San Diego Syndicate

From the desk of contributing correspondent Anders Wright:

There’s always a sweat.  Last Sunday, at the Syndicate’s final tournament of the season, that was an understatement. The stakes were high, and the drama at the very top and bottom of the leaderboard was palpable, as those at the top jockeyed for a Main Event seat, and those further down scrambled to make it into the playoffs. 

Look up. You’ll see a great picture of Sunday’s winner, Jim H, who needed two things to happen to make it into the playoffs. First, he had to win the tournament. He did. Second, he needed Mona not to score any points. She did, which makes Jim the current playoff bubble-boy, despite taking home the bacon, after a brief heads-up with Dana for the win.

Oh, and speaking of needing to win? If Dana had come back and beat Jim H, he locks up a Main Event seat. Instead, that seat goes to Anthony, who also needed a significant combination of factors to occur, starting with outscoring Steve A, and, after he busted, hoping that neither Paul R, Joey nor Dana took down the tournament. His stress level was obviously through the roof, as he set off the outside alarm several times while pacing, and looked fit to shit a compact Hyundai at one point!

Rounding out the money winners was John Borges, with his Main Event seat already in the bag, in 3^rd place.  In 4th place was Anders, who just barely scraped his way into the playoffs. Patsy, who needed a second place or better to make the playoffs, fell just short of that in 5^th place.  Mark S took 6^th place for our final pay spot.

Final Table:

1. Jim H
2. Dana Wizard
3. John Borges
4. Anders
5. Patsy
6. Mark S
7. Chris Black
8. Don B
9. Paul R
10. Keithy

The Leaderboard: As if he wasn’t already in the lead by enough, John Borges increased his dominance this season by extending that lead with a 3rd place in this event. In 2nd place this season is Anthony who, as mentioned above, spent about 12 hours sweating various hands and other players’ finishes to earn his first Main Event seat!

Anthony had no shot at a guaranteed Main Event seat if he didn’t at least make the points after Steve busted out While Steve busted in 27th place, Anthony was on life support with 21 players remaining when this hand took place: with just 4bb left in his stack Anthony shoved and got called by Susan, who had him well-covered. Anthony tabled 88 and Susan showed KTdd. Two diamonds landed on the flop to make it fun and Anthony then faded 15 outs twice to more than double up. Then, after declaring that he wasn’t going to play another hand until after the points bubble, Anthony (in the BB) faced an all-in from Robert (in the SB). Everyone’s favorite boy from Rananchqua tanked for about a minute before finally making the call with JJ. Robert tabled 53hh but jacks held to propel Anthony into the points and give him a perilous hold on 2nd place. Once Joey, then Paul R, and finally Dana bowed out, Anthony was able to finally exhale and claim his prize!

Next Up: Our next event is Day 1 of the Playoffs. On Saturday, May 4, nineteen players will duke it out for four $1500 seats and the two who finish at the top-2 will return on Sunday for a one-table winner-take-all Main Event playoff. Additional WSOP satellites will be run on both Saturday and Sunday for those not in the playoffs.  

Guaranteed Seats – Sunday Main Event Bracket:

1. Steve A
2. Dana K
3. Paul H
4. Paul R
5. Gabby
6. Ray
7. Joey
8. Tom E

Playoff Seats – Saturday Playoff Bracket:

1. Amy
2. Don
3. Robert
4. Christopher
5. MC
6. Dr. John
7. Alan
8. Kelly
9. Jack
10. Dana M
11. Wendi
12. Jonkey
13. Mark S
14. David BL
15. Faird
16. Dave Readman
17. Anders
18. Jeff M
19. Mona

Congratulations to all of our winners and good luck to all of the players that are still in the hunt!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulation to “Handsome Mark” (ask Mona!) for his win Saturday night. This is Mark’s fourth (regular season) syndicate victory as he’s won one tournament per season for the last four seasons. In 2nd place was Mona with her best Syndicate finish ever. Her previous best was a 3rd place in Event 2 of Season 16. Congratulations to both players as those top scores vaulted them from obscurity into the playoff bracket!

In 3rd place was The Wizard with his third top-3 finish of the season. In 4th place we had Steve A, with his fifth top-5 finish of the season. In 5th place was everyone’s favorite doctor – John (just kidding Bob!).

