TV when the “Godfather of Poker” was in the game.

As Phil Hellmuth eloquently wrote about the late great Texas Dolly, Brunson inspired multiple generations of poker players with his play.

Doyle was so legendary that he not only had multiple iconic nicks (Godfather of Poker, Texas Dolly), he had a poker hand named after him. Ten-deuce was often referred to as “The Doyle” or “The Dolly” because Brunson finished off consecutive WSOP Main Event titles with that hand.

The proud Texan with the distinct Texas accent certainly left his mark on the game of poker like no one ever. His Super System strategy book, originally titled How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker, was first published in 1979. Decades later and the book still has relevance. Doyle was always ahead of his time when it came to poker strategy. Hence, why he was one of the few players ever who was able to compete at such a high level for decades.

Doyle is survived by his wife Louise, son Todd, and daughter Pamela. PokerNews would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Doyle Brunson, one of the greatest and most beloved poker players of all time.

TrueGrit80 Emerges Victorious
April 23, 2023

31 Players attended the 13th event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with El Surfista 8 (31,327 in chips) on the button and TrueGrit80 (123,673) in the big blind. Blinds were at 1,000/2,000 and the pot had 3,500 chips with blinds and antes. TrueGrit80 raises to 6,000. El Surfista 8 calls. The flop was 9dJs8h. TrueGrit80 bets 6,000 chips and El Surfista 8 moves all in. TrueGrit80 calls with 8cTh and a 77.7% probability to win the hand against El Surfista 8’s 8d6d. The turn is a Jd, which helps El Surfista 8, increasing his odds to win to nearly 31% (while still a big underdog). The river revealed the 7h and TrueGrit80 clinches her win. 

The final table consisted of TrueGrit80, El Surfista 8, shawn19152, kramdroog, BUsen716, BDv9, Queen5OffSuit, RickHarrisonn and Zamboni716 finishing in that order.

This was TrueGrit80’s first PTS win in 4 events played. She took a 4th place earlier this season as well. 

Congratulations to TrueGrit80!!!

Chet1028 Takes Down his 6th win in his last 21 tournaments played
April 16, 2023

26 Players attended the 12th event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with Chet1028 (91,181 in chips) on the button and BUsen716 (38,819) in the big blind. Blinds were at 1,250/2,500 and the pot had 4,380 chips with blinds and antes. Chet1028 raises to 5,000. BUsen716 calls. The flop was Kd7h8d. BUsen716 checks and Chet1028 fires off another 5,000 chip bet. BUsen716 comes over the top with an all in raise and Chet1028 calls. BUsen716 is well ahead with 2nd pair holding a Qd7c (82.3% chance to win). Chet1028 held 4h5s and was seeking a 6 to make his straight. The 3d landed on the turn increasing BUsen716’s win probability to 93.2%. The 6s bailed Chet1028 out on the river, making his straight and clinching the win. 

The final table consisted of Chet1028, BUsen716, Zamboni716, BassReeves47, fass1679, natel383, joytocha, brandon1823 and IPIPEALOT finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 6th lifetime win in the series and first this season. To show how well Chet1028 has been playing, he has won 6 events in the last 21 he has played. In addition, Chet1028 has made heads up 14 times, finished in the top five 25 times, finished in the money 22 times, and had 47 final tables in 91 events played.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

CLINTEASTWOODfl Comes From Behind to Win His First PTS Event
March 26, 2023

33 Players attended the 11th event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with CLINTEASTWOODfl (100,579 in chips) on the button and kramdroog (64,421) in the big blind. The blinds were 1250/2500 and the pot had 4,380 chips with blinds and antes. CLINTEASTWOODfl called the big blind and kramdroog checked. The flop was 3h9s7s. kramdroog bet the pot and CLINTEASTWOODfl called. The turn revealed the 2c. kramdroog fired again with another pot sized bet (16,890). CLINTEASTWOODfl moved all in and kramdroog called. kramdroog was holding 9d,Ts and was a 11.4% against CLINTEASTWOODfl and his pocket jacks and 88.6% favorite to hold on. The river offered no help with the 5d and CLINTEASTWOODfl notched his first win of the season. 

The final table consisted of CLINTEASTWOODfl, kramdroog, shawn19152, TrueGrit80, bill_litt531, Scorpi0n003, Zamboni716, aybroker and natel383, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was CLINTEASTWOODfl’s first lifetime win. In addition, CLINTEASTWOODfl has 11 top 5 finishes, 9 money finishes and 12 final tables in 21 events played. 

Congratulations go out to CLINTEASTWOODfl!!!

Stakes Steaks Notches His 4th Lifetime Win In Convincing Fashion
March 12, 2023

29 Players attended the 10th event of the season (the second of three knockout tournaments).

Key Hand: Two handed play with Stakes Steaks (129,468 in chips) on the button and El Surfista 8 (15,532) in the big blind. The blinds were 600/1,200 and the pot had 2,100 chips with blinds and antes. Stakes Steaks called the big blind and El Surfista 8 checked. The flop was Qc4d6c. El Surfista 8 moved all in holding a flush draw (Jc7c) and Stakes Steaks called with pocket aces (AcAd) and was a 67% to 33% favorite in the hand. El Surfista 8 didn’t catch a club on the turn or river (Qh,Jd respectively) and Stakes Steaks took the win. 

The final table consisted of Stakes Steaks, El Surfista 8, IPIPEALOT, BUsen716, Scorpi0n003, Clinteast72, donnie813, Mike Fishcakes and EBFDEF, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was Stakes Steaks (formerly Drunkencourt) 4th lifetime win. In addition, Stakes Steaks has made it to heads up 6 times, with 17 top 5 finishes, 13 money finishes and 24 final tables in 65 events played. 

Congratulations go out to Stakes Steaks!!!

Feds Bust New York State Gambling Ring Linked to Rogue Cop
February 27, 2023
Philip Conneller, @casinoorgphilc

Seven Rochester, New York men have been charged with operating an illegal sports betting and poker network that netted ringleaders more than $10 million over five years.

Federal prosecutors said Friday the charges are the culmination of a seven-month investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, New York State Police, and the Rochester Police Department.

It involved undercover officers posing as gamblers and wiretaps. But it was almost blown wide open when a New York State police sergeant with an alleged gambling problem tried to tip off the suspects.

Underground Poker

Louis P. Ferrari II and Dominic Sprague were the alleged masterminds of the ring. They are charged, along with Tommaso Sessa, with operating an illegal gambling operation.

Anthony Amato, Joseph Lomardo, Joseph Boscarino, and James Cilvetti, who acted as agents of the bookmaking operation, are charged with transmission of wagering information, along with Ferrari and Sprague. All seven have been charged with conspiracy.

Ferrari is also charged with money laundering. He owned an excavating business in Rochester, which washed the illegal proceeds of the operation.

Ferrari and Sprague coowned the underground poker room in an office complex on Rochester’s Blossom Rd, according to prosecutors. Sessa is accused of managing the club’s day-to-day operations. Ferrari ran the bookmaking arm through a website called sport700.com, prosecutors claim.

Sgt. Thomas J. Loewke is separately accused of blabbing to Ferrari that he was under investigation in December 2020, according to court documents. He is facing federal corruption and obstruction charges.

Loewke learned of the investigation from an unnamed state trooper who entered the office of a senior investigator of the New York State Police to perform computer maintenance, according to court papers.

The trooper saw an affidavit sitting on the detective’s desk that had Ferrari’s name in plain view on the top of the document. The trooper later told investigators that he shared the information with Loewke because he knew he had a gambling problem and was warning him against betting with Ferrari.

Undercover Ops

But Loewke did not know that by that time an undercover officer had already infiltrated the group posing as a gambler, and federal agents were intercepting the group’s calls and text messages.

Ferrari is heard telling Sprague in a wiretap that he had been approached by someone he knew in the state police department who told him he was under investigation.

He was also heard discussing beating up a client whose home he had visited to collect money. Ferrari told Sprague he was concerned because the man’s wife had called the police.

Investigators raided the poker joint in April 2021 while a game was in session. They discovered gambling ledgers and time stamped website printouts of online gambling player account activities.

lesthanthrilled wins the same event he won in 2021
February 26, 2023

The 9th tournament back in 2021 saw the return of a regular after a long absence. That was the last event he played until the 9th event of the 2023 campaign where he was once again, the last man standing among 31 other competitors.

Key Hand: Two handed play with fass1679 (29,353 in chips) on the button and lesthanthrilled (130,647) in the big blind. Fass1679 moved all in holding Qc8s and was called by lesthanthrilled holding AdTs. lesthanthrilled was 64.4% to 35.6% favorite in the hand. The flop was 7d7h5s. The turn finished the hand when the As landed giving lesthanthrilled top pair and the win, eliminating the river (Jh) from being able to change that.

The final table consisted of lesthanthrilled, fass1679, shawn19152, BUsen716, dolphinz1209, Clinteast72, InterpolBlue, Tonyc1077 and Chet1028, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was lesthanthrilled’s second lifetime win in 19 events played, his 5th top 5 finish and 8th final table. 

Congratulations go out to lesthanthrilled!!!

Chet1028 Takes Down his second of the season
February 19, 2023

20 Players attended the 8th event of the season (Omaha Pot Limit Hi/Low).

Key Hand: Two handed play with Chet1028 (73,254 in chips) on the button and Clinteast72 (26,746) in the big blind. Blinds were at 500/1,000 and the pot had 1,500 chips. Chet1028 raises to 3,000. Clinteast72 reraises to 9,000. Chet1028 reraises for another 18,000 which puts Clinteast72 all in when he calls holding (JdAdJcTc). Chet1028 held QdQcAs5s and was 69.5% to 30.5% favorite in the hand. The flop was 859 (all hearts). The turn was the 3s and the river offered no help with the 8d hitting the board giving Chet1028 the win.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, Clinteast72, El Surfista 8, shawn19152, I Is Coco, fass1679, Stakes Steaks, AlexCaruso6 and kramdroog finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 5th lifetime win in the series and first this season. In addition, Chet1028 has made heads up 13 times, finished in the top five 24 times, finished in the money 21 times, and had 45 final tables in 87 events played.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

donnie813 shines in a tournament that is destined to be his
February 5, 2023

29 Players attended the third event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with EBFDEF (42,496 in chips) on the button and donnie813 (102,504) in the big blind. Blinds were at 800/1,600 and the pot had 2,800 chips with antes. EBFDEF raises to 4,800 chips and donnie813 moves all in. EBFDEF calls with Kc9c. donnie813 is holding As,6c and is a 55.7% favorite in the hand. The flop is 8s, 5s, 3c. The turn was the 5d and the 6h landed on the river giving donnie813 the win.

The final table consisted of donnie813, EBFDEF, Frankindoodle, shawn19152, InterpolBlue, kramdroog, IPIPEALOT, Scorpi0n003 and BDv9 finishing in that order.

This was donnie813’s 1st win in the series and his second time making it to heads up. Coincidently, his last heads up meeting in a tournament was one year ago (February 6, 2022) in this very tournament (PTS #7). 

Congratulations to donnie813!!!

Chet1028 Takes Down 6-Max Tournament
January 15, 2023

29 Players attended the 6th event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with El Surfista 8 (60,404 in chips) on the button and Chet1028 (84,596) in the big blind. Blinds were at 700/1,400 and the pot had 2,450 chips with antes. El Surfista 8 calls and Chet1028 raises to 4,200. El Surfista 8 reraises all in for 60,229 and Chet1028 calls. El Surfista 8 was holding AdJc while Chet1028 was holding Ac9d and was 74% to 27% underdog in the hand. The flop was Td, Kc, 6c. The turn was the 9h, improving Chet1028’s hand with a pair of 9’s, and the river offered no help with the Ah hitting the board giving Chet1028 the win.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, El Surfista 8, VfrVendetta, CLINTEASTWOODfl, fass1679 and Frankindoodle finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s 4th lifetime win in the series and first this season. In addition, Chet1028 has made heads up 12 times, finished in the top five 23 times, finished in the money 20 times, and had 44 final tables in 85 events played.

Congratulations to Chet1028!!!

VfrVendetta takes Wins 5th Career PTS Tournament
January 8, 2023

30 Players attended the 5th event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with VfrVendetta (104,500 in chips) on the button and Stakes Steaks (45,500) in the big blind. Blinds were at 800/1,600 and the pot had 2,800 chips with antes. VfrVendetta raises to 3,200 chips and Stakes Steaks reraises to 4,800. VfrVendetta calls. The flop is Ts, 2h, 5d. Stakes Steaks moves all in with his remaining 40,500 in chips (holding QcJd). VfrVendetta calls with top pair (holding TdJs). VfrVendetta was a 83% favorite in the hand. The turn improved VfrVendetta’s hand when he hit 2 pair as the Jh landed. The river rubbed salt in the wound for Stakes Steaks when VfrVendetta made a full house as the Tc hit the board giving VfrVendetta the win.

The final table consisted of VfrVendetta, Stakes Steaks, Fetti0011, Scorpi0n003, aybroker, Clinteast72, natel383 and bill_litt531 finishing in that order.

This was VfrVendetta’s 5th lifetime win in the series and becomes only the 10th player to have achieved at least five wins out of over 215 players. In addition, VfrVendetta has made heads up 11 times, finished in the top five 25 times, finished in the money 23 times, and had 41 final tables in 66 events played.

Congratulations to VfrVendetta!!!

The poker cheating investigation is over. Here's what it uncovered — and questions that remain
Andrea Chang, yahoo!finance
December 14, 2022

A nearly three-month investigation into one of the most controversial hands of poker ever played has concluded with no findings of wrongdoing against Robbi Jade Lew, who was accused of cheating by one of the game’s most prominent stars.

"That does not mean that no wrongdoing occurred," said the report, released Wednesday by High Stakes Poker Productions. "It means that the investigation failed to find credible evidence."

Calling the ordeal a “treacherous process,” Lew said the results were “as I expected.”

"I am obviously now entering another stage of this journey, as there are still loose ends that need to be resolved," said the former biopharmaceuticals rep from Pacific Palisades. "There will be subsequent commentary and statements issued by my legal team shortly."

The saga began Sept. 29, when Lew — a relatively new player to the high-stakes, no-limit scene — won a $269,000 pot against poker pro Garrett Adelstein on an episode of “Hustler Casino Live,” a popular YouTube show that streams from Gardena five days a week.

Lew’s unconventional play in the wild hand, in which she called Adelstein’s huge all-in bet with jack high, immediately led her opponent to suspect foul play. Adelstein later accused her of colluding with at least one other player at the table and with a production employee; Lew has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Robbi Jade Lew at Hustler Casino in Gardena in October. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Video of the now-infamous J4 hand (Lew was holding the jack of clubs and the four of hearts) blew up on the internet. Viewed millions of times, the clip sparked raging debates — was Lew part of a cheating ring, or simply a newbie who didn’t know what she was doing and got lucky?

Poker fans obsessively rewatched the footage to dissect her play, body language, clothing, jewelry and water bottle, sharing their "findings" on social media and hours-long podcasts. The frenzied fascination over what happened prompted several poker players to offer bounties totaling $250,000 for anyone who came forward with information (no one did).

High Stakes Poker Productions, which owns and produces "Hustler Casino Live," quickly launched its own investigation and hired cybersecurity, private investigation and legal firms to assist. The company said it spent more than $100,000 on the effort.

Wednesday's extensive report detailed the investigation's methodology, which included interviews with Lew, other players, and the show's owners and employees. Investigators reviewed "dozens of hours of video" from "Hustler Casino Live" and from the casino's interior and exterior security cameras to look for suspicious behavior. They also inspected the card shuffler and dismantled the poker table to see whether its radio frequency identification system had been compromised. RFID technology allows the unique suit and rank of each player's facedown cards, known as hole cards, to be broadcast to a receiver.

"Upon inspection of the systems, table and network," the report said, "there was no evidence of tampering, remote access, viruses, rogue hardware installed, or previously installed programs on the machines."

But cybersecurity firm Bulletproof did find some "critical risks" with the show's production room setup and broadcast operations. Both have been subject to heavy scrutiny in light of the debacle, with players and viewers criticizing High Stakes Poker Productions for what they perceived as lax protocols that made the stream vulnerable.

"While no direct evidence of cheating was found, Bulletproof found that cheating with the Sept. 29 setup was possible," the report said.

