With a slow and steady pace… The Turtle wins the race!

In the 27th tournament to be played under the flag of the S.B.P.T., two new players joined the tour, and one would be crowned champion in his first ever S.B.P.T tournament, marking the second time this year that a player wins his first attempt at an S.B.P.T. title.

Something also happened that not as many of you will be excited about, but it brings much joy to the person writing this. Big Slick hits for the Poker Cycle! This is a personal goal that I have been entertaining. What is it you ask… to obtain every color chip, in one tour year!

Now, on to the good stuff!

Casino De Paris did a spectacular hosting job by offering a spacious playing area and loads of good grub. The Lasagna (If that was homemade, please send the recipe for the S.B.P.T. cookbook) and Garlic bread were delicious, and with Grappa on hand for an after dinner sip to help the digestion, any Italian food fan like myself would have had no complaints.

There was a lot riding on this month’s tournament (in regards to the year end point system), and by the end of the night, it reinforced my opinion that we have a great system, and will have a great December battle on hand for the yearly S.B.P.T. titles. First place is still not locked up, but I like El Guapo’s chances… Second place looks to be a big fight, but third is going to be a catfight. Brawny holds a two point lead for third place over both Chili Dog and my beloved Scooter, and the hair on their backs are raised and they’re ready to scratch! Let’s get ready to Rumbllllllllllleeeee!!!!!!!

There has been a lot of first hour action since we have instituted the new blind structure, and this month was no exception. Boomerang called down an all-in pocket aces with an open ended straight draw, only to find himself re-buying a couple hundred grand, which he lost shortly before break, then decided to call it quits due to lack of funds. On the other table, Sponge pretty much tripled up before the break when his pocket aces held up against Fishy’s “Big Slick” and Chili’s pocket queens. Pocket aces were plentiful and seemed to hold up throughout the night.

Shortly after the break, Fartman and his short stack were all-in with pocket 6’s against the pocket kings of the soppy one, which sent him to the rail second. Newcomer Chris (nickname needed) was out third, followed by Scoots whose bluff attempt increased the stack of the other Newcomer “Turtle”, and continued his steady chip growth.

El Guapo was crippled very early after the break but was able to hold on as long as he could and watch the Dry Cleaner and Fishy, hit the rail before his dominating hand would buck the odds and he would miss the final table action. Sandy was next, followed by Chili, and then Brawny, who was out on the bubble.

Down to the final four and the Headhunter award was still up for grabs. But the head was short stacked and the Turtle wasn’t! Needless to say, the Turtle now owns a headhunter chip. All the while "The Turtle" had been consistently amassing a chip fortune and would be the big chip leader at the three-person table.

Literally hours passed before we would be down to two players. A bad read on “The Saw” cut Slick out of trophy contention and set the table for heads up play with “The Saw” just behind “The Turtle” in chips. After some fierce battling, “The Saw” had her blades sharpened and her chip stack was the tallest at the two-person table until her aggressiveness got the better of her. When “The Saw” sees an ace, she’ll call an all-in bet, and playing true to form, she put herself in a very bad position when “The Turtle” put all his chips in the middle with pocket eights and she was looking down at an ace/deuce.

It wasn’t long after losing that hand and almost all of her chips that she was all-in again and we were crowning a new champion!

Congratulations to Rob/Turtle for outstanding first time play and thanks to Sponge and Sandy for an excellent hosting job.

Next month will be a shootout and I can hardly wait to take my seat!

Slick