Final Table:

1. Mark S
2. Mona
3. Dana K
4. Steve A
5. Dr. John
6. Christopher
7. Kelsi
8. Paul H
9. Anders
10. Jack

The Leaderboard: AND WE HAVE A WINNER!! Congratulations to John Borges for clinching a Main Event seat this season. With a 90 point lead over 2nd place and a 95 point lead over 3rd place, John has secured a Syndicate Main Event seat for the second season in a row!

Next up is Steve A; with his 4th place finish he moved up into the second position overall, edging out Anthony by just 5 points. Paul H is next, and while he made the final table for the eighth time this season, he has 11 scores now so he had to drop a 10 pointer from earlier in the season. The other big mover this week was Dana “the Wizard” Katzenmeier, who moved up several spots into 8th place.

Down in the playoff bracket, Mark S and Mona moved up from oblivion into playoff picture. Good luck to all Syndicators, and remember, any player that can possibly make the playoffs still has a chance to win a Main Event seat.

Next Up:

The 16th event of Season 18 will be held on SUNDAY, April 21st at 1pm. This will be a Super Major Deep Stack Tournament with a 50k starting stack. 

Please arrive by 12:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 12:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Steve A. for his first victory since the start of Season 16. Steve came back from having just 25k (with the blinds at 10k/15k) with four players remaining to take down the tournament! John Borges took 2nd place to extend his overall lead in the series. He was helped out at the final table when three players got all-in in a crazy hand: Steve had QQ, David Blumenfeld had KK and John tabled AA to scoop a massive 500k pot!

Paul Hopkins took 3rd place and busted on this hand: John raised to 75k, Paul ships 350k, Steve shoves and John folds. Paul shows AJ and Steve tables KK. With a flop of KQQ Paul is done for the night after notching his 10th score and 7th final table appearance of the season. Amy came in 4th place for her fourth top-7 finish in her last five events. Tom E, MC and Joey came in 5 – 7 to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Steve A
2. John B
3. Paul H
4. Amy
5. Tom E
6. MC
7. Joey
8. David Blum
9. Chris Black
10. Anders

The Leaderboard: With his 2nd place finish this week John has extended his overall lead to a commanding 105 points. Anthony got 10 points this week and held on to 2nd place, 35 points above the charging Steve A who is now in 3rd place. Paul H also jumped several spots and is now in 4th place, just 10 points below Steve. The rest of the pack moved down a couple of notches with Ray, Gabby, Paul R, Joey, Tom and Robert filling out the guaranteed seat bracket.

At this point it looks like “the line” is still set right between guaranteed and playoff seats.

Next Up: The 15th event of Season 18 will be held on Saturday, April 6th at 3pm. This will be a Regular Deep-Stack Tournament with a 25k starting stack. 

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Robert for winning Event 13. This is Robert’s second Syndicate victory since joining us last season. In 2nd place was Christopher ‘Payday’ Black for his third final table and best finish of the season. In 3rd place is our now overall leader, John Borges. In 4th place was Jonkey for his best finish in exactly one year. Dr. John came in 5th place to round out our money winners.

Final Table

1. Robert
2. Christopher
3. John B
4. Jonkey
5. Dr. John
6. Dana Wizard
7. Gary B
8. Tom E
9. Bob W
10. Don B

The Leaderboard: With his 3rd place finish this week John Borges moves into 1st place overall, 30 points ahead of Anthony. Everyone else near the top pretty much held their position while Robert joined the guaranteed seat players with his win.

Next Up: The 14th event of Season 18 will be held on Saturday, March 23rd at 3pm. This will be a Re-entry Tournament with a 25k starting stack. This event was rescheduled from March 16th.

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Alan for winning the third major of the season. Alan began his Syndicate career by playing 3 events at the end of Season 6 back in 2010 (he came in 2nd place in his first ever event!). Since then he has played in 164 events and has 11 wins and 9 runners-up finishes. That works out to 12% of the time that Alan plays he gets a top-2 finish!

In 2nd place was Gabby – with her third top-2 finish of the season. In 3rd place was the Wizard for his best finish of the season. David Blumenfeld and Amy came in 4th and 5th respectively to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Alan
2. Gabby
3. Dana K
4. David Bl
5. Amy
6. Buck
7. John B
8. MC
9. Steve A
10. Paul H

The Leaderboard: With John’s final table finish, Anthony’s overall lead is now 30 points over John. Ray is then sneaking up again just 15 points back in 3rd place. Gabby came back from missing two events to move back up into 4th place with her runner-up finish this week. The big mover this week was obviously Alan who is now the bubble-boy for a guaranteed seat.