The "Hustler Casino Live" stage. The show has quickly become the No. 1 cash game poker stream on
YouTube thanks to its rotating lineup of elite poker pros and outlandish recreational players, and the
enormous amounts of money at stake. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Noting that players' card information "could be seen by anyone in the production room just by turning their head," the report said several changes had since been made to improve security.

A wall and a door have been installed in the production room, and the door remains locked throughout filming. Now, only one monitor can display hole-card information and it can be viewed only by the show's director, and employees have to put their electronic devices into signal-blocking bags before entering the room.

The show is also implementing stricter player rules. Previously, they weren't allowed to have their cellphones and other electronic devices during filming; now they must also put personal items in signal-blocking bags that are kept away from the poker table. Players are wanded by a metal detector every time they enter the "Hustler Casino Live" stage.

Despite the additional measures, the report noted that "no security solution or process can completely solve mechanical or electronic game cheating because methods and technology are continually evolving" and said the company would need to be vigilant going forward.

"With those changes," it said, "security, technology, processes and yearly audits also need to be kept up."

High Stakes Poker Productions made some low-tech modifications as well, including requiring players to sign a waiver acknowledging that they have no financial investment in anyone else in the game. After the Sept. 29 hand, Lew revealed that she had been given the money to gamble that day by another player at the table, Jacob "Rip" Chavez.

"The undisclosed financial relationship between Ms. Lew and Mr. Chavez creates the appearance of collusion between the two players," the report said. "Such conduct is widely considered unethical in the poker community and is prohibited in 'Hustler Casino Live' games."

Although the show's investigation has come to an end, one big piece of the scandal is still unresolved.

A week after the Adelstein-Lew hand, High Stakes Poker Productions announced that a video review showed Bryan Sagbigsal — a production employee who was in the control room on Sept. 29 — removing $15,000 in chips from Lew’s stack after filming had ended that day.

Lew initially declined to file a police report but changed her mind after the poker community accused the two of colluding. Gardena Police Department officers attempted to arrest Sagbigsal on Oct. 26 in Long Beach but were unable to find him.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office filed charges against Sagbigsal on Nov. 22. An arrest warrant has been issued for the 25-year-old, who faces two counts of grand theft; a spokesman said Wednesday that Sagbigsal was not in custody.

In the investigation report, High Stakes Poker Productions said it interviewed Sagbigsal about the alleged theft before firing him.

"He said he acted on his own out of financial desperation and repeatedly denied that he was involved in cheating or that he collaborated with any players," the report said, adding that investigators "were not able to identify any prior relationship between Ms. Lew and Mr. Sagbigsal."

High Stakes Poker Productions said it had not done a background check on Sagbigsal before hiring him and was thus unaware that he had a prior criminal record. In the future, the company said it would "pay a professional agency to search databases" for criminal records of job applicants and "perform periodic financial and credit checks" on its employees.

On Wednesday afternoon, Adelstein tweeted that he was "heartened" to learn of the show's new safety measures.

"Security vulnerabilities are THE existential threat facing the poker livestreams we all love," he wrote, "and thus these updates are a win for everyone in our industry." Reached by phone, Adelstein, who has said he is conducting his own investigation, declined to provide further comment on the report.

"Hustler Casino Live" first aired Aug. 3, 2021, and soon became the No. 1 cash game poker stream on YouTube, thanks to its rotating lineup of elite poker pros and outlandish recreational players, and the enormous amounts of money at stake — some pots have exceeded half a million dollars. It now has more than 200,000 subscribers.

Prior to the disputed hand, Adelstein, one of the top cash players in the world, was the face of "Hustler Casino Live." A former contestant on "Survivor" who lives in Manhattan Beach, he was featured heavily on the poker show and his image is plastered on digital billboards outside the casino.

Garrett Adelstein in his Manhattan Beach home in October. He has not returned to
"Hustler Casino Live" since the Sept. 29 hand. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Garrett Adelstein in his Manhattan Beach home in October. He has not returned to "Hustler Casino Live" since the Sept. 29 hand. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Neither Adelstein nor Lew has played on “Hustler Casino Live” since Sept. 29. On Wednesday afternoon, "Hustler Casino Live" said on Twitter: "Now that the investigation has concluded, we want to address the numerous inquiries about Garrett and his future on the show. Simply put, HCL is open to having @GManPoker back."

Adelstein responded a few minutes later, tweeting: "I've surprised myself with the peace I've felt being away from all things poker in recent months. But if/when I do decide to play again, I'm open to playing on HCL."

Phil Galfond, a professional poker player from Las Vegas, said another cheating scandal was bound to crop up in the future — an inevitability “in any industry that involves big amounts of money.”

Despite the drama of the last several weeks, Galfond said “it’s not entirely clear to me that this was bad for poker.”

“It reached so far outside of the poker world and got more people interested in poker,” he said. “When you add to that the fact that Hustler and other streams are taking security more seriously now, I think it’s one of those things where we actually grew from the experience."

"Hustler Casino Live" executives said they're now focused on looking ahead and learning from the ordeal.

“It will always be a mystery to a degree because, as I’ve said all along, there’s no way to 100% prove that nothing happened,” co-owner and show director Ryan Feldman said. “But I think a lot of people will be satisfied by this and see that we did everything we could to try to figure this out. We are ready to move on.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

brandonp1823 takes down the first knockout event of the year
December 11, 2022

32 Players attended the 4th event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with Chet1028 (47,282 in chips) on the button and brandonp1823 (112,718) in the big blind. Blinds were at 600/1,200 and the pot had 2,100 chips with antes. Chet1028 raises to 3,600 chips and brandonp1823 calls. The flop is 9c, 6s, 2d. brandonp1823 leads off with a 3,600 chip bet and Chet1028 comes over the top and moves all in (holding Tc8s). brandonp1823 calls (holding As2s). brandonp1823 was a 63.1% favorite in the hand. The turn shows the 3d and Chet1028 received no help on the river with the 4d hitting the table giving brandonp1823 and his pair of 2’s the win.

The final table consisted of brandon1823, Chet1028, natel383, AlexCaruso6, Mike Fishcakes, CLINTEASTWOODfl, RickHarrisonn, InterpolBlue and El Surfista 8 finishing in that order.

This was brandon1823’s third win in the series. In addition to the three wins, brandon1823 made heads up 5 times, finished in the top fives 9 times, finished in the money 10 times, and had 10 final tables in 20 events played.

Congratulations to brandon1823!!!

A Win Provides Maximum Joy
November 20, 2022

30 Players attended the third event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with VfrVendetta (38,793 in chips) in the big blind and joytocha (111,207) on the button. Blinds were at 700/1,400 and the pot had 2,450 chips with antes. joytocha calls the 700 chips and VfrVendetta checks. The flop is 5h, 6s, 9h. VfrVendetta checks followed by a check from joytocha. The turn shows the 7d. VfrVendetta checks and joytocha bets 4,200. VfrVendetta raises to 8,400 and joytocha reraises to 29,400. VfrVendetta moves all in for 37,218 and joytocha calls. VfrVendetta shows 9d8d (straight 5 to 9) and is an 87.5% favorite over joytocha who holds 5s6d. The river is the 5d giving joytocha a full house (5’s full of 6’s) and the win. 

The final table consisted of joytocha, VfrVendetta, Frankindoodle, brandon1823, CLINTEASTWOODfl, BassReeves47, Taztecc7, Scorpi0n003 and fass1679 finishing in that order.
This was joytocha’s second win in the series, the first came when she was known as Maximum Joy. Her last win came on June 14, 2008. In addition to the two wins, she made heads up 5 times, finished in the top fives 12 times, finished in the money 11 times, and had 27 final tables in 68 events played.

Congratulations to joytocha!!!

Kramdroog Pushes His Way To A Win
November 6, 2022

32 Players attended the second event of the season.

Key Hand: Two handed play with kramdroog (67,989 in chips) in the big blind and BassReeves47 (92,011) on the button. BassReeves47 recently won a large pot to take the chip lead from kramdroog. Blinds were at 800/1,600 and the pot had 2,800 chips with antes. BassReeves47 calls the 800 chips and kramdroog checks. The flop is 3s, 5c, Kc. kramdroog checks and BassReeves47 bets 3,200 chips. kramdroog immediately moves all in for 66,189 and BassReeves47 calls. The pot holds 135,978. If kramdroog loses, BassReeves47 wins the event. If BassReeves47 loses, he will be down to 24,022 in chips. kramdroog turns over 5h3h (two pair and a 63.2% chance to win) against 3c4c (needing to hit that last club for a flush, and trailing in the hand with a 36.8% chance to win). The turn revealed a Qh and the river would show the Qs, giving kramdroog the large chip lead with two pair, queens and fives over BassReeves47 and his two paid, queens and threes. kramdroog would win the very next hand after flopping a flush over BassReeves47 and his top pair. 

The final table consisted of kramdroog, BassReeves47, aybroker, CLINTEASTWOODfl, shawn19152, PGApoker82-0, joytocha, Clinteast72 and BUsen716, finishing in that order.

This was kramdroog’s first win within the series. To add to that, kramdroog made heads up 5 times, finished in the top five 17 times, finished in the money 14 times and made 31 final tables in 71 events played. Lastly, kramdroog is ranked 6th all-time in player rating out of over 215 players.

Congratulations to kramdroog!!!

BassReeves47 Strikes First in 2023
October 23, 2022

30 Players attended the 2023 season opener.

Key Hand: Three handed play with CLINTEASTWOODfl (12,175 in chips) on the button and BassReeves47 (106,490) and Burner506 (28,710) in the small and big blind respectively. Blinds were at 700/1,400 and the pot had 2,625 chips with antes. Preflop, CLINTEASTWOODfl leads with an all in bet of 12,175. BassReeves47 raises to 22,950. Burner506 reraises all in and BassReeves47 calls. CLINTEASTWOODfl is at 11.2% to win holding Ac3d, Burner506 at 21.6% with As9c and BassReeves47 at 67.2% with pocket 10’s (heart and club). The flop is Qc7s2s. Burner506’s odds increase to 42.6%, BassReeves47 drops to 55.1% and CLINTEASTWOODfl drops to 2.2%. An ace of hearts lands on the turn, giving Burner506 a real chance to pull off a bad beat. That was quickly silenced when the ten of diamonds landed on the river ending any hope at a comeback. In one hand, BassReeves47 eliminated his final 2 opponents. 

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, Burner506, CLINTEASTWOODfl, kramdroog, IPIPEALOT, Chet1028, Stakes Steaks, Clinteast72 and Scorpi0n003, finishing in that order.

This was BassReeve47’s second win within the series. His first win was on May 23, 2021. To add to that, BassReeves47 made heads up 4 times, seven Top 5 finishes, and 12 final tables in 29 events played. 

Congratulations to BassReeves47!!!

Chet1028 caps off a fantastic season with a Series Championship
June 5, 2022

The 2022 season concluded with the completion of the Series Championship. This event was an invitational only tournament where the top 18 players in the standings all competed for the opportunity of being crowned series champion, as well as the accompanied winnings of such an honor. 

This event had an unusual start in that the top two players in the standings before the event would be the first two to exit it. fass1679 was eliminated first followed by Frankindoodle. Clinteast72 who was ranked 5th in the standings was out in 15th and dolphinz1209 who was ranked 6th left in 12th. brandon1823 (seeded 3rd) finished in 4th place and came so very close to finishing first in the final standings, but ended one point short. 

Busen716 had a solid outing finishing in 3rd when the two pair he landed on the flop was bested by Chet1028’s straight that he landed on the flop. That left two remaining players. Chet1028 seeking his first championship against shawn19152 who was looking to defend his championship from the year before. Chet1028 started the heads up battle with the chip lead advantage of 60,028 to 29,972. Early in heads up, shawn19152 got all of his chips called preflop while he held AQo against J4s and would take the hand down with top two pair. That gave shawn19152 a slight chip lead (just over 6,000 chips) over Chet1028. Once down, Chet1028 got really aggressive, with multiple all in moves forcing folds by shawn19152. That swung the advantage back to Chet1028 and he grew that advantage to 65,606 to 24,394. shawn19152 would have a late rally, eventually gaining the chip advantage once again, however Chet1028’s aggressiveness once again allowed him to regaining the chip lead, ultimately taking advantage of the cold cards that shawn19152 was getting. With shawn19152 down nearly 10-1 in chips, he attempted to make a stab at a pot putting most of his chips in play with queen high, but Chet1028 called him with third pair, leaving shawn19152 with 1,419 in chips (basically one big blind). In the final hand with shawn19152 all in holding J5o, Chet1028 once again flopped an ace high straight, although he had shawn19152 dominated preflop as well. This gave him the 2022 championship and capped off a fantastic season run for Chet1028. Just fantastic play from start to finish by Chet1028. 

The final table consisted of Chet1028, shawn19152, BUsen716, brandon1823, CLINTEASTWOODfl, prts4days, Stakes Steaks, AlexCaruso6 and Scorpi0n003, finishing in that order.

This was Chet1028’s third win of the 2022 season, and first major championship, giving him the most wins in 2022. To add to that, Chet1028 finished first in earnings, made heads up 4 times, five Top 5 finishes, and 7 final tables in 15 events played. 

Huge Congratulations to Chet1028, 2022 Series Champion!!!

Clinteast72 is the 2022 Heads Up Champion!
May 15, 2022

The 2022 Heads Up Championship featured the top 16 players in the series. In seasons past, this tournament would be played out in a bracketed format where the #1 seed faced off against the #8 seed, #2 versus #7, #3 versus #6 and #4 versus #5. This year however, with the field opening up to the top 16, controlling seeding would be a task that would inevitably be played out over 5-6 days which was unworkable. Therefore, this was a straight shootout style tournament where PokerStars determined the pairings when the tournament began.

*Clinteast72 (ranked #6), defeated fass1679 (ranked 1st)
*Stakes Steaks (ranked 11th), defeated Frankindoodle (ranked 2nd)
*brandon1823 (ranked 3rd), defeated prts4days (ranked 9th)
*Scorpi0n003 (ranked 4th), defeated El Surfista 8 (ranked 13th)
*kramdroog (ranked 5th), defeated dolphinz1209 (ranked 8th). dolphinz1209 wasn't able to log on.
*BassReeves47 (ranked 16th), defeated Chet1028 (ranked 7th)
*shawn19152 (ranked 12th), defeated AlexCaruso6 (ranked 10th)
*CLINTEASTWOODfl (ranked 15th), defeated joytocha (ranked 14th)

In the quarterfinals, BassReeves47 defeated Scorpi0n003, shawn19152 defeated Stakes Steaks, brandon1823 defeated CLINTEASTWOODfl and Clinteast72 defeated kramdroog. At this point in the tournament, down to the final four players, all were in the money. The winners would play for the championship and the losers would tie for 3rd place, each taking home money.

BassReeves47 would take down his match with shawn19152 and Clinteast72 would defeat brandon1823. That ultimately led to the final table. #6 Clinteast72 versus #16 BassReeves47.

Both Clinteast72 and BassReeves47 would start with 3,000 chips. The two tangled for a couple hands and then the second break occurred, giving each player 5 minutes to consider their strategies against one another. During their battle, Clinteast72 would build a 4,317 to 1,683 chip advantage over BassReeves47. Just a few minutes after hitting that advantage, the two players engaged on what would be the final hand. Clinteast72 in the small blind raised to 150 chips (3 times the big blind). BassReeves47 called and the flop was 8J4 (all hearts). BassReeves47 would check and Clinteast72 would make a pot sized bet (312 chips). BassReeves47 would raise him by pushing in all his remaining chips. After thinking for a few seconds, Clinteast72 called. BassReeves47 (holding Ah8c) had a respectable hand, 2nd pair and the nut flush draw. Clinteast72 held pocket queens, one of which was a heart. This was basically a coin flip as Clinteast72 held a 51% to 49% lead in probability in the hand. The turn would reveal a 7s and BassReeves47 would not receive any help on the river after the Jd landed, giving Clinteast72 the win.

This was Clinteast72’s first win of the 2022 season, and first major championship (all heads up championships, Series Championships and Tournament of Champions are considered majors). This also represented Clinteast72’s second lifetime win. Clinteast72 has moved into 5th place in the standings after amassing 6 final tables, 4 cashes, 4 top 5 finishes, and a win after going 4-0 in the event.

Congratulations to Clinteast72, 2022 Heads Up Champion!!!

Chet1028 Takes Another Win from 2022
May 8, 2022

The last open tournament of the 2022 season has concluded with 25 players in attendance. 

