TOURNAMENT UPDATES ETC.
| May 3, 2015
Season X – Our tenth season is now over and we are ready to roll into Vegas in June and July. While this season was not quite as big as season 9 – and that was by design – we are still awarding over $47,000 in WSOP prize packages with 12 Syndicate winners going to Vegas! Once again we’d like to thank Jill & Jamie Hickerson for being such gracious hosts – they provided us with an excellent home and without them there probably would not have been a season 10. The Winners: This season’s WSOP player field is now set. Congratulations to Heath Klock who is our overall champion for season 10. Heath started with us back in seasons 5 and 6, took 2-year hiatus, and returned to join us for the past two years. Heath had an exceptional season with 11 scores, 8 final tables, and 2 wins. Joining Heath in the Main Event are our 2nd and 3rd place finishers: Jonkey and Matt Burley. This is the first Main Event for all three players! The next five places also earned guaranteed $1,500 WSOP Seats. These went to (in order): Chad, Alan, George, TJ and Stan Diego.
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April 11 2015
Season X – Event 16:We had an excellent turnout of 46 players for the finale of our 10th season. It was a real fun night as players vied for Main Event seats, guaranteed seats, and a place in our playoffs. Once we were 12-handed we began updating the leaderboard in real time and you could really feel the tension and excitement. There was so much going on besides just the results of this one event as different players clinched the seats they were competing for. For this event though, we had our only back to back winner of the season as Chad surprised himself (and everyone else!) by winning his second tournament in a row. Chad had a real sweat at 4-handed as he was the short stack for a while and needed a 3rd place or better to earn a guaranteed WSOP seat. He not only managed to hang on for the victory but damn near earned a Main Event seat as he ended up in 4th place overall just 20 points out of a top seat. In 2nd place last night was Wayne, followed by Matt B (more on Matt below), Heath and Paul H.
Mar 28, 2015
Season X – Event 15:First off, we had a great turnout for the penultimate event of our 10th season. With 41 players last night and a solid field expected for our season finale, we can now confirm the prize packages: there will be three main event seats, four guaranteed $1,500 seats, and four $1,500 playoff seats. Our winner last night was the freshly shorn and always stylish Chad Mothe’. This was Chad’s first win since he had two victories way back in Season 5. It’s also his sixth career Syndicate win. In 2nd place, after a see-saw heads up match that had several big swings in momentum, was Jacob in his fifth final table appearance of the season. In 3rd place was Don C., followed by George, who lost a heartbreaker of a hand to Chad when they got it all in with QQ vs A5. George’s Queens were ahead all the way until a 4 landed on the river to give Chad the wheel. Lena rolled in off the golf course to take 5thplace to round out our money winners.
Mar 15, 2015
Season X – Event 14: TJ had been absent from the final table for several tournament but he came roaring back with a win last night. Your reporter had made an early exit so he doesn’t have many details. Apparently TJ had a pretty big stack throughout much of the final table. He ultimately went heads-up against Steve A, whose 2nd place was his best finish of the season. In 3rd place was Paul R followed by David Rimi in 4th.