Next Up: The 13th event of Season 18 will be held on Saturday, March 2nd at 3pm. This will be a Regular Deep-Stack Tournament with a 25k starting stack. 

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Please note, Event 14 is moving from March 16th to March 23rd.

Please note, Event 14 is moving from Saturday, March 16th to the scheduled makeup date of Saturday, March 23rd.

Congratulations to Jeff for his first Syndicate victory. Jeff started with us this season and with this win now has three final tables in his first five events. Heads up started with Ray (remember him?!) and Jeff about even in chips. On the first hand they got it all in on a flip and with 1.1m chips in play Ray won the hand, taking a 1m to 100k lead over Jeff. After that though everything went Jeff’s way and eventually he secured the victory.

In 3rd place was MC, for his best finish of the season. Joey had another top finish in 4th place and Steve A took 5th to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Jeff M
2. Ray
3. MC
4. Joey
5. Steve A
6. Wendi
7. Amy
8. Bob W
9. John B
10. Dr. John

The Leaderboard: Anthony still maintains a 60 point lead at the top. Then Ray, with his 2nd place finish on Saturday, moved back into 2nd place overall. Below them the big movers were Joey, who is now in 5th place and Steve A who moved up into 9th place.

Next Up: The 12th event of Season 18 will be held on February 17th at 3pm. This will be a Major Tournament with a 40k starting stack. 

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Joey for his first ever Syndicate victory! And he almost didn’t get there as Farid had about an 8 to 1 chip lead going into heads-up when Joey seemed to hit the board on almost every hand!  Runners up was Farid’s best finish of the season as was Amy’s 3rd place finish. In o4th place was Anthony who is on a HEATER!! Dreadman came in 5th Place followed by Kelsi and Dana M to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Joey
2. Farid
3. Amy
4. Anthony
5. Dave Readman
6. Kelsi
7. Dana M
8. Christopher
9. MC
10. Gary B

The Leaderboard: While Anthony extended his lead up at the top, the big movers were Joey, who catapulted up to 7th place and Farid who moved up toward the top of the playoff bracket.

Next Up: The 10th event of Season 18 will be held on February 3rd at 3pm. This will be a regular tournament with a 25k starting stack. 

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Anthony for his second victory in the last four events. Anthony was short-stacked going into the final table but got a full triple up with AK to go from 45k to 150k. Then a little later Paul R shoved from UTG and Anthony called from the BB. Paul showed A5dd and Anthony took a 400k down the 400k pot with 88.

Heads up action began with Anthony holding a 2 to 1 chip advantage heads-up against Jack and he never gave up the lead. This second place result was Jack’s best Syndicate finish to date! In 3rd place was Wendi, for her best finish of the season. John B came in 4th place for his fifth final table finish of the season. Paul R came in 5th for our final money spot.

Final Table:

1. Anthony
2. Jack
3. Wendi
4. John B
5. Paul R
6. Dana Mendel
7. Alan
8. Mark S
9. Kelsi
10. Bob C

The Leaderboard: With his second win of the season, Anthony moved from 6th place into the top spot on the leaderboard. Paul R dropped to 2nd place overall but extended his lead over 3rd place with his fifth final table of the season. John B moved into 3rd place with his 4th place finish this week. The other big mover was Jack who went from 26th place all the way up to a tie for 10th.

Next Up: The 9th event of Season 18 will be held on January 20th at 3pm. This will be a re-entry tournament with a 25k starting stack. Re-entries plus a surrender are available through the end of level six.

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

I’d like to thank everyone who came out to play the 2nd Annual Stan Diego Real Estate Holiday Hold’em event at my office in La Jolla. We had a great turnout again this year and raised $1250 for the San Diego Humane Society. Our players also donated a HUGE pile of clothes to help the Scripps Mercy Hospital Emergency Room. I really appreciate everyone who came out and played and was so generous with their buyins and donations!

Congratulations to Kelsi who has now won back to back Holiday Holdem events!!

We’ll be back in 2024 with Holiday Holdem 3!