This was an interesting knockout tournament with many active players ousting each other out of the event. ElvisDust returned and aggressively ended the night of 4 players competing for the money, himself finishing in 5th. prts4days also retired 5 competitors over the course of the night, finishing in 3rd. fass1679 continued to build on an excellent season, finishing in 4th and knocking out 3 players. Scorpi0n003 added 2 knockouts to his annual total and finished with the most knockouts this season (tied with Zamboni716 who didn’t play in this event) with 10 over 3 knockout events. 

That left us with the remaining two players, Chet1028 and IPIPEALOT. ElvisDust was building on his chip lead, pounding away at his opponents when Chet1028 ran into him. Chet1028 doubled up off of ElvisDust and became the dominant chip stack, having more than twice what the remainder of the 5-player field totaled collectively. Once the field thinned out, IPIPEALOT dug into that lead, eventually taking the chip lead from him. When they went heads up, IPIPEALOT had 68,099 chips as compared to 56,901 for Chet1028. The two played for 5 minutes before IPIPEALOT made a play at a hand and ran into Chet1028 holding AJ, which held up, swinging the odds in Chet1028’s favor as he regained a massive lead in chips, 116,902 to 8,098. IPIPEALOT would grow that chip stack to over 41K, however Chet1028 caught trip 5’s and collected his 5th knockout of the night, while securing his second win of the 2022 season.

The final table consisted of Chet1028, IPIPEALOT, prts4days, fass1679, ElvisDust, mxdad338, BassReeves47, Clinteast72 and AlexCaruso6, finishing in that order. 

This was Chet1028’s second lifetime win as well. Chet1028 (formerly Mad Dog) has played in 78 tournaments and made it heads up 9 times. He has finished in the top five 20 times, and made 27 final tables. Chet1028 finished runner up in the 2011 Heads Up Championship (losing to Taztecc7), as well as runner up in the 2020 Series Championship (losing to Tonyc1077). 

Congratulations go out to Chet1028!!!

Mike Fishcakes Rallies to Grab His First Win of 2022
April 24, 2022

The second to last open tournament of the 2022 season is in the books and we tied our highest participation with 34 players in attendance. 

Notables making the final table: kramdroog (5th in the standings) added his 6th final table of the 2022 season. dolphinz1209 (currently 6th in the standings) added her 4th final table of the year. RickHarrisonn and mxdad338 made their first final table of the season finishing in 7th and 6th place respectively. CLINTEASTWOODfl earned his 5th final table of the season with a 5th place finish. IPIPEALOT earned his second final table and his first money finish in 4th place. prts4days amassed a massive chip lead at the final table (his 4th of the season), finishing in 3rd place and helped to possibly secure a spot in the heads up championship and series championship. 

That left us with the remaining two players, aybroker and Mike Fishcakes. aybroker started with a strong chip lead, 125,793 to 44,207 for Mike Fishcakes. The two players would tread water with one another until Mike Fishcakes doubled up (giving him a slight advantage (86,328 to 83,672). After going back and forth, aybroker did secure a 2,974 chip advantage. The biggest hand of the night came when aybroker moved all in preflop with pocket 9’s and was called by Mike Fishcakes who was holding A5. An ace landed on the flop and aybroker never improved. With aybroker out-chipped 56-1, the tournament would come to a quick close, giving Mike Fishcakes his first win of the season. 

The final table consisted of Mike Fishcakes, aybroker, prts4days, IPIPEALOT, CLINTEASTWOODfl, mxdad338, RickHarrisonn, dolphinz1209 and kramdroog, finishing in that order. 

This was Mike Fishcakes’s second lifetime win and first of the 2022 season. He played in all 13 events this year. In his career, Mike Fishcakes has played in 41 events, made 12 final tables, finished in the money 9 times, made 10 top 5 placings and been heads up 5 times to go along with his 2 wins. 

Congratulations go out to Mike Fishcakes!!!

shawn19152 Hits Another Milestone with 10th Career Victory
March 27, 2022

If felt like a long two weeks in between events, however we back at it with 29 players looking to move up the standings, qualify for the last two events and win some money along the way. 

We had a new player join, YoungSugarBoy who finished in 23rd place. We also saw Queen5OffSuit who returned from his last event nearly 11 months ago. He made his return worth it finishing in 4th place. 

A review of players at the top of the leaderboard: Scorpi0n003, fresh off his win two weeks ago was knocked out in 27th place. Stakes Steaks finished in 26th. Clinteast72 was eliminated in 22nd, while brandon1823 exited in 20th. dolphinz1209 nearly made the final table, finishing in 10th place. Chet1028 was one of five players high in the standings making the final table, finishing in 9th. Frankindoodle made it to 7th place, fass1679 cracked the top 5, finishing in 5th (while taking over first place in the standings). 

Zamboni716 had a much-needed high finish which brought him back into contention for qualifying for the final two events of the season, and was eliminated in 3rd. This occurred when shawn19152 caught pocket aces and moved all in, nearly tripling up by knocking out Zamboni716 (A4 suited) and getting an equal measure of chips from kramdroog (holding Aks) who also called, hoping to take both opposing players in one fell swoop. After Zamboni716’s departure, shawn19152 had a massive chip advantage (132,671 to 12,329). kramdroog wasn’t finished and nearly quadrupled up before the final hand of the night. With blinds at 700/1,400 and holding A9, kramdroog raised to 4,200. shawn19152 (with pocket 9’s) came over the top with an all-in move and kramdroog called. shawn19152 was 70% to win. The flop was 86Q and shawn19152’s advantage grew to 85%. The turn was a 7, giving a few more outs to kramdroog, should a 5 or 10 land (allowing both players to chop, or an ace giving him the win outright. Still, shawn19152 had an 84% chance for the win. The river card paired 8’s and gave shawn19152 the win. 

The final table consisted of shawn19152, kramdroog, Zamboni716, Queen5OffSuit, fass1679, donnie813, Frankindoodle, KonigFlamme and Chet1028, finishing in that order. 

This was shawn19152’s first win of the 2022 season. He played in all 11 events this year. The win also marks his 10th career win in the series. That mark is 2 wins greater than the next highest player. In his career, shawn19152 has played in 64 events, made 31 final tables, finished in the money 20 times, made 21 top 5 placings and been heads up 11 times to go along with his 10 wins. Once he makes it to the final two, he wins. The only person to make it to heads up against shawn19152 and win was Tonyc1077, last year on May 16th. 

Congratulations go out to shawn19152!!!

Scorpi0n003 Takes Down The Second Knockout Event of 2022
March 13, 2022

We had another strong turnout where 27 players competed for the rights to call themselves the best in the 10th tournament of the 2022 season. This was a knockout event where each player earns a knockout when eliminating an opponent from the event. Additionally, each player carries a $5 bounty on their heads. brandon1823 and kramdroog would put in solid finishes landing in 10th and 9th place respectively. brandon1823 knocked out two players (EBFDEF and IPIPEALOT) in the same hand. fass1679 would finish in 7th, which helped him keep pace with brandon1823 (2nd overall in the standings) and Chet1028 would score a 5th place finish which would allow him to crack the top 10 in the season standings. 

At the start of heads up, Scorpi0n003 trailed Clinteast72 in chips 51,370 to 83,630. The pair both had 7 knockouts in the event. They would battle heads up for quite some time, both taking the lead from one another more than once. During the last hand, Scorpi0n003 had a 15,000-chip advantage. The blinds were 800/1,600 and Clinteast72 was sitting in the big blind. Scorpi0n003 called and Clinteast72 raised to 5,200. Scorpi0n003 the reraised to 8,800. Clinteast72 responded with an all-in move and got the call. Scorpi0n003 revealed pocket tens which made him an more than a 4-1 favorite in the hand as compared to Clinteast72’s pocket 8’s. The flop didn’t help Clinteast72 as Scorpi0n003’s advantage grew to 9-1 (64J). The turn was a 2 and the river paired the 4. And with that, Scorpi0n003 won his very first event. 

The final table consisted of Scorpi0n003, Clinteast72, CLINTEASTWOODfl, Taztecc7, Chet1028, KonigFlamme, fass1679, Fetti0011 and kramdroog, finishing in that order. 

In 2020, Scorpi0n003 ended the season in 18th place. In 2021, he improved to 8th overall. Currently after this win, Scorpi0n003 has moved into 3rd overall, largely due to a 2nd, 4th and 6th to go along with his win. In 42 events played, Scorpi0n003 has been heads up 3 times, made the top 5 in six events and achieved the final table 12 times. 

Congratulations go out to Scorpi0n003!!!

Brandon1823 Continues Hot Streak
February 27, 2022

We had yet another 30 player event for the 9th tournament of the 2022 season. Just like the last holdem event we held a few weeks ago, the night would come down to a battle between the final 2 players who each have won an event this year, making this event one that would produce our first multiple tournament winner of the 2022 season. 

At the start of heads up, Chet1028 held 52,923 chips as compared to brandon1823 and his 97,077 chips. A notable hand occurred within a couple of minutes when Chet1028 hit a flush to double up, taking a 104K-46K chip lead. The lead would be short lived as brandon1823 battled back, eventually taking a 82K to 68K chip lead as they entered the final hand. Chet1028 was first to act in the SB and called. The blinds were 1,400/700 and brandon1823 would open with a raise to 5,600. Chet1028 immediately came over the top and moved all in. After a few tense seconds, brandon1823 called holding JsQh against Chet1028 with KdJh. Chet1028 had to be pleased when he could see that he was nearly a 3-1 favorite in the hand. He was less pleased when the flop revealed a queen, suddenly changing the odds making Chet1028 more than a 5-1 underdog. The community cards paired 7’s and with the queen on the river, brandon1823 would have a full house and the win.

The final table consisted of brandon1823, Chet1028, BUsen716, CLINTEASTWOODfl, Mike Fishcakes, donnie813, IPIPEALOT, Zamboni716 and EBFDEF, finishing in that order. 

brandon1823 has played in all 9 events of the season, finishing in 6th in his opening event, as well as finishing in 3rd in the fourth event of the season, before rallying with a first in PTS #7, a second last week and a win in this event. He is heating up. 

Congratulations go out to brandon1823!!!

A Big Comeback
February 20, 2022

We had 21 players in attendance for the 8th tournament of the 2022 season. This was the only Omaha H/L event of the season and represents the only non-No Limit Holdem event of the season. This is historically the lowest attended event of the season.

Once the two were heads up, brandon1823 had a very sizable lead with 88,012 chips versus 16,988 chips held by AlexCaruso6. Over the course of the heads up battle, AlexCaruso6 made a series of moves allowing her to climb back into the match, eventually to the point where she led brandon1823 89,504 to 15,496. In the final hand, brandon1823 was all in with two pair, queens and nines. AlexCaruso6 held two pair kings and nines and with that, claims her first win of the series. 

The final table consisted of AlexCaruso6, brandon1823, Clinteast72, fass1679, Stakes Steaks, Scorpi0n003, kramdroog, VfrVendetta and El Surfista 8, finishing in that order. 

To date in the 2022 season, 8 different players have won an event. brandon1823 had another solid showing with a 2nd place finish following his win in the previous event. Alex for her part has played in 4 events this season with a 4th, 6th, 19th and 1st. 

Congratulations go out to AlexCaruso6!!!

Let’s Go Brandon
February 6, 2022

We had 30 players in attendance for the 7th tournament of the 2022 season. The night would come down to a battle between the final 2 players who were relative newcomers to the series, donnie813 (who played in his first PTS event) and brandon1823 (who started playing this season). After going heads up for several minutes, brandon1823 had a fairly sizable chip lead, roughly 132K to 18K. Sitting in the small blind, donnie813 calls and brandon1823 checks the big blind of 5,000. The flop is 7h, 9c, 7c. donnie813 promptly bets 5,000 chips and is called. The turn card is a Th. brandon1823 checks and donnie813 moves all in and is snap called by brandon1823. donnie813 revealed 6dQd which amounted to a pair of 7s with a Queen kicker and straight draw should the river reveal an 8. brandon1823 had trip 7’s with a jack kicker, which counterfeited donnie813’s hope for a straight since an 8 would give brandon1823 a larger straight. donnie813 was drawing dead and after the 4h landed on the river, brandon1823 picked up his first tournament win.

The final table consisted of brandon1823, donnie813, prts4days, dolphinz1209, VfrVendetta, shawn19152, BassReeves47, CLINTEASTWOODfl and fass1679, finishing in that order. 

brandon1823 has played in all 7 events of the season, finishing in 6th in his opening event, as well as finishing in 3rd in the fourth event of the season. 

Congratulations go out to brandon1823!!!

Persistance Pay's Off
January 16, 2022

We had 33 players in attendance for our one and only 6-Man tournament of the 2022 season. This event limits tables to a maximum of 6 players. These events tend to allow players to play more hands then they would ordinarily since the blinds come around that much faster. 

We had two newcomers, CLINTEASTWOODfl and IPIPEALOT, finishing in 12th and 22nd respectively. AlexCaruso6 had another good showing making the final table and finishing in 6th. Kramdroog a top five finish last week with another one in this event. Scorpi0n003 built on top of a solid season with a 4th place finish moving him up in the standings in second overall. Clinteast72 made the final table in back-to-back tournaments with a 3rd place finish. 

The night would come down to a battle between the remaining two players, Chet1028 (58,670 in chips) and ElvisDust (106,330 in chips). Coming out of the second break with blinds at 800/1,600, five hands in and Chet1028 evened out the stacks. What happened in the next hand would determine the champion. Chet1028 was in the SB and doubled the blind. ElvisDust called and the flop was Qd5c3d. ElvisDust led out from the BB with a 1,600 chip bet and was quickly called. The Td landed on the turn and ElvisDust checked. Chet1028 bet 5,000 and ElvisDust called. The river revealed a 3s, at which point ElvisDust moved all in for 72,530 and Chet1028 snap called with 8-high flush (7d,8d) which was enough to take down ElvisDust and his trip 3’s. ElvisDust had 60 chips remaining which were resolved in the next few hands, giving Chet1028 his first PTS victory. 

The final table consisted of Chet1028, ElvisDust, Clinteast72, Scorpi0n003, kramdroog and AlexCaruso6, finishing in that order. 

Chet1028 (formerly Mad Dog) has played in 71 tournaments and made it heads up 7 times, finally getting the elusive win. He has finished in the top five 17 times, and made 23 final tables. Chet1028 finished runner up in the 2011 Heads Up Championship (losing to Taztecc7), as well as runner up in the 2020 Series Championship (losing to Tonyc1077). 

Congratulations go out to Chet1028!!!

Zamboni716 Cleans Off the Ice
January 9, 2022

We had 32 players in attendance for our first knockout of the 2022 season. The tournament moved at a quick clip and then slowed down when the field was narrowed down to the final 5-6 players. Knockout events are a typical standard-payout poker tournament similar to a bounty event. Everyone has a price on their head at all times and if you take a player out of the event, you will receive $5 and be awarded a ‘knockout’. This is in addition to the normal payouts at the end of the tournament. Chet1028 had 6 knockouts in one tournament while Mike Fishcakes had 6 knockouts in two different events. The record for the most knockouts was 7, held by mxdad338. Zamboni716 shattered all of those, recording 10 knockouts in this tournament.

Newcomer AlexCaruso6 had a solid showing finishing in 4th. After hanging around as the low stack for much of the final table, kramdroog was finally eliminated by Zamboni716 and finished in 3rd place. That left joytocha (formerly ‘Maximum Joy’) heads up against Zamboni716. Joytocha had the chip lead for quite some time throughout the final table, and that is after she was down to 504 chips at the first break. Zamboni716 enjoyed a 114,601 to 45,399 chip lead when the two started heads up. On the final hand, with joytocha in the small blind. After the calling, and Zamboni716 checked, the flop was 5J6 (all diamonds). After a Zamboni716 check, joytocha led with a 5,000 chip bet. Zamboni716 raised to 20,000. joytocha called. The turn revealed ten of hearts. This time Zamboni716 came out firing with a 22,500 chip bet, enough for joytocha, who called herself all in. She had top pair with a 9 high flush draw. Zamboni716 already made a 10-high flush and couldn’t lose. 

The final table consisted of Zamboni716, joytocha, kramdroog, AlexCaruso6, shawn19152, Stakes Steaks, prts4days, Frankindoodle and Clinteast72, finishing in that order. 

With the victory, Zamboni716 joins 8 others (out of over 200 players) that have achieved at least 5 victory’s. This is in addition to the 38 final tables, 21 cashes, 23 top 5 finishes, appearing heads-up 10 times, including having won the heads up championship in 2012 while finishing runner up in that same event in 2007 and 2008. 

