Tourney 3 – Tom Svoboda 

  EVANSTON -- June 25, 2004 - Brendan & Gentlemen, I'm happy to introduce to you the June Champion, Mr. Tom "I'm cool, despite being a Packer fan" Svoboda! He likes walks on the beach, cuddling on the couch and a good chick-flick and chi tea. 

For those of you who didn't stick around for the final table -- you missed a great ending. The last 2 guys standing -- Tom and Brian -- both were "all-in" at least once at the final table and both were the "short stack" at least once. Yet they battled back, fought tooth and nail, struggling to survive like David vs. Goliath -- but without a slingshot.

 Congrats to those at the final table, which consisted of Tom, Brian, Zach (aka Barbie), Noah, Jake, Big Red, John Caulfield and Kelly "F'ing" Geertz. Noticeably absent was Chuck -- known to many as "I'd bet on 2-7 off-suit," who at one point claims to have won 12 consecutive hands. Anyway, back to those who are relevant.

Brian and Big Red hit the final table with the least amount of chips. Obviously, Brian was luckier! With $3500 in hand, yours truly was happy/relieved the button fell to my left and allowed me to outlast Geertz (8th) and Caulfield (7th). It wasn't long before the big fellas started fighting it out and it looked as if Brian would be out and Zach would battle for the crown, having a crapload of $500 chips. But the tables turned -- a few "all in's" and Brian was sitting pretty, as was Svoboda.

 Here's where the controversy comes in. There are conflicting reports about who said what, but rumor has it that Zach made a crack about Tom's age (Tom is twice as old, lol) and Tom snapped back, "Isn't it past your bedtime?" That spelled the end of Zach, as the sweet-hearted Svoboda was awakened. Here's what happened in his own words:

 "In the deciding hand, I was the tall stack with forty some thousand, Zach had slightly less, and Brian was on life support with just enough chips for a couple of big blinds. Zach had been pounding on me, stealing my big blind about every time around when I was short stacked, and when he tried it again three handed, raising It from $4000 to $8000 I decided to pay the  $4000 more and see a flop, even though I only had 8-5 off suit.

 The flop came 7-9-10 rainbow, giving me an outside straight draw. When Zach came out betting $10,000, I felt he was still on the steal so I called him. I was tempted to move in right there and try and take down the pot, but I thought it might be worth it to gamble and try and hit my straight.   

On the turn a 4 came off, giving me the smallest pair, and Zach bet $10,000 again. I called, hoping and still believing I was ahead, and when a six fell on the river making my straight I knew that I had a good chance of winning the night. Zach bet, I raised all in and when he called I knew I was probably going to go home with the big prize.

 By the way, I never said the "past your bedtime" comment that was attributed to me, but I do think its funny."

 The rest was history, as Tom won, Brian came in 2nd, followed by Zach, Noah and Jake.

 Congratulations to Christian – he was the 1^st-out and was gone quicker than a Waterkotte when the check arrives.

 There is one story I’d be remiss if I didn’t pass along. We’re all aware of the verbal sparring between Geertz and Omar. Neither is shedding a tear when the other goes out, although it’s been Omar exiting early thus far. Well, early in the night, Omar put a $5 bounty out on Geertz’s nametag. Long after Omar was out, dressed up in his Saturday Night Fever duds and gone to the bars to troll for women – Geertz purchased Omar’s nametag (from Zach) and abused it worse than the Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. A picture says a thousand words, so here goes:

Now it's time for some observations submitted by random members of the RWPL:

Ø       Jay Rosensomething was a no-show for the June tourney ... and everyone's ears were happier for it. (By the way, it's a bit ironic that he sent in the same comment, but that someone beat him to it)

 Ø       Brendan spent 6 hours driving round-trip to play in the May tourney ... and then spent 20 minutes playing. It took him longer to swing by the Brat Stop.

 Ø       Speaking of Brendan... his only appearance left him ranked 30th and with a whopping 45 points. Before you laugh, take note -- Jay Rosensomething still only leads Brendan by 20 points in the standings, while Uncle Pat, Marc Ruffino and Omar are within 80 points and all have played 2 tourneys.

 Ø       We realize Brunger's wife is pregnant and wants him home, but the "luckiest guy we know" has finishes of 16th, 19th and 25th. Ouch. To make it worse, he finished 2nd in the pre-RWPL tournament.

 Ø       Chris Brown is often times entertaining and rarely is he quiet. On the opposite side is Tito, who barely mutters a word the whole night. Question... if Chris Brown (very vocal) sat next to Tito (does he have vocal chords?) ... would Chris still talk?

 Ø       For Judd's sake, let's hope the Metallica movie coming out next month does better than he does at Hold 'Em. The Lars-wannabe hasn’t cracked the top-10 yet.

 Ø       Kelly Geertz is not only a talker, he's also consistent. He's tops in the league with finishes of 1st, 3rd and 8th -- good for a 125-point lead over Jake.

 Ø       Say Uncle! If we combined Uncle Donnie's and Uncle Pat's scores -- they'd still only be in 8th place with 300 total points. Ouch.

 Ø       Omar, accurately tagged "Mr. Vegas" because of his vast experience in Sin City, is still looking for a top-15 finish.

 Ø       Back to Kelly "F'ing" Geertz ... after boasting of how much he'd been drinking and how it had affected his game, it was discovered that nary a sip or two had been taken from his bottle of Bacardi. Nice try, Geertz!

 Ø       Overheard ... someone called Levitas ... "Everlast" ... what do you think? Does he resemble the former leader for House of Pain?

 NOTE: It looks like we're going to have the July tournament at Jesse's house again. Brian and I have been helping clean up after every tournament and the house is usually a wreck. Would anyone be opposed to giving Jesse $20 off his monthly entry-fee to cover cleanup? 

Also, if you don't mind, it's a courtesy for the last guy who was eliminated at each table to deal for a while. Wait til someone else goes out and then you can bail. But, we'd love to have more peeps around for the final table and to curse the winner.