High Anxiety

Tensions were running high as we started February’s Frozen in Place Tournament. Some players were very late and some decided not to show up at all, so right down to the last minute we didn’t know if we were playing a one-table tournament, or a two-table tournament. It turned out two be both in a sense, as it ended up a 9 player, “one-table” tournament using two tables to give us the desired elbowroom.

Upon entering Casa de Tarjetas, it was obvious that we had gone back to the early S.B.P.T. days when the host put some effort into his hosting duties. It wasn’t a living room in which we were playing poker, rather a Mexican Cantina and Card Room, complete with Mariachi’s, Gauchos, and a swinging door, along with, albeit a musical stretch… theme music. The two big burritos added the final touch to Casino Casa de Tarjetas.

Once we got underway, it was business as usual. And with only one table, it was action from the start. Meaty is definitely trying to secure the most re-buy title as he once again earns himself a souvenir chip for two complete re-buys during the re-buy hour. He would go on to add another couple $100K in re-buys to his stack during the break period for a whopping total of $120 in re-buys alone. He and Turtle are competing for this title but Meaty has him edged out so far this year. Aside from the Meaty/Turtle re-buy show, there was only another $100K bought by Cha Cha, but as you will see, that extra 100K didn’t help Cha Cha much!

During the break, it was all about the Burritos! A very Mexican feast of chicken or beef burritos with rice and beans, along with salad made this a very filling and satisfying break-time fiesta.

Once our bellies were full and Meaty’s pockets were empty, it was time to get the cards in the air and the chips in the middle! So that’s what we did. I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure it was the first hand after the break that Zug Doggy Dog exclaimed “all-in”, and Cha Cha uttered, “I call”. The Cha wasn’t to excited to see his pocket Queens get flamed by Zug’s Pocket Rockets, but he took it like a man, shook some hands and exited the premises.

El Guapo picked up some chips early by playing more aggressive poker, as did Popeye who was looking to be a dominate force once again but wasn’t quite able to keep hold of his stack and exited fourth, right after Slick who would not remain unbeaten at this address. Meaty who bought about half the chips on the table wasn’t able to get things going and quietly bowed out on the bubble, leaving just four players to fight for the title.

After facing a possible early exit, Turtle rebounded into the chip lead and pretty much held that title until it was heads up as Marshal made a late surge into the chip lead by knocking out the fourth and third place finishers. So it was now down to just two. Two players that avoided playing a big pot against each other were now heads up for all the marbles!

Marshal with a slight chip lead and Turtle with 3 tournament titles already to his name were now battling for a once in a lifetime tournament victory… a tournament hosted by El Guapo!

Each player played tight but each player flopped a pair. Unfortunately for Marshal, he flopped middle or bottom pair every time while Turtle continually flopped the top pair. So money from both players went in but only Turtle pulled it out. In fact, the entire heads up match was played this way. Marshal was unable to win a single pot and Turtle was crowned Tournament Champion once again, knocking down his fourth well deserved tournament victory!

Congrats again!

Slick