Congratulations go out to Zamboni716!!!

VfrVendetta Buries A Strong Field
December 12, 2021

We had 26 players in attendance for what should have been the first knockout of the 2022 season. That is what we should be talking about. Instead, an error was made in the PokerStars tournament set up that turned this event into a standard No Limit hold’em event just like the 3 events that preceded it. Refunds were offered that turned the event into a $20 buy in event. 26 players represents the smallest event of the season, most likely due to the Bills/Bucs game being played at 4:30 PM and then running into overtime. Please accept my sincerest apologies on the mix up.

The tournament was moving quite quickly and was on pace for an early ending. BassReeves47 was the short stack and would be the first player making the final table that would exit the event. The final table being somewhat volatile would see joytocha who was second in chips exit in 8th, while fass1679 would hang on. Several players were getting knocked out until the event got down to the final three players (VfrVendetta, brandon1823 and fass1679). Shortly thereafter, VfrVendetta would knock brandon1823 out of the tournament, leaving fass1679 in a heads-up match against him. 

Starting out heads-up, VfrVendetta enjoyed a 111,910 to 18,090 chip advantage over fass1679. However, fass1679 doubled up early when he moved all in with A5 and VfrVendetta called with AT after a 5 hit the board. With blinds at 500/1,000 and fass1679 in the big blind, VfrVendetta raised to 2,000 chips, and fass1679 quickly called. With the flop of 7c6cAs, fass1679 moved all in for his remaining 17,680, VfrVendetta called. fass1678 held middle pair with 2s7s. VfrVendetta had him crushed as a 95.2% favorite in the hand with two pair (7hAh). A 2h landed on the turn providing a slight glimmer (a spade would have been preferred). When the 3c landed on the river…the match was over. 

The final table consisted of VfrVendetta, fass1679, brandon1823, Frankindoodle, Mike Fishcakes, Skimeister12, Stakes Steaks, joytocha and BassReeves47, finishing in that order. 

With the victory, VfrVendetta joins 10 others (out of over 200 players) that have achieved at least 4 victory’s. This is in addition to the 37 final tables, 20 cashes, 22 top 5 finishes, appearing heads-up 9 times, including being ranked as the series points leader at the end of the 2011 campaign. 

Congratulations go out to VfrVendetta!!!

Taztecc7 Wins His Fourth Tournament
November 21, 2021

30 players attended the 3rd event of the 2022 season. This event featured a number of players that have multiple tournament victories including the top 6 players in wins historically. 

The event, like many tournaments, had different players dominating at various times within the tournament. ElvisDust jumped out to a big early lead. Scorpi0n003 also had a commanding chip stack. Randbo716 returned to a solid finish and Frankindoodle continued to pour on the pressure with all in moves that forced his opponents to decide whether they were feeling lucky, or not. 

Once down to three players, Scorpi0n003, Taztecc7 and BabyG717 were nearly even in chips with only 8,000 chips separating first and third place. BabyG717 was first out being the low stack after taking some substantial losses, basically being forced all in after the big blind consumed most of what she had left. Scorpi0n003 had over 94,000 chips as compared to Taztecc7’s 54,000. That is when Taztecc7 went to work. 

A dozen hands or more went by and Taztecc7 was successful in slowly bleeding chips off of Scorpi0n003 until the point where Scorpi0n003 had around 80,000 remaining. There was some preflop aggression between the two and then they flopped 8sTh2s. More betting and calling ensued and an 8h turned. After the pot grew to over 51,600 chips, Scorpi0n003 moved all in with his remaining 55,450 chips, which would put Taztecc7 if called since he only had 42,950 remaining. Scorpi0n003 revealed AJ, while Taztecc7 turned over 8J (3 of a kind), and was a lock to win the hand, leaving Scorpi0n003 with 12,500 chips against 137,500. Taztecc7 would win shortly after that.

The final table consisted of Taztecc7, Scorpi0n003, BabyG717, Frankindoodle, Randbo716, Chet1028, Kielo_Z, Fetti0011 and VfrVendetta, finishing in that order. 

With the victory, Taztecc7 joins 9 others (out of over 200 players) that have achieved at least 4 victory’s. This is in addition to the 15 final tables, 10 cashes, 10 top 5 finishes, appearing as the final 3 in 7, including winning the heads-up championship in 2011 as well as Series Champion in 2012.

Congratulations go out to Taztecc7!!!

Frankindoodle Stands Tall
November 7, 2021

The 2nd event of the 2022 season showcased 28 players, while still missing many regulars from previous seasons. The tournament moved at a brisk pace and delivered plenty of action. 

Once down to the final table, there was a collection of many of the series consistent finishers (31 tournament victories by players at this final table). Taztecc7 rejoined the series and made it to the final table. A series regular when we were doing in person play, Taztecc7 has a resume of having played in 29 events, with 13 final tables, 9 cashes, 9 top 5 finishes, appearing as the final 2 in 6 tournaments with 3 tournament wins, including winning the heads up championship in 2011 as well as Series Champion in 2012 (and nearly repeating in 2013, losing to Frankindoodle). 

Once down to three players, BassReeves47, Frankindoodle and InterpolBlue were nearly even in chips with 46,858, 42,687 and 50,455 chips respectively. That is when one of the more notable hands occurred. InterpolBlue holding pocket fours found himself against Frankindoodle who held TJ with a flop of 46J. Frankindoodle then went runner runner Jacks to hit quads over InterpolBlue’s full house, leaving InterpolBlue seriously short stacked and giving the advantage over to Frankindoodle who would finish him off shortly there after.

Being out-chipped 43-1 on the last hand, BassReeves47 moved all in with 2T against Frankindoodle’s AQ. Not getting any help, BassReeves47 would be out in second, and allowing Frankindoodle to claim his first win of the 2022 season, and 5th lifetime win. 

The final table consisted of Frankindoodle, BassReeves47, InterpolBlue, fass1679, El Surfista 8, dolphinz1209, d-trainbuffalo, joytocha and Taztecc7, finishing in that order. 

With the victory, Frankindoodle joins 7 others (out of over 200 players) that have achieved at least 5 victory’s. 

Congratulations go out to Frankindoodle!!!

2022 Season Opener
October 24, 2021

The 11th season of the Poker Tournament Series resumed with the 2022 campaign. The season opener had a record 34 players participating online at PokerStars for this series. The only season opener that was larger was back in the 2011 season when we had 39 players in a basement on 10/23/2010 (nearly 11 years ago to the day). The largest tournament in the Poker Tournament Series remains at 50 players on 12/13/2008 during the 2009 season. That was another live event with players crammed in a basement and some in a dining room. 

Also notable was the 8 new players (5 new to the series) as well as 3 returning players:

dolphinz1209 (formerly ‘Cara’). She returned to the series having totaled 2 ‘Top 5’ finishes, 2 finishes in the money and 5 final tables in 10 events played.

joytocha (formerly ‘Maximum Joy’). Joy returned to the series having won a tournament, making it to heads up in 3 events, with 10 ‘Top 5’ finishes, 9 finishes in the money and 22 final tables in 50 events played.

HairZilla (formerly ‘I Hate Cheese’). She returned to the series having made it to heads up 2 times, totaling 9 ‘Top 5’ finishes, 5 finishes in the money, 20 final table finishes in 37 events played. Additionally, HairZilla is the 2008 Series Champion and points leader and ranks 6th all time out of 207 players in the history of the series.

Despite the size of the tournament, it finished up in a fair amount of time. Busen716 and newcomer Kielo_Z rose to the top of the leaderboard early and stayed near the top for the majority of the tournament, along with Clinteast72 who exited in 10th. 

Once down to four players, Kielo_Z and fass1679 held nearly 75% of the chips in play with stacks of 57,592 and 68,618 respectively. dolphinz1209 would be the next player out in 4th. A short time later, Kielo_Z would move all in with K7 and get called by Busen716 who had him dominated with A7. The A7 would hold on and Kielo_Z would exit in 3rd place. Busen716 had a 3-1 chip advantage against fass1679 once heads up began. A crucial hand early in heads up occurred when fass1679 pushed all in with AK and Busen716 called him with pocket Jacks. Two queens flopped and were turned by a 4. An ace landed on the river keeping hope alive for fasss1679. Busen716 would claw his way back within 20,000 chips. The final hand of the tournament occurred with Busen716 calling in the small blind. The flop was 4,2,Q (two spades). fass1679 moved in with a large bet and after some thought, Busen716 called himself all in holding 5s6s (43.3% to win the hand). fass1679 held 9hQs and a 56.7% favorite advantage. The turn was a jack of diamonds. Only a 3 or a spade would keep Busen716 alive. An 8 of hearts landed on the river giving fass1679 the win. 

The final table consisted of fass1679, BUsen716, Kielo_Z, dolphinz1208, prts4days, brandon1823, El Surfista 8, Skimeister12 and Stakes Steaks, finishing in that order. 

With the victory, fass1679 achieves his 7th career victory. 

Congratulations go out to fass1679!!!

shawn1915 Breaks Records En Route To Winning The 2021 Series Championship
June 20, 2021

The 2021 season would be concluded with the completion of the Series Championship. This event was an invitational only tournament where the top 18 players in the standings all competed for the opportunity of being crowned series champion, as well as the accompanied winnings of such an honor. 

The top 4 players in the standings were sitting together at the first table, yet it was the second table that contained much of the action with the first 3 players eliminated all coming from table #2. 

By the time there were 6 players remaining in the event, the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th ranked players in the standings were all still alive. Fetti0011 went out on the bubble, followed by 2020 Series Champion Tonyc1077 and kramdroog. This left shawn1915 (ranked 1st), mxdad338 (ranked 3rd) and El Surfista 8 (ranked 5th) in the final 3. shawn1915 began driving the action, taking chips from the remaining two players. Eventually, mxdad338 would bow out in 3rd place.

Once the tournament was heads up, the event would feature the two players tied for the most number of career victories (both sitting at 8 wins). Once play resumed, El Surfista 8 (25,997 chips) started to take his shots going after shawn1915 (64,023 chips), hoping to turn the momentum in his favor. In the final hand shawn1915 enjoyed a heathy 3-2 chip advantage while sitting in the small blind (blinds at 500/1,000). Leading out with doubling the blind (2,000), shawn1915 is called by El Surfista 8. The flop is 4s, Qc, 6c, and El Surfista 8 checks. shawn1915 bets 2,000 chips and is called. The turn displays a 9s. El Surfista 8 leads out betting 6,000 chips into an 8,250 chip pot. shawn2915 moves El Surfista 8 all in and is quickly called. El Surfista 8 holds two pair (queens and fours) and is a 4-1 favorite in the hand over shawn1915’s AQ (pair of queens). shawn1915’s remaining outs were an ace, six or nine (9 cards in total remaining in the deck). The river was a 6 of spades, giving shawn1915 the win with two pair (queens and sixes with an ace kicker) over El Surfista 8’s two pair (queens and sixes with a 9 kicker). 

The final table consisted of shawn1915, El Surfista 8, mxdad338, kramdroog, Tonyc1077, Fetti0011, ElvisDust, Zamboni716 and prts4days, finishing in that order.

This was shawn1915’s FIFTH win of the 2021 season (9th win lifetime), and second major championship (previously winning the heads-up championship in 2009). The stat line that shawn1915 created this season was staggering: 5 wins (most ever in a season), making it to heads up 6 times, top five 8 times with 9 final tables in 16 events played. He also won more money this season than any player before him. The 2021 season stands out as the single greatest performance by a player in the history of the series. 

Huge Congratulations to shawn1915, 2021 Series Champion!!!

Fetti0011 wins his first major victory, taking down the 2021 Heads Up Championship
June 13, 2021

The 2021 Heads Up Championship featured the top 16 players in the series. In seasons past, this tournament would be played out in a bracketed format where the #1 seed faced off against the #8 seed, #2 versus #7, #3 versus #6 and #4 versus #5. This year however, with the field opening up to the top 16, controlling seeding would be a task that would inevitably be played out over 5-6 days which was unworkable. Therefore, this was a straight shootout style tournament where PokerStars determined the pairings when the tournament began.

*Shawn1915 (ranked #1), defeated Chet1028 (ranked 8th)
*El Surfista 8 (ranked 6th), defeated gatorz888 (ranked 13th)
*Fetti0011 (ranked 7th), defeated Zamboni716 (ranked 11th)
*VfrVendetta (ranked 16th), defeated Scorpi0n003 (ranked 4th)
*BassReeves47 (ranked 14th), defeated Mike Fishcakes (ranked 12th)
*Mondaymadness77 (ranked 15th), defeated TonyC1077 (ranked 5th)
*Kramdroog (ranked 9th), defeated mxdad338 (ranked 3rd)
*fass1679 (ranked 10th), defeated Stakes Steaks (ranked 2nd)

In the quarterfinals, shawn1915 defeated El Surfista 8, Fetti0011 defeated VfrVendetta, BassReeves47 defeated Mondaymadness77 and kramdroog defeated fass1679. At this point in the tournament, down to the final four players, all were in the money. The winners would play for the championship and the losers would tie for 3rd place, each taking home money.

Fetti0011 would take down his match with shawn1915 and kramdroog would defeat BassReeves47. That ultimately led to the final table. #7 Fetti0011 versus #9 kramdroog. 

Early in the final table, with blinds at 15/30, kramdroog held a 812 chip advantage (each player began the contest with 3,000). Fetti0011 in the small blind raised to 90 and kramdroog called. The flop was JdKhJh. kramdroog leads out with a 94 chip bet into a 188 chip pot and Fetti0011 called. The turn revealed the Qh. kramdroog immediately moved all in for 3,222 chips and Fetti0011 quickly called. kramdroog made a heart flush (holding 7h6h) yet was drawing dead against quad jacks (Fetti0011 holding JcJs). kramdroog would make some noise later in the event (even doubling up), however this was the hand that really defined it. Fetti0011 held over a 6-1 chip lead advantage. The final hand of the tournament, with Fetti0011 holding nearly a 4-1 chip advantage, kramdroog would fall when he had a pair of jacks against a straight. 

This was Fetti0011’s first win of the 2021 season, and first major championship (all heads up championships, Series Championships and Tournament of Champions are considered majors). This also represented Fetti0011’s second lifetime win. Fetti0011 has jumped into 4th place in the standings after amassing 6 final tables, 6 cashes, 6 top 5 finishes, and a win after going 4-0 in the event.

Congratulations to Fetti0011, 2021 Heads Up Champion!!!

shawn1915 wins his 8th career tournament
June 6, 2021

The final open tournament of the 2021 season allowed 24 players trying to solidify their positions in the standings with hopes to finish in the top 18 in order to qualify the season ending series championship which will be held on June 20th. The top 16 players will qualify for the heads-up championship which will be held next week (June 13th).

The event was also the final knockout tournament (3rd of three) of the year. Players eliminating others from the tournament each earned $5 per knockout. This type of event rewards aggressive players. Additionally, the top 5 players earned payouts based on finish. After Fetti0011 was knocked out in 5th, Mike Fishcakes, who was chip leader at several different times in the tournament, was knocked out in 4th place, but not before eliminating 6 other players. Stakes Steaks, who has been chasing shawn1915 most of the year for that top spot, challenged him in this event as well, going out in 3rd place. 

Reaching heads up, prts4days faced off against shawn1915. The two would battle for 25 minutes and would endure multiple lead changes. Shawn1915 started with a sizable chip lead, (96,227 to 23,773). Over time, prts4days would chip away, eventually taking the lead. The two would swap the lead a few times for the remainder of the match. 

In the final hand, prts4days and shawn1915 were nearly dead even in chips. shawn1915 had an 2,804 chip advantage (out of 120,000 chips in play). shawn1915 was in the small blind (800/1,600), and doubled it to 3,200. prts4days raised to 10,000 and shawn1915 reraised all in. prts4days quickly called and revealed pocket queens (both red). shawn1915 was well behind with a legitimate hand of his own, holding pocket jacks (both black). prts4days was a 4-1 favorite in the hand. The flop was Kd4cAd. Still well ahead, prts4dayswas looking to avoid a jack on the turn. The turn showed a ten of spades. Now, the only cards that could save shawn1915 was one of the two remaining queens. Which is exactly what the river would produce (queen of clubs). That gave shawn1915 the straight over prts4days 3 queens and his 8th lifetime win (4th win this season alone). 

