The 101st RPT tourney ever was hosted by Dan Ferris at his parent’s lovely home in Severna Park near the beautiful fairways of Chartwell Country Club. Luckily, I gave enough forewarning to the residents that there would be a large influx of transients and miscreants or else I am sure there would have been a few worried faces peering at us from over the rims of champagne glasses. If you haven’t noticed, I am calling the area snooty… but you wouldn’t have thought that from the lovely hospitality demonstrated by the Ferris squad. On behalf of the RPT squad, a sincere thanks.
We had 26 players which included a few new faces. Brian Stanton who I have known for roughly 10 years was a first time RPTer. I first met Stanton as a 21 year old intern at Constellation. Good to see him joining our ranks of beer brewing gamblers. Another new comer is Travis Marquess who, per Dan Ferris, has started his own poker tour emulating some of the structure of the RPT. It seems the RPT is starting to be an influencing force, much like the Beatles or Picasso… or maybe not.
Usually in my write-ups, I have a few hands to break down or highlights to share… but so much of that is tied to my success in the tournament so I can see all of the different hands. Spoiler alert: I didn’t do well so don’t have any highlights to share.
On a rarity note, Brian Stanton had pocket aces in back to back hands. The odds of getting pocket rockets are 220-to-1 which means that the odds of getting them in back to back hands are 48,400-to-1. And just for the record, the odds of getting a Royal Straight Flush in Texas Hold ‘Em are 30,940-to-1.
The early tournament had Tony Huckestein acting like a buzzsaw and cutting through the ranks. He got an early chip stack and started leaning on throats.
To cut to the chase, the final table consisted of Grover, Tony, Glenn, Darryn, Jim, Brian Bennett, Doug, Angie, and Brandon. Grover, Jim, Darryn, and Brian Bennett finished out of the money in that order leaving Angie, Doug, Tony, Glenn, and Brandon. Angie finished in fifth place. Angie now sits in 2nd place in the RPT standings. Congrats to her. Doug finished in 4th place. Doug knocked out 5 people in the tournament.
This left Tony, Glenn, and Brandon. In one hand, Brandon knocked out the other two players to get the win. Tony finished third and now sits in 1st place in the RPT standings. Tony also moves into second place for top 3 finishes behind yours truly. Glenn finished in 2nd place. Glenn now moves to 9th place all time for top 3 finishes. Brandon Smyth was the winner of the 101st RPT event. This was only the 4th RPT event and his first ever money finish. He becomes the 46th RPT player to ever with an RPT tourney. Congrats to Brandon.
Next month, we find ourselves at Grover’s Fun House which is personally one of my favorite places to play poker. See you all there.