Mar 1, 2015
Season X – Event 13:So this happened: Dana and Jonkey had been playing heads up at the 10,000/20,000 level for about 35 minutes and were about even in chips (915,000 in play) when they finally got their stacks in. Jonkey had raised from the small blind to 50k and Dana called. The flop came Ad7dQd. Jonkey led out for 75k, Dana shoved and Jonkey called. Dana showed Q7hh while Jonkey tabled Qs9d. The 3d came on the turn to give Jonkey his flush and the 10s on the river was no help for Dana. They matched stacks and Dana had Jonkey covered by just 20k. That’s one big blind. Put another way – that was 20,000 for Dana and 895,000 for Jonkey. Or if this helps the reader understand – Dana had 2.19% of the chips in play vs. 97.81% for Jonkey. We’re sure the astute reader can see where this is going. From the small blind Dana completed the bet in the dark. They each have garbage but Dana wins and now has 40k. Next hand is another all-in. Again the players had unremarkable hands but Dana wins and is now up to 80k. On the third hand Dana folded from the small blind so he went down to 70k. On hand 4 they each picked up a decent hand and were all in – Dana wins and is up to 140k. It should be noted now just how helpful Keith and his shuffle-monkey Craig were as they sensed blood in the water and started circling (aka heckling) like sharks! On it went with Dana winning about 2 out of every 3 hands. Jonkey managed to hold on to his chip lead long enough to finally flop two pair and get it all in against Dana’s top pair. Of course the board ran out to a straight so they chopped the pot. This went on for another 40 minutes with Jonkey losing, gaining and losing the chip lead until the final hand played out: Jonkey raised to 50k, Dana shoved and Jonkey called. Dana shows AhTd and Jonkey turns over KsQc. The board runs out 8d7c9h2hTc to give Dana his first victory of the season and send Jonkey to the fridge for a much too late beer to help him deal with his grief.
Feb 21, 2015
Season X – Event 12: We have our first 2-time winner of the season now as Heath took down his second event of the season. He went almost wire to wire as the chip leader as all the other players lined up to give him their chips. At 6-handed Heath had 365,000 out of the 860,000 that were in play! Heath actually gave up the lead – though barely and only for a couple of hands – to Alan during their 61 minute heads-up battle. But he regained it, and crippled Alan, on this play: with the blinds at 10k/20k, Alan (who had Heath covered by only 10k) raised to 50k. Heath called and the flop came Jxx with two diamonds. Heath shoved and Alan called. Heath showed J8o while Alan tabled ATdd. Heath’s pair of jacks held up and Alan was left with two pink chips and a chair! Then, for the first time anyone can recall, they played the final 3 hands face up as Alan was basically all-in before the cards were dealt. Below them, Jonkey grinded a short stack all the way to 3rd place while Jay took 4th place for his fifth top-6 finish of the season. Steve P. came in 5th place to round out our money-winners.
Jan 31, 2015
Season X – Event 11: Cards were dealt; words were exchanged; beers & shots were consumed; and Patsy & Farid made some awesome burgers for dinner! Oh, and Stan Diego won his first Syndicate tournament! It was a pretty crazy night, even by Syndicate standards! In second place, just back from gallivanting around THE Europe, was Paul R. Right behind him in 3rd place was Alan “A6off” Ho. Jacob snuck into 4th place to finish out our money winners.
Jan 17, 2015
Season X – Event 10: Congratulations to Paul “the Raiders are going to be great next season, no really” Hopkins for taking down Event 10 of our 10th season. This is Paul’s first victory since the 11th event of Season 8 when he went on to come in 2nd place overall and win a Main Event seat. The turning point for Paul came when they were still 6-handed. Paul was the big stack with 180k in chips. The blinds were 4000/8000 and Paul made it 21k from early position holding TT. It folded to Jacob in the small blind who shoved 117k. Paul calls and Jacob says “I hope you have ten ten” as he turns over AJ. Paul’s tens held up, knocking Jacob out in 6th. That gave Paul a monster stack and he rode that all the way to heads-up with George who took 2nd place and the overall season lead. In 3rd place, with his best finish of the season, was MC. He was followed by Anthony, also with a season high, in 4th place.
Jan 4, 2015
Season X – Event 9:Congratulations to the better half of our hosting duo as Jill won her first Syndicate tournament since starting with us back in Season 8. She took it down when she flopped two-pair holding 9-duece (!!) to crack Don Bisco’s Queens. In 3rd place, with his fourth final table of the season, was Linn. He was followed by Steve P and Dave “5th Place of Nothing” Bernatz to round out our money winners.
