Thanks again to Eric Johnson for hosting the October 2012 RPT Tournament.  It is Eric’s third time hosting this year and is very much appreciated.  He is a strong favorite for host of the year.  22 players came out to try their luck and establish some traction in making the Final Table.

Jim Wagner was the first to leave the tournament.  It was Jim’s 3^rd Beer Bitch finish in his career (his last being 11/2010).  Jim will go down as the first ever “IOU Beer Bitch.”  Jim claims to be up for “double Beer Bitch duty” next time… whatever that means.  As he effusively apologized for “having to head to Ocean City,” the rest of his players were left thirsty and parched.  I will say that the 6 pack of Bare Ass Blonde that was left behind did off some consolation for his untimely exit.

The tournament seemed to have a much higher percentage of blockbuster hands.  Aces were thrown many times and against other solid hands.  Q’s were getting dominated by K’s.  It was an exciting tournament with all the big hands.  Trueman was an early chip stack leader with knocking out Voldemort early on.

The real talk of the tournament was Grover’s epic finish.  Grover, from all accounts, was catching the cards he needed.  Of the 9 players in the final table, Grover eliminated 5 of them.

The last four finishers comprised of Tony Huckstein, Brian Harnish, Grover, and Brian Bennett.  Huckstein had been grinding along most of the tournament and to finish in the money probably felt pretty good to him.  Tony’s solid finish has all but put him at the Final Table.  A similar case with Harnish who slipped into third place.  Harnish is now in a 3-way tie for 9^th place in the Final Table standings however his RPU winnings give him the tie breaker.

Heads up came down to Bennett and Grover.  On what the players thought was the final hand with Grover’s pair beating Bennett’s high card, the river card provided the last card needed for Bennett to make a straight.  Luckily I was there to point that out to everyone…  You’re welcome Bennett…  Sorry Grover… Rob was dealing… you get what you pay for sometimes.  After this, Bennett turned on the jets and ended up coming from behind as far as chip stack is concerned and winning the October 2012 RPT.  Grover’s second place finish puts him as part of the 3-way tie for 9^th with Harnish (Joel Murphy is the other person at 9^th).  This is Brian’s 2^nd win in his RPT career.  Congrats.

The Final Table is far from decided and the more people that show up in November, the more changes the standings could allow.  See you all next month.