SPO News Feed

SPO teams up with Rat City Rollergirls

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:40:00 +0000

The Rat City Rollergirls are putting the Godfather in Father's Day, June 17th, at a very special, very exclusive private event.

This fundraiser (for RCRG's travel and world domination fund) will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon in a stylish, secret Seattle speakeasy. (You getta know where it is when you getta ticket, capice�) Admission gets you a seat in the Jimmy Hoffa Memorial Poker Tournament (thanks to our friends at Seattle Poker Open).

At the very least, you'll drink, party and play poker with rollergirls all afternoon at this super secret, private party. And, if you're a card shark, you'll also have a chance to win prize packages galore. Be there, or you're gonna get your own pair of concrete galoshas.

Space is extremely limited, so guarantee your entrance today before it's too late.
Get your tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/16128

Then contact Baby Face Shovey Chase at shoveychase@ratcityrollergirls.com for further instructions ... unless she contacts you first.

As always, if we tell you any more, we'll have to kill you.

Dan Gestaut is Back

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sun, 06 May 2007 23:10:00 +0000

After essentially taking a season off, Dan Gestaut is back on the SPO scene and cleaning up. Dan was the Season Champion a year ago, when he took down the Spring 2006 Championship.

Starting play this season on the last night of the week on Wednesday, Dan made some great calls (and folds) to win the Extended Bounty event at Bleachers Pub. Unfortunately it was not enough points to take the top spot on the Weekly Points Leaderboard away from Troy Coulombe, but it got him to 2nd in a single event.

Due to a previous engagement, Troy declined the free buy-in to Tulalip's Saturday morning tournament which is included in the Weekly Points prize, so it defaulted back to Dan. Dan rode his free buy-in all the way to first place at Tulalip, earning himself not only the $1800.00 prize, but also an entry into Tulalip's Ultimate Poker Vacation IV on May 26th, which awards 3 seats to the 2007 WSOP! Congrats Dan, and good luck!

Troy Coulombe Week 2's FPW

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:09:00 +0000

Troy Coulombe started the week off huge last week. In the first week of play for the Spring season, and the first event ever at 88 Keys in Pioneer Square, he sprinted out of the gate! In the Standard Format night, Troy finished in 6th in the 6:30 event, and then went on to dominate the field in the 9:00 event, finishing 1st. His total for the night was an astounding 177 points. But Troy didn't stop there. He went on to play some Sit 'N Go's at Jillian's on Tuesday night, earning another 80 points, and bringing his weekly total up to 257.

That was it for Troy for the week, as he did not play in Wednesday night's Extended Bounty format. But that seemed to be plenty, as no player on Wednesday could match his points form the first 2 nights of play. Troy grabs the top spot on the Weekly Points Leaderboard for the first week of the season!

Troy will be the Featured Player of the Week for Week 2. As such, he is worth 25 specialty points if you can knock him out of any event (excluding Sit 'n Go's). But if Troy makes a final table, he retains his bounty and keeps those 25 points! You can also read his brief bio on our homepage.

New Format!

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:43:00 +0000

The poker tournament's evil twin brother the Ring Game is invading the SPO!

Sometimes referred to as a "cash game" this format of poker is the bread and butter of most professional players, and great fun to play. We are proud to announce that after alot of structure analysis and player input, we are sanctioning this format in SPO Divisional play.

The Ring Game is a form of poker that does not determine a single player as a "winner" like a tournament does. Players can choose to play with different amounts of chips to their own comfort level (see below), and may play for as long or short as they like. If you lose your stack in a hand, feel free to "buy" more chips and keep playing!

The Ring Game format will be exclusively at Jillian's this season, along side the ever popular Sit 'N Go's. To play in a Ring Game, players must first earn points in Sit 'N Go games. Those points may then be used to "buy in" to the Ring Game. Each point in the Jillian's Division will provide 50 chips in the Ring Game. When you are done playing the Ring Game, "Cash out" those chips, and the ones you earned from other players, back into points, hopefully turning a profit in the process! This is a great way to steal points from other players!

It is every players choice and discretion to play the Ring Game, and to what level. If you lose all your points at the Ring Game, just hop back in a Sit 'N Go and earn some more! Don't feel comfortable in the Ring Game? The Sit 'n Go's that you've come to know and love will continue to be there, the same as last season.

