BROOKTOWN "tOM'S" ORAL HISTORY

PREFACE - Some may ask, why do this, not run the league I think you all know the answer to that, but why write pages upon pages of text of things that most of us remember and live through, I don’t have one perfect answer for that. Is it ego, I don’t think so, but maybe on some level, in a world where people live for Instagram likes and Twitter follows, while nice, I like to believe that is not motivating factor for me. I want to be social, I want to interact with people (any method is acceptable but for a phone call) and I like being liked.

Is it some kind of need to record that it happened, on some level yes, is it me thanking all of you for the memories and the great times, without a doubt on some level yes, of course.

As you eventually read through this know that I take full responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions, these are my memories as best I can recall them, and then put them into words for you to try to understand what I’m actually saying, I’m sure some of you will have thought of things I forgot or maybe have different memories or interpretations of what I’ve put here. Again I take responsibility. Please don’t take anything personal. I don’t have an editor or a proof reader, other than Microsoft Word so bear with my spelling and my grammar.

There’s a lot of links in here which would take you either to the Brooktown website (yes for some of you who don’t know we have had a Brooktown website originally stared and run by Frank Cole, and then much more rudimentary created by me the last 16 or 17 years) there are photos, You tube vidoes, even my blog.

So as we begin our 20th season of Brooktown WSOP, with many of you having been part of this for the last 15+ years, I wanted to share the history of Brooktown, a history that dates back to 1987 when Richard Southard and Tom Brucato, started a rotisserie baseball league,  with half the owners living in Brooklyn and half the owners from Levittown. That’s right, while the “Brook” in Brooktown is obvious whenever you hear Rich speak, however the “Town” in Brooktown originated from Levittown, Long Island.

Once I was no longer working on Long Island, the challenge was to find a city, and buy a house, with the word “town” in it and that’s how we ended in Middletown (don’t tell Shari this).

While the WSOP part of Brooktown has become the overriding face of the Brooktown franchise, there have been many other pieces to Brooktown - we all know the BROOKTOWN WSOP HALL OF FAME consists of the 9 Poker Champions and the 7 guys who have won the annual points championships, but there’s more people that are part of a Brooktown Hall of Fame.

For nearly 25 years we have run an annual Brooktown NCAA tournament, and the list of winners includes Scott Boles (only 2 time winner 2017 & 2021), Ed Pascocello (2019) and some of you may even know Billy Connors, who won it in 2016 BROOKTOWN NCAA CHAMPIONS.  

As we said earlier, Brooktown started with BROOKTOWN BASEBALL in 1987, we also ran  BROOKTOWN FANTASY FOOTBALL  from 1989 to 2019, there was  BROOKTOWN FANTASY BASKETBALL from 2000 through 2013, Brooktown Golf which ran from 2002 to 2010, hell, we even ran BROOKTOWN FANTASY HOCKEY from 2001 through 2011 – and while you may not care about the 11 seasons of  Brooktown Hockey, it’s work clicking on that link to see a great photo of a young beautiful Rich Southard in a Bart Scott jersey proudly pointing to Mike Schmidt’s private parts. Some names you may recognize from those defunct leagues that won titles -   Frank Cole was a four-time Brooktown golf champion, Jason Stuart prior to winning last year‘s poker championship had already won a Brooktown fantasy football championship in 2018 obviously names who have been around forever Brucato, Southard, Fern and Martucci all at one point or another one hockey basketball, football and baseball title all these records and stats can be found here BROOKTOWN FANTASY SPORTS CHAMPIONS

So how did the origins of Brooktown poker come to be you may wonder - well I’m sure we all remember Chris Moneymaker and the ESPN poker craze that swept the world in 2003, at that time Frank Cole and I were members of the Middletown Elks and Frank decided to run a charity poker tournament. Being a good Elk, I entered, not having much Hold ‘Em experience other than from watching it on TV. It was a different structure than we run today, there were no merging of tables and the final 2 players from each individual table went on to play at a final table, and while I did not make the final table, I was enamored by the camaraderie and the bonding as well as the competition, and it immediately began to fuel some thoughts in my head.

At this time Stan Federowicz and I were working at First Union (or was it Wachovia by then) as business bankers, and every Tuesday our manager would have us meet at a calling center somewhere in Toms River and we were supposed to sit there making cold calls for three or four hours and then share our successes and our failures with the rest of the group. No surprise to anybody who is reading this and knows me, that during those 4 hours I was not cold calling anybody - what I was doing was thinking about how to create a poker league.

