February 7, 2026
We had 21 players start the live game tonight. That meant 3 tables and the action was all around the room. We had a few more re-entries than usual and 1 person went out just at the first break.
After the break, we combined into 2 tables and the action was a little more sedate. After the second break they were down to 1 table and the action had picked up again.
It was a case of the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots were slowly eliminated, while the rich got richer. A turning point came when Kathy Cr went up against Jordan. Two of the biggest stacks. Jordan took the pot and eliminated Kathy. This allowed Jordan to coast into the top 4.
Jon made it to the top 4, but then had to settle for bonus points. Lisa had a deep run and took third place. Jordan and Ed went heads-up with pretty equal stacks. Ed managed to double up and left Jordan with crumbs. She couldn't recover and Ed took the win.
With this win, Ed also takes over first place overall.
Here's the top 5:
January 10, 2026
There were only 16 players at the January live game, there was still plenty of action. Play started a little slow with a few re-buys, but no one busted out before the first break.
After some great food, we were ready to play some poker. Even so, there we only a few bust-out with us going to the final table just before the second break.
Jordan got the most out her first time, by not only making it to the final table, but lasting longer than her dad. (can you say bragging rights?)
As these things must we were eventually down to 4 players. Dave had the short stack (still more than 100k). While Jerry had a slight lead over Jim and Barb. Dave was able to sit back and watch as Barb, Jim, and Jerry went all in on the same hand. Jerry had AA, Barb had QQ and Jim had JJ. The first card out was a Q, but the next one was an A and Jerry held to eliminate Barb and Jim (Jim took 3rd because he had slightly more chips). This also gave Jerry a big chip lead over Dave.
Heads-up only lasted a few minutes until Jerry got caught trying to make a move with T8, but got lucky on the turn and made a pair to win the hand the tournament.
Jerry starts the year in first place, but it's where you finish that counts.
Here's the top 5: