THE MASTERS 2008

Winner Brendan

2nd John

3rd Paul

4th Jordan

5th Tatter

6th Mike

7th Mark

Venue: Marks


After 12 long months of poker slog the year’s winners gathered together at Mark luxurious cassa to see who would be anointed champ of champs. Fearing that the night might be over quickly, what with the array of normally aggressive players in attendance, it was decided that this would be a relatively (in TPS terms) deep stack game with each player starting with 80 chips. The flurry of expected early all-ins and overbets failed to materialise as the game got off to a cautious start. It wasn’t that long however before Jordan pushed all in against Paul with 2 Aces on the board. A long stand off ensued whilst Paul considered the prospect of either an early bath or an early double up but after much deliberation he folded his straight much to the relief of Jordan who would have only had trips.

Another long deliberation followed this time involving Tatter and Paul when Paul put in a big raise after a low value board with a J and a Q as the only high cards. but Tatter, in an amazing show of discipline folded his pocket Aces- Paul had JQ in his mits and the two pair would have won it.

Host Mark was the first to fall when his KJ lost to another set of Jordan’s trip aces and Brendan and Mike played chip tennis back and forth across the table, seemingly the only two players ever to end up in the pot, but Mike came off the worse only to end up being knocked out by John who’s AQ paired up with the flop. Tatter and Paul then faced off again, this time with Tatter holding pocket Kings only to lose to Paul’s Full House 3’s full 10’s.

Jordan who was playing in a much more reserved style than normal (only going all-in every other hand), managed to make it to fourth place until eventually being kicked to the curb by Brendan with a pair of Queens.

By the time it hit midnight fears of a quick conclusion had disappeared and with the ‘big money’ now to play for the last three of Paul, Brendan and John knuckled down to some serious pokee. Despite his big chip stack going into the final stages Paul was the eventual surprise bronze medallist when his QJ got shafted by Brendan’s two pair of Aces and 10’s. This left John in yet another heads up position and yet again miles behind his opponent as far as chips where concerned, but a few deftly played hands later he was in the lead by a county mile. With the game now entering its 5^th hour of play John could almost taste the victory and decided on a swift resolution, putting Brendan all in on every hand. Alas the poker gods must frown upon such impetuous avidity and John lost every hand. Brendan eventually won the title with A 4 against John 5,6, suited.

TPS11 `08 "End Game" Saturday November 8th

Winner Paul

2nd Tatter

3rd Kev Mc

4th Mike

5th Steve

6th Dave

Also Ran: John, Chris,Rob, Briggs, John T, Gazzer

Total: 12
Venue: Riley's Snooker Club
It was a second away outing to Riley’s snooker club for TPS 11, this time with the tantalising promise of a laid on ‘buffet’. The free food offer helped to draw out the crowds (sort of) with a return appearance of Dave and the fresh face of Mike’s brother Gazzer.

With Paul taking the league the month before the final game of the 2008 season would be a race for the last Masters spot plus a battle between John and Kev Mc to see who could clinch the still lucrative runner up position, but with Kev needing to finish in first place and hope John didn’t come second it looked like a tough proposition for the Ice Man.

However John helped Kev’s cause from the get –go by going out in first place, his ‘nothing to loose’ attitude back firing when an all in with A J of clubs was called by Mike who showed A K- a Jack on 4^th Street gave John a glimmer of hope but a King on the River sent him off to the bar to complain about the music and ask when the much anticipated buffet would be arriving.

Brendan was the next to duck out when his K9 lost out to Paul’s AJ and there was much excitement on table two when Dave nearly hit a Royal Flush. Back on table one Mike soon began to dominate taking chips from just about everyone and knocking Rob out with A 10 to Robs QK suited. It soon boiled down to a bubble avoiding chip fight between low stacks Steve and John T, until John did Steve a massive favour by going all in with 8,3, and getting called by Mike who had A,3, – a 3 on the flop didn’t help John’s cause and he missed out on a seat in the final. But before the final, the ‘buffet’ arrived and the hungry players tucked into ham and cheese sarnies, chips (oh the irony) and crisps. Lots of crisps. “I’ve not eaten that many Quavers in years” said John.