Blinds for the Ring Game stay at a constant 50/100, and the game will be No Limit Texas Hold Em. Higher Stakes and other games may be introduced at the Tournament Director's discretion. Also, some of the popular deals that occur in real money games (ie: running it twice, chopping before the flop, giving insurance, etc.) will be allowed.

If you are a fan of High Stakes Poker on GSN, why not come down on Tuesday's and give it a try?

New Monday Night Venue

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 22:38:00 +0000

With the vacancy left by Belltown Billiards, we would like to welcome 88 Keys to our Monday night slot.

Situated in historic Pioneer Square, this classy Sports Bar has an alter ego as a Dueling Piano bar as well. With ample room for as many tables as we'd like, 88 Keys will see the return of the Standard Format to SPO play, with 2 tournaments every Monday night for the Spring '07 Season.

If you live or work in the downtown area, this is the night for you. Stop by for either the 6:30 or the 9pm event, and enjoy your favorite sporting event...including poker... on one of their 15 flat screens throughout the bar. With drink specials, and a happy hour that lasts until 7 pm, their menu can't be beat either.

If you are driving, ample parking is to be had on the street for free after 6pm, or for a small fee in the lot right across the street.

Winter 2007 Championship Results

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:36:00 +0000

Back on April 1st, the top 32 players from the Winter '07 Season went up to Tulalip Casino to determine who would be crowned Champion. In a field that saw a surprising number of new players mixed with seasoned SPO veterens, it was a game that was sure to be fun!

This event even boasted 3 couples playing together in the event. The first to bust were the back-to-back losses of Helen and Larry Brotherton in the second round. After that, it was fast and furious as the 4 table event lost nearly half the field in the next hour of play. By dinner break we had narrowed the field down to 2 tables, and the SPO Cash Game was already heating up!

As players with full bellies got back in the action, it took just 30 minutes to eliminate some of the tournament 'heavies', as we saw Drew Hall, Kevin Baker, Troy Coulombe, and Kirk Charles all bust. Just missing the final table was last Season's Champ, John Lopez as he finished 16th.

With a final table of 10 players, Will Hutchins had a commanding chip lead over most of the table. But as play moved on, his chip lead only grew. We also saw the last surviving couple of Telsin and Jordan Brower bust in 9th and 10th place respectively. New-comer Earl Hunt's aggressive style couldn't hold up and he busted in 6th, with Wild Card winner Dan Ebert right behind him in 5th, and rookie Mike Schloss in a promising 4th place.

With the field narrowed to only 3 players, it looked like "the Season of the Jason" might have held through the post season as well. But with a bad beat to cripple his stack, Jason Counihan, arguably the player that performed the best this past season, was knocked out in 3rd.

The head's up match between Will Hutchins and Mong Kon Mo lasted for a good 30 minutes. When Head's Up started, Will had about a 2-1 chip lead on Mo. But after a few hands, Mo reversed that! Will got down to just a few chips at one point, mounted a comeback, but again lost a majority of his chips. When the dust settled, Mo was vitorious, and claimed the Championship all for himself. Congrats Mo!

Adam Quigley Wins Re-Buy Event

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:38:00 +0000

Our second Special Event of this season went down on Saturday, and with a surprisingly (relatively) small turnout, it looked to be good for the players that did make it down.

41 players ventured out to put some of their hard-earned points into play, to try to win them back and then some. With unlimited re-buys throughout the first hour of play, and an additional add-on for those still inthe game at the end of that hour, play started out a bit slow. Less than 10 re-buy's were administered in the first level. But as the blinds starting rising, the chips started flying!

At the close of the re-buy's, there were a total of 29 re-buys, and 32 add-ons, creating a prize pool of 1220 points! It should be noted that all of the points in play were "player purchased" points, meaning the league did add any points to this event. So in effect, those tha tearned points for their finish, earned them by taking them away from other players!

With over 300,000 chips in play, the event went at surprisingly brisk pace. By second break we were down to 3 tables, and then down to 2 shortly after that. Once the players could smell the 'plus side' of the points, play got more serious and slower. Newcomer Deb Bauder rode her original chip stack to 14 place, earning18 points in the process. A lot of players were cashing in on points only realize they were breaking even for the day!

As the final table started, chips were scattered pretty evenly, with Adam Quigley as the one out front, with Matt Edwards a close second. Matt took a couple hits when he pushed and got called and ended up finishing 5th. Another newcomer, Gon Lui, paid off a couple bad beats to end up 4th. And Jock Carter went froma contender to 3rd place in just 2 bad hands in a row!