I bounced several ideas off Stan, who added his ideas and perspectives, we played practice tournaments and together we came up with a basic structure and concept. Eventually I took those ideas to Neil, Rich and Jay for their thoughts, input, and troubleshooting. No one can overthink something more than Jay and I can, so after hundreds of alliterations and after months of practice tournaments sitting in Jay’s office in Freehold (again not working), the structure took shape in the summer of 2004, invites to join went out, and we kicked off the first event January 2005.

Thinking back on it now, structure wise I had no idea what I was doing that first tournament, we had one table of 11 players, including one guest who at the last minute asked to play and has never participated in another tournament since. I had the blinds backwards, whereas the earlier rounds were shorter time frames, and the later rounds with the larger blinds were longer. It was hosted at Frank Cole‘s house, the original plan did not include feeding everyone, everybody was going to eat dinner beforehand and start the tournament at 8:30, but when we showed up at Frank’s house he had a feast laid out and it set the tone for the next 20 years of events –  As Frank put it “How can I not feed people who are coming to my house”, so you could either blame or thank Frank 20 years later when you’re scrambling around trying to come up with an idea for food Friday afternoon, and when you’re cleaning up everybody’s mess on Saturday morning.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2005 - I had gotten commitments from 10 “founders” who agreed to come to most, if not all, the events. The original 10 Founders were Joe Appio, Tom Brucato, Frank Cole, Mike Corbett, Stan Federowicz, Jay Fern, Neil Martucci, Rich Southard, Mike Triola and Mike Trieste. The point structure was a bit different than it is today, there was no satellite and only the 6 players with the most points would play in a championship event at the end of the year. In February we had 2 guests, Rich Mangine, and Jim Martucci. Great additions to the league and great gentleman. In retrospect they should’ve been allowed to enter as founders and compete for a seat at the final table but in my stubbornness, and as a stickler for rules that I came up with, since they had not committed prior to the season I would not count their points toward the top 6. Had we counted their points, Jim would have been tied for 3rd in points, and qualified for the final table, replacing Frank Cole.

Neil proceeded to win 3 out of the first 7 tournaments and win the points championship. He was way ahead of any of us in game strategy, value betting, and understanding the nuances of how to play the game. Plus, for the most part he wasn’t drinking, or at least just having Miller Lites and does that really count as drinking? (Sorry Luke and Al). That first tournament found myself and Neil heads up and I honestly had no idea what I was doing and Neil defeated me easily. We also only paid out the top 3 (Mike Trieste finished 3rd, it was his only cash in his short Brooktown Career) instead of 4 as we have done it for every other subsequent tournament. So that event goes down as the only regular season event where a 4th place finisher (Frank Cole) did not get paid.  That first year we had 14 guest players, five of them later went on to become full members of the league. Guests Rich Mangine had 2 victories, and Jim Martucci cashed in 6 out of his 9 events and, as we said, would have been top 6 in points, but it didn’t take long for Richard Southard and Jay Fern to obsess and study and learn the game, and by the end of the year Fern had 2 victories and 6 cashes Rich had 3 victories and the two of them ended up heads up in the finals where Richard Southard was able to win Brooktown Poker title number one.

For those of you that don’t know the story of how/when I first met Richard Southard, in 1971 kindergarten was half days, and since I was born in March, I was in the morning class, and Rich being born in October was the afternoon class, so we did not know each other and we meet for the first time at a Halloween party, and clearly it was love at first sight when my underdog met his spaceman and the rest is history. We navigated childhood and adolescence together, there is no way to recap or put into words all the stories and things we experienced together and shared, and of course we made mistakes (fortunately no major ones), but it set the foundation for the person I am today.  As you know I don’t have a brother so me asking Rich to be my best man at my wedding was never in doubt, Rich however has an older brother, but when he asked me to be his best man and not his brother it was, and still is to this day, a tremendous honor and something I still think about and cherish today. Not that we ever lost touch, or would lose touch, but having small children and families it’s not easy to make time for “guys.” I always remember my goal around creating BROOKTOWN WSOP first and foremost was camaraderie, it was to continue to grow existing bonds and form new ones. While it’s difficult and unrealistic to think everyone is going to like each other and there won’t be issues, I’ve gotten to spend time with my childhood friend at least once a month for 20 years, as well as see and spend time with so many other people I would have certainly fallen out of touch with by now.