Dec 13, 2014
Season X – Event 6: On Saturday we had our last tournament of 2014 and completed the first half of the season. We had a real strong first half with 73 different players and an average of 48.75 players per event. Right now we have over $25,000 saved toward our year-ending prizes. While we do expect attendance to be lower the second half we definitely expect to have a lot of seats to award in May. Right now we project the following prizes: three Main Event Seats (+$500); three $1,500 guaranteed seats (+$250), and four $1,500 playoff seats (+$250).
The winner of this event was Gary Fessia. Gary played Chad heads-up and after starting with a 2-3 chip disadvantage held on to eventually earn his first victory since Event 12 of Season 8. For Chad this was his first final table of the season after being the final table bubble-boy back in week 3. In 3rd place was George, who returned to the final table for the first time since his win back in Event #3. And in 4th place, to round out our money winners, was Jay with his <<…>> fourth top-6 finish in the last 4 events!!
Nov 22, 2014
Season X – Event 8:Last Saturday we held our second Major of the season and the winner was our 2nd place finisher overall from last season, Wayne. He bested Matt B. when they got it all in with AK vs QQ and Wayne’s pocket pair held up. Matt had a monster stack a bit earlier until he took a huge loss with AKss vs. Eddie’s AA. – but he held on for his second runner up finish of the season. In 3rd place, with his best Syndicate finish to date, was our awesome host, Jamie. Jamie advanced by knocking Jon Towers out in 4th place. Those two got it all in with 44 (Jon) vs. AK(Jamie) and the board ran out JJTTA. This was Jon’s best finish of the season and moved him up into contention. In 5th place was Don C. who took some big pots off of Jonkey earlier in the tournament and held on for his best finish of the season so far.
Nov 15, 2014
Season X – Event 7: First off, remember this is actually the sixth tournament of the season, though it is #7 on the schedule. Event #6 will be made up on December 13th. Now on to the action….
Our winner last night was Steve Potashnick who joined the Syndicate as a new player this season. Steve had one previous final table appearance, a 6th place finish in week 4. Steve entered 3-handed play against Jay and Jonkey after winning a massive pot against 4thplace finisher Jacob. With the blinds at 7000/15000/2000 the action folded to Steve in the small blind and he elected to call. Jacob shoved from the big blind and Steve snap-called and turned over 88. Jacob tabled A3 and the board ran out with no help for him. That hand left Steve with about 625,000 of the 870,000 in play.
Soon after that Jonkey and Jay got it all in with the former holding JJ and the later showing 99. Jonkey’s jacks held and he went into heads-up with a 2.5 to 1 chip disadvantage. The players traded pots for about 30 minutes until they finally got it all in with Jonkey holding 55 vs. Steve’s KT. It should be noted that this all in occurred AFTER the flop of T83 – so Jonkey’s real proud of that shove!!
In 5th place was Paul Latchford who decided to take the afternoon off from the links to play his first event of the year. In 6th place was a near chip and chair story as Matt Burley was down to 1100 chips at the 800/1600. He septupled up to about 7000; then tripled up again; until finally he ran his stack all the way up to 160,000 before stalling out.
Let it also be known that there was a royal flush at the cash table. This apparently was a very exciting event as the volume and frenzy rose to Arrowhead Stadium levels. Our host, Jamie, was the lucky winner. An amusing moment occurred when one of the remaining tournament players asked Chad if Jamie’s hand held up and he replied “yes” very sincerely…
Oct 25, 2014
Season X – Event 5: Last night Heath won his first tournament since he won two back in Season 5 (he came in 6th place overall that year). This victory moved Heath into the overall lead this season and was his third final table and 4th score of the season. In 2nd place was TJ for his third final table appearance. Dana came in 3rd place to equal his previous best score in the first event of the season. Erica came in 4th place for her first score this season and it moved her all the way up to 15th place. Our last money winner, in 5th place, was Dave Bernatz, also with his first points of the season.