The final table consisted of shawn1915, prts4days, Stakes Steaks, Mike Fishcakes, Fetti0011, Zamboni716, VfrVendetta, BassReeves47 and fass1679, finishing in that order.

shawn1915 has been tearing it up all season long, making the final table 8 times, top 5 six times, cashing in six tournaments, making heads up 5 times, winning 4 of those events. What a year!!! Winning his 8th career tournament puts him in a tie for first in the number of tournaments won lifetime with El Surfista 8, however reaching that milestone in 54 fewer tournaments played. In fact, shawn1915 has won 15.7% of the tournaments he has played in, most of these events having 24+ players participating. 

Congratulations go out to shawn1915!!!

BassReeves47 Brings Justice With Him For His First Tournament Victory
May 23, 2021

The 13th tournament of the 2021 season showcased 23 players looking to solidify their positions in the standings with hopes to finish in the top 18 in order to qualify the season ending series championship which will be held on June 20th. The top 16 players will qualify for the heads up championship which will be held the week prior (June 13th).

Four players that started playing in the series in 2021 made it to the final table (Clinteast72, EBFDEF, U4Life and BassReeves47). Additionally, multiple players making the final table represented the top of the leaderboard; shawn1915 (currently ranked #1), Stakes Steaks (ranked #2), Tonyc1077 (ranked tied for 3rd) and Fetti0011 (ranked 9th). VfrVendetta, while holding the 17th place in the standings, has only participated in 7 events and sported 5 final tables. 

Reaching heads up, U4Life (playing in his first PTS event) faced off against BassReeves47 who has been having a strong season. The two would battle for 26 minutes and would endure multiple lead changes with each trading heavy shots in an effort to knock one another out.

In the final hand, BassReeves47 would have a 70,698 to 44,302 chip advantage over U4Life. The blinds were at 1,000/2,000 and BassReeves47 was in the big blind. U4Life would double the big blind and BassReeves47 called. The flop was QdJs4d. BassReeves47 checked and U4Life bet 2,000 followed by a call. The 9 of spades landed on the turn. Once again, BassReeves47 checked. U4Life lead out with a bet roughly half the size of the pot. BassReeves47 doubled the 6,000 chip bet with a reraise and U4Life moved all in. BassReeves47 called. BassReeves47 made a straight to the queen (holding Tc8s) and U4Life held a pair of 9s (3d9d) and a flush draw with one final card to come. The river would bring a 4 of spades to give BassReeves47 his first PTS win. 

The final table consisted of BassReeves47, U4Life, Fetti0011, VfrVendetta, Tonyc1077, EBFDEF, Stakes Steaks, shawn1915 and Clinteast72, finishing in that order.

BassReeves47 has played in 10 events this season, making 4 final tables, 3 finishes in the top 5 (3 finished in the money as well), 2 heads up and 1 win. Also fitting was that it was also BassReeves47's birthday. 

shawn1915 remains first in the standings, while Stakes Steaks jumped into 2nd, knocking mxdad338 in a tie for 3rd with Tonyc1077 who moved up from 5th. El Surfista 8 dropped from 4th to 5th and is only one point ahead of Scorpi0n003 in 6th. Chet1028 holds in 7th, kramdroog moved up one spot to 8th and Fetti0011 moved up two places to 9th. Lastly, gatorz888 fell from 8th to 10th to round out the top 10. 

Happy Birthday and congratulations go out to BassReeves47!!!

Tonyc1077 wins his 5th lifetime tournament
May 16, 2021

The 12th tournament of the 2021 season sported 26 players competing for some quick cash as well as moving up the ladder in the standings in hopes of qualifying for the heads up championship as well as the season ending series championship. The top 16 players will qualify for the heads up championship, while the field is expanded by 2 players to allow the top 18 into the series championships.

The tournament was moving at a steady pace with 7 players having been eliminated by the first break, while another 15 players would exit before the second break. The tournament appeared to be poised to end far earlier than the standard 2.5-hour event. However, as is often the case, the pace can change at an instant and it did once we were down to two players. 

shawn1915 and Tonyc1077 are extremely dangerous players that often find themselves in these exact positions. They started their heads up battle at 20 minutes past the 2nd break and finished 7 minutes after the 3rd break. 

The two would spar with each taking large chip leads, followed by some parity in chip stacks only to see the advantage sway again to the opposite player. Towards the end, with a 12-1 advantage, Tonyc1077 would call shawn1915’s preflop all in. shawn1915, holding J7o, would face Tonyc1077 and his ATo. Tony1077 had a 64.5% to 35.5% advantage to win the hand. The flop was Qd3dAh, giving Tony1077 over a 97% chance to win the hand. A king would land on the turn improving shawn1915’s ability to survive to nearly 7%, however he wouldn’t hit the magical 10 needed to make a straight and stay alive and Tonyc1077 would win the event. 

The final table consisted of Tonyc1077, shawn1915, Mondaymadness77, ElvisDust, Chet1028, Scorpi0n003, fass1679, prts4days and Frankindoodle, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was Tonyc1077’s first this season and his 5th lifetime win. This was the 10th event Toy1077 participated in this season and he has made the final table in half of those tournaments. 

Other notes, Chet1028 has been running hot as of late, finishing with two 5th’s, a 6th and an 8th in his last 4 appearances. Mondaymadness77 made another final table with his 3rd place tournament, his 6th this year in 9 events played. Small changes in the standings this week with shawn1915 moving up two spots to regain first place, mxdad338 dropping to second place, Stakes Steaks dropping one spot to 3rd, El Surfista 8 holding his spot at 4th and with the win, Tonyc1077 moving up from 8th to 5th.

Congratulations go out to Tonyc1077!!!

The Good, the Bad and the Victorious
May 2, 2021

The series is down to its final 4 open events of the season…and then the post season will begin. PTS #11 had 25 players (1 below the average of 26 entrants this season) competing for a place in the top 18 needed to qualify for the series championships. We enjoyed having the return of 2 time tournament winner (and tournament of champions victor) PorkchopXpress, as well as a new player to the series who was ready to make a name for himself in Clinteast72.

The tournament was moving at a blistering pace and looked like it would end 30-40 minutes earlier than normal for an event of this size, and then the final table slowed the pace down, particularly once they were down to 7 players. Clinteast72 was successful in knocking out many of the top players in the series, including mxdad338 (current #1 player) and Randbo716 (#1 playing in the final standings in 2020).

In the second to last hand, both players flopped top pair and Clinteast72 eventually got all his chips in. His AQ bested Zamboni716’s A6. In the last hand, having an 18-1 chip lead, Clinteast72 called the all in by Zamboni716 and sealed the deal, claiming the victory.

The final table consisted of Clinteast72, Zamboni716, Stakes Steaks, Randbo716, mxdad338, Chet1028, Tonyc1077, VfrVendetta and gatorz888, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was Clinteast72’s first, in his inaugural outing. This has occurred 10 times in the series history with a player winning in his first tournament entered. Full list below with active players in the series on PokerStars highlighted in red:

Congratulations go out to Clinteast72!!!

mxdad338 carries on the family tradition with 7 knockouts
April 18, 2021

26 players joined the 10th tournament of the 2021 season, in the second knock out event of the season.

The nature of a knockout tournament reward aggressive players who look to get their opponents on all in situations. The top 3 finishers in the event held over half of the players knocked out, including the tournament champion, mxdad338, who was credited with 7 knockouts. The final hand came down to mxdad with a 3-1 chip lead advantage over Scorpi0n003. The flop rewarded Scorpi0n003 with two pair. By the river, Scorpi0n003’s two pair were short against mxdad338’s club flush. Scorpi0n003 moved all in and was called, ending the contest. Knockout tournaments appear to favor mxdad338's family. His brother, Randbo716 is the lifetime leader in knockouts ammased in this style event with 14.

The final table consisted of mxdad338, Scorpi0n003, BassReeves47, kramdroog, Chet1028, ElvisDust, VfrVendetta and Manumaleuna, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was mxdad338’s second lifetime win, while propelling him from 4th place in the standings to 2nd place (1 point behind shawn1915 for the series lead). Mxdad338 has played in all 10 events this season, making the final table 5 times and finishing in the top five 3 times and the second time in 2021 that he has been heads up at the end of the event. 

Congratulations go out to mxdad338!!!

The Knight Returns and is now less than thrilled
April 11, 2021

The 9th tournament of the 2021 season was a special event because it marked the 100th event in series history, starting all the way back in 2006. Hundreds of players have participated, with thousands of dollars being claimed in prize money. To commemorate this milestone, the entry fee was increased to $30 and this would end up being a big stack tournament with each player beginning with 10,000 chips,, instead of 5,000. This tournament also stands out as the first on PokerStars where the attendance for the event reached 30 players. 

BassReeves47 was the chip leader for most of the tournament and consistently applied pressure to his opponents at the table. Finally down to 9 players, 7 of the 9 are players that are in the top 13 in the series. 

The last two players remaining were BassReeves47 and lesthanthrilled (formally known as The Knight). The two would put on a show with wild swings in chips, numerous all in’s and several lead changes, with both players enjoying a 2-1 chip lead over the other at different times. On the last hand of the night, with blinds at 2,500/5,000, the two would see a cheap flop (4s,2h,5c). lesthanthrilled led out with a 15,000 chip bet. BassReeves47 moved all in for his remaining 77K chips, and lesthanthrilled called after giving it some thought. Both players caught a pair of 2’s. lesthanthrilled had BassReeves47 out kicked (holding an ace), while BassReeves47 was open ended. lesthanthrilled had a 71.5% probability to win the hand. The board would turn the king of clubs, and the river provided no help when the 9 of spades landed, leaving lesthanthrilled as the champion of the biggest event of the year. 

The final table consisted of lesthanthrilled, BassReeves47, El Surfista 8, kramdroog, prts4days, Zamboni716, VfrVendetta, Chet1028 and Scorpi0n003, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was lesthanthrilled first lifetime win in 18 events played, his 4th top 5 finish and 7th final table. 

Congratulations go out to lesthanthrilled!!!

El Surfista 8 wins the Pot Limit Omaha H/L event for first win of the season
March 28, 2021

The 8th tournament of the 2021 season offered was the Pot Limit Omaha H/L. We first ran this type of tournament last year and it only had 19 players participating. While there are many similarities between Omaha and Hold’em, the two games are also quite different, and that difference does contribute to the low turnouts. This season, we had 23 players compete. 

Many of the usual suspects would arrive at the final table, including the top 4 in the standings heading in to the weekend (shawn1915, Stakes Steaks, gatorz888 and mxdad338). Once mondaymadness77 left in 6th, the table remained 5 handed for quite some time. This tournament lasted 3.5 hours, which is related to the split pots that are offered in a H/L game. 

The last two players remaining were El Surfista 8 and fass1679. In the third to last hand of the night, with 45K in chips in the pot, El Surfista 8 (who had nearly a 3-1 chip lead), put fass1679 all in with his bet on the river. After thinking about it for some time, and having only 9,125 remaining, fass1679 folded. El Surfista 8 had made a straight and would have made the low hand as well. El Surfista 8 was in a commanding position with over a 16-1 chip advantage for the last hand of the night. El Surfista 8 called the small blind and fass1679 checked. The flop was 8h7hKc. El Surfista 8 led out with a 5,000 chip bet which would put fass1679 all in when he called. El Surfista 8 was a 63% favorite in the hand. The turn card revealed an 8 of spades and the river was the ace of hearts (giving El Surfista 8 a heart flush for the high as well as the low) giving El Surfista 8 the win. 

The final table consisted of El Surfista 8, fass1679, Fetti0011, shawn1915, Stakes Steaks, Mondaymadness77, Manumaleuna, mxdad338 and gatorz888, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was El Surfista 8 first of the 2021 season, and 8th lifetime. 

Congratulations go out to El Surfista 8!!!

Stakes Steaks climbs the standings after a dominating performance
March 14, 2021

The 7th tournament of the 2021 season offered the largest field of the season to date with 28 players. 

One the event was down to the final five players, the chip stacks were relatively close with Zamboni716 in the lead with 37K, followed by El Surfista 8 (36K), mondaymadness77 (31K), gatorz888 (22K) and Stakes Steaks as the low stack with 13K. 

A short time later, mondaymadness77 would be knocked out and the remaining 4 would go around for about 20 minutes until one crucial hand would come up. At this time, Stakes Steaks would be the chip leader, followed by Zamboni716 and gatorz888 and El Surfista 8 hanging on. With some aggressive preflop raising, El Surfista 8 folded and the remaining 3 were all in. Stakes Steaks held pocket aces, Zamboni716 held pocket queens and gatorz888 held pocket kings. There would be no improvements to the hands the three held and Stakes Steaks would take a commanding 9-1 chip lead over El Surfista 8. The two would battle for a couple of hands, however Stakes Steaks wasn’t going to lose on this night and eventually won when he held TJ and called El Surfista 8’s all in move when the flop was TT3.

The final table consisted of Stakes Steaks, El Surfista 8, Zamboni716, gatorz888, Mondaymadness77, Webe5789, Tonyc1077, BassReeves47 and DEAJE, finishing in that order.

This tournament win was Stakes Steaks 1st of the season, and 3rd lifetime. This event also propelled from 6th place in the standings, to second behind only shawn1915. Stakes Steaks mentioned after the tournament, “I dedicate this game to the birthday of shawn1915, but I’m keeping the money.”

Congratulations go out to Stakes Steaks!!!

Shawn1915 Records His 7th All Time Win Against A Respected Rival
February 28, 2021

The 6th tournament of the 2021 season (max of 6 players per table) offered a field of 26 players. 

At the halfway point with 13 players remaining, ElvisDust and Randbo716 were #1 and #2 in chips, while sitting alongside one another (20K and 18K respectively). ElvisDust trailed Randbo716 by a couple thousand chips and flopped a set of 7’s. Unfortunately for Randbo716, he was looking at a set of 5’s and couldn’t get away from the hand. Receiving no help, ElvisDust doubled up. 

VfrVendetta elininated Webe5789 with AT over KT. With fetti0011 all in holding AJ, VfrVendetta held pocket 7’s and flopped a set, Fetti0011 exiting in 5th. Once the table was down to the final 4 players, the quartet would exhange chips for over 45 minutes with no one being eliminated. Finally, with shawn1915 and Stakes Steaks being the short stacks at the table, the two would square off. The loser would either be eliminated or be effectively blinded out in the next hand with almost no chance for a comeback. As the hand played out, shawn1915 would hold on and Stakes Steaks would finish in 4th. 

The tournament would speed up again once down to the final 3. After flopping 2 pair, Zamboni716 got all his chips in against VfrVendetta, who had a single pair at the time, yet held a higher kicker. The board would pair by the river giving VfrVendetta two pair and the higher kicker would send Zamboni716 to the rail. 

VfrVendetta entered heads up with a sizable chip lead over shawn1915. After shawn1915 scored some much needed chips, a pivotal hand took place. With 54,971 chips as compared to VfrVendetta and his 75,029 chip stack, shawn1915 was all in with trip queens on the flop. VfrVendetta had an AT flush draw. The turn produced a club and the river a spade, allowing shawn1915 to double up. This double up gave shawn1915 a 109,942 to 20,058 chip lead. A few hands later, VfrVendetta would double up going all in with 89s versus K7s after the board gave VfrVendetta trip 9’s. 

On the last hand of the night, VfrVendetta would find himself all in with a pair of 4’s. shawn1915 held a pair of 9’s. With the turn and river not providing any assistance, VfrVendetta was eliminated and shawn1915 was awarded his 3rd victory of the 2021 season and his 7th lifetime win, tying him in all time wins with El Surfista 8. 

The final table consisted of shawn1915, VfrVendetta, Zamboni716, Stakes Steaks, Fetti0011 and Webe5789, finishing in that order.

With his entry in this tournament, VfrVendetta started off the 2021 season where he left off. A solid tournament performance. For his part, shawn1915 continued his elite play, cemented himself in the record books and enjoys a 13 point lead over second place leading in to the 7th event of the season.

Congratulations go out to shawn1915!!!

fass1679 Clinches His 6th Win In Last Minute Decision To Play
February 14, 2021

The 5th tournament of the 2021 season was the smallest of the season with only 22 players. 

The event was missing several notables such as Frankindoodle, gatorz888, InterpolBlue, BUsen716, prts4days and Tonyc1077.

fass1679 made a late decision to join the event with 10 minutes remaining in the late registration, having originally planning to skip the event. 

