The July tourney was hosted at the FedEx Distribution Hub.  A special thanks to FedEx and his family for their great hospitality.  Though it is a bit harder to get to Laurel through traffic, etc., it is always well worth the trip.

 

 

 

The July tourney was the second smallest in RPT history with only 12 of the most committed souls taking part.  The smallest tournament ever was back in May of 2011.  In that one, 11 people showed up.  Jim Wagner ended up winning that tournament.  It was his first RPT win.  It is almost fitting that the first tournament he ever won was the smallest in RPT history.  He basically had a 9% chance of winning just by showing up.  The other important part about that win was that Jim had never won a tournament at that point.  He finally got it in his 48^th tournament.

 

 

 

That little backstory is important because having 12 players at this tournament must have really gotten Jim reminiscing about his past glory because he graced us with his presence for only the third time this year…  but his time in the tournament didn’t last long.  Prior to leaving, Jim did declare a $7.23 bounty on Grover…

 

 

 

Jim was probably on his 5^th or 6^th hand and had already won a few small pots when he met his early demise.  Jim was on the button and raised to 75 on a 15/30 blind.  Grover calls in the Big Blind.  The flop is a rather innocuous 4d-4h-10h.  Grover bets at the pot and Jim raises.  Grover then goes all-in and Jim quickly calls.  Grover flips over 4s-2d for trips and Jim shows his Js-Jc.  The turn brings a 6h and the river is a 7h.  Grover had doubled up and Jim was down to 75 chips.  He was out shortly thereafter.  Talk about a tough break. Jim later said that he thought Grover had hit the 10.  Preflop, Jim was an 85% favorite but postflop, Grover was a 91% favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was Jim’s 4^th Beer Bitch finish putting him in a 6 way tie for 2^nd place with such RPT greats as Mr. Tinker, Russ Fitzgerald, Jason Trueman, Jay McClelland, and Jeff Dixon.  Grover still sits on top as the most prolific Beer Bitch with 5 career finishes.

 

Grover had landed in a great situation against Jim and then poor Angie got Grovered a little while later.  Though I don’t recall the hand, Grover caught the river and quickly said “I’m sorry” while extending his hand for a shake.  Early on, Grover was the heavy chip leader.

 

Ostendorf was the next one out and we were down to 9 to make a final table.  A quick note about Voldemort – he has now moved up to #1 as the most volatile player in the history of the RPT.  Sorry Rob.

 

Tony was out next for his worst finish of the year.  He got caught in a huge hand with Trueman who had gotten a two pair big blind special.

 

The next person out was FedEx and boy did he get Grovered…  FedEx went all-in pre-flop with K’s and Grover matched it (as Grover was already pot committed) with a 7c-10c.  FedEx is sitting as a 80% favorite Preflop.  The flop is great for FedEx with a 7s-As-Kd giving FedEx trip K’s.  This is great for FedEx as he is now a 98.38% favorite to win the hand…  The only was he could lose would be with some crazy runner-runner combo…  This is was they call foreshadowing…  The turn is a Qh… that is ok, FedEx is still a 91% favorite to win the hand…  The river is a Jd which gives Grover a straight.  Wow.  Just amazing.  Sorry FedEx.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tournament progressed at a steady pace with money changing hands between players.  Darryn was the next one out followed by Trueman.  Grover finally got knocked out by Glenn.  He will be invoicing Jim Wagner for the $7.23 directly.

 

 

The final 4 were Rob, Harnish, Glenn, and me.  I basically had a tiny amount of chips the whole tournament.  Rob was grinding as well.  The rest of the chips were mostly with Glenn and the rest with Harnish.

 

 

 

I went all-in on Rob as the big blind with a pair of 2’s.  Rob called with like a 9-8 which put us in a 50-50ish situation but my 2’s held up to get the tournament to the final 3.  Believe or not, a 12 person tournament does pay top 3.  Only 10 players and below pay out the top 2.

 

 

 

Harnish was next out after losing on a weird river card that gave Glenn the top kicker card after Harnish was winning the entire hand up to that point.  That left Glenn vs. me heads-up… and Glenn had about 85% of the chips if not more.  The heads up battle end up with me going all-in blind and he called.  I was fortunate enough to have gotten pocket 5’s but Glenn’s K-9 paired up on the flop.

 

 

 

This was Glenn’s 2^nd win of the year (the last was in May) and the third of his career.  Glenn is quickly becoming one of the more dominant RPTers.  Congratulations to him.

 

 

 

The Final Table standings are very competitive as we are now done 7 of the 11 tournaments for the year.  There are only 4 more tournaments to decide who gets one of the 8 seats.  I am still in the lead but Rob and Grover are coming up fast.  Nita is in 4^th while missing the last two tournaments due to an ankle surgery.  Get well soon Nita!  Glenn, Tony, and FedEx are in 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th respectively with Brian Bennett and Darryn Graham tied for 8th.  There is still plenty of time for this board to shake up so be sure to attend the monthly tournaments.  See you all next month.