What a night!  It was a pretty important tourney this time around, as we’re well past the halfway point, and we can actually see the finish line on the horizon.  It was a nice turnout this month…we had 22 people.  I think it’s strange that we have 33 nametags, and average 22 people a tourney.  I think Guppy, Andy Loria, and Diego have officially quit.  We had a couple of one-time-only guys, and then there are the out-of-towners (Brendan, Ed Serrano, Travis).  Add that to the monthly three or four no shows, and you’re looking at 22.  So for a league that we “limited” to 30 guys, I think we may need to expand it next season. 

This one was definitely one for the ages though.  There was a little bit of everything this time around.  I walked over to Jesse’s place for the first time last week, even though I live less than 3 blocks away.  I think I have a new superstition.  

The night got underway late as usual, but finished in record time.  I think dropping the 5/10 blind level was a very good idea.  It really juiced up the action because by the second break, we were into some big money.  Jesse was complaining about his seat, and bitching that he was with all the good players (Me, Packer Tom, Chris Brown, Geertz, and Jake). When the tourney started, I walked around the rooms because I wanted to see if the tables were lopsided, but I found that EVERY TABLE was a “good table”.  I truly believe the skill level of this group has grown exponentially. 

 Well, after the first 2 hours, we lost a lot of the regular “early exit” guys.  Judd was first out, followed by the chorus of Jesse, George, Uncle Pat, Jay, etc.  It took only a few more ticks to get down to the final table, including: Noah, Geertz, Me, Chris Brown, Chuck, Uncle Donnie, Jake and Freddie.  Marc Ruffino (who I’m quickly becoming a huge fan of) got busted out with his bullets by a classic Chuck suck-out in 9^th place, missing the final table by a hair.

 The final table was fast and furious.  Freddie got put out first with his small stack.  While I actually got really lucky in the first two hands…AK in the big blind, and AA immediately following that blind steal.  So I took down 2 blinds in a row, and that allowed me to coast a while.  Noah got taken out on a bad beat shortly there after, followed by a huge hand for Chuck.  He knocked out Chris Brown and Jake at the same time.  Jake had more chips to start, so he took the higher position.  That left us with 4…  don’t look now, but Geertzy is still hanging around!  I don’t know how he does it?  He’s so damn loud and boisterous that he’s hard to miss, but his card playing is so understated, it’s hard to get a handle on him.  Well, he was down to a few measly chips (as was I by this point) but he had the bad luck of being on the button before me, allowing me some time.  He was put all in by uncle Donnie and his queens, and Geertz took the worst of it, finishing forth.  At this point, I think I had four or five thousand bucks left, and the blinds were 2K/4K.  Needless to say I was in trouble, but I was almost happy with a third place finish as I hadn’t won a hand in 30 minutes, and before that, it was an hour.  I knew that the final two players I had to face were vulnerable, and I figured I could take a blind or two and maybe get them to duke it out.  Well, not thirty seconds later, Chuck and Donnie were in a battle that I knew could end in disaster for Donnie.  It always happens like this with Chuck: you start real well, with something in the neighborhood of AQ, and you know damn well you have to come out strong or Chuck will call you.  Chuck was holding something resembling 5,5.  Needless to say, Chuck was calling.  Well, when the flop came with no help for either, Donnie made his move.  He pushed all his chips in the middle (and let me tell you, it was a significant number of chips).  Chuck was chip leader at this point after what he had done to Marc Ruffino, Tom Svaboda, Chris Brown, and Jake Wisby, and called Donnie without blinking.  Donnie flipped his big cards, and Chuck dashed all his hopes with the 5 came on the river .  SOME HOW I had managed to make it into second place without having played a hand in over twenty minutes. 

 Quick aside: when we sat down at the final 12 (2-tables in the kitchen, and Chuck was directly to my right) I started messing with Chuck.  He had just sucked out on someone, and I whispered to him, “I’m coming for you Chuck”.  He laughed it off, but again about five minutes later, after he had won another pot, I again whispered, “Chuck, you’re not going to get away from me, I’m coming for ya man”. 

 At this point, everyone in the room was dejected.  Chuck had made it to the final two, and was bound to win it again (second in a row) as I held only three chips.  Looking over at Chuck’s stack was a little daunting…he used more than twelve sleeves on the table to hold his never-ending rows of chips.  Geertz even went as far as writing Chuck as the winner on the “out list” .  The last thing people wanted to see was Chuck win again (no offense Chuck, but with your style of play, and the points riding on this, people were horrified by the idea).  I believe there were probably ten railbirds by now.  Not very many people had left after being busted out. 

 This is when I took the “smack-talkin” machine off the shelf, and turned it up to FULL VOLUME.  I knew the only way I could win (other than getting miraculous cards) was to destroy Chuck mentally.  So I let fly a barrage of insults and intimidation tactics, “I told you I was coming for you Chuck!” and “You’re facing off against a real player now Chuck, not one of the chumps you had last month!” (Sorry guys, but I had to say something).  One of the railbirds yelled out “Blind all in Bri!” and I hollered back, “ABSOLUTELY!  I don’t even need to see my cards to beat you Chuck!”  The railbirds were cackling, I was standing up and pointing at him, even the dealer was fighting back a grin.  We all knew that the end was near.  The cards came out and I won the first one with crap vs. crap.  I believe my 6, 3 held up over his 5, 2.  I didn’t even have enough to post the blind.  But now I had beaten him.  I ramped up the smack-talkin to another level, “Chuck, I told you you were done for, you might as well just go home”.  At this point, it was more fun than anything, as I literally had two percent of the chips, and he had the rest.  The next hand came the same way, I was all in again, and he was on the big, so he didn’t have to make a decision. Again, my rags held up over his rags, and suddenly I had ten thousand bucks, Chuck was still styling with his seventy eight thousand.  People began to think comeback though, 7-1 underdog?  Could this be done?  Could a person go from three chips, to winner?  Not likely.  But I knew Chuck was rattled.  And I was relentless with the smack talk.  At this point, I was almost yelling at him “I told you Chuck!  I TOLD YOU I WAS COMING FOR YOU!  

