As we always start these poker result write-ups, I would like to than Brian and Chrissy Bennett for hosting the March 2013 tourney.  The food was great and there was plenty of room for gambling and just hanging around.  Thanks again.

 

 

And now for the airing of grievances:  The Ross Poker Tour is in the midst of its 9^th year and during those 9 years, never have we had so many no-shows for a specific tournament.  In the modern age of telecommunication, we have every means available to inform each other of changes to plans.  From phone call, to text, to email, to evite updates, to video chat for God’s sake.  I understand we all have lives and that things come up but it is important to have a clear count of how many players will be attending a given tournament for the sake of the host and the poker play itself.  As such, we will now be implementing the “No Show, No Mo’” rule.  If you say you are attending a RPT event and do not attend, you will be removed from the monthly email list.  Simple enough.  This serves as a warning to the following players who no-showed on Friday night:

 

 

Giles Parker

Greg Pruitt

Mark Mandell

                Now that the public shaming is out of the way, we can now talk about poker.  We had 21 players for the March event.  To set the stage, Alex Johnson has finished as the Beer Bitch in both tournaments in the 2013 season.  Back-to-back beer bitch finishes have happened several times in the past (see last month’s write-up) but never the hat trick… well… history was made in the March 2013 tourney.  Grover was able to exact some revenge from the original “Irish Streaking” that put him out of the top 8 last year by giving young Alex his third Beer Bitch finish of the 2013 season.  Never before has there been three consecutive Beer Bitch finishes and this dubious honor now lies with Alex.  Wear it with pride son.

 

 

The tournament seemed to go at a pretty quick pace with players dropping relatively regularly.  The conservative Wally was second out which is his worst finish in 5 career tournaments.  Though I wasn’t at the table, I did hear that there was a crazy hand where Joe Fuller and another player both had pocket Kings and were all-in and Tom Ross Sr. also went all-in with pocket A’s.  With all the money in the pot, the A’s are a 96.33% favorite to win the hand whereas the K’s would each have a 1.17% chance based on some random flush/straight combination and the overall hand has a 3.14% chance of tying.  Well, just for added fun on this hand, the board makes a full house but the A’s hold-up as it makes the highest full house.  How crazy is that?  I am pretty sure that is how Joe Fuller went out and how Dad picked up a decent chunk of chips to ride to the final table.

 

 

There was also a hand in which I got mad at Grover even though I won the hand.  Grover gave me a fair amount of crap for this and he is definitely warranted in doing so.  Grover calls pre-flop and I raise 4x big blind with little slick.  Everyone folds except Grover who calls.  The flop is A-10-7 or something like that.  Grover checks and I bet half the pot.  Grover calls.  Next card is a blank.  Grover checks and I bet bigger and Grover calls.  By now, I am starting to worry that I am being slow played with a set of trips or something.  The river is nothing of note and Grover checks.  I have 80% of my stack in the pot and I am already mentally preparing myself for Grover to show his set so when I check down the river and Grover says he has 10’s, I have what can only be described as a small hissy fit.  However, Grover meant he had a pair of 10’s which doesn’t beat my pair of A’s.  It was a lame reaction by me.  Grover was nice enough to give me his knife “so we could at least make the fight fair.”  Good show Grover.

 

 

The final table consisted of me, Grover, Tom Sr., Brian Bennett, Dave Levin, Darryn Graham, Glenn Tana, Tony Huckestein, and Rob Schilling.  FedEx was the first one to leave.  FedEx always seems to limp to the final table.  Time to get some chips earlier FedExJ.  Darryn was next out followed by Brian Bennett. Bennett was down to his last 200 and went all in with K’s… and still lost.  I thought that was going to be the spark that Brian needed to stage his big come back.  Tony was out after Brian and then it was down to the final 5 consisting of Tom Sr., Glenn, Rob, Grover, and me.  We all had roughly the same amount of chips and money kept moving between us all.  Tom Sr. eventually got knocked out on the bubble by Glenn who was having a solid tournament.  Grover was out next finishing 4^th and I was out 3^rd on a wacky hand where Glenn and I were both betting big with only straight draws.  We show our hands and I have the higher straight draw.  Statistically, Glenn only has 9 outs with 2 cards to go… and catches one of those cards on the river to beat me.  That was my karma for my childish reaction to the hand with Grover.

 

 

Heads up was Glenn vs. Rob and Rob immediately starts doing what Rob likes to do: negotiate.  He is already negotiating taking first place and just giving Glenn some extra money for his trouble.  Glenn doesn’t want to concede first place so easily and eventually says he wants to play out the hand.

 

 

Good man Glenn – pride is something that cannot be bought.  It is also important to note, that the cards always determine the winner at the RPT.  You can chop pots and do whatever else you like but the cards determine winners and losers and the RPU payouts are set in stone to each player.  The RPT does not care what you do with the RPUs once they are dispensed.

 

 

Unfortunately, Glenn’s pride was not enough and the game was soon over giving Rob the victory.  After finishing 2^nd in last month’s tournament and winning this one, Rob’s volatility is really taking a hit.  This is Rob’s 2^nd RPT victory since he won his first back in October, 2011.  This is Glenn’s first 2^nd place finish and his highest finish since he finished 3^rd back in July, 2012. I finished in 3^rd place.  I have finished in the top 3 in 3 of the last 4 tournaments.  I hope I can keep this hot streak going.

 

 

A special note should be given to Glenn and Grover who were marksmen in this tournament.  Between the two of them, they put out 11 players. Grover eliminated 5 and Glenn eliminated 6.  Glen had eliminated 3 in a row at one point.  Glenn is now 4^th all-time in kills per tournament with 1.42. Grover is 9^th with 0.92.

 

 

I would also like to point out that this 3^rd place finish moves me past Jim for most career RPU finishes with 23 and moves me further up the leader board on career top 3 finishes with 18.  Some of you might be thinking that this is my tournament and I have been to the most tournaments… well, you would be wrong.  I am tied for 7^th in that category with 57 tournaments played.  If you are scoring at home, that means more than 40% of the time, I finish in the money and more than 31% of the time I am in the top 3.  Time for the wheel of fortune to turn against me…

 

 

I am looking forward to seeing everyone next month.