Once the tournament was down to five, Mike Fishcakes had a sizable chip lead (35% of the chips in play). Two players that are having a fantastic start of the 2021 season (kramdroog and mxdad338) were the low stacks with kramdroog going out on the bubble. The next person to exit was mxdad338 in 4th. Scorpi0n003 (currently in 4th in the standings) had another strong tournament finish and left in 3rd. 

Once the event was down to two players (Mike Fishcakes and fass1679), Mike Fishcakes had a 65K to 45K chip lead over fass1679. fass1679 started applying pressure with multiple all in moves. Eventually, while holding pocket 8’s, fass1679 got called. Mike Fishcakes held pocket 5’s. fass1679 flopped an 8 and doubled up on the hand. fass1679 held a 96,574 to 13,426 chip lead. Mike Fishcakes doubled up the very next hand. Shortly after the 3rd break, the two found themselves all in again preflop. Mike Fishcakes held KT and fass1679 led with A9. The flop produced trip 9’s for fass1679 and Mike Fishcakes received no further help. 

The final table consisted of fass1679, Mike Fishcakes, Scorpi0n003, mxdad338, kramdroog, I Is Coco, Webe5789, Mondaymadness77 and Fetti0011, finishing in that order.

This win represented the first tournament victory for fass1679 (formerly known as Fassman) since December 2nd, 2008. fass1679’s also joins InterpolBlue and shawn1915 for the second most lifetime wins all time with his 6th victory.

Congratulations go out to fass1679!!!

InterpolBlue Thrives Late In Seasons First Knockout
January 31, 2021

The 4th tournament of the 2021 season was also our first knockout event of the year. Knockout tournaments are standard no limit hold’em events, however with every player you knock out of the event, you receive an additional $5 in prize money. This incentive typically increases aggressiveness, and this event was no exception with a third of the field eliminated before the first break. 

ElvisDust and prts4days started racking up the knockouts early and were early chip leaders. ElvisDust exited in 10th place and prts4days in 7th. Chet1028 also was active sending his opponents to the rail and built a very large chip lead (45% of the chips in play with 5 players remaining). Chet1028 would also have a tournament high 6 knockouts. Chet1028 ranks 5th all time in knockouts with 11 behind Ranbo716 (14), Mike Fishcakes and prts4days (13 each) and El Surfista 8 (12). 

Fetti0011 had another fantastic finish. Despite this being his 2nd event of the year (he had a 21st and a 5th place finish), this entry into the top 5 continues a trend he has established since playing in the series when it began in 2006. This event was Fetti0011’s 27th all time and this finish was the 14th time he finished in the top 5, which is a very strong stat line. Mike Fishcakes and gatorz888 had strong finishes. 

The night ended with two players however, Chet1028 chasing his first victory and InterpolBlue looking to get one win closer to the most lifetime wins in the series. The were relatively even in chips when they went heads up. The lead would swing back and forth a couple of times with each player holding a 3-1 chip lead over the other. The final hand would occur with 3,500 chips separating the players. With a total of 10,200 chips in the pot and a completed board showing Qd5h7h2hTd, Chet1028 moved all in (60,603 chips). InterpolBlue quickly called with an ace high flush (Ah6h) and earned his 1st victory of the season. Also with the victory, InterpolBlue joins shawn1915 for the second most lifetime wins all time with his 6th victory.

The final table consisted of InterpolBlue, Chet1028, gatorz888, Mike Fishcakes, Fetti0011, Scorpi0n003, prts4days, mondaymadness77 and El Surfista 8, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to InterpolBlue!!!

Epic Battle
January 17, 2021

The 10th season of the Poker Tournament Series continued with the 3rd event of the season with 25 players battling it out, securing their place in the series standings. Two of those players rejoined the series, Fetti0011 (former username was Sean F) and MonzMiracle (former username was Montani). 

27 former tournament wins were represented among the 9 players that made it to the final table; A collection of heavy hitters that included 3 players in a tie for 2nd place in all time wins (5 wins). 

Once the final five were in the money, the field hit the second break of the night. Shortly there after, Skimeister12 was eliminated, followed by the reigning champion, Tonyc1077. By this time, mondaymadness77 had been enjoying a monster chip lead, over 60% of the chips in play. His lead would grow when he gambled, calling all in on the turn assuming that his high card flush draw was ahead in the hand. It wasn’t as a pair was enough to knock him out when the river came up dry.

The tournament now heads up, those still watching were treated with a front seat class in poker from two experienced tournament champions. mondaymaddness77 entered the tournament with 3 wins in 15 tournaments played lifetime, while shawn1915 was one of 4 players tied for the second most tournament wins in the series history (5 wins). mondaymadness77 had an 9-1 chip lead a couple of different times. shawn1915 would begin chopping in to that lead, like a lumberjack taking down a tree, not trying to take it down with one swing of the ax, but with taking a little win here, a little win there. 

Eventually, shawn1915 would take the lead. It would always be short lived as mondaymadness77 would roar back and regain his status with a dominant chip lead. The two would go back and forth, both enjoying sizable chip leads over the other. The battle lasted for over an hour, with the two of them countering punch for punch, each refusing to give in. 45,395 chips sat in from of mondaymadness77 on the last hand of the tournament, with 79,605 sitting in front of shawn1915. After some preflop betting, the flop revealed 9d5d8h. mondaymadness77 flopped an open-ended straight draw and moved all in with shawn1915 calling while holding AdJd (flush draw and high card). A king of spades and an 8 of clubs would finish the hand, delivering shawn1915 with his 6th lifetime win, and 2nd win of the 2021 season. 

The final table consisted of shawn1915, mondaymadness77, InterpolBlue, Tonyc1077, Skimeister12, mxdad338, MonzMiracle, prts4days and fass1679, finishing in that order.

With the victory, shawn1915 separates himself from the pack and emerges 1 win away from tying for the most wins all time with his 6th victory.

Congratulations go out to shawn1915!!!

First Blood for Randbo716
January 3, 2021

The 10th season of the Poker Tournament Series continued with the 2nd event of the young season with 27 players battling it out, securing their place in the series standings. 

Of the 27 players in the tournament, 14 had previously won an event and 12 were multiple event champions. The players that finished in the money were ElvisDust, Frankindoodle, Randbo716, Stakes Steaks and Tonyc1077. Three of those players hold 4 wins a piece. 

ElvisDust was seeking his second tournament win, having won his first on January 10th 2009 and found himself heads up against Randbo716. The style of both players ensured a quick finish with multiple opportunities where all of the chips were in the center of the table. The lead swung back and forth a few times before eventually the showdown occurred that would finish the tournament. Randbo716 and his AJ were enough to complete the task. 

Randbo716 proceeded to follow up on his highly successful 2020 campaign where he amassed 4 tournament wins with a win. His last win was only 5 months ago on July 19th 2020. 

The final table consisted of Randbo716, ElvisDust, Stakes Steaks, Tonyc1077, Frankindoodle, Webe5789, El Surfista 8, Hyperactive312 and shawn1915, finishing in that order.

With the victory, Randbo716 joins a select group of players that won at least 5 tournaments (Baldric, El Surfista 8, fass1679, InterpolBlue and shawn1915). Randbo716 has won his 5 tournaments in only 18 events played lifetime. 

Congratulations go out to Randbo716!!!

2021 Season Opener
December 20, 2020

The 10th season of the Poker Tournament Series resumed with the 2021 campaign. Like the 2020 season, the series remains virtual via PokerStars.net (a departure from the first 8 seasons, 2006-2013 that were in person events). 

The season opener had 23 players participating with several notables that were absent, namely Randbo716, VfrVendetta, PorkchopXpress, Mondaymadness77, BUKN8KD and Zamboni716, just to name a few. 

The tournament started off slowly without any wild chip stack swings, but eventually closed down to two tables after the first 5 people were eliminated. Once the tournament closed its first table, shawn1915 had more chips in front of him then his 2nd and 3rd place rivals combined, and he used that chip stack to exert pressure on his opponents. 

A notable hand occurred when prts4days flopped a straight while BUsen716 flopped set of 8's. This would force both players to make moves with prts4days moving all in and BUsen716 calling. The set of 8’s for BUsen716 improved to a full house sending prts4days to the rail. 

MXDad338 made a run to take the chip lead with shawn1915 in 2nd. The lead would change a few times with the pair holding 67% of the chips in play with 6 players remaining. Skimeister12 bubbled out and the play began to open up. With 5 remaining, shawn1915 was the only player that had a PTS tournament victory, having won 4 of them to date. gatorz888, BUsen716 and Manumaleuna all were eliminated by the large stacks leaving MXDad338 and shawn1915 to battle it out. The two played heads up for over 30 minutes after starting off relatively even in chips, with MXDad338 having a slight lead, 59,636 to 55,364 for shawn1915. MXDad338 would eventually take a 93K to 22K chip lead, pounding away at shawn1915. 

As the heads up battle continued, shawn1915 would begin to close the gap down to a 69K-46K advantage for MXDad338. Then, in the biggest hand of the night, shawn1915 would find himself all in with pocket 5’s on a flop of 965 against pocket 4’s for MXDad338. A 2 would land on the turn giving MXDad a remote flicker of hope, however the 101K pot would slide in front of shawn1915 with a queen on the river. After MXDad338 would double up, the match would end a short time later when MXDad338 find himself all in holding Q9o against QJs (spades) and a table showing Qh3sAs, 7s, Tc.

The final table consisted of shawn1915, mxdad338, Manumaleuna, BUsen716, gatorz888, Skimeister12, Frankindoodle, Hyperactive312 and Scorpi0n003, finishing in that order. 

With the victory, shawn1915 joins a select group of players that won at least 5 tournaments (Baldric, El Surfista 8, fass1679 and InterpolBlue). 

Congratulations go out to shawn1915!!!

Tournament of Champions
November 8, 2020

The tournament of champions is a standalone tournament that is reserved for players that have won a tournament previously. The plan is to roll this tournament out every other year. The points from the finishes do not go toward any specific season as the tournament itself isn’t tied to a season. This was our inaugural event and we had 14 players representing 42 tournament victories. Notable absences were Baldric and InterpolBlue (each owning 5 tournament victories). 

In his first year in the series, PorkchopXpress bested a difficult field of players and collected his 2nd series victory.

The final table consisted of PorkchopXpress, prts4days, Stakes Steaks, Mondaymadness77, Mike Fishcakes, shawn1915, Queen5OffSuit, Skimeister12 and Tonyc1077, finishing in that order. 

Congratulations go out to PorkchopXpress, 2020 Tournament of Champions victor!!!

A Champion is Crowned
August 30, 2020

The 2020 season all came down to one final tournament; the 2020 Seasonal Championship. The top 9 players in the standings after the heads-up championship were invited and attended. Of the 15 tournament wins throughout the season, 12 of those wins were represented in this tournament. Additionally, the 9 players in this event represent 30 tournament wins in the history of the series. 

This event started off slow as players took time to feel one another out. The tournament combined all of the player fees collected throughout the year and added those into the payouts for this $40 buy in event. The first place prize was $500. 

The fireworks started in a hand with VfrVendetta and Chet1028. A set of queens wasn’t enough for VfrVendetta to take Chet1028 out when Chet1028 hit runner-runner to catch a flush. That left VfrVendetta down under 500 chips. A short time later, VfrVendetta would double up with AT over Queen5OffSuit and his 24s. Tonyc1077 was down to as few as 463 chips before doubling up off of InterpolBlue. Later, VfrVendetta holding A4, would find himself all in against El Surfista 8 and his pocket jacks. The jacks would hold and VfrVendetta would be the first victim of the night.

Another crucial hand came when Chet1028 held pocket jacks and doubled up off of El Surfista 8 and his pocket tens. shawn1915 was all in preflop against Tonyc1077 and was behind. After the flop gave shawn1915 the advantage, Tonyc1077 hit a flush on the river to knock him out. 

Things began to speed up with the low stacks pushing all in on multiple hands. Queen5OffSuit took out InterpolBlue. Chet1028, in a remarkable hand with a ton of action from multiple players, took out both Randbo716 and Stakes Steaks. Queen5OffSuit then doubled up off of El Surfista 8 when his pocket aces held against El Surfista 8 and his AK. A short time after that, El Surfista 8, as the short stack, would lose as he walked in to Queen5OffSuit and his pocket kings. Queen5OffSuit, finding himself short stacked in a 3 handed game, would move all in with KJ against Tonyc1077 and his pocket 7’s. The 7’s held and the tournament was heads up.

Tonyc1077 enjoyed the chip lead against Chet1028, 15,153 to 11,847. A short time later, Tonyc1077 would add to that advantage, increasing his lead to over 2-1. In the final hand, an all in Chet1028 would hit 2nd pair (9’s) against Tonyc1077 and his kings. The hand would only strengthen for Tonyc1077 when he would complete the flush by the river. 

The championship victory would be Tonyc1077’s second lifetime, the first in 2011. The win would also represent Tonyc1077’s 4th all time. Capping off this remarkable season, Tonyc1077 moved into second place behind Randbo716. Additionally, he was second in money won at $1,041. In 14 tournaments played, Tonyc1077 would make 10 final tables, cash 7 times, make the top 5 six times, heads up 3 times with 2 victories. 

The championship itself was a final table and consisted of Tonyc1077, Chet1028, Queen5OffSuit, El Surfista 8, Stakes Steaks, Randbo716, InterpolBlue, shawn1915 and VfrVendetta, finishing in that order. 

Congratulations go out to Tonyc1077, 2020 PTS Champion!!!

There's no need to fear, Underdog is here
August 24, 2020

The 2020 Heads Up Championship featured the top 8 players in the series in a bracketed format where the #1 seed faced off against the #8 seed, #2 versus #7, #3 versus #6 and #4 versus #5. This event was played on 3 different day to accommodate schedules as well as PokerStars daily tournament restrictions. What was unique about this event was that it was good to be the underdog. The lower seed won every match with the exception of the 4v5 match up.

In the first match, #7 seed El Surfista 8 came out on top against #2 seed VfrVendetta. In one spectacular hand, VfrVendetta holding a straight (7,6,5,4,3) with no flush showing on the board, laid down the hand against a full house (fives full of sevens). 

Three matches were played on Sunday night. #1 seed Randbo716 fell to InterpolBlue (8th seed) when his pocket aces were cracked against InterpolBlue’s two pair (5s and 7s). The next two matches were a roller coaster of emotions with each player enjoying a large lead as well as experiencing life as the low stack. The two matches were a slugfest that took quite a bit of time before they completed. Chet1028 bested shawn1915 hitting some miraculous cards to come from behind. On the other table, Tony1077 slugged it out and eventually came out on top against Queen5OffSuit.

In the semi-final matches on Monday, Tony1077 had an open ended straight flush draw against InterpolBlue, who made a full house that improved to quads on the river. El Surfista 8 took an early lead over Chet1028. Chet1028 roared back and took the lead back, however he would later succumb when El Surfista 8 hit a run of cards. 

The final table was the fastest of the tournament, lasting only 19 hands. El Surfista 8 made an error by pushing pocket 7’s against InterpolBlue’s two pair. In the end, InterpolBlue and his pocket kings would seal the championship. 

This was InterpolBlue’s second win of the 2020 season, and became the first person to win the Heads Up Championship tournament twice, first doing it in 2007 (under the username JayLeft). InterpolBlue also was a runner up in 2012 in the same event. The win was InterpolBlue’s 5th all time, placing him in a tie for second place in wins with Baldrik and Fass1679.

Congratulations to InterpolBlue, 2020 Heads Up Champion!!!

The 2020 Heads Up Championship Seeding is set
August 18, 2020

The 2020 Heads Up Championship will feature the top 8 players in the standings going head to head in single elimination matches. 

Bracket

This year's HU Championship contains many interesting first round match ups, including a rematch of the 2010 loser bracket match between VfrVendetta (who ultimately finished in 3rd) and El Surfista 8 (formally The Z Man who finished in 7th). This years field will feature former heads up champions from 2007 and runner up in 2012 (InterpolBlue, formally JayLeft), 2008 (El Surfista 8) and 2009, Shawn1915. The tournament will also feature the runner up in 2011 (Chet1028, formerly Mad Dog). 

Other players include Randbo716 who is currently ranked 1st, VfrVendetta (currently 2nd overall), Tonyc1077 in 4th place (finished 3rd in 2009) and Queen5OffSuit making his debut, ranked 5th overall.

Good luck to all participants.

Regular Season Final
August 16, 2020

The 14th and final regular tournament of the season (last of 3 knockout events) blasted off to a very fast start as the field of 19 was cut down to 15 in the first 23 minutes of play with 4 players exiting early. 