The next hand I think I picked up an 8, 3, off…” ALL IN” I hollered as I stood up, my chair falling down behind me.  Fold.  I smelled weakness.  6, 9 off, “ALL IN!”  Fold.  10, 8 diamonds, “ALL IN!”  Fold.  6, 4 spades, “ALL IN!” Fold.  This went on for six or seven hands.  Suddenly I had almost as many chips as Chuck did.  Geertz later told me he stood behind Chuck during the “barrage of all ins”, and said that Chuck hadn’t seen a hand better then 7, 5 in ten hands.  At this point, the smack talking went to a level that shouldn’t even be legal.  In fact, I’m going to start calling it ‘shit-talking” because that’s really what it was.  I knew I could take him at this point, all I needed was one “real” hand to play and I believed I could chop his legs out.  Well, the 2, 3, off suit didn’t really have the allure I was looking for, until the 9, 2, 2 flopped.  I was on big, so it was my call first after the flop.  I knew I had been playing so aggressively for the past ten minutes that Chuck was just WAITING for a break so he could come at me.  When I checked the 2, 3, Chuck, as I had hoped (and half expected) smiled and hammered “all in”.  I almost felt bad for the guy.  This was it.  I knew it.  I flipped over the trip deuces, and Chuck flipped over his J, 8.  He had nothing.  He FINALLY didn’t suck out, and I now had ninety percent of the chips.  He was devastated.  It was like a scene out of Hoosiers…(slow motion pan camera) railbirds were howlin', high-fives were being tossed around like Frisbees, I was doing the fat guy dance with my arms over my head…guys were dumping Gatorade on me…it was an awful display of sportsmanship, but everyone in the room was so blown away by the turn of events that one couldn’t help but cheer.  Chuck, slouched in his chair, utterly defeated, called blind all-in on this soon to be fateful hand.  I was on little, and posted.  Andy dealt the cards as the room fell silent.  I looked down to find K, 8, and stood up, hollered “CALL!” and the room went berserk when Chuck turned over his Q,7.  Rags fell on the flop, turn and river, and I had officially won my first ever live poker tournament.  It was bedlam in the kitchen that night my friends.  The buzz was electric.  Chuck posed for his picture with what little dignity he had left, and sulked off as the crowd sang out…”nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, gooooodbye!”  It was utterly amazing.

 Later, after we had cleaned up and went for beers at Ubba, Chuck was there with Jesse, Keith and George.  Chuck let me know that he was none too happy about being defeated in such a way, and was a little disappointed that he felt like “everyone was against him”.  I can only imagine how that must have felt.  I assured him that it was nowhere NEAR personal, and that his aggressive (borderline maniacal) playing style coupled with the previous month’s win would inevitably lead to that kind of reaction.  I also assured him that he would be a force to recon with in these last four events.  With a win and a second place finish under his belt, he has jettisoned into the top eight.  Geertz and I figured out what the final table would look like if we ended the league today (and dropped the worst three scores from our lineup).  Here’s how that table would look: 

1. Tito 845

2. H20 840

3. Jake 810

4. Red 790

5. Geertz 780

6. Chuck 679

7. Marc Ruffino 669

8. Chris Brown 650

These guys are on our heels…

Uncle Donny 9^th  with 635

Andy Rubenberg 10^th with 595

Keith 11th with 545

Packer Tom 12^th with 535

Jason Weiss 13^th with 520 

It was really a fantastic feeling to take down that tournament.  I was beginning to question my ability to win one.  I told this to Packer Tom and his immediate reaction was “YOU SHOULD, YOU SUCK!”  Rough crowd. 

Thanks to everyone for hanging around Friday, and watching my miraculous comeback.  Also thanks for cleaning up so well.  I remember walking out of there that night thinking, “what a fantastic luxury it is to have this many friends to play cards with every month, and how lucky we all are to be able to do it”.  I look forward to January, when I will arrive a newly hired staff member of HighTower Inc (Where Jay, Chris and Andy work), and a newly appointed member of the RWPL Championship club.  Remember, we have 2 tourneys in January, and if I win one of those…. look out Tito! 

• Side apology to Tito.  I’m a big fan of Tito, but when he got busted out last week, I was a little bit rude in my “jagging him”.  I kind of yelled and cheered and implied that we were happy he was out, and that’s not the case, well, maybe a little, but we always gun for the guy in that top slot.  And wouldn’t you know, it’s been you all season long.  Hope you’re not mad.  J
• Side note to Chuck: Thanks for the game.  Remember, if people cheer against you, it’s not you they are cheering against, it’s your style, and your meteoric rise up the ranks that has ‘em scared.  No worries brother.