Thursday, July 27, 2017

In their own words...

Here are the two trip reports to the 2017 WSOP.   Well done the both of youse!


Jeff's report can be read by clicking here.

Eric's report can be read by clicking here.


So GREAT that the first time we did this whole WSOP satty series thing, BOTH of our reps cashed!

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Kapow!


The picture says it all - our first representative to play in the World Series of Poker this year, ran good and ran deep in last Tuesday's' WSOP Event #12, a $1500 No Limit Hold-em event.

Eric L. found himself accumulating chips early on and kept that momentum going, at the end of day 1 he was one of the chip leaders with over 100,000 in tournament units!  There were just 275 players still alive out of almost 1800 that had started the day, and Eric had a lions share of their chips.


I can't put into words how excited I and the rest of the gang were.  We followed the chip counts with great interest and even got to read through a couple of hands on the official news stream.


This was his biggest pot that was reported on - it was at this point that we all got super pumped.



This was another enjoyable one.



Then as the dinner break came and went on Day 2, Eric texted us to tell us that he was out.  This is how the hand that crippled him went down.

And so that was that.  But what a run!  Eric finished 36th out of nearly 1800 players!  He collected almost $10,000 in prize money, 40% of which will be shared among the other satellite participants. This amounts to almost $500 apiece, a tidy nearly $100 profit for our endeavor!

We are free rolling with Jeff G. who plays a week from Saturday.  Hope you can play and run as well as Eric did Jeff!

Again - a huge congratulations to Eric, you did us proud my man!  What a run!  I've never known anyone who did what you did.  I am super happy, a little bit jealous, but mostly proud that our little game brought the pain to the WSOP!  Bravo!

Hopefully Eric will do a little write up for this blog and the main PSP blog as well.  Can't wait to hear more about the adventure!



Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Step 2!

Imagine my surprise when I came here this morning and realized - I haven't posted about who is going to the World Series of Poker!

Totally slipped my mind, probably because it isn't me that's going.  Ha.  Ha.


Jeff G. and Eric L. are the deserving representatives who will be carrying the torch for us PSP R2V folks.

Jeff will be at the big dance on the weekend of June 17.

Eric will be playing a $1500 event on June 6, which is a Tuesday!  A first for a PSP rep, I will be eager to hear how the field stacks up against the usual weekend warriors we've dealt with.

In any event we will all be rooting for you fellas!  I know you will make us proud no matter the results - of course, we will be prouder if you bring home some cheddar!


Jeff on the left, Eric in the red on the right, Allen the bubble boy in the blue on the right.






Saturday, April 22, 2017

Step 1F

 Our sixth and final step one tournament went out with a bang, nine players showed up for a final chance to earn chips for step two.

 The river was unkind to several early exits, and after that the action got even more intense.  Marc was our bubble  but will still be starting with way more chips than the third-place finisher, that would be me, for step two.

Finishing in second after a brief heads up battle was Andrew who could not overcome Jason's big ass mountain of chips.  Both of our top finishers  are also the chip leader's going into step two.   Here are the final counts, I have been very thorough and very careful to make sure that the calculations are correct. But by all means, everyone of you should look through all of the posts and double check that these totals are correct. Remember only your top four scores count.


Jason - 38K (6)

Andrew - 32 (4)

Jeff - 30K (5)

Marc - 28K (4)

Tony - 26K (5)

Eric T - 20K (4)

Chris - 19K (6)

Allen - 18K (2) (paid for 4)

Eric L - 17K (6)

Jerry - 4K (1) (must pay for 3 more Step 1 entries to receive 16K total for Step 2)


And so there it is, I want to say a big thank you to all of you for participating in this experiment. I know no matter who ends up going to the big dance, we all stand to benefit as there is not one of you that I would not feel comfortable staking.

 As of right now we have just over $3000 in our pool, I am not sure if Jerry is still on board or not, I hope he is  as another $300 will help with travel expenses.

 Looking forward to step number two, next Saturday at 1 PM. We will be playing hour long levels with the exact structure of $1500 World Series of poker bracelet events. We will have a dinner break at six, and if for some reason we are still going after 10 PM, I will put it to an anonymous vote – we can keep playing or we can stop for the night and pick it up on Sunday.  If someone can't make it on Sunday then obviously we keep going.

 Look forward to seeing you all there!