Congratulations to Paul R, who not only took down this tourney but vaulted up into 1st place overall for the season. This was Paul’s eighth Syndicate victory since he played his first event back in season 4 (2008). Paul began heads-up with a 3-1 chip lead over Kelly and over the course of seven hands never relinquished the lead.

In 3rd place, with his long awaited (and highly anticipated) return to action, was Mark Ross. He was followed by Ranjit (yes, Ranjit) and Paul Hopkins to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Paul R
2. Kelly
3. Mark Ross
4. Ranjit
5. Paul H
6. Mary Anne
7. John B
8. Jack
9. Gabby
10. David I

The Leaderboard: For the first time this season we have a player not named Ray at the top of the leaderboard. Paul R, who has played only four events this season (placing 4th, 9th, 2nd and 1st) is now in 1st place. Gabby, with her 9th place finish this tournament, is now in 2nd place. Ray dropped down to a tie for 3rd place with John B, who has five scores and four final tables so far this season. Right behind them in 5th place is Paul H, who adds his fifth final table finish to his score. Kelly is the other big mover for the week as his 2nd place finish moved him into a tie for 7th place with Tom E (right behind Anthony).

Coming Up: Holiday Hold’em is this Tuesday, Dec. 19th at 5:30pm (dinner)/ 6:30pm (poker). This is a fun tournament for a good cause with 25% of the buy-ins going to the San Diego Humane Society. We have 41 players signed up so far but we have room for more. Let me know if you want to play.

Next Tourney: 

The 9th event of Season 18 will be held on Jan 6th, 2024 at 3pm. This will be a Regular Deep Stack Tournament with a 25k starting stack.

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the leaderboard, results and the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Don “The Closer” Bisco for a big win last night! When heads-up play began Don had about a 2-1 chip over Matt Hopkins but Matt caught up early when he won and all-in flip. 20 minutes later it was over: at the 20k/40k level they got it all in with Don’s AT vs Matt’s KQ. Don’s Ace held to close out the tourney.

Jon “Trouble” Towers came in 3rd place for his best finish of the season. Lisa came in 4th place and has now scored points in all three events that she’s played in. Wendi took 5th place and Robert placed 6th to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Don B
2. Matt H
3. Jon T
4. Lisa
5. Wendi
6. Robert
7. Chad
8. John B
9. Christopher
10. Alan

The Leaderboard: Check this out – Ray is still in first place!! He’s shown himself to be a real team player by winning the first two events to establish his bona fides and then hanging back to give everyone else a chance. Nicely done! Behind Ray we still have Gabby and Anthony tied for 2nd (now just five points back) and Tom E, who is now 20 points below Ray. John Borges moved up into 5th place with his 8th place finish last night. That dropped Paul H, Steve A, and Paul R down to 6th, 7th, 8th respectively.

The big mover on the leaderboard of course was Don Bisco. With his win he moved from 28th up to 9th place. Dana is now in 10th place while Matt H, with his runners-up finish, is now the bubble boy for the guaranteed seats.

Next Up: The 8th event of Season 18 will be held on Dec. 16th at 3pm. This will be a Major Deep Stack Tournament with a 40k starting stack.

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Also coming up: Holiday Hold’em is set for Tuesday, Dec. 19th at 5:30pm (holiday dinner) 6:30pm (poker). This is a fun tournament for a good cause with 25% of the buy-ins going to the San Diego Humane Society. Space is limited so sign up now on the invite or send Jonkey a text to reserve a seat.

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Everyone’s favorite Bronx denizen, pizza aficionado, boogie board thrill seeker, and all around good guy just won his third Syndicate event in the last three seasons – congratulations Anthony! And it happened with a bit of drama and excitement:

with the chip lead, Anthony got it all in against Lena with KK vs AA….

…Lena was devastated when the board ran out Q39TJ to give Anthony a runner, runner, runner Broadway straight. In 3rd place was Kelly, with his second final table of the season. Patsy came in 4th place to get into the mix in just her third event of the season. Dana Mendel came in 5th for her second final table finish. Finally, Dreadman and Scotty came in 6th and 7th to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Anthony
2. Lena
3. Kelly
4. Patsy
5. Dana M
6. Dave “Dread” Readman
7. Scotty
8. Chris B
9. Carmella
10. Jeff M

The Leaderboard: Guess who’s still in first place …. yep, Ray has somehow parlayed two wins, a missed tourney, and three goose eggs into a commanding 15 point lead! Gabby and Anthony are now tied for 2nd place with 210 points. Just 5 points behind in 4th place is Tom E (now in his 12th season since starting with us back in season 3). In 5th place, with five scores and four final tables, is Paul H. After that we have Paul R, Steve A, John B and the Wizard in 6th to 9th place. With his 3rd place finish, Kelly moved up in to the 10th place spot. David Icke is now our bubble person.