The comeback of the day belongs to Lenny Hom. Short stacked the entire final table, at opne point he was all-in in the big blind, with 2 callers. They checked it down, playing it safe to try to lose the player, but Lenny woke up with pocket Kings, tripling up! Lenny eventually went on to to battle with Adam Quigley head's up. He started as a 2-1 underdog to Adam, but held steady and got the chip lead for a short while. As the blinds rose to 30,000/60,000, play got aggressive and Adam finally found a hand that worked and got all his chips in for the win!

It should be noted that this was, indeed a re-buy event, but the winner of the event, Adam Quigley, did not take a single re-buy or even an add-on! His original 3000 chip stack grew over the course of the 6 hour event 100 times, to 300,000! A job well done, and worthy of the guaranteed seat in our Winter Season Championship!

Special Event Sign-Ups Open

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:22:00 +0000

Sign-ups are now open for everyone to get into our 2nd and final Special Event of this season. It will be a re-buy format event.

Anyone and everyone will be able to enter this event for free. For the first 3 rounds of play, players will have unlimited re-buy's available should they lose all their chips. But there's one catch...

Re-buy's will "cost" players 20 points that they've earned so far this season. If you'd like a re-buy, you must choose a division that you have a minimum of 20 points in, and deduct from that division. You can use multiple divisions for multiple re-buy's, but all 20 points must come from a single division at a time.

There will also be an optional add-on at the beginning of round 4 for all players still in the game (you will not need to be out of chips for this add-on). Add-on's will also "cost" 20 points. All re-buy's and add-on's will be for 3000 in chips, which is the starting stack.

All points collected from re-buy's and add-ons WILL be in the prize pool for the event. In addition, the winner of the event will receive a guaranteed seat in the Winter 2007 Championship on April 1st.

If you haven't played a second division this season and don't want to jeopardize your standing at your favorite location, come on out this week and try and earn yourself a re-buy for Saturday in a different division! A win at a Sit 'N Go on Monday or Tuesday night is worth 2 re-buys!

We also have one special surprise for the event that can change a player's entire season... but you'll have to be in attendance to find out and qualify!

to sign up for this event click here

More details on the event can also be found here

Steve McCumber Wins Week 8

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:20:00 +0000

Steve McCumber started the week off right in Week 8 of the Winter season. On Monday night at Belltown Billiards, he dominated the main game with a 1st place finish. After the main game finished up, he got into the final Player's Choice Sit 'N Go of the night, and earned a first place finish in that 7 stud game, giving him 181 points for the evening and the lead on the Weekly Points Leaderboard.

Tuesday night, Steve made it out to Jillian's just in time to get into a few Sit 'N Go games. He padded his lead with another 65 points, giving himself about 100 point buffer. But with the attendance at Bleacher's Pub on the final night of the week, the winner could easily pass him.

As it turns out, Steve couldn't make anything work for his cards on Wednesday night, and he busted out early. But perseverence kept him at the venue, and he took down a Second Chance Sit ' N Go to add 14 points to his weekly total. Turns out he didn't need the extra 14 as his performance earlier in the week was enough to garner him the win for the week, and the free buy-in to Tulalip's Saturday tournament! Good job Steve!

Jason Cortese Wins Week 6

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 23:59:00 +0000

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!

Jason Mizuta wins Heads-Up Championship

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 02:51:00 +0000

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!

Mike Schloss Wins Week 5

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:23:00 +0000

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.

Erika Jenkins Wins Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 21:47:00 +0000

If you've just joined the league, you might not know about Erika. She's been laying low the last season... but she's back now! In week 2 Erika decided to come out of "SPO Retirement" and started the week off right by winning the first event of the week at our new location for Mondays, Belltown Billiards. Padding her lead with some Sit 'N Go points on Tuesday at Jillians, she eeked up a little further. Steady play at Bleachers on Wednesday got her into the points as well, and she retained the lead among VIP members, winning the Weekly Points Leaderboard, and the free buy-in at Tulalip Casino. Congrats Erika!

Glenn Stock wins Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 23:26:00 +0000

In a performance that hasn't been witnessed since Christian Ray in week 8 of last season, Glenn Stock absolutely dominated the competition at Bleachers Pub on Wednesday night. Gathering himself 8 bounties in the 24 person tournament padded not just his chip stack, but his over all points for the race for the Weekly Points Leader. Glenn finished second on Monday night at our new venue, Belltown Billiards, as well. Earning himself 295 points, and the free buy in at Tulalip Casino on Saturday. Congrats Glenn!