Saturday, April 8, 2017

Step 1E

Once again six players gathered round to throw down to earn more chips and maybe a little cheddar on the road to the World Series of Poker in Vegas.

I wasn't first out this time, that was Jeff, but I WAS second out.  Boo.

Eric L. got fairly unlucky more than once and bubbled just shy of bonus chips.

Eric T finished third, earning 6K in chips.

Jason and Marc battled for awhile but in the end Jason's prohibitive chip lead was too much to overcome.

Marc finished second for 8K in chips and $60, Jason got his buy in back plus 12K in chips!


Here are the current chip totals -   (I was wrong last post about Jeff, he only had 3 tournaments under his belt, but now he does have 4)


Jason - 30K (5)

Jeff - 30K (4)

Tony - 26K (4)

Andrew - 24K (3)

Marc - 24K (3)

Eric T - 16K (3)

Eric L - 17K (5)

Chris - 17K (5)

Allen - 14K (1)

Jerry - 12K (1)


Players who have been in 5 tournaments have had their lowest score removed.

Jerry and Allen have had 8K added to their scores, as they only have one more chance to earn chips - in 2 weeks.  If neither can make it, they will begin step two with 18 and 16K respectively.   They will both also owe $300 to play in Step 2.

Our prize pool at this exact moment is - $2400.   Assuming no one drops out we are right on schedule to clear $3000 as we have $900 coming from various players.  $160 will be deducted from that and we will be at $840 + $2400 which is $3240.

Don't miss your last chance to earn chips for Step 2 in two weeks - Friday night at 8pm, April 21.  See you then!

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The World Series of Poker MAIN EVENT - Satellite League Info

Our 2017 WSOP Satellite League is winding down - and overall I think it has been and will be a success.  But I would like to implement some changes for the league spanning 2017-2018, changes that will insure that we play a ton more single table tournament poker and that these tournaments will almost always be full.

*******

Starting Saturday, August 5, 2017 - ALL tournaments will run in tandem with our WSOP league.

Everything will remain the same for entry fee and prize pool for all tournaments.

Players will have an OPTION to participate in a race to theWSOP Main Event in 2018.

For these players who want to go for a Main Event seat, it works like this...

SNGs (single table tournaments) -
$60 + $40 entry - $60 to the prize pool for that night, $40 for the WSOP Main Event prize pool.

Saturday night MTTs (multi-table tournaments) - 
$40 + $60 entry - $40 to the prize pool for that night, $60 for the WSOP Main Event prize pool.

One time only re-entry for all tournaments is $60 for SNGs, $40 for MTTs.

For folks who are not interested in the WSOP, absolutely nothing changes for all tournaments.

Let me repeat that.

For folks who are not interested in the WSOP, absolutely nothing changes for all tournaments.


*******

MORE DETAILS

If you are someone who is interested in playing for a seat in the greatest tournament on earth, read on...

The biggest advantage to participating in our WSOP league is that you will get first shot at responding to the Evites.  Evites will be sent first to those who are down with the WSOP.

All tournaments will have the same ONE TIME ONLY re-entry amount for everyone-  if a player is felted before the first break they may re-enter OR if they have a small stack at the first break they may surrender their stack for a fresh one.

BUT - for Main Event League participants - in SNGs $40 of the $60 re-entry goes to WSOP Main Event prize pool, the remaining $20 goes to the prize pool of the evening.  For MTTs the money is split, $20 for the prize pool on the night, $20 goes to the WSOP league.

All players who participate in the WSOP Main Event League must either pay or play a minimum of $1225 worth of entry fees to the league to qualify for Step 2.

Believe it or not, this will happen fairly quickly - even if you only play a minimum of tournaments.

There will likely be 40 or so of these SNGs over the course of a year and maybe a dozen MTTs.

You will reach your goal if you play in only 6 MTTs and 20 PSP SNGs and IF YOU NEVER RE-ENTER.

If you do re-enter, you could potentially play in as few as 12 SNGs.

REMEMBER, if you do well you could potentially win most or all of this money back.  I only count your buy in fees, obviously I don't deduct any money that you win.

Let this sink in -

IF YOU TURN A PROFIT IN THESE TOURNAMENTS YOU WILL BE FREEROLLING YOUR WAY INTO THE MAIN EVENT OF THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER.


*******

If you fall short of qualifying for Step 2, you simply pay the difference.  Which, if you play a bit less than half of all the SNGs, it won't be much at all.

