Well Blow Me Down... Popeye takes the Season Opener and wins a second Title!

Here we were again… the start of a new season of S.B.P.T. poker! The stage was set for another great “Tour” point’s chase. 16 players would be doing battle to get a head start into 2008 and hold top spot for at least one month this year.

Coming off an exciting finish to the 2007 tour, we started 2008 right on time, which nowadays means about a half an hour past the posted starting time. Nevertheless, after the tables and seats were chosen and everyone was seated, we were underway!

The first hour like always, had some fireworks which always amounts to re-buys, and this first hour had its share as Turtle became the first player of 2008 to need a complete re-buy. Sandy Cheeks would have been next but she opted to wait 5 minutes until the official re-buy period started.

Break time at Little Hill saw a feast of the ever-delicious Papa John’s pizza with Caesar salad, and of course there were a variety of sides and drinks to keep the bellies full and the heads cloudy.

After the break, everyone was looking to get that ever-important jump-start into the New Year but some early hands wrecked havoc on the dreams of some players. One very notable hand that had a lot of important facets to it was a hand involving three players. Sponge with pocket Queens, the Saw with pocket Kings, and Spider Rico with pocket Aces. After the raising started, UniSponger was savvy enough to realize that he was beat and made a professional quality lay down. But the other two pushed their entire chip stacks into the middle. A very improbable King fell on the flop and sent Spider Rico to the rail first for 2008, but what makes that so improbable was that Riverisa had folded a King so Spider Rico was one outed to start his year! Another hand that completed an early goal for Turtle was when he finally hit quads. The goal was reached when the fourth Queen fell on the river. I don’t think it was a huge pot, but any win is a good win!

The year didn’t start off too well for the two top players of 2007 as Meaty hit the rail third followed closely by Slick who was out fourth. Some other final table staples were knocked out earlier than expected as El Guapo found his exit sixth and Sandy Cheeks was next to go seventh. Sniper would be next out setting up the final table.

Scooter would last all but one hand on the final table and soon after she was out, it seemed as if the shorter stacks were trying to get knocked out. It was one all-in after another until Zug was finally the one to come up short on a big three-way hand that would catapult Popeye into the chip lead.

Now down to five, it looked as if either Cha Cha or Turtle was next to go until the Saw and the UniSponger decided the time was right to gamble. All the chips went in and the underdog would prevail once more as the Saw caught her three outer to end Spongie’s title hopes send him out on the bubble.

That left us with two big stacks and two short stacks. Cha Cha, one of the short stacks, would be the next to go followed closely by Turtle who was the other short stack, leaving us with our heads up finale. The Saw and Popeye would only battle for a short time before all the chips were in and a winner was crowned! The Saw pushed all-in with pockets sevens only to be called by a tired Popeye holding King-Ten Suited. This time the cards weren’t as lucky for the Saw as they were earlier in the evening as a King hit the turn and gave the win and the 2008 Season Opener to Popeye.

He played a quiet game right up until the end, but you don’t have to say much when cards do the talking!

Also, a big congratulation goes out to Scooter, Meaty, and Slick, who were the 2007 Tour winners. Who will take down the 2008 Tour title… stay tuned?

Slick