Flu (non-avian!) has swept through the main office. As a result, tonight's events at the Highliner are cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this last minute cancellation has caused. Weekly update follows....

New-comer Steve Burnham had a great showing last week. He overcame a major chip deficit head's up at the Highliner on Monday to win the event, then went on to grab 55 Sit 'N Go points on Tuesday at Jillian's. But it was the 20 point bounty he grabbed for knocking out the Featured Player of the Week that put him barely over the top, and secured the Weekly Points Leader. Making a great showing was Tyler Chott, who missed it by a single point. Congrats to Steve for grabbing the free buy-in at Tulalip's Saturday tournament, and also being this weeks Featured Player of Week.

SPO Home Page

One last quick announcement: The first of only two Special Events this season has been posted. Saturday February 11th will be the date for the SPO Head's Up Battle. 64 players competing head-to-head in a single elimination bracketed format. Cash Prizes, Free VIP Membership, huge league points in the division of your choice all await for those who feel up to the challenge!

Heads-Up Challenge

Week 2 of the Winter season saw the Jillian's Division kick into high gear, the addition of the Second Chance Sit 'N Go's at Pike's, and a first in SPO history. Konstantin Voziyan was the first SPO player to grab the Weekly Points Leader twice back to back. Easing into the week, Konstantin gain speed at Jillian's on Tuesday with 105 points in Sit 'N Go's, and once again grabbed 1st place on Wednesday in the Pike's Extended Format tournament. It was enough to edge out all competition at Pike's and give a huge lead at number one in that Division, and earn him the free buy-in to Tulalip's Saturday Tournament. Congrats Konstantin for securing your place in SPO history.

This week's Featured Player of the Week is Teague Ashburn. Teague is in his third SPO season, and has finished second in the two previous SPO Championships. He's also come back from a single chip to win TWO SPO regular season tournaments, which is why he' goes by "Fiddy Cent". Teague will be worth 20 Bounty Points if you can knock him out of a tournament this week. But if he defends to the final table, he retains that 20 points!

SPO Home Page

The Bad Beat Jackpot was also a new item that started this past week. Believe it or not, it was hit within a matter of hands at the Highliner on Monday! Each week it is not hit, 50 points will be added. This can get quite large if it goes several weeks, as we saw last season. You can read all about it here:

Bad Beat Jackpot Info

Don't forget, the Pike's Pub Division is now featuring Second Chance Sit 'N Go's if you bust out of the main tournament. It was a great way to get a little bit of points, and still play some poker. 4 players walked away with 15 points each on Wednesday.

SPO Tournament Structures

And speaking of Pike's Pub, I'll clue you all into the best kept secret: parking is free and readily available downtown if you can arrive at 6:00pm. Right outside the entrance to Pike's you will find parking on 1st avenue that becomes available right at 6:00 (it is a tow zone before 6:00, so the spaces are guaranteed empty). Time it right, and the parking is yours, all night for free. Parking is never an issue downtown if you can swing this!

Week 1 of the Winter season took off with quite some power. Every event we held was a 6 table tournament, and the final Extended Format event at Pike's Pub was a quite a way to break in the new host, with 49 players competing for the top prize. Carrying over his play form past seasons was Konstantin Voziyan (one of a handful of players to have made every SPO Championship to date). Konstantin warmed up at the Highliner's 2 Standard Format events on Monday, making the points in one of the events, and then grabbing 1st place in the Extended Format single event at Pike's Pub, gathering enough points to win the Weekly Points Leader, and the free buy-in to Tulalip's Saturday tournament.

A new feature this season will be the Featured Player of the Week. The FPW will be one stand out player that earns some deserved recognition. It could be the Weekly Points leader, it could be a past face who's done remarkably well in the league... it could be you! Each week, the FPW will change, and we'll see a new face in that spot. In addition to the recognition, that player will have a 20 point Bounty put on them for the week. Knock them out of a standard or Extended Format event and get 20 points instantly! But be warned, Bounties this season are Rubber Bounties. That means that if they can defend their bounty to the final table, THEY get to keep their bounty!

You can get to know Konstantin, our first FPW, on our homepage:

SPO Homepage

Don't forget, the Jillian's Division is starting up this week. A night full of Sit 'N Go's awaits every Tuesday! For 5 hours, we'll run 8 tables worth of single table tournaments. The points may be smaller, but you've got a lot of opportunity to grab more of them!

SPO Tournament Structures

And speaking of Sit 'n Go's... We've decided to add a new feature to our Wednesday night event. Pike's Pub is an Extended Format division, meaning there's a single tournament that has longer blinds and more starting chips. Since Pike's has a such a great space, we're going to offer "Second Chance Sit 'n Go's". As soon as we start consolidating the main tournament, and freeing up a table, we'll start up a single table Sit N' Go for those player that busted out of the main game early and still want a chance at making some points. Check out all the details here:

SPO Tournament Structures

Remember it's a full week this week, so you can come out Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.... hell, come out all three and better your chances for the Championship!