Some notable hands were: 

• Chet1028 and his pocket aces besting fass1679 and his pocket kings. 
• VfrVendetta took out Zamboni716 when his flopped two pair (Queens and Eights) held against Zamboni716’s pair of queens with a jack kicker. 
• Later in the tournament, El Surfista 8 (AQ) and Scorpi0n003 (KJ) were all in against Mike Fishcakes (AT). Scorpi0n003 caught a pair of kings and held to nearly triple up and knock out El Surfista 8 in the process. 
• Chet1028 and his K5s came from behind to double up off of Randbo716 and his pocket tens. Shortly thereafter, Chet1028 finished taking Randbo716’s chips when his A9 held against Randbo716’s KJ. 

Once the field was four handed, with everyone alive making the money, the chip stacks were fairly even with the leader (shawn1915) sitting with 16,496 and the short stack (Scorpi0n003) with 12,243. Chet1028 had 14,954 and Queen5OffSuit with 13,307. The first to exit was shawn1915 when he hit a set of 5’s on the flop, only to be rivered by Queen5OffSuit with a set of kings. 

After taking some hits and finding himself on the verge of elimination, Scorpi0n003 started to go to work. First was doubling up off of Chet1028 with K9s over Chet1028 and his Q4o, then again with J8s over Queen5OffSuit and his A2o, and lastly against Chet1028 again with his Q8o over Chet1028 and his Q9o when Scorpi0n003 flopped and 8 and later two pair (queens and eights) over Chet1028 and his two pair (queens and fives). The provided Scorpi0n003 to take the chip lead with 30,124. Queen5OffSuit had 21,220 and Chet1028 was the short stack with 5,656. 

In one of the biggest hands of the night, Scorpi0n003 walked in to a made flush on the flop while holding what would have been a higher flush with another diamond that didn’t come. In taking Scorpi0n003 out, Queen5OffSuit took what appeared to be an overwhelming lead over Chet1028. Enjoying nearly a 5-1 advantage in chips, the two players engaged in some aggressive play. Chet1028 doubled up when he rivered a pair of aces that defeated Queen5OffSuit and his pair of kings. Chet1028 would double up again a short time later turning two pair (fives and jacks) against Queen5OffSuit and his fives with an ace kicker. With only 1,432 chips separating the two, the last hand of the night happened when Chet1028 flopped middle pair against the nut flush draw for Queen5OffSuit. This time, the river would work against Chet1028 giving Queen5OffSuit his first win with a flush.

The final table consisted of Queen5OffSuit, Chet1028, Scorpi0n003, shawn1915, gatorz888, Randbo716, Mike Fishcakes, El Surfista 8 and VfrVendetta, finishing in that order.

In 11 events, Queen5OffSuit has made 8 final tables, 4 top five and money finishes as well as making it to heads up twice. 

Congratulations go out to Queen5OffSuit!!!

3rd Times the Charm
August 9, 2020

The 13th tournament of the season represented the last standard tournament of the 2020 season with next week being the season final open tournament, and last of 3 knockout tournaments. 21 players competed in this second to last event. 

The tournament started with a bang as Manumaleuna was quickly knocked out by ElvisDust. The victory was short lived when fass1679 knocked out ElvisDust roughly 25 minutes later. Other notable early exits included Stakes Steaks (winner last week) in 18th and Skimeister12 in 17th. Another notable moment came when fass1679, Scorpi0n003 and mxdad338 were all knocked out in the same hand.

At the final table, VfrVendetta was first out, followed by Randbo716. Tonyc1077 exited in 6th leaving the rest on the bubble. Chet1028 was playing aggressively all tournament and ended up bubbling out in 5th. The final 4 played for another 20 minutes to the second break. Once playing again, the speed quickly picked up when Mike Fishcakes flopped trip 6’s to knock out both El Surfista 8 and Queen5OffSuit in the same hand.

Mike Fishcakes and kramdroog were set for a showdown as the two were heads up. Mike Fishcakes has gotten used to being heads up since this was his 3rd heads up match up in the last 4 tournaments, including a marathon battle last week against Stakes Steaks. This one would last about 20 minutes as there were multiple lead changes. The two started off with Mike Fishcakes enjoying the chip lead, 40,353 to 22,647 for kramdroog. The first big swing came when kramdroog caught a pair of tens and was able to double up, placing him with a 38,654 to 24,346 lead over Mike Fishcakes. The two would find an all in moment when Mike Fishcakes had the larger straight, doubling up and regaining the lead 51,612 to 11,338. Kramdroog doubled up when he flopped a straight, but Mike Fishcakes would retain a 42K-21K advantage. 

Kramdroog would later regain the chip lead and find himself with pocket aces. kramdroog would lose when Mike Fishcakes would flop two pair that would hold on with 55K of the 63K chips were in play. Kramdroog would have just shy of 8K in chips with the final hand where kramdroog was holding A3 against Mike Fishcakes and his K3. With a king on the flop and no additional help, Mike Fishcakes would hold on to earn his first PTS tournament victory. 

The final table consisted of Mike Fishcakes, kramdroog, Queen5OffSuit, El Surfista 8, Chet1028, Tonyc1077, Randbo716 and VfrVendetta, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to Mike Fishcakes!!!

Surf and Turf
August 2, 2020

In the 12th tournament of the season, 21 players competed as the season comes to a close. 

Randbo716 (ranked 1st) experienced an uncharacteristically early exit, finishing right after sallyboy278 was knocked out by Scorpi0n003. Shortly thereafter, PorkchopXpress (ranked tied for 7th) was knocked out in 19th. shawn1915 (ranked 3rd) left the tournament in 16th. Queen5OffSuit (ranked 5th) left the event in 15th and Skimeister12 (ranked tied for 7th) got knocked out in 11th place.
 
At the final table, the pace picked up with fass1679 getting knocked out by El Surfista 8. VfrVendetta put in another solid final table finish in 8th. One of the bigger hands of the final table occurred when gatorz888 (holding AT), called by Mike Fishcakes, then a re-raise all in by El Surfista 8 (KK), followed by another call from Mike Fishcakes (AQ). The flop gave Mike Fishcakes a full house (AQA). gatorz888 finished in 7th and El Surfista 8 in 6th. A few hands later, InterpolBlue was knocked out by Mike Fishcakes.

Four handed, Mike Fishcakes held 60,000 of the 105,000 chips in play. In second, Tonyc1077 had slightly over 18,000 chips, mxdad338 in 3rd with a little over 13,000 chips, and Stakes Steaks was the short stack at 12,000 chips. Tonyc1077 made it to 5th place as Mike Fishcakes continued to add to his chip lead. mxdad338 fell victim to Mike Fishcakes when he found himself all in holding KK against Mike Fishcakes and his AJ. Through the turn, mxdad338 would lead until an Ace landed on the river. That gave Mike Fishcakes an 83K to 22K chip advantage. 

Once heads up, Stakes Steaks struck first with pocket aces over Mike Fishcakes and his AK. At one point, Stakes Steaks won 8 consecutive hands, closing the gap with Mike Fishcakes holding a 55K-50K chip lead. Stakes Steaks continued to pursue Mike Fishcakes eventually taking a 53K-52K lead. Growing that lead to 75K-28K, Stakes Steaks had flopped trip 2’s (holding A2) versus a flush draw for Mike Fishcakes. The turn offered no help, however the river offered plenty as Mike Fishcakes doubled up when the 8h landed.
 
The heads up battle continued for another 30 minutes (nearly an hour from start to finish) as the lead changed hands a few times. Stakes Steaks doubled up off of Mike Fishcakes when he flopped a straight and managed to get all of his chips in the middle. The final hand, with Mike Fishcakes as a 13,000 chip underdog, moved all in with AQ and Stakes Steaks called holding KJs. A king hit on the river to give Stakes Steaks his first win of the season and second all time. 

The final table consisted of Stakes Steaks, Mike Fishcakes, mxdad338, Tonyc1077, InterpolBlue, El Surfista 8, gatorz888, VfrVendetta and fass1679, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to Stakes Steaks!!!

InterpolBlue comes from behind to win his 4th all time victory
July 26, 2020

In the eleventh tournament of the season, 22 players joined as the season enters its final stretch. 

Sallyboy278 put in another strong finish in 6th. fass1679 missed the last tournament, however he came back strong, bubbling out of the tournament in 5th. With the table four handed, Queen5OffSuit had a 5-1 chip lead over the remainder of the table, having amassed nearly 55,000 chips. mxdad338 was knocked out in 4th place, leaving BUsen716 as the short stack and InterpolBlue in second. A short time later, BUsen716 exited in 3rd (his second cash in the last 3 events).

Once heads up, Queen5OffSuit held a 7-1 chip lead over InterpolBlue. Chipping away, InterpolBlue narrowed the gap to 48K-18K in chips, then narrowed it to 37K-29K. InterpolBlue would eventually take the chip lead, forcing Queen5OffSuit to push back with some all in moves to slow the momentum. The last hand, with InterpolBlue only having a 13K+ chip lead over Queen5OffSuit, the two were all in preflop. Queen5OffSuit held AQ suited over InterpolBlue’s KJ off-suit. Even though Queen5OffSuit was holding a 65% chance to win the hand, it wouldn’t be enough after the InterpolBlue hit a jack on the turn.

After last tournaments 5th place finish, InterpolBlue was on a mission to move up in the standings (14th). This win would help him do just that (moving up 4 places). 

The final table consisted of InterpolBlue, Queen5OffSuit, BUsen716, mxdad338, fass1679, sallyboy278, Tonyc1077 and Skimeister12, finishing in that order.

With his 4th win within the series, InterpolBlue (formally JayLeft) ties (Frankindoodle, Randbo716 and Zamboni716) in all-time tournament wins. In 70 tournaments, InterpolBlue has made 34 final tables, 16 cashes, 22 top five finishes while making it to heads up 8 times. 

Congratulations go out to InterpolBlue!!!

Randbo716 is setting records
July 19, 2020

Fresh after coming off his 3rd win of the 2020 season, Randbo716 continued to apply pressure to the field of 23 players that joined the 10th event of the season. 

This was a knockout event where players earned additional payouts for knocking players out of the tournament. 

The final table had players that had won a collective 15 tournaments between them, while still maintained 3 of the 10 top players in the standings. The first to fall was Tonyc1077, followed by Skimeister12, both at the hands of Mike Fishcakes. PorkchopXpress took out FatShawn171 and sallyboy278 came from behind to end Queen5OffSuit. Shortly there after both sallyboy278 and InterpolBlue would be knocked out in the same hand by Randbo716 leaving the tournament down to 3. Mike Fishcakes with his 4th knockout since sitting at the final table, took out PorkchopXpress. 

Mike Fishcakes held a 2-1 chip lead when a key hand came up. Flopping high pair (queens), Randbo716 would find himself all in against Mike Fishcakes who flopped 2 pair (6’s and 2’s). Randbo716 then made runner runner 9’s to have a larger two pair. That swung the 2-1 chip lead to Randbo716’s favor. With the last hand of the tournament, Mike Fishcakes, holding Q8 would faceoff against Randbo716 and his 22. The board read 425J9 and his set of 2’s would hold. 

The final table consisted of Randbo716, Mike Fishcakes, PorkchopXpress, sallyboy278, InterpolBlue, Queen5OffSuit, FatShawn171, Skimeister12 and Tonyc1077, finishing in that order.

With his 4th win of the season, Randbo716 joins only one other player who has won at least 4 tournaments in a single season El Surfista 8 (formerly The Z Man) won 4 events in the inaugural season way back in 2006. Additionally, Randbo716 has made it to heads up in 6 of the last 8 tournaments and is now ranked 4th all-time in tournament wins (tied with Frankindoodle and Zamboni716) within the series. Lastly, with this latest win, Randbo716 has earned the third most money in a single season behind Frankindoodle at $1,065 back in 2013 and El Surfista 8 (formerly The Z Man), $1,080 in 2006. 

Congratulations go out to Randbo716!!!

Coming off the first Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament in the series history, we jumped back into a standard no limit hold’em tournament. The standings have been steadily tightening with each players worst finishes being removed. 24 players jumped in this event which started off rather slow but rapidly sped up as we got deeper into the tournament. 

The first notable exit was a battle between Mondaymadness77 (4th place in the standings) and VfrVendetta (1st in the standings). VfrVendetta with his trip 9’s held on to knockout Mondaymadness77. Next exit from players in the top 10 was El Surfista 8 (ranked tied for 6th) holding pocket 7’s against MikeFishcakes and his pocket Kings, which only got stronger when he turned a third King and would eventually move on to the final table. Within 2 minutes, fass1679 (also ranked tied for 6th place) was knocked out. Stakes Steaks (ranked 8th) was knocked out in 12th and shawn1915 (ranked 2nd) left in 11th. 

The final table still maintained 4 of the 10 top players in the standings. gatorz888 returned to the final table putting together a nice tournament with a couple of all in double ups to stay alive. PorkchopXpress, MikeFishcakes and kramdroog (bubbling out) all put together solid finishes. 

Once we were in the money, Randbo716 was the chip leader with 31,624, followed by Chet1028 (20,259), Tonyc1077 (8,480), VfrVendetta (8,356) and BUsen716 (3,281). 

As the short stack, BUsen716 was forced to go all in and exited in 5th when his A2 of clubs were bested by Chet1028 and his JdKc after catching a K on the river. A few hands later, the river came up huge again for Chet1028 when he again paired his king (holding KhJc) against VfrVendetta and his pocket 5’s. In what would represent one of the most surprising hands was between Chet1028 and chip leader Randbo716 (who only had 712 more chips than Chet1028). With the flop of TcQd7c, Chet1028 moved all in with top pair, holding 8dQc. Randbo716 insta-called him with pocket kings. The kings held on and that left Chet1028 out in 3rd and Randbo716 with 63,080 in chips against Tonyc1077 and his 8,920 chips. 

Despite holding a 7-1 chip lead, 2 double ups from Tonyc1077 and the two would be virtually even. After trading a few hands, Tonyc1077 would find himself all in attempting to double up off of Randbo716 holding K7 versus Randbo716 and his A7. Holding nearly a 76% lead in the hand preflop, Randbo716 would add an ace on the river to seal his 3rd victory of the 2020 season.

The final table consisted of Randbo716, Tonyc1077, Chet1028, VfrVendetta, BUsen716, kramdroog, MikeFishcakes, PorkchopXpress and gatorz888, finishing in that order.

With his 3rd win of the season, Randbo716 joins only 3 others who have won at least 3 tournaments in a single season El Surfista 8 (formerly The Z Man) won 4 events in 2006, Baldric won 3 tourney’s in 2007 and  shawn1915 won 3 events in 2009. Additionally, Randbo716 has made it to heads up in 5 of the last 7 tournaments and has taken over the number one spot in the overall standings.

Congratulations go out to Randbo716!!!

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta
July 5, 2020

The eight event of the season marked the first Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament in the history of the poker tournament series. This style tournament, despite its similarities to holdem, plays so differently. 19 Players competed in the tournament (a handful more than expected). 

We had a few late entrants with mxdad338 and fass1679 showing up 25 and 40 minutes late respectively, however both made strong moves to amass chips in very short periods of time. 

The night belonged to VfrVendetta who more than tripled his starting chip stack size in the first 20 minutes in the tournament, and largely held the top spot for most of the event, with few instances of losing the chip lead to someone else. Once shawn1915 was knocked out in 5th place after hanging on numerous times avoiding elimination, the final 4 were set. Chips were fairly evenly distributed with the chip leader and low stack being separated by 5,000 chips of the 57,000 chips in play. 

Queen5OffSuit made the money in 4th place with fass1679 finishing in 3rd. The final two were VfrVendetta (chasing his 3rd lifetime victory) and Chet1028 (chasing his first). In the end, VfrVendetta came up big when his Kd,Tc,Kh,Qc defeated Chet1028 and his 3c,Ks,Qh,3h on a board of Th,2h,7d,9c,Qs. VfrVendetta's last win was January 22, 2011. 

VfrVendetta came into this tournament in first place in the standings, having made 6 final tables in 7 tournaments that he participated in, with 4 finishes in the top 5. This victory added to an already impressive legacy. 

Combine what he has done so far this season with his lifetime stats over 34 tournaments participated in and it reads like this: 3 wins, 7 heads up appearances, 16 events finishing in the top 5, 16 money finishes and 24 final tables. VfrVendetta finished runner up in the final standings in 2007 and in 2011, finished as the number one player in the series. 