[It should be noted that Christian holds the record for the number of bounties earned in a single night at 12, but Glenn eliminated a higher percentage of players, 33% vs. Christian's 25%]

Winter 07 Season Begins - New Venue Added

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:21:00 +0000

The Winter 2007 Season is set to begin play on Monday January 8th. We will still feature 3 nights of varying formats of poker, each qualifying as its own Division within the league.

New this season is the addition of |Belltown Billiards| to our line-up of hosts. We are very excited to welcome them to the SPO family, and think they will be a great match for the league. Belltown will feature our new "Player's Choice" format. In short, you can decide whether you want to play a multi-table game or a Sit 'N Go. You can also choose what game you'd like to play on your Sit 'n Go. This is the first time non-Hold Em games have been played in a regular season SPO event. You can read the full description of the format |here|.

Belltown Billiards will be filling the spot long occupied by the Highliner on Monday nights. The Highliner has been witness to many, many SPO games over the last 2 years, and it will be missed. I just hope Ted can find us!

Winter 2007 Schedule Posted

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 03:38:00 +0000

The Winter 2007 season will begin on January 8th at the Highliner in Magnolia. We are please to announce that all venue's stayed on for the new season, and all Division will remain intact. Structures for each Division will also carry over to the new season. |Winter Schedule|

Per tradition we will be holding |2 Special Events| this season. The first is a Re-Buy tournament, which is still in development. And this season will see the return of the annual event that takes the Seattle poker scene by storm.... The Seattle Heads Up Championship!

We will also be keeping the |Player Rewards Cards| for the new season. Hailed by players as a success, these cards can make a huge difference for those players that utilize them! Read more about the benefits |here|.

John Lopex Wins Fall Championship

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:00:00 +0000

We gathered for the |Fall 2006 Season Championship| last Sunday. Held at Tulalip Casino, 31 players vied for the title and prizes that accompany the coveted win.

As play began, hands were brutal. We saw full house vs. full house, King-high flush against ace-high flush, and even a 4 of a kind! It didn't take too long to get down to the final table before the dinner break.

Once at the final table, play buckled down and got a bit tighter and much more serious. It was pretty obvious that SPO rookie Nathan Martin had a commanding chip lead, with about 1/3 of the chips in play. After a couple of bust outs, one of the favorites, and #1 seed, Andy LaPlante suffered a loss on his all in, and was out in 8th.

More trading of chips back and forth, while Nathan would continually utilize his large chip stack, and we lost a few more players. Lenny Hom saw his stack increasing steadily throughout the final table, and he was looking to vie with Nathan for chip leader.

A couple of big hands later, and Lenny had doubled up through Nathan twice and was now in command of the chips as we got into 3 handed play. John Lopez had been hanging in there with an average size stack for the entirety of the final table. Coming in with aggressive raises and making great laydowns, John stayed out of the way of Nathan and Lenny the whole time.

John switched gears and started playing very aggressively once we got to 3 handed, resulting in a chip lead position. Finally he was able to knock out Nathan and go heads up with Lenny for the title with a more than 2-to-1 lead.

Heads Up didn't last more than 5 hands, when Lenny got re-raised on his draw, and didn't find that draw filled, leaving him covered in chips and making second place. John Lopez is your new SPO Champion!

Gordon Roberts Wins Nov. TOC

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 07:06:00 +0000

Sunday December 3rd was the third and final Monthly Tournament of Champions for the Fall Season. 17 players qualified, and 15 made the trip to Tulalip Casino to play for cash prizes.

In the very first round of play, Jason Cortese suffered a bad beat when his flopped full house of 9's full of 4's got cracked by Drew Hall's straight flush! It was only a prelude of what was to come...

As the final table formed, Umair Bashir had a dominating chip lead with 18,000 in chips. His nearest competitor had less than half that stack. But as the game progressed, it seemed that the best hand was not holding up in showdowns. Umair took some bad hits to his stack, but buckled down to remain at an average stack. When he pushed all in, with 55 he got called by Gordon Roberts with a K9. Gordon had him covered in chips after knocking out the last 2 players. A King on the flop sent Umair home.

After that Gordon went on a tear, knocking out a total of 6 of the nine players at the Final Table.

