The “Vowel” ducks for cover but comes out Victor”E”ous!

              A historic tournament indeed is what we all knew we were attending. Cha Cha had actually won and we were adding another stop on the South Bay Poker Tour.

Redondo was our new destination and twelve players were scheduled to participate. With everything set up earlier in the afternoon, all there was to do was to sit back (drink) and wait for players (drink) to show up (drink) so we could start (drink) the March 2010 tournament. I don’t know if it was the Johnnie Walker but everyone seemed in good spirits (if you know what I mean) so right off the bat it was loud, of course it may have been because we had to scream over the pre-recorded music that Cha Cha’s son had set up for us (props for that).

The first hour as always brought many re-buys and speaking for myself I slaughtered my PTL% by re-buying a full load and then some, but I have nine more months to try to make that up but I digress. After the first hour was all wrapped up the re-buys had set the first place prize at just under $300 giving the winner a nice chunk for which to host next month’s tournament.

There was plenty of grub come break time to fill our stomachs and absorb the whiskey that was freely flowing as the host doing his best bar-maid impression and plenty of desserts to snack on as the night moved along. There was also a twist to the infamous pie rule as El Guapo brought us individually wrapped assorted flavor pies.  That may have to happen again but since it was El Guapo who came up with the idea, I’ll have to ask his permission if I’m the “pie guy” and wish to follow in his footsteps.

It was becoming clear who the deep stacks were right away after break as Meaty who was already doing well sent the tournament champion to the rail with his set of deuces, and in a strange statistical anomaly, Marshal was sent home right after by whom I’m not sure but that means that the two heads-up players from last month went out exactly reversed of their previous month’s finishes.

Things moved along quite fast after this and we had our final table in no time… and here’s where it gets ugly! Turtle who was seven/deuced (beat by a player holding seven/deuce (which sucks because not only are you out of the tournament but you now owe the player who beat you a buck… double whammy)) from the last tournament that he played, was all-in with A/Q against… you guessed it … Meaty’s 7/2! And as always when a player is all-in and another calls, a crowd gathers ‘round to watch who emerges triumphant. As luck would have it, Meaty flops a back-door straight then gets an inside straight draw on the turn and as I, spotting this fact call out the five as the card to complete the straight, low and behold… a five rolls off the top of the deck to which I screamed ooohhhh !!! I don’t know what else was hollered but I suspect other screams of anguish were made at which point I was lambasted by Turtle for calling out the card that came on the river and was told to stay out of it since I was not in the hand. An argument ensued and Turtle promptly left (I don’t even know if he paid his buck or not). I’m only writing this because I don’t think I would be doing this re-cap justice if I didn’t mention it.

Once that quieted down I looked over to see that the Vowel had accumulated a huge stack and was the chip leader at the final table. Now down to five, the Saw had just enough blade left to pop the bubble and was out, narrowly missing a fourth place chip. Meaty who was the chip leader early on gave his stack to the Vowel only expanding her lead on the remaining two players, and El Guapo while having to bring the pies was rewarded with a third place finish and a cash reimbursement for the money spent on said pies. That leaves us heads-up between the Vowel and Mac Tonight!

I glanced over at the chip stacks and counted roughly an eight to one chip lead for the Vowel and although a tough hill to climb, Mac Tonight’s spirits were up. Play went back and forth and “E” was not backing the pressure off and forced Mac Tonight to play for his stack a few times in which he was victorious but with the blinds up and the Vowel applying the pressure his stack would suffer forcing another all-in and finally she got the best of it!

Congratulations to the Vowel on her second Tournament Victory and I hope to see everyone turn out for another new stop on the South Bay Poker Tour as the Vowel hosts her second tournament at her new place in April!

Slick