February’s tourney brought us to a new location: Annapolis. The new residence of Eric Johnson happens to be the Residence Park Place in beautiful downtown Annapolis. The place looks like the palace at Versailles. Thanks to Eric for letting us use one of the Party Rooms at this place. It was quite fancy for a bunch of poker players. It is a really solid place for a big tournament though a bit far for our Westminster contingent. Regardless, always good to have a new place to play some cards.
We had 22 players in total. And the first one to take a seat was Tammy Cain. As she is a woman, it would be unkind to give her the typical “Beer Bitch” title. Instead, we will say she was the “Beer Bastard.” This is her first “Beer Bastard” finish and she performed her duties proficiently. Its OK Tammy… it happens to everyone.
We had some pretty interesting hands. Doug got Quad 10’s. I don’t know much about how the hand happened but Dan was kind enough to snap a picture as proof. This was just one of the miracles Doug accomplished on his way to his first RPT victory ever.
Before we get to Doug’s conquest, Grover was rolling at the final table and got into a huge hand with Brandon. They both had a solid chip stack and found themselves in a big hand and both were all-in after seeing the flop. Grover had flopped a set of 4’s… and Brandon had flopped a set of J’s on the same flop. Brandon had a few chips more than Grover and now Brandon was sitting with a mountain of chips. Grover was playing excellent poker and no one will regret him playing that hand that way… he just got caught in a buzz saw.
I want to skip ahead to the Final Table where Doug, Brandon, and Angie are the only ones left. FedEx finished in 4th place to get some RPUs. Angie and Doug are in a big hand. They both have a lot of chips and find themselves all-in after a flop that was all clubs: J-8-5. Doug shows his 10c-Qd. Angie shows her Ac-Qh. After the flop, Angie is an 80% favorite. Once the 10s hits on the turn, Doug is now in the driver’s seat and is a 61% favorite. When the 3d hits on the river, Doug wins the hand and has probably 85% of the chips on the table.
After a few hands, Brandon found himself in second place and Doug is the latest RPT champion. This is Doug’s first victory in his 30th tournament. This is Doug’s highest finish since he finished third in the August, 2013 tournament. Congrats to Doug.
Brandon continues to play excellent poker and has RPU finishes in 4 of his last 5 tournaments. He has quickly become one of the most solid poker players on the tour and an early favorite to get POY honors as long as he can continue to make the events.
Angie finished third and this is her first Top 3 finish in her RPT career. She has shown steady improvement in her play since she played her first tournament back in May of 2013. Her improved play is almost in direct correlation to Glenn’s decline J Congrats to Angie on her first Top 3 finish.
I do want to note that FedEx… is currently in first place in the RPT standings. I am trying to recall if this has ever happened… and I do not believe it has. Congrats to FedEx for an early start. This is in complete contrast the Tony Huckestein who is starting this year with a combined point total of 10. Last year, Tony’s lowest tournament showing was 12 and this year, he has a 4 and a 6 under his belt. I had the privilege of seeing the hands Tony was getting all night and not even Tony could make magic out of that crap. Maybe next month Tony. J
Thanks again to everyone and looking forward to next month where we hopefully have some warmer weather.
No..I do not believe I have ever had the distinction of being in first place. Thanks for the shout out and now that I have the bullseye on my back….