Next Up: The 7th event of Season 18 will be held on Dec. 2nd at 3pm. This will be a regular deep-stack tournament with a 25k starting stack.

Please arrive by 2:45 to register and players are encouraged to show up by 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to Tom for winning Event 5 of our 18th season. Tom started with us back in season 3 (2007) and this is his 8th Syndicate victory. Back in Season 6 Tom won three events and was our overall winner and represented the Syndicate at the WSOP. Our runner-up this event was Paul R, who began his syndicate career back in season 4 and has had a lot of great matchups with Tom. On this night the hand that mattered was the penultimate one: the players were about even after 35 minutes of heads-up play. With the blinds at 15k/30k Paul raised to 75k. Tom called and the players saw a flop of 678. Tom bet, Paul raised, Tom shoved, Paul called. Tom turned over 9T for a flopped straight and Paul showed 66 for set. Oof! Paul was crippled and the tourney ended on the next hand.

In 3rd place – for his second 3rd place finish the season – was Steve A. In 4th and 5th were two Davids, Icke and Blumfeld to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Tom E
2. Paul R
3. Steve A
4. David I
5. David Bl
6. Paul H
7. Don B
8. Buck
9. Farid
10. Anthony

The Leaderboard: Ray (remember him?) is somehow still in first place with Gabby still right behind him. But the rest of the pack is now catching up! Tom E – with a 1st and a 2nd this season – is now in 3rd place and Paul R – with a 2nd, 4th & 8th – is in 4th. Paul H – with 4 final tables in 5 events – is now in 5th place. We then have Steve A, John B, Dana and David I in the next four guarantied-seat spots.

Next Up: The 6th event of Season 18 will be held on Nov. 18th at 3pm. This will be a re-entry tournament with a 25k starting stack. Re-entries plus a surrender option are available until the end of level 6.

Please arrive 2:45 to register and we’d  love it if some more players showed up at 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!

Congratulations to Gabby on winning her first Syndicate event. This was Gabby’s 5th Syndicate event after playing a couple of tourneys at the beginning of last season too. This makes two tourneys in a row that player not named Ray won an event!

In 2nd place was Doctor John who has returned to Syndicate action after a 4-year hiatus. In 3rd place was Wayne “The Lobsterman” Moeck with his best finish since winning the second event of season 15. In 4th place was Andi, followed by Tamer and Donnie to round out our money winners.

Final Table:

1. Gabby
2. Dr. John
3. Wayne
4. Andi
5. Tamer
6. Donnie
7. Jonkey
8. Paul H
9. Paul R
10. Jeff M

The Leaderboard: We are now 1/4 of the way into our season and the leaderboard is starting to take shape. After winning the first two events, Ray still holds the overall lead, but right behind him is Gabby, with a three scores, including a 1st and a 2nd. In 3rd place is a familiar face at the top of our leader board – John Borges. The Wizard, who won event 3, is in 4th place. Paul H is in 5th place with three final table appearances and Dr. John is in 6th with his runners up finish this week. Then we have a 3-way tie for 7th place between Joey, Tom E and Wayne. Finally Jonkey sits in the final guaranteed seat with three scores and two final table appearances.

Next Up: The fifth event of Season 18 will be held on Nov. 4th at 3pm. This will be a regular tournament with a 25k starting stack. Please arrive by 2:45 to register and we’d love it if some more players showed up at 2:30 to help us set up. Thanks!

Schedule Change: Please note that Event 7, previously scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 3, will now be played on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations to the Syndicate’s very own wizard – Dana! This is Dana’s 7th victory since joining the Syndicate at the end of season 7. When head’s-up started Tom E had a 3 to 1 chip advantage. After about 30 minutes of action Tom barely had Dana covered when he tried to get sneaky and limped with AA. Then this happened to him:

The tournament was over one hand later!

