The Blarney Stone Pub & Restaurant has signed with the SPO for the rest of the Spring Season. They will be taking up the Wednesday Extended Format division to replace Kells.

The Blarney Stone is a gorgeous new bar on 3rd Ave. downtown, between Stewert and Virginia (across from Bed, Bath & Beyond). We have plenty of room for tables, they have great food and drinks, and the Irish setting can't be beat for poker night. All you Pike's & Kell's players should really enjoy this place, especially since it's right down the street!

To kick it off, we are going to be doing a DOUBLE POINTS NIGHT this coming Wednesday May 31st. Same situation as Kell's. And since it's a short week due to Memorial Day, the Weekly Point's Leader should be a cinch!

We have scheduled another event for our Wednesday night Extended Format division. Ozzie's in Lower Queen Anne has stepped up and offered their new Upstairs area to us.  While not a "confirmed" permanent home for the Wednesday night slot, we hope that Ozzie's will work for both the SPO and their management, can we can continue there in the weeks to come.

Play in the Wednesday night division will continue throughout the season, and this division WILL have a champion and players in the Championship on August 6th.  If you've earned points at Kells, come down and maintain your lead at Ozzie's as all points from Kells will travel with this format to whichever venue becomes its home.  If you haven't played this format, do yourself a favor and give it a shot.  It is the closest format you will come to an actual casino tournament in a free league.

As usual, sign-ups for this Wednesday will be starting at 6:30, with the game to begin at 7:00pm.

Joshua Herring was the winner of our Rat City Roller Girls ticket give-away. His name was drawn from 64 players who qualified by making a final table in the first two weeks of play this season.

We will be having another drawing for next months Roller Girls bout. Same deal: make a final table in any regular season tournament between May 22nd and June 21st, and you will be entered in the drawing. Make more than one final table, and you increase your odds by being entered more than once. Top 8 points earners for each night in the Jillian's Division will also qualify.

And remember, every Rat City Roller Girls bout will have an SPO coupon in the program. Each month the coupon will change. Last month was double starting chips at any event. May 20th's coupon is good for a "Magic Re-Buy". Redeem the coupon at any time during the Spring Season in any regular season event and you can get back into a tournament you have busted out of. Coupon is good at ANY time in a tournament (except a final table).

Online sales for tickets to May 20th's bout have sold out. But SPO has received inside info that there will be a decent amount of tickets for sale at the door starting at 4:30pm.

Rat City Roller Girls website

Jason Counihan proved he could sweat out the competition (literally) Thursday night at Roma's. The Re-Buy event was over capacity on the hot the hot night, with 33 players. Adding 25 re-buys and 18 add-ons, the prize pool shot up to huge points. With a 1st place finish, Jason earned enough points to take him to Tulalip on Saturday with the free buy-in.

Weekly Points Leaderboard

Unfortunately, do to "financial requirements" beyond SPO Management's comprehension, Kells will not be coming on board as a host venue.  I want to personally thank everyone who came down Wednesday night and spent some money.  What's that saying about leading a horse to water?

We are dilligently looking for a new location to step up and take over the Extended Format Wednesday night division (suggestions are always welcome).  Once one is finalized, all points that were earned at Kells will transfer over.  Stay tuned to the News Feed for updates.

Spring season started off with great turn-outs!  We kicked it off at the Highliner on Monday night for 2 tournaments with near record attendance, and finished the week up with our new Host Location, Roma Trattoria, and new Re-Buy Structure. 

As expected (and warned!), the winner of the special Double Points night at Kells turned out to be the Weekly Points winner.  A good job for Dan Gestaut, scrambling through some huge stacks that night at the final table, to come out on top.  Dan wins our weekly prize of a free buy-in to Tulalip Casino's Saturday tournament.

In case you hadn't noticed, the Pike Pub is no longer in our schedule.  They had a change of ownership down there, and the new owners chose not to renew this season. In our last minute attempts to fill the Wednesday night slot, we've gotten Kells Irish Pub & Restaurant to hold an event this Wednesday, May 10th.  This is a trial run for Kells, so I'd love to see EVERYONE come by and pack the place.  If you can make it down to this Extended Format event, we'll show our appreciation and give everyone who plays DOUBLE POINTS.  You read that correctly - Double Points!  Kells is a great location, so please come by on Wednesday, buy a beer, buy 2, and order some dinner while you're at it!

The schedule for the Spring 2006 Season has been posted.... well sort of.

Due to some last minute changes at Pike Pub, they have chosen not to renew for our Wednesday night spot. SPO H.Q. is in talks with other venues in the same area that will work well with the Extended Format structure, and we'll let you know as soon as we have some confirmation.

Click here for the Schedule

For those fortunate enough to have the smarts to come on down to our Winter Awards Ceremony, we announced a new sponsorship with the Rat City Rollergirls. Those attending were informed that there was coupon worth double chips at any regular season event printed in the program for the Roller Derby match on April 29th. I warned everyone that they should have attended the Awards Ceremony, and if you did, it paid off! (I think some players even grabbed several, to give to the highest bidder at the next SPO event!)

SPO will continue to sponsor the Rollergirls throughout the Spring season. Not only will we be having another offer in the program for their next bout on May 20th, but we've also secured 2 tickets for that bout. If you make the final table in any event between May 8th and May 18th, you will be entered into a drawing for the 2 tickets. RCRG bouts have always sold out, so these tickets are highly coveted!

If you haven't checked out Roller Derby, give it a shot. Its more fun than you think!