By the time the final round got under way the clock was ticking towards turfing out time - if the game wasn’t done and dusted by last orders it would have to be decided on chip stacks. With this added pressure Dave and Steve soon flunked out followed a few rounds later by Mike. With less that 20 mins left it was a three way stand off between Tatter, Paul and Kev Mc with Tatter in the lead and Kev, who had yet to win a game all year, in low stack position. As talk of the impending chip count mounted Kev decided it was now or never and started making all in shouts- he nabbed a few blinds and even managed to double up until he finally got potted by Paul, missing out on both the runner up position and a Masters place – meaning the 2008 event would be the first without the Ice Man’s presence. Kev, looking truly gutted must have been wondering how it all went so horribly wrong. At least there’s still John’s usual dealers position available- all he needs is a Tux.

The TPS season then drew to a quick close and who better to take the final first place than league winner, and now 8 times TPS champion Paul.

TPS 10 `08 'The Jolly Boys Night Out' Saturday October 11th

Winner Jordan

2nd Kev Mc

3rd Paul

4th Mark

5th Tatter

6th Steve

Also Ran: John, Chris,Rob, Briggs, John T

Total: 11
Venue: Riley's Snooker Club

TPS10 `08 saw the first historic ‘away game’ as we ventured out of the safety of each others houses and into the big bad world, or at least the vast deserted space of Riley’s Snooker Club.

The huge trampoline-esque tables meant that all 11 players managed to squeeze round one, so this would be a 1 round game with the top six scoring points.
And there was a lot to play for with John needing at least a first or second place to have any sniff at overtaking Paul at the top of the league and Kev Mc hot on John’s heels for second place.

John T was the first unlucky fucker of the night when his all-in with KQ took one in the face from Marks pocket Aces – a third Ace on table giving him the trips and an early lead.

Chris was next to fall – his A 6 of Hearts against Tatters pair o’ Nines- 2 hearts on flop gave Chris a glimmer of hope but the next card was black and the 9’s held. Rob was the second to fall under Marks massive poker sword, going all-in with K J but this time Mark was wielding pocket Queens.
It was the second league place rivals John and Kev Mc who where next to face off, both of them betting big against a King on an otherwise low value board, when it came to the show down John was holding K Q but Kev Mc had K A leaving John with just a ‘pitiful rookerfull’ of chips.
It was soon time for Jordan to make one of his usual All In moves and this time he had a half decent hand to back it up- pocket Jacks. Briggs took the bait with KJ but it wasn’t enough and Jordan got his first scalp of the night.

Soon the field started thinning like Tatters barnet when John, whose chip stack had been reduced to less than the next big blind pushed all in with a massive 8-2 of clubs. Mark called it followed by Steve, who was holding pockets Aces but even this monster wasn’t enough as Mark hit a Straight- with two more players out Mark was way ahead of everyone else and taking up most of the table with his chip-pile. Tatter went out next when his massive 7-3 suited lost to Jordan's high card King.

Then, in what must count as one of the oddest calls in TPS history, Jordan declared himself all in with KJ suited to which Mark, who had been haemorrhaging chips in the last couple of hands and to the astonishment of everyone, calls with just 9-4 off, needless to say Jordan’s KJ stood up and Mark, who looked certain to take his second TPS win was out. From then on it was all Jordan’s game, making short work of Paul with a pair of 4’s, and Kev Mc, (who’s lack of a TPS victory this year remains a mystery to everyone), when they clashed with a pair of 5’s (Kev) and a pair of 6’s (Jordan), the third 6 on the flop making The Mark Of The Beast -surely a sign of impending apocalypse - and giving Jordan his first ever win.

Paul Wins League

TPS 10 saw Paul take the 2008 title with 1 game to spare. His early season dominance saw him take a massive lead with an unprecedented 3 wins on the bounce and despite some poor results over the summer no one could catch him, the 2005 Masters Champion must still be favourite to take this years title and with 125 points at the top of the All Time Leader board he’ll be the player to beat in 2009.