The Step 2 starting stack will be 50K, plus we will be adding bonus chips if you kick butt during the course of the year.

For every SNG you take down you will earn a bonus 5K in chips for Step 2.

For every SNG where you finish in the top 3 you will earn a bonus 2K in chips for Step 2.

For every MTT you take down you will earn a bonus 10K in chips for Step 2.

For every MTT where you finish 4th, 3rd or 2nd you will earn a bonus 5K in chips for Step 2.

There will be a cap of 30,000 bonus chips total that league participants can earn in the SNGs.  So the biggest starting stack anyone can have in Step 2 is 80K.

The Step 2 tournament will be in May of 2018.  Very likely the first or third Saturday at 1pm.  If anyone can't make it we will pool all participants to agree on one date from April through May.

There will VERY LIKELY be a Day 2 of this Step 2 tournament - we will have an hour dinner break at 6pm, and bag and tag at midnight if we are still playing.  Play will resume at noon on Sunday.

Step 2 will have a one time only re-entry of $500 if a player busts before the dinner break.  Re-entry stacks will match whatever a player began the tournament with.

(NOTE: For players who have put in more than 1225 over the course of the year, the extra money will be deducted from the re-entry $500 fee.  If you play say 20 tournaments, and re-enter in say 10 of those, and you play in 10 MTT's you will have put up $1800, so $475 would be deducted from your potential re-entry)

10K plus another 1K for travel expenses will go to first place of Step 2.

This representative (REP) will enter the WSOP Main Event on the entry day of their choice and should they cash, they will share all money paid out to them with the Step 2 participants, 60% for the REP, 40% for the participants.

Any remaining cash in the Step 2 prize pool will go towards rewarding additional WSOP seats at the $1000 level - as many seats as we can give away.

After we award an extra seat or seats, any cash left over will go to travel expenses, divided evenly among seat winners.

If we don't end up giving away another seat besides the Main Event seat, all money in excess of $1225 that players have put in will be fully refunded to them.

Players also have an option of stopping to pay their WSOP fees once they reach $1225.  If they choose to do this they are not eligible for any extra seats that might be rewarded in Step 2.

















Sunday, April 2, 2017

Step 1D

Only six players this time, once again yours truly found himself finishing short of earning bonus chips. This time Eric L and Jason saw fit to join the club. Then it was Marc, Jeff and Tony remaining, each guaranteed at least 6K in bonus chips.  It was less than an hour later when everyone's chips went in.

Marc had a micro stack so both Jeff and Tony made the call pre-flop.   Tony bet the flop and Jeff check raised all in Tony snap called.

 Jeff had flopped an open ended straight, Tony had spiked a nine for a set. Jeff got there immediately on the turn, Tony re-sucked  out on the river when the board paired. Crazy!

Jeff had a good amount of chips but Tony had a veritable mountain - and so that was that. A double knock out to end the evening.

And so this is where we stand...


Andrew - 24K  (3)

Jason - 22K     (4)*

Jeff - 26K       (4)*

Tony - 26K     (4)*

Eric L - 17K   (4)*

Chris - 17K    (4)*


Marc - 16K    (2)


Eric T. - 10K  (2)

Allen - 6K    (1)

Jerry - 4K     (1)




*Indicates players that are paid in FULL.  All remaining tournaments for these players are free-rolls, including Step 2


Our current prize pool is $2260!  With two Step 1 tournaments remaining, we are assured of clearing $3000 by plenty, assuming no one drops out.


Remember, to qualify for Step 2 you have to pay OR play for 4 Step 1 tournaments.


Our penultimate Step 1 happens Friday night, April 7 at 8pm.  Don't miss out on your chance to accumulate chips for Step 2.  Remember if you fail to play four Step 1 tournaments you still must reach $400 total in entry fees to play in Step 2.   Some of us have already reached our $400 fee, so the next two tournaments are free rolls and for that matter so is Step 2!













Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Step 1C

9, count them, 9 players showed up this time!  Including TWO brand new recruits, Jerry and Marc!

With the addition of TWO new players this means our prize pool will reach $3360 if no one drops out!  That's two full $1500 seats plus a bit of travel scratch for each representative.  NOICE.

Myself, Eric L., Tony, Jerry, Jason and Andrew finished 'out of the money' for 4K in chips apiece.

Eric T finished third scooping up 6K in chips for Step 2.