The final table consisted of VfrVendetta, Chet1028, fass1679, Queen5OffSuit, shawn1915, Plak87, Scorpi0n003, El Surfista 8 and mxdad338, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to VfrVendetta!!!

Randbo716 Raises the Stakes
July 2, 2020

The seventh tournament of the 2020 season was our last Thursday night tournament. We had 2 new players attend to make up the 23-player field. This tournament had some key differences based on changes made on the PokerStars site. Namely the starting chips each player began with. Instead of starting with 2,000 chips, each player started with 3,000 chips. Also, an ante started with the first blind as opposed to later in the tournament. This event played out with the same feel as a knockout event with numerous aggressive showdowns. 

Things heated up at the final table when PorkchopXpress eliminated Skimeister12 and Tonyc1077 in the same hand. Once the table was down to six players, it tightened up and held at six for some time. Once Chet1028 was taken out, the final four made the money. Every player won a tournament in the past. Randbo716 and shawn1915 each having won one earlier this season. Shawn1915, VfrVendetta and Randbo716 were ranked first, second and third in the standings. Stakes Steaks held 7th place in the standings. 

The event would be dominated by Randbo716. By the time Stakes Steaks made it heads up with Randbo716, he was at a 13-1 disadvantage in chips. After a couple of hands, Stakes Steaks doubled up. The wins would be short lived as Randbo716 held pocket 4s against Stakes Steaks suited QT. Stakes Steaks flopped top pair, but they paled in comparison to Randbo716’s set of 4’s as the flop produced Q,6,4. Randbo716’s hand held up. 

This win marks the second of the year for Randbo716 (the first multi-win player of the season). Additionally, he has finished in the money 4 out of 7 tournaments (making 5 final tables) while having won nearly twice the money as the next highest player. 

The final table consisted of Randbo716, Stakes Steaks, VfrVendetta, shawn1915, Chet1028, PorkchopXpress, Skimeister12, Tonyc1077 and El Surfista 8, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to Randbo716!!!

shawn1915 Brings It Home!!!
June 25, 2020

The sixth tournament of the 2020 season was our first 6-player per table event. The smallest event of the season with only 21 players competing for the title. All of the top 10 players in the standings were in attendance.

6 Player Max tournaments favor players that feel comfortable playing a wide range of hands. Four of the six players at the final table were in the top 10 in the standings prior to the start of the event.

The first person out was fass1679, who came in to the event ranked 5th in the standings. Randbo716 (ranked tied for first) exited in 18th. Skimeister12 (ranked tied for 7th) left in 16th immediately followed by El Surfista 8 (ranked 6th) in 15th. Mondaymadness77 (ranked 4th) left the event in 13th.

The night belonged to the final 3. Tonyc1077 (who won last tournament), along with PorkchopXpress (winner of the tournament 2 weeks prior) joined 3-time tournament champion, shawn1915 (2009 Heads Up Champion), after kramdroog left the tournament making the money in 4th. There were multiple lead changes with each player taking charge. 

In the end, shawn1915 (after flopping 2 pair) defeated PorkchopXpress to earn his 4th tournament win. shawn1915’s (who won 3 events in 2009), joins 5 other players that have at least 4 wins. shawn1915 came in to the event ranked 3rd in the standings and has taken his 5 final tables made in the 6 events he has played, to take over the top spot in the standings, replacing Randbo716 and VfrVendetta who were previously tied for first.  

The final table consisted of shawn1915, PorkchopXpress, Tonyc1077, kramdroog, FatShawn171 and VfrVendetta, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to shawn1915!!!

Tonyc1077 lights it up for his 3rd all time victory!!!
June 18, 2020

The fifth tournament of the 2020 season was back to basics with a standard NLHE event. 27 players joined the fray, and we ended up seeing a return of a multi-tournament winner and 2011 Series Champion once again become the last person standing. 

There were multiple chip leaders in the first 20 minutes of the event, each had staggering chip leads, only to watch those leads come back down to Earth. Dramatic showdowns once again led to early exists for some of the highest ranking players in the standings. That started with two players tied for 3rd overall in Randbo716 and El Surfista 8 squaring off. Randbo716 holding AT and El Surfista 8 holding the upper hand preflop with AQ. With a 10 on the river, El Surfista 8 was sent home in 18th place. Moments later on another table, Zamboni716 (a 4 time tournament winner and 2012 heads up champion formally known as Z who made his season debut with this event) knocked out series leader VfrVendetta who has had extremely strong finishes all season, and on the very next hand sent the player in second place in the standings this season, Shawn1915 to the rail. All within a couple of minutes, 3 of the top 4 in the standings were gone. 

The tournament was wide open. Randbo716 would end up remaining relevant throughout the tournament much the way he has all season (with a previous strong outings resulting in an 8th, 1st and 2nd place finishes). 

Once down to the final table, Stakes Steaks moved all in A9 of diamonds against Randbo716 and his 78 spades. Randbo716 hit runner-runner for the straight to knock out Stakes Steaks in 9th. Zamboni716 doubled off of Queen5OffSuit with AK versus KQ. Shortly thereafter, Queen5OffSuit was all in with A7 and lost to mxdad338 with pocket 5's. Queen5OffSuit played in 3 of the 5 events so far this season, making the final table each time. Tonyc1077’s AK held against Kramdroog and his KJ. After a slow start, Kramdroog has started to get the rust off and made the final table in his last two outings. 

With 1,800+ chips remaining and the blinds being at 200/400, fass1679 called the BB which was followed by a raise to 2,000 by Zamboni716. Fass1679 moved all in with A2s and was knocked out by Zamboni716’s pocket 10s. mxdad338 matched up against his younger brother, Randbo716. mxdad338 (who held ONLY 65 chips when there was 16 people left in the tournament) was all in with KT of hearts. Randbo716 held AJ of spades and the stronger hand held up. Interestingly, after being down to 65 chips, mxdad338 grew that to greater than 8,000 chips. A strong 5th place finish for mxdad338.

Zamboni716 doubled up off of Randbo716 with his A8s versus Randbo716’s J5s. Tonyc1077 took out Mondaymadness77 in 4th place (another strong showing with a 1st, 6th and 4th). With 3 remaining, Tonyc1077 had a 2-1 chip lead against the field. With Randbo716 as the short stack, he earned a much needed double-up with his Q9 against Zamboni716 who had pocket 10’s again after the flop revealed a KQT (giving Zamboni716 a set), only to end the ride after Randbo716 received a much needed turn of an 8 and J on the river for the straight. Two hands later, Zamboni716 had pocket 10’s yet again and they treated him similarly after going all in against Tonyc1077’s A4 and another straight by the river. 

Heads up and with Tonyc1077 having a 3-1 chip lead over Randbo716, things would prove exciting as Randbo716 would close the gap to more of a 60%/40% disadvantage. It would be short lived when Randbo716 had AT of diamonds against Tonyc1077 and his pocket Kings. The better hand held and Tonyc1077 won his first event of the 2020 season. 

Tonyc1077 (formally TC) won his first event on November 20th 2011. He would win his second at the 2011 Final Table Championships when he bested VfrVendetta. This win represents his third and he joins 10 other players as the only ones with 3 or more wins (Mondaymadness77 and Skimeister12 also joined the same list this season) in a series where over 190 players have competed.

The final table consisted of Tonyc1077, Randbo716, Zamboni716, Mondaymadness77, mxdad338, fass1679, kramdroog, Queen5OffSuit and Stakes Steaks, finishing in that order.

Congratulations go out to Tonyc1077!!!

And this little piggy cried "wee wee wee" all the way home…for the win!
June 11, 2020

The fourth tournament of the season was our first knockout event. There are two more knockout events scheduled through 2020. This is a special no limit holdem event where players receive $5 for every player they knockout of the event. These winnings are in addition to the final payouts for the last 5 players left standing. 

Within the first 20 minutes, two players were knocked out. mxdad338 fell victim to sallyboy278 and Plak87 was knocked out by his cousin, mondaymadness77. Shortly after that, sallyboy278 would knockout one of the strongest players in the event in Frankindoodle. El Surfista 8 knocked out Beastmode357 and kramdroog knocked out fass1679. 

Once the tournament got down to the final table, things started to heat up. Skimeister12 doubled up off of Randbo716 (who was the chip leader with 16K+ chips) early on. PorkchopXpress doubled up for 7,600 while holding TT, off of VfrVendetta who held AJ. Queen5OffSuit (A9) doubled up for 4200 off of Randbo716 (KTs). Randbo716 won most of it back the very next hand against shawn1915. Queen5OffSuit was the first of the remaining 9 (he fell victim to shawn1915) to exit the event, but was plenty busy prior, knocking out Manumaleuna, InterpolBlue, DFKnavel77 (who was responsible for Tonyc1077 going home) and Chet1028.

Skimeister12 nearly doubled up against Randbo716, knocking Randbo716 down from 19K+ in chips to 13K+. PorkchopXpress (Ac8c) doubled up off of shawn1915 (AJo) for 16K+. Shortly thereafter, Randbo716 caught a straight and knocked out shawn1915. 

Skimeister12 doubled up off of Randbo716 twice in a row with Q3 and K9 respectively, taking him from only 4,500 chips to 20K+ and the chip lead. Randbo716 returned the favor 5 hands later with AQ versus KT and putting Skimeister12 back down to 6,900 while regaining the chip lead (26K).

PorkchopXpress (A9) doubled up off of Randbo716 (33) when the flop landed 555 and the turn revealed a fourth 5, counterfeiting Ranbo716’s full house, and leaving PorkchopXpress with the high card 4 of a kind. 

The last hand epitomized the wild night. Skimeister12 (the short stack) held 9d8s, and Randbo716 held QcQh. PorkchopXpress was the chip leader and held 7d7c. Skimeister12 and Randbo716 were all in and called by PorkchopXpress. The flop was 9h5c7s, turn was 9s and the river was a 2s giving PorkchopXpress his first win.

The final table consisted of PorkchopXpress, Randbo716, Skimeister12, shawn1915, El Surfista 8, kramdroog, VfrVendetta, BUsen716 and Queen5OffSuit, finishing in that order.

Other notes:

• Four different players led for the greatest number of knockouts (4). They were PorkchopXpress, Randbo716, shawn1915 (who received all his at the final table) and Queen5OffSuit. 
  

• VfrVendetta had (by far) his worst finish of the season with a 7th place exit. Let that sink in for a moment. He still is sitting comfortably in the number one spot in the standings. 
  

• Randbo716 and Skimeister12 won the last two events and made it to the final 3 in this most recent one. In the end, the night belonged to PorkchopXpress who survived under the radar for much of the first half of the final table, took advantage when he had opportunities with decisive moves to stay alive and eventually moving in to the chip lead, placing him in position to take two players out in the same hand and claim victory.
  
  

Congratulations go out to PorkchopXpress!!!

Randb0716 uses a stack advantage to claim victory
June 4, 2020

After concluding the third event of the 2020 season, 28 players showed up at the tables to compete, the largest field to date this year. The event started off with 4 tables however players started dropping very quickly. Within 30 minutes, 5 players were gone. Before the first break, nearly a third of the field had exited the tournament. We added 3 new players to the series, one of which was FatShawn171. This was FatShawn171’s 32nd tournament lifetime. He has recorded 2 wins, 9 top five finishes and 17 final tables. The night would not be focused on his return, but rather on the final 9 who each had their own narrative they were writing. 

Plak87 made his first final table. InterpolBlue was down in chips and showed some resilience in driving all the way back to eventually take the chip lead, although it was short lived. Manumaleuna put together another solid finish, having the chip lead throughout a large portion of the tournament. Mondaymadness77 had another solid finish and was threatening to potentially win yet again this season. Both Shawn1915, fass1679 and Stakes Steaks made it to the top five, always seemingly in control of their stacks, although fass1679 did flirt with being the low stack, he made key moves to stay alive. 

The final two were Randbo716 and VfrVendetta. Randbo716 was seeking his first win (4th lifetime tournament), while VfrVendetta was looking for his 3rd tournament win. Randbo716 had a very large chip stack that he amassed at the final table having taken nearly every player out. He started heads up against VfrVendetta with a chip lead 39,047 to 16,953. They played heads up for quite some time. While VfrVendetta, the series leader in 2020, made some moves and got a little closer at times, Randbo716 did a stellar job of not allowing the advantage to get away from him. He basically maintained this lead throughout the whole heads up battle which lasted over 15 minutes. Eventually, Randbo716 caught a pair of 9’s on the flop and with VfrVendetta all in, held on to win his first tournament.

The final table consisted of Randbo716, VfrVendetta, Stakes Steaks, fass1679, shawn1915, Mondaymadness77, Manumaleuna, InterpolBlue and Plak87 Finishing in that order. 

Congratulations go out to Randbo716!!!

SkiMeister12 Returns To Best A Difficult Field
May 28, 2020

The second event of the season had a chaotic start. Four minutes before the event was due to begin, mondaymadness77 called me to inform me that the blind structure wasn’t set at 10 minutes. I was pretty sure it was. I double checked and he was correct. I then scrambled to cancel the event and start a new one at 9:15 PM to give players time to register for that one instead. Fortunately, everyone that was registered managed to get in and the tournament began. The pace was much smoother and allowed real poker to be played. 

This tournament was also difficult based on the level of competition with some heavy hitters with multiple PTS victories in the event. Particularly so a third of the way through. The table contained Frankindoodle, Skimeister12, mondaymadness77, Tonyc1077, mcgruthera, fass1679, ElvisDust, VfrVendetta and BUKN8KD. That group represents 19 tournament wins, including 2 PTS champions and 2 season standings champions. Just a brutal table. Fun to see. 

The final five players represented a strong assortment of players that have won before. 13 PTS wins sat among the final five Tonyc1077, El Surfista 8, VfrVendetta, Chet1028 and of course, SkiMeister12. By the time SkiMeister12 and Chet1028 were down to the final two, there was a great deal of back and forth with each player taking large chip leads. In the end, Skimeister12 won and joins mondaymaddness77 not only as tournament winners in 2020, but also as players that have won at least 3 tournaments. 

The final table consisted of SkiMeister12, Chet1028, VfrVendetta, El Surfista 8, Tonyc1077, Frankindoodle, BUKN8KD, ElvisDust and shawn1915, finishing in that order. 

Congratulations go out to SkiMeister12!!!

3 for 4!
May 21, 2020

Season 9 started off on PokerStars.net after a 7 year hiatus, moving from the basement to the virtual world. Starting chips were 2,000 and blinds were set at 5 minutes. This made for a rushed event with players being forced to make moves sooner than they would ordinarily like to. The second event of the season on May 28 will start with chip stacks at 1,500 while blinds will increase every 10 minutes while we explore the proper balance that feels the most comfortable. 

24 players had to adapt to new screen names, and for many, it was the first poker being played in quite some time. 19 of the 24 players battling for a respectable showing had played in a PTS event in the past. It was great to see so many regulars return. 

Mondaymadness77 played in a PTS event for the very first time on December 12th of 2009 playing under the name DT4VBall76. He won it in convincing fashion. He won his second event on October 23, 2010. This was Mondaymadness77’s 4th PTS tournament ever and represented his 3rd win!!! 

Mondaymadness77 joined an elite group of players. There have been 190 players that have played in the Poker Tournament Series over the past 14 years. Only 8 other players have won 3 or more tournaments and Mondaymadness77, winning his 3rd, is one of the very few that can make that claim.

The final table consisted of Mondaymadness77, Feltersnatch, gatorz888, shawn1915, VfrVendetta, Manumaleuna, Queen5OffSuit, Randbo716 and BUKN8KD finishing in that order. 

A HUGE Congratulations go out to Mondaymadness77!!!

Frankindoodle Returns 
October 5, 2013

The series continued with the final open event of the 2013 season which is also the survivor event. This is a typical standard-payout poker tournament however the payout is different. 25% of the prize is set aside for the winner of the event. Once the tournament is down to those that place in the money, all of the chips are converted to actual money, with blinds being appropriately altered. The low stack at the table has the option of cashing out their chips at any time. If they do, their chips are removed and they are paid off. If someone gets knocked out, they don't receive any prize. In this event, typically one or two people will walk away with the entire pot despite the top 4 that are considered ‘in the money’. 

This year’s event would be no different.

The tournament moved quickly with some notable early exits by HChiarello, Ray J and Taztecc7. Only the top 4 would be considered ‘in the money’. Those 4 players were Felter , Frankindoodle, Netninder1963 and The Z Man.