In 3rd place was Robert in his first event of the season. In 4th place was Buck and in 5th was Kelly to round out our money winners.

Final Table

1. Dana
2. Tom E
3. Robert
4. Buck
5. Kelly
6. John B
7. Joey
8. Dave Rdmn
9. Jonkey
10. Amy

Next Up: The fourth even of the season will be held on October 21 at 3pm. This will be a MAJOR deep-stack tournament with a 40k starting stack. While we appreciate players arriving by 2:45 to register we’d love it if some more players showed up at 2:30 to help us get set up. Thanks!

Schedule Change: Please note that Event 7, previously scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 3, will now be played on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Congratulations AGAIN to Ray for winning event 2! Ray joins a long list of players that have won back to back tournaments but no one before has won their first two events with us. Heads up was over in one hand as Ray had John B out chipped by about 12 to 1. Steve A came in 3rd place in his second event back with the Syndicate. MC took 4th place, followed by Anthony and Joey to round out our money winners.

Final Table

1. Ray
2. John B
3. Steve A
4. MC
5. Anthony
6. Joey
7. Jack
8. Jimmy X
9. Paul H
10. David Bl.

Back to Back Winners: Here’s a list of all of the back to back winners in Syndicate history:

1. Season 18 – Ray C.
2. Season 17 – Matt B
3. Season 16 – Scott D
4. Season 15 – Jon Towers (in the playoffs!)
5. Season 13 – Alan
6. Season 11 – Paul R
7. Season 10 – Chad
8. Season 9 – Wayne
9. Season 8 – Kevin H
10. Season 6 – Felix
11. Season 4 – Jakey O (3 in a row)
12. Season 3 – Mark Antis (3 in a row)
13. Season 2 – Mark Antis
14. Season 1 – Chris Gregg (3 in a row)

Next Up: The third event of the season is on Saturday, October 7th at 3pm. This will be a regular deep-stack tourney with a 25k starting stack. While we appreciate players arriving by 2:45 to register we’d love it if some more players showed up at 2:30 to help us get set up. Thanks!

Season 18 at a Glance – All of the Season 18 information can be found at the link below. This includes the Season 18 Bank, which shows all of our tournament pay-outs, expenses, and savings toward our WSOP prize packages. This will be updated after each tournament.

Link to the Season 18, Leaderboard, Results, Stake, Schedule & Bank

Season 18 of the Syndicate started strong with 47 players at our first event. We had several new players join us for the start of the season and one of them took it down! Congratulations to Ray, who is originally from Brooklyn and recently moved to San Diego from Berkeley, on his victory.

In 2nd place was Gabby and in 3rd was Mike. Both have played with us before but never for a full season. In 4th place was Paul R, who has promised to play more this season! In 5th place was David Icke, who is returning after a four year Syndi hiatus. Paul Hopkins took 6th place to round out our money winners.

Besides Ray, the Syndicate also welcomes Dana M, David B, and Tamer to our poker club. Good luck!

Final Table

1. Ray
2. Gabby
3. Mike R
4. Paul R
5. David I
6. Paul H
7. Dana M
8. Matt H
9. Chris B
10. Anthony

Next Up – The second event of the season is this Saturday, September 23rd at 3pm. This will be a re-entry tournament with a 25k starting stack. Re-entries are available through the end of level 6.

After a summer that included a huge Syndi turnout in Vegas, our annual feast at Carmines, four Syndi WSOP cashes (plus about a dozen more for our players), the Summer Fun Tourney, and the Tiki – we are ready to start our 18th season!

The invitation is now out for our first event on Saturday, September 16th at 3pm. We expect a big turnout so please let us know as soon as you can if you plan to play.

There are a few changes changes for this upcoming season:

• Players will now receive 100 bonus chips per event they attend to add to their playoff stack.
• The bonus chips awarded at the majors are now: 1st – 3000, 2nd – 2500, 3rd – 2000, 4th – 1500, 5th – 1000. These chips will be added to a player’s playoff stack.
• The final event of the season will be a MAJOR MAJOR featuring a 50,000 chip starting stack and 30 minute levels. This will be event 16 on Sunday, April 21.
• If a player earns a guaranteed seat to the Main Event Bonus Tourney, then all bonus chips will be worth double and added to their stacks. (players advancing from the main playoff will have used their bonus chips).
• Each seed in the main playoff tourney will now receive 500 chips more than the previous seed. For example, the 18th seed will have a base stack of 25,000 chips; the 17th seed will start with 25,500 and so forth.