Oct 11, 2014
Season X – Event 4: Last Saturday we held our first major of the season which featured our best structure ever with a 20,000 chip starting stack and 30 minute blinds. The winner, after 11 hours and 7 minutes of poker was Linn Holland. For Linn this was his first victory since event #12 of Season 6 and the win moved him all the way up into 3rd place overall. In 2nd place, for the second time this season, was Alan, who now takes over the top spot on the leaderboard. In 3rd place, with his best Syndicate finish yet, was Jay Johnson. Our other two money winners were Don Bisco in 4th and TJ in 5th.
Oct 11, 2014
Season X – Event 4: Last Saturday we held our first major of the season which featured our best structure ever with a 20,000 chip starting stack and 30 minute blinds. The winner, after 11 hours and 7 minutes of poker was Linn Holland. For Linn this was his first victory since event #12 of Season 6 and the win moved him all the way up into 3rd place overall. In 2nd place, for the second time this season, was Alan, who now takes over the top spot on the leaderboard. In 3rd place, with his best Syndicate finish yet, was Jay Johnson. Our other two money winners were Don Bisco in 4th and TJ in 5th.
Sep 21, 2014
Season X – Event 3: With 53 entries and 13 re-entries, this was the most lucrative Syndicate tournament ever. Our winner, George Watson (from Redlands), took home $1,335 (and 100 points) for first place. He finally took it down after an almost one hour heads up duel with StanDiego (.com). George and Stan traded the lead several times, but in the end Stan’s deep V-neck was not enough and George took down his first Syndicate event and moved into 7thplace overall. For Stan this was also his best Syndicate finish, and his 2nd place finish, and second final table in a row, moved him up into 6th place and gave him enough cash to get a full mani-pedi!
Sep 6, 2014
Season X – Event 2: It was a crazy final table last night. We got down to 9 handed pretty early and even lost the first couple of players relatively quickly. There was the typical delay at 7 players since that was the money bubble. But once that was burst, with Paul R. bowing out in 7th, NOBODY would bust out! Time after time a short stack would go all-in, get called and have the worst of it, then come out ahead with a nice double up. Alan seemed especially fond of this action as he doubled up no-less than 6 players at the final table. That list included the eventual winner when, at 6-handed, Jonkey 3-bet shoved over Alan’s raise. Alan calls with AK and Jonkey tabled A5. Oops! Of course the flop came AJ5 for a nice “whee” moment for Jonkey. Alan, who despite doubling up most of the final table, went into the heads-up match against Jonkey with a 3 to 1 chip advantage. The players traded pots for about 15 minutes before Jonkey went on a heater. Over a 15 minute span he had several pocket pairs as well as flopping a boat (and rivering quads Ace’s – he had AJ on a board of AAJxA). It finally ended when Jonkey picked up KK in the big blind. Alan raised and Jonkey called. The flop came QTx. Jonkey checked, Alan shoved and Jonkey called. Alan showed KT and the board ran out without helping him. This was Jonkey’s first win since Event 5 of season 8 and Alan’s best finish since he had a pair of wins in that same season. In 3rd place was Heath; in 4th was Matt B; in 5th was Linn; and Gail came in 6th for the second event in a row.
Aug 16, 2014
Season X – Event 1: Welcome back everybody – after a nice summer break the Syndicate is back for its 10thseason! If the first tournament is any indication then we can look forward to a fantastic season. We had 54 players, even though we took steps to try to stay below 50, and we are already sold out for our next event with 60 players. Apparently it was a little more challenging to put the genie back in the bottle than we anticipated. The victor of our first event was our overall points leader and Main Event representative from Season 6, Tom Eidenschink. Tom had to take much of last season off due to other commitments but after this start it looks like he’s going to have to try a little harder to stay home! In 2nd place was Matt Burley who ended last season on a hot streak and seems to be picking up right where he left off. In 3rd place was Dana Katz, who of course ended last season in 3rd place overall and earned a trip to the Main Event along the way. Rounding out the money winners was Rene, Heath and Gail.
San Diego Syndicate 