Kris Kissel worked his way to heads up by repaying some karma to Drew Hall. When Drew goes all in with K9 suited Kris called with pocket 10's. A flop of QJ9 of spades gives Drew bottom pair. The King of spades came on the turn and gave Drew 2 pair, but Kris had the 10 of spades to make a stright flush, knocking Drew out.

Heads up was fast and furious, lasting only a few hands, but Gordon dominated again, turning a straight in the final hand to knock out Kris for the win. Congrats Gordo

Kirk Charles Wins Week 11

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:03:00 +0000

It was a Winter Wonderland for most of last week's play, with cold temps and snowy conditions. For those players that made it out in the weather, they were rewarded with lots of points, free prizes and small fields of competition!

Monday night at the Highliner, Kirk Charles got a 5th place finish in both events that night. On top of that he also was the Featured Player last week, which gave him an extra 50 points (25 in each event) for retaining the bounty placed on him. Combined with 90 points in Sit 'N Gos on Tuesday night, his lead was secure and he won |the Weekly Points Leader| for the week!

As winner of the Weekly Points Leaderboard, Kirk will be going to Tulalip Casino to compete in their Saturday Hold Em tournament with |a free buy-in|. Good luck Kirk!

Drew Hall Wins Week 10

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 03:28:00 +0000

Drew Hall proved that if you work well during the beginning of the week, the battle ground that Bleachers Pub has become on Wednesday night doesn't have to matter for the |Weekly Points Leaderboard|.

Monday night at the Highliner, Drew started the week off right with a first place in the first event of the night. Staying on course he went on to make the final table in the second event that night as well, with a 7th place finish. But Kirk Charles also grabbed a victory and a final table appearance that night, making a very close race.

Tuesday night at Jillian's was a bit slower than the usual crowd that night, which opened up availability for the players that did make it down. Drew padded his short lead over Kirk with 130 sit 'n go points (to Kirk's 120!). The very next night at Bleacher's Drew had a 16 point lead on Kirk, his closest (and most likely only) competition. But both players had early finishes, with no bounty points. Sticking around to watch his fate, Drew watched as his competition busted without making any gain on his lead, giving him the win for the week, and the |free buy-in to Tulalip's Saturday tournament|!

Team Kamikaze Bombs the Competition

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 07:17:00 +0000

Saturday was the date of our final |Special Event| for the Fall 06 season... Team Tournament II. 9 teams of 6 players each made it down to Bleachers Pub for the 2 p.m. start time, and the place was packed!

With a member of each team on each table, the action was all over the place as players vied to win their table to play on the final table. Action was so intense that on only the second hand, Team Lucky lost one of their hopefuls to a King-Flush vs. Ace-Flush. It was a prelude of things to come though, as the event slowed down after that.

|Team >U| couldn't make things add up as they earned only 11 Table points and not higher than a 5th on their preliminary tables. Annie's Guns, the second Orphan team, unfortunately went the distance on 2 of their tables but couldn't pull out a win, finishing with 24 table points. 5th St. Gunslingers needed a win to put one of their players on the final table, but their hopes were crushed when Ryan Bailey lost heads up to Adam Quigley the only member of 3 pair to make the Final Table.

The final preliminary table to finish was table 5 featuring a heads up match between Matt Haver, Ransom's Raiders last effort for a final table appearance, and Richard Todd, a member of Team Kamikaze. The game went back and forth so much it was drawing a crowd just to watch the action. Once short-stacked by a bad beat, Matt fought back to get some chips. But Richard's aggression got the best of it and he earned the win.

The 6 handed final table featured Richard Todd and Telsin Brower of Team Kamikaze, Gordon Roberts of Sound Rounders, Matt Edwards of Team Lucky, Adam Quigley of 3 Pair, and Lamont Johnson of Oliver's Army (the first Orphan's Team). As the crowd gathered around the rail to watch this final table, no one was expecting what was to come.

With Jordan River (Tulalip Casino) sitting in as a Dealer the action went fast.... lightning fast! In less than 18 minutes... yes 18 minutes.... the entire tournament was over. Early on Matt Edwards took a beat to Telsin Brower and dropped his chip count. And the very next hand she finished him off. The next hand saw Telsin take 2 players out at once as Adam and Lamont both couldn't contend with her. Shortly after that Gordon decided to take a shot and would up at the rail as well, leaving Richard, Telsin's teammate, to go heads up. Well that lasted about 3 hands and Telsin had the entire day won... in record time. I believe the dealer button had not even made it an entire cycle around the table before Telsin created her heads up match with Richard!

