A New Champ is Crowned

Tonight's Winner was Shelly Moffat. This was her second in-the-money finish and first tournament championship. She outlasted Larry Knight who has made a habit of making it to the heads-up finish. Reggie Douglas took third and Robyn Cassidy took fourth for her first money finish.

Ten bounties were paid, including the odd $5 being placed on Scott, the winner of last month's tournament. Larry eliminated Scott as the last regular bounty, earning $15 for the feat. Lorinda Beals and Nick Lawrence each claimed two bounties, while the remaining bounties were spread out individually.

We had 4 new faces at the game - Terence Pritchard and Gayle Miller, Darin Howe, and Jared Warren.

Early Action

We got underway at 7:20 with 3 tables of 7 players each. A few stragglers were blinded in as play started.

Save one, all the eliminations prior to consolidation to two tables occurred at the back and TV tables. At the TV table, Shawn was first out at 7:47. Short-stacked, he lost to Darin Howe when Shawn's failed to improve against Darin's . At the back table, Terence was out next at 8:00 when his lost to Lorinda's pocket 3s. Nicolas was next out at the main table at 8:13 losing when his flush draw didn't materialize and Reggie's under card Q was paired.

The next four eliminations occurred in rapid fashion. At the back table, Stanley and Dan went out back-to-back around 8:35. Robyn rivered Stanley with a flush beating his . Lorinda busted Dan's pocket aces, also with a flush on the river.

Moments later at the TV table, Nick eliminated both Darin and Brian. Nick raised in early position and was called by both Darin and Brian. Nick revealed pocket 8s, Darin pocket 2s, and Brian . Nick's 8s stood up as the board failed to help anyone.

Consolidation

We went to two tables with 7 players each. Six more players would not make the final table. The first such was Gayle who lost a heart breaker when the flop came with two tens to give her trips, but Jared also had a 10 - with an ace kicker.

The host was out next when he was short-stacked and found an to go all-in with. Chad called with , and made a river flush. This just a few minutes after both players agreed that losing to a unexpected flush in this manner is the worst way to go out.

Scott was eliminated next and was the aforementioned last bounty. He went all-in pre-flop with . Lorinda called with . Larry re-raised all-in with , which Lorinda called. Larry's jacks held up and nearly tripled his previously short stack.

Next out was Ken Edmonds. He was short-stacked and went all-in with against Robyn with . Both a and an came on the board, but the on the flop was all that was needed.

Rachel was next out when she was all in with , but Reggie paired 4s. I suspect that Reggie was the big blind in that he had a in the hole with his .

The last elimination before seating the main table was Arlene. She stayed a float for a while going all in twice against Nick, once hitting a river flush and then a river . But her luck ran out against Larry when her lost to his when Larry hit a 3 on the river. Most cards would have resulted in a split pot, but Larry lucked out. Again, the underdog won the hand.

Final Table

In no particular order, the final table consisted of Reggie, Larry, Lorinda, Robyn, Shelly, Chad, Nick, and Jared.

Lorinda was the first out at 10:10 when her were beaten when Jared made a straight. Larry was also in the hand and lost a few of his chips to Jared as well.

Nick was next out, also eliminated by Jared. Nick was short-stacked, and to his delight found that the flop paired both his pocket cards - . He went all-in and was called by Jared with . A third came on the river to Nick's consternation.

Chad was next out. Extremely short stacked and in the small-blind, he called the big blind with , but Shelly revealed , and nothing came to help him out.

Jared's rallying cry was "My wife is at home waiting". Often he would mention that and he'd get hands to keep him afloat. His wife was left waiting no longer at 10:40 when Jared's luck ran out. His - was overwhelmed by Shelly's .

Final Four

Robyn, Larry, Reggie, and Shelly made the money. Robyn's last stand came with an against Larry's . Larry made two pair, eliminating Robyn. But she made her "Best placement evar!"

Reggie played aggressively, but could not make any gains. Unfortunately, the details of his ouster are lost to history.

Larry and Shelly played heads-up for nearly 20 minutes. It was an impressive display. Until the final hand, no flops were seen. The betting did all the work.

In the end, Larry was short stacked, but found an to go-all in with. Shelly had most of the chips and could afford to call with . A came on the flop, while the turn and river offered no escape for Chris.

The last flop.