Be sure to check our STRUCTURES and RULES pages for all of the details.

WSOP PAYOUTS – we’ll be paying out each player’s share of our WSOP earnings at our first event. Any players that don’t make this event will get paid by Venmo. And remember, we still have Matt & Kelsi left to play for us next summer!

WEBSITE UPDATES – there are still some updates coming including linking to our workbook that will show all results, player stakes and the Syndicate Bank that will track all income, expenses and savings. We also will update our archives with previous year’s results and pictures.

Since Joy left us to go live somewhere in the desert with the saguaros and prickly pears, we had an opening on the committee. And the choice was easy! Wendi Beneke joins myself, Chad, Paul, Keithy, Matt and Don on the Syndicate Committee. Wendi joined the Syndicate halfway through Season 9 and has been a Syndicate mainstay ever since, winning a Main Event seat in Season 15. Welcome Wendi!

The Main Event began today – our players start on Wednesday – Day 1C (John and Mark) and Thursday – Day 1D (Paul). LFG SYNDICATORS!!!

It’s been a fantastic World Series of Poker for the Syndicate so far as we’ve had four cashes already (out of eight that have played). We’ve never had four cashes in a Series before and we still have six players yet to go! So far Alan, Anthony, Keithy, Rene, Ranjit, Patsy, Lena and Don have played and we still have Gary B (who’s playing in The Closer), Paul H, John B and Mark S left to go in the Main Event. (Matt & Kelsi are deferring until next summer for some reason). And really, we’ve had five winners once we count Mark Ross for the mini-syndi who had a nice cash in the Monster!

Here are the results for the Syndicate representatives:

And here are the results for all of the Syndicators that have played so far:

Congratulations to Mark Sawkar for winning our third Main Event seat! Mark was the 3rd seed at the start of the tourney, behind Anthony and Keithy and just ahead of Matt Burley. This will be Mark’s first time playing in the Main Event.

The players began with an average of 170,000 chips with the top seed starting with 200,000 and the bottom seeds (our three playoff winners) starting with 150,000 each. The levels were 40 minutes long (starting at 1k/2k/2k) from levels 1 – 6 and 35 minutes in length beginning in level 7.

We lost our first player at the end of level 4 when Don ran his 11bb stack (holding KJ) into Matt’s AA. After that we lost Ranjit, Rene, Keithy and Anthony between levels 5 and 7. Kelsi busted next in level 8, leaving Gary, Patsy, Matt and Mark. By now Mark had a commanding chip lead over the field causing everyone to play shallower than what the average stack size would be.

Gary lasted until the next level before going out in 4th place. The remaining three of Patsy, Matt and Mark then played 3-handed for almost two hours before Patsy finally lost all of her chips in the 11th level (10k/20k/20k).

Now heads-up begins with Mark’s stack at 1.57m chips to Matt’s 122k chips – a 13 to 1 advantage! After a few hands they got it in with Matt holding KK to Mark’s 44 for Matt’s first double up.

Matt continued to grind his stack up until this big hand: Mark raised and Matt called and they saw a flop of 8c9c9d. Matt check-called the flop and they saw a J fall on the turn. Matt check-raised all in and Mark called. Matt tabled J9 and Mark showed QcJc. The river bricked and Matt took the chip lead with about 1m to Mark’s 700k.

After that everything seemed to go Mark’s way. He kept winning small and medium-sized pots as Matt seemed unable to connect or slow Mark down. Matt did have a chance to take it down, with a small chip-lead remaining, when they got it all in on the turn with this hand: Matt held Ad8c against Mark’s Ah2h and the board ran out Ac7c4c Kd 4h for a chop.

Soon after that Mark flopped a set with 22 vs Matt’s top pair to give him back the chip lead. Mark ended up earning the victory after about a 90 minute heads-up duel.

Congratulations to ALL of our winners (plus Mark Ross) and good luck to them and the Syndicate in Las Vegas this Summer!!!

Final Table Results:

1. Mark
2. Matt
3. Patsy
4. Gary
5. Kelsi
6. Anthony
7. Keithy
8. Rene
9. Ranjit
10. Don

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