Maybe I should start each week's email out with "Jason wins..." because at this point, we've got 3 players named Jason doing exceptionally well this season!

Week 6 saw Jason Cortese as the first player (and first Jason) to win the Weekly Points Leader 2 weeks this season, something that has only happened 6 other times in SPO history.

Jason made a come-from-behind victory last week to capture the top spot on the leaderboard. He busted out of the multi-table tournament on Monday night and got right into the mix with some non-Hold 'Em Sit 'n Go's, in which he took a first. A couple third place finished at Jillian's on Tuesday night put him at 13th for the week in total points. But it was a surprise turnout at Bleacher's on Valentine's Day that put the total points at a high enough level for him to clinch it with a win after outlasting everyone above him.

On the (almost) final hand of the night, Jason was Heads Up and just slightly behind in chips when a flop of 4-5-6 came out. His opponent bet out, and Jason raised, only to be re-raised all in. Jason made the call immediately and turned over the nuts, 7-8. His opponent winced and turned over the 3-2 for the lower striaght. Jason took that hand, and the next few, to secure the victory, and the top spot on the Weekly Points Leaderboard. Good job Jason!

Saturday, Feb 10th was the day of the 3rd Annual Seattle Heads-Up Championship. 64 players in a one-on-one, single-elimination, bracketed competition!

Early on, in the first round, we saw some upsets as favored players to go deep were sent to the rails. Dan Ebert was bested by Mark Consuegra, Mong Kon Mo was able to knock out Andy LaPlante, and in the battle of the "Will's", Will Hutchins overcame William Yeung to move on to Round 2.

Round 2 saw even more players get an upset to move on to the next round of the final 16 players. Erika Jenkins was knocked out by new-comer Jarod Okano, Jason Counihan was defeated by Steve Todd, and returning Heads-Up Champ Umair Bashir defeated Laurence Hughes (the only SPO player to cash in the WSOP so far). Umair, and 15 other winners, moved on.

Rounds 3 and 4 were fast and furious as matches ended rather quickly. Sent to the rails were some notable SPO players: Mong Kon Mo succumbed to Steve Todd's aggressive style, Will Hutchins couldn't get anything to work out against Jason Mizuta, and an upset that hurt to watch, when Per Widlund's Q9 lost to Umair's Q8.

The final 8 saw some great matches, as everyone was playing to win their 'suit division". Rob Mar won the Spades, Steve Todd won the Hearts, Jason Mizuta won the Clubs and setting the stage for a back-to-back Umair Bashir won the Diamonds. Unfortunately, Umair couldn't get the best of Jason Mizuta and his path to a Chan-like victory was halted. Likewise, Rob Mar couldn't get anything to work for him and succumbed to Steve Todd, setting the stage for the finals.

The finals were designed as a 3 out of 5 match, so that a bad beat wouldn't decide the Champion. As play started, it was obvious that both Jason Mizuta and Steve Todd were playing aggressive poker. All-in's were frequent, and the matches didn't get past the 100/200 level... at all.

In the end the game went to a 5th match, and Jason Mizuta overcame a 2-1 deficit to become your new Heads-Up Champion. As such, Jason has a guaranteed seat in the Winter 2007 SPO Championship on April 1st, and he took home $150 is cash. Steve Todd takes home $50 in cash, and heartfelt apology for putting his first match against his Dad (it really is a random draw!).

Thanks to everyone who came out and played this great event!

Week 5 was a close race to determine the Weekly Points Leader. So close, it came down to the final 10 players in the final game of the week. When we got down close at Bleacher's Pub on Wednesday night, 3 players still in the game could un-seat the current leader. As the final table formed, it looked like Mike Schloss would lock things up with a 4th place finish or better, after having earned 122 points earlier that week. Getting head's up with Erika Jenkins was all it took for Mike, and even though Erika took the event, Mike took the week! Congrats Mike, and good luck at Tulalip with your free buy-in!

On that same final table, Erika was in contention for chip leader at 7 players. She took a horrendous beat with QQ when her opponent got a runner-runner straight to beat her with his QJ, knocking her down to less than 1500 in chips (there were over 150,000 in play that night). Spectators joked about how she "only needed 5 double-ups to get back in the game". She proceeded to do just that and then some, coming back from 1500, to win the tournament.