Marc and Jeff battled for awhile before chopping the money ($80 each) and getting 10K in chips apiece.

So our standings as of right now are -


Andrew - 24K  (3)

Jason - 18K     (3)

Jeff - 18K       (2)

Tony - 14K     (3)

Eric L - 13K   (3)

Chris - 13K    (3)

Eric T. - 10K  (2)

Marc - 10K    (1)

Allen - 6K    (1)

Jerry - 4K     (1)


Keep in mind, some have played less tournaments than others - noted in the parenthesis,  once people hit 4 tournaments, they can drop a lower score or two if they do better in one or two of the remaining tournaments.  Only the best 4 results will count.

Our next Step 1 is Friday night at 8pm on March 31st.   It's the fourth of six Step 1 tournaments.  Don't miss your chance to grind up some more chips for Step 2!  







Saturday, February 25, 2017

2017 Step 1B

 Only five, the bare minimum of players showed up last night to throwdown in our second Step 1 World Series of poker satellite.   For two of us it was a quick evening, Eric L and myself busted in fifth and fourth place respectively. We each earned 5K in chips for Step 2. Why 5K?  Because we made a deal before we started to take 2K off of first place and give 1K each to fifth and fourth place. We all figured since we were shorthanded we should be rewarded for showing up.

Rest of the payouts, except for first, or normal. Tony finished third, earning 6K for Step 2.  Andrew was coolered by Jason and finished second this time around, scooping up 8K in Step 2 chips and also earning $60 back to take the sting out of the entry fee.   Jason took down first, winning his money back and locking up 10K in Step 2 chips.

We were all done by 10 PM, so four of us decided to stick around and play and $20 winner take all turbo. All of us except Andrew, who had a hot date I imagine,  got to play another two hours. Tony busted out first, Eric exited and third place and then Jason and I battled for a while just after midnight, and finally decided just to chop it up at $40 apiece. Good times, glad we got to play more poker.

 So here are the chip counts for Step2 so far after the first two of six Step 1 tournaments...

Andrew - 20K

Jason - 14K

Tony - 10K

Eric L - 9K

Chris - 9K

Jeff - 8K

Allen - 6K

Eric T - 4K

 As of right now we have $980 in our prize pool, we are still on track to reach  $2560 in time for Step 2,  assuming that no one drops out. Jerry has indicated that he might join us, if it does then we will be just shy of $3000, but Pepper Street will front the difference towards a second $1500. Come on board Jerry! We still have four Step 1 tournaments left!  Our next one is Friday night at 8 PM on March 10.

 Hope everyone can make it!


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Step 2 FINAL DATE

Okay, so the final date for Step 2 when we throw down for two WSOP seats, will be Saturday, April 29 at 1pm.  I’m sending the evite shortly after I write this.

But don’t forget, we still have five Step 1 tournaments to play to earn chips for Step 2.  These are the dates, all Friday nights at 8pm - 2/25, 3/10, 3/31, 4/7 & 4/21.

Also, one again I will be hosting a poker lab / strategy session on the afternoon prior to our monthly Saturday tournament, on March 25 at 2pm.  I strongly encourage any and all of you who are serious about going deep in this year’s WSOP or other major events to attend.  I always learn a ton from you guys and together I think we are all a great resource for getting better and better!

Monday, January 30, 2017

2017 Step 1A



8 players were on hand to take part in the first ever Pepper Street Poker Step 1 tournament in a satellite series to get one or more folks into the World Series of Poker!

Tony, Eric L., Myself, Eric T. and Jason all finished just out of 'the money' earning 4K apiece in chips for Step 2.

Allen Q. locked up third for 6K total.

Jeff G. took second after a lengthy heads-up battle for 8K.

And Andrew persevered to take it down for his money back and 12K in chips for Step 2!

All told we collected $640 for our WSOP prize pool.

Well done one and all.

If we simply keep 8 players we will have $2560 in our pool in time for Step 2.

With this amount we will award two seats, a $1500 and a $1000 seat, with $30 extra going to each representative as a mini-bonus and to help a little bit with expenses.

If we get one more player, our grand total for Step 2 will be $2960, just $40 shy of awarding two $1500 seats.  Pepper Street Poker will front the difference if we get another player - so there's still time to jump on board and if you do, there will be two $1500 seats in play.

The next one is looking like Friday night, February 17 at 8pm.  Stay tuned for the evite!



