The September tournament ended up running later than any other tournament and had the best final table of the year!  The final table lasted over 2 hours, ending in dramatic fashion just after 2:30am.  

The tournament started, as usual, about 30 minutes late.  Our gracious host Jesse was the first to go out.  He quickly disappeared and didn’t show back up again until almost 2:00am – but more on that later.  Christian showed up after about 1.5 hours of posting and folding. He quickly sat down, and after playing about 2 hands – he was the second man out of the tournament.  Our returning champion from August, Big Red, was number 3 to crash and burn. 

 Well, after about 4.5 hours, we were down to a final table of 8 players by almost 12:30am.  The table included Tito, Packer Tom, Uncle Donnie, Chris Brown, Andy Rubinberg, Marc Ruffino, Jake and Brendan O’Brian.  Jake & Packer Tom dropped out quickly and we moved to a single table of six.  After taking Packer Tom’s nametag, Andy threatened to destroy it, but decided the Bears already did a good enough job of it the week before.  Let him wear the Packer nametag in shame!  Chris Brown seemed bored and tired (We can never tell if he actually tries at the end or just gets tired and decides to go all in so he can go home) and went out in 6^th place.  We were at 5 players for about an hour with almost everyone being the big stack at some point.  After Brendan’s wife called, he kept saying he would have to leave and started going all-in.  Of course he kept winning!  He finally lost and took 5^th place.  The funny thing is - he never left!  He stuck around the rest of the night! 

So, here we were – the Final 4 - Tito, Uncle Donnie, Andy and Marc.  It was now about 1:30am and everyone was just about even.  The massacre was about to start!  What we were about to see will be talked about, analyzed, and written about in the poker history books.  Three more men would go down, every one going all-in and losing to hands, none better than a 10-4 off suit.  Some will call it luck, some will call it skill, but everyone that saw it will remember the bloody trail left to victory. 

Before long, Jesse finally showed up with his girlfriend and was surprised to see us still there.  Anyone that is married knows the look we saw.  They both disappeared upstairs and we continued to play.  It didn’t take long before he came down and asked everyone to go.  But we still had 4 players standing!  We promised to muzzle Geertz and he went back upstairs.  Jesse - we hope we didn’t get you into too much trouble!

 Back to the game….

 Marc was the first to go.  Andy was way ahead in chips and went all-in.  Marc thought long and hard and then called.  Oh no!  Andy was caught in a bluff.  He flipped over his cards.  A 6-2 off suit!  Looks like Marc was going to double up!  Well, Marc went down when the only paired card was Andy’s 6!

 Tito was the next to challenge Andy.  After Tito raised the pot, Andy went all-in.  Tito called.  Caught bluffing again!!  Andy flipped over a 10-4 off suit and Tito showed a suited Big Slick.  It looked like there was no escaping for Andy this time!   The flop came and Andy paired his 10.  4^th street was a 4 and Andy had 2 pair.  The river was a King – too little too late!  Tito takes 3^rd.

 He we were.  Two amateur players had taken down the 1^st, 6^th and 8^th place players in the yearly standings.  Two young guns (well one reasonably young and one middle aged) were the only ones left standing.  Many stories will be told about what happened next.  Some true, some just tales.  But here’s how it really happened.  I know.  I was there. 

  Andy and Uncle Donnie - head to head - one on one – a duel to the death. Heading into the final 2, Andy had over 70,000 chips and Uncle Donnie, about 30,000.  After a couple of small hands, we finally came down to the most exciting final hand of the year.  Uncle Donnie was the dealer/small blind.  He was dealt an Ace–3.  Andy had a 7-3 off suit.  Uncle Donnie just called.  Andy breathed a sigh of relief.  Anything more and he would have folded.  Andy called and we saw the flop.  2-4-5 – all hearts.  Uncle Donnie goes all-in with the straight.  Andy sees that he has a straight draw and decides to call.  When the cards are shown, Marc Ruffino and Tom Lawler are doing their best Vince Van Patten impersonation saying “Oh my god!  Why would he call that?”  Looks like Uncle Donnie is going to double up.  It may be over soon for Andy!”

 4^th street is an Ace!  We are now tied!  Looks like this pot will be split!  The river……a 6!  Uncle Donnie has a straight to the 6 and Andy a straight to the 7!  We have a champion!

 Somewhere there are young poker players wondering, “Can I someday go up against champions like Tito, Big Red, Packer Tom, Jake W. and even Kelly Geertz and possible win?”   Let me tell you – If a talented dealer like Andy Rubinberg can make it all the way to poker immortality after 5 months of dealing the final table, then maybe you can too

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