Round 8

As the clock struck midnight to signal the start of yet another year, all were partying. Some were drinking, some were getting kicked out of pub, and some were running around pub shirtless. All, though, had one thing on their mind – when they woke up in the morning, rather groggily a certainty, they would have to focus. For new years day brought Round 8 of the Eastern Suburbs Poker Tour.

Round 8 saw the tour venture to the casa del balestrin for the first time in the season. Unfortunately only 6 competitors sat for the start of the tournament – Rob the host, season leader Sam, close rivals John and Nick, and cellar dwellers Steve and Shaun. Emil was out with a whipping injury visiting girlfriends grandparents, Jason becoming the new Harold Holt and not being heard of since heading down to Glenelg, and Arif spending his holidays at Flinders, presumably getting a head start on next years study. It meant 4 points would be the minimum won and a good time for some players to gain some ground.

Betting started slowly, a complete contrast to the last Boxing Day tournament, but it was soon apparent “Gramps” previous winning luck was not with him today. As his chip pile dwindled, it was “Monkey” benefiting with “Me Wuv You Wong Time” not far behind. “Thearley” also found himself in some slight bother with “Edgy” and "Samadoochi” steady. Gramps found himself out, losing to Edgy but decided to use one of the 2 buy-backs available and received half the starting chips in an attempt to change his luck and try and close the gap between the 2 in front of him in the overall standings. Unfortunately, not even the pizza and pavlova break could help him as Edgy again proved too strong and knocked him out, this time for good, and so Gramps became the first casualty. By now Thearley was struggling also and it wasn’t long before Edgy claimed his third scalp by disposing Thearley of his final few chips. However, not wanting to let Samadoochi obtain too big a lead in the overall standings, he used the final buy-back and re-entered the tournament. It did gain him an extra point, Monkey not using his early domination to full effect, bowing out and claiming 5 points leaving him on the outright bottom rung of the ladder, much to Edgy’s delight. By now, Me Wuv You Wong Time and Edgy”were fighting for the chip lead, Samadoochi doing steady still and Thearley again finding himself in trouble. And it was Thearley, losing to Edgy who claimed 4th, earning 6 points and a buffer between himself and Gramps in 3rd overall.

With just 3 left, Edgy started targeting his next victim. In good form, knocking out most of the other contestants, taunts towards Samadoochi were cocky and arrogant. And it was his over confidence that saw his downfall, Me Wuv You Wong Time knocking him out for 3rd. The 7 points takes him out of last but still languishing near the bottom of the standings. With just 2 left at the table, the stage was set for an epic battle. And an epic battle the crowd received. With both players knowing no fear, the all in bets were being called and chips flowed freely from one to the other until Samadoochi was able to win 2 hands in a row and claim his second tournament win of the season.

With the win comes a handy 4 point lead over Thearley in second. Me Wuv You Wong Time benefited from some of the absences from other competitors, jumping up 2 spots with his well fought 8 points. Had he not missed the first few tournaments, he would be a real contender for the season championship. But with just 2 rounds to go in the season, it looks like just Samadoochi and Thearley will battle it out for the highest honour. It would seem that unless everything went horribly wrong for Gramps in the remaining matches, he has third sown up. All positions from 4th through 7th are up for grabs and the battle for the wooden spoon between Monkey and Edgy will be just as exciting as the battle for the top. All in all, it all promises for some exciting poker in the very near future.