The final two!



Wednesday, January 4, 2017

2018 WSOP Main Event

This is The Road to Vegas Baby tournament series! (RVB for short)

UPDATE - I will keep this post unchanged for posterity's sake, but I am going to come up with major changes for our Main Event series - mainly I want to implement a tournament series that will also attract regular players who want nothing to do with the WSOP.  I think I have a good idea how to do it - stay tuned!


There will be eight Step 1 tournaments over 9 months, Aug 2017-April 2018.

In Step 1 tournaments players compete to earn chips for Step 2.

Step 1 entry is $140.  The first Step 1 will be Friday, Aug 4, 2017 at 8pm.

All players win 4K in Step 2 starting chips just for showing up.

Third place wins 6K.  (If we have 8 players or more - otherwise they get $0)

Second place wins 8K and gets $70. (If we have 8 players or more - otherwise they get $40)

First place wins 12K and gets $140.  (If we have 8 players or more - otherwise they get $100)

When play is 3 handed players are permitted to negotiate a chop deal of these payouts.

*

A Step 1 will not happen with 5 players or less.   We will try to reschedule once, if we still don't meet our minimum then that Step 1 is canceled.  Players will still have the option to pay their entry fee for a canceled tournament.

If two Step 1's have to be canceled then we will likely cancel this series.

*

Step 2 will take place on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 1pm.

The winner of Step 2 goes to the Main Event (or the next biggest entry event if we don't reach 10K).

If the Step 2 winner cashes at the WSOP, they share with the group - 60% to keep and 40% to be divided evenly among RVB participants.

*

All players must play or pay for a minimum of 5 Step 1 tournaments to qualify to share in the WSOP spoils.  Of these 5 tournaments, they must appear physically in at least 3.

Of the 8 Step 1 tournaments, only the best 6 results are counted towards earning chips in Step 2.

Players who play in or pay for all 8 tournaments receive a 15K chip bonus in Step 2.

All players in Step 2 may also add-on 10K in chips for $100.

So if someone finishes first in six Step 1 tournaments, and plays/pays in all 8 Step 1 tournaments and does the Step 2 add-on they would start Step 2 with 97,000 in chips.  This is highly unlikely to occur.

If someone never reaches top three in 8 Step 1 tournaments and doesn't add-on in Step 2 they would start with 47K.  This is highly unlikely to occur.

*

After the completion of all Step 1 tournaments, we will take stock of our prize pool.

The most anyone can put into the Step 2 prize pool is $1220, and the least is 700.  That is quite a differential, but players who put in only 700 will be at a SUBSTANTIAL disadvantage going into Step 2.  If they (or anyone who has paid less than $1220) can somehow come from behind and take the whole thing down as a short stack, then they will be asked to front the difference between how much they put in and $1220 and parlay that amount into their entry fee or travel expenses.

Any non-representative Step 2 players who do not reach the $1220 mark will have the difference deducted from their payout if our representative should happen to cash in the WSOP.

If the prize pool for Step 2 is over 11K, the remaining amount will be refunded to the players who have put in the most money in effort to make all contributions even.  If  we are between 10K and 11K the full amount will go to the winner of Step 2.

If our prize pool is between 6K and 10K, 6K will go to first place.  This player must enter at minimum 5K worth of events at the WSOP. The extra 1K is for travel expenses.

The remaining amount over 6K will be awarded to the second place finisher in Step 2.  Any amount this second place finisher collects at 1K or more must be parlayed into a WSOP entry, subject to the same 60/40 share agreement.

If we are under 6K total we likely will have canceled this series at that point - but if by some miracle we see it through, then we will award as many $1500 seats as we can, then 1K seats and then the Colossus.

If there is any remaining cash after the last Colossus seat is awarded, it will be rolled over into the next year's Road to Vegas Baby! tournament series.

*

As with all satellites in my garage, these events are only open to people that I have personally played poker with before.  If a new player comes into my regular PSP game this year he or she will be welcome to join RVB, but they must play in a minimum of three regular Saturday night tournaments first.

For all players there are absolutely no refunds at any time after you have paid a Step 1 entry fee - save for the handful of potentially scheduled refunds above.  The other exception would be a catastrophic life event, either a severe injury or a death in the player's immediate family.

At Step 2 all players will sign a staking agreement.  Qualifying players absent from Step 2 will be required to sign to receive any payout.