For the full results and list of players click |here|.

Christian Ray Wins Week 8

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:27:00 +0000

As Week 8 came to a close last Wednesday night at |Bleachers Pub|, it would prove to be just the beginning for SPO players. Christian Ray was sitting at second place on the weekly leaderboard, trying to overcome a short lead. What was to come that night will be something that probably won't be witnessed for quite some time in SPO events.

Making call after call, with read's on players and starting hands that were almost incomprehensible, Christian stormed his way to chip leader as the Extended Format Bounty event went to the first break of the night. Continuing his barrage on opponents, Christian made the final table with over 40% of all the chips in play. Adding to that, he collected a record setting 12 bounty Chips, meaning that he eliminated almost 25% of the entire event himself! Needless to say, Christian's play and performance were no match that night for the others at that final table, and he took down the event with ease. With the win he earned the top spot on the |Weekly Points Leaderboard| and also the free buy-in to Tulalip's Saturday tournament.

It should be noted that Christain set another record last week. He earned the most (non-specialty) points for a single week. He took a first place and a fifth place at the Highliner on Monday night in addition to the win at Bleachers on Wednesday, totaling 428 points. This new member is definately a player to watch!

Christian went on to perform solidly at Tulalip on Saturday, making 10th place and cashing in the event.

Per the Bounty Hunter

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 07:15:00 +0000

As the Tournament of Champions started, we had a vacant seat. Turns out Per Widlund was contending at the Final Table of Tulalip's Sunday Bounty tournament. As a matter of fact, SPO players did very well in that event as Dave Muhich (October's TOC winner) also made the final table.

Per got to the final table with a slight lead in chips, and refused all offers to chop the prize money between the remaining players. As the event came to a close Per made great decision after great decision, finally calling his opponent's all in with A5 to find he had a dominating lead against an A4. That sealed the deal and Per took first place, worth over $1800.00!

Congratulation to both Per and Dave for excellent play against almost 200 players that day, proving that it pays to play in the SPO as more and more of our players cash in real money events!

We should also point out that our Wednesday night event at Bleachers Pub is great training for Tulalip's Sunday event. We have mimicked the stru

Final Special Event for Fall Season

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:08:00 +0000

Our second, and final, |Special Event| for Fall Season will be held on November 11th. It will be the return of the Team Tournament!

This is one of the most popular format's we've had and is a tremendous amount of fun. Up to 9 teams of 6 players each will compete on seperate tables against members of opposing teams. Anyone can decide to "captain" a team, by recruiting 5 players for their team. As captain, you will be incharge of Points designation, naming your team, and making sure you have all your players on game day.

The winning team is decided by each team member's performance. The team with the highest finishes is the winner. In addition, the final table will decide who the Individual winner is as well.

There will also be an opportunity for individual players to join an "Orphan's Team". The Orphan's team will be comprised of players that did not get onto a team, or are new to the league and do not know enough players to form their own team space is limited for this team, so |secure your seat now|.

Please note that your team members need not have played an SPO game previous to this event. You are allowed to bring new players to your team. All that is required of them is that they register with the league.

Just announced: Bleacher's Pub will be the location for this event

For all the details, and to register your team (or yourself for the Orphan's Team), click |here|.

October TOC

noreply@blogger.com (SPO) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 03:00:00 +0000

November 5th is coming up this Sunday for our second |TOC|! Tonight and tomorrow night will be the last qualifying games for this month!

How do you qualify? Just win a nightly event during the month of October and your seat will be reserved. The TOC will be a $25 + $5 buy-in event of ONLY SPO winners (RSVP required). With a maximum of 20 players each month, this is your opportunity to see how your game holds up in real casino, real money environments.. against the players you play with in the league. To up the ante, the SPO will be adding $100 to the prize pool. Payouts will go to the top 3 players (50%/30%/20%). In addition, Specialty Points will be awarded to the top 8 players.

The qualifying Players so far:

Bryan Kaasa
Ryan Bailey
Laura Morzov
Debbie Roscher
Lenny Hom
Tim Lechner
Andy LaPlante
Umair Bashir
Mong Kon Mo
Christian Ray
Per Widlund
Richard Todd
Dan Ebert
Gordon Roberts
Telsin Brower

PLEASE NOTE: This is open to all players to qualify. You do NOT need to be a VIP Member to participate.