BROOWTOWN WSOP 2006 could be considered the Brooktown age of enlightenment – we now had 12 events under our belt, and Jay Fern, Neil Martucci, Rich Southard and I spent every available moment together playing smaller tournaments, side games, heads up, anything to see more hands and experience more things - everybody was energized, excited. So, my first thought is, how can we do things better, well, let’s start with expansion, we added Jim McCarthy, Scott Davis, Rich Mangine, Andy Kelhart, Jim Martucci, Ed Pascocello, and Ken Bent to the list of “Founders” that year. Scott Davis, Jim McCarthy, Jay Fern, and Rich Southard win 2 events, and Tom Brucato goes on a run from April through August where he finishes second in 4 out of 5 events until finally winning an event in September, cashes in 10 out of  12 events that year and wins the Points Championship. We also invited 12 additional guests that year, including Uncle Bob. I know we’ve all heard uncle Bob’s Brooktown backstory many times, but it’s worth hearing again -  Scott Davis tells him “Hey, there’s these group of guys that get together once a month and play poker tournaments, you should check it out” Uncle Bob’s first event he makes the trip all the way to Neil‘s house to play Omaha Hi and behold, who does he get lucky enough to experience, but Joe Appio who’s trying to make a straight Jack, Queen, King, Ace, Deuce -  it took a year and a half before Uncle Bob would come to another Brooktown event, but I am glad he did as his role in the growth and success of the league is obvious.  We also had 2 of the guests (Amet Karagoz, Tom McDonough) win tournaments. The biggest addition though, now with 14 players in the league, was adding a post season and pre championship event called The Satellite Event. The eight players that did not automatically qualify for the final table would play a No Limit Hold ‘Em event with the final two players earning a seat at the final table which would now be an eight-player Championship. That year Mike Triola and Jim Martucci would emerge from the Satellite with a shot at Brooktown immortality. However, even with the larger field the Championship event final two came down to a rematch of 2005 with Southard and Fern again heads up, and again Rich won and took home Championship number 2.

Jay Fern, I could write an entire Oral History of what I have experienced with Jay since first meeting him in 2002 at First Union. I was a Business Banker, and the branch manager, who I had known and worked together with for many years (and was actually an original Founding member of the league in 2005, Michael Corbett)  said to me, “I want you to meet this guy, he’s like us” and in the banking world, with part time tellers, and women who don’t relate well with a 35-year-old men, “he’s like us” is a rarity, so sure, I’m all for meeting people “like me”. Who knew I would spend the next 20+ years starting businesses, buying real estate, vacationing, doing things with stocks, and Jay being a part of every decision I made both large and small, and, both good and bad. (We are really good at the big decisions, but sometimes not so great at the smaller ones). I am who I am today, and appreciate all that I have today, in large part for all Jay and I have shared and done and successfully navigated the last 20 years.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2007 After not being in the league in 2006, Joe Appio returned, replacing Andy Kelhart. Brucato won his 2nd straight points title (and has not won one since), Stan Federowicz and Ken Bent won the satellite tournament, and after Rich winning the first two championships, there was no way anybody (except for Rich of course) who thought he could win the third. Well Rich ended up heads up in the finals against Ken Bent, Rich won Championship number 3 and Ken has not been heard from since.

How many of you knew or remembered Brooktown had it own Brooktown Blog . Go through the archives and you can read almost daily postings covering everything from my take and updates on the 2008 presidential election , Poker Strategy,  WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE (randolph) WATCH ,  Casey Anthony, and whatever other nonsense I could thing of.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2008 – Fortunately someone talked Uncle Bob into giving us another chance and so Bob joins the league in 2008, ironically replacing Joe Appio.  Bob puts the league on notice that he is a player to reckon with as he immediately wins his first event, and 2 out of his first 3.  We also updated the schedule, replacing the traditional January event of RAZZ with HORSE and finally eliminated all the Limit Omaha and Hold ‘Em events. Also, back then, and up until 2020, the events did not start until 8pm (8:30pm for the July and August events to give Neil some more time in traffic), and the June event saw a very unfortunate run of cards for Jim McCarthy who lost all his chips early, rebought, and lost them all again all in the first round, and I received a famous text from him as he was driving home that said “I can’t believe it’s still light out and I am driving home.” Back then side games were normal. Once guys were knocked out, they would sit around waiting for the merge and the players that were out would start up $10 tournaments, and as other players were knocked out they would join in. It was not out of the ordinary to still have 10 guys there when the main tournament ended, normally around 2am.

In 2008 the battle for the top 6 was a hotly contested affair. Stan Federowicz makes the final table on the heels of his 6 cash season but Ed Pascocello winner of 2 events in 2008, found himself in the Satellite, as did 3-time defending champion Rich Southard, Rich would however qualify for his 4th final table along with Ed Pascocello who would be at his 1st . 

Ed Pascocello, or Eddie P as he is affectionately known, and I met when First Interstate Financial, a mortgage company Ed was a partner in, was looking to start a sub-prime division in the fall of 2004. A recruiter contacted me to interview for the job and even though I was comfortable in my role at First Union (Wachovia) and not a fan of change, not to mention not really working hard and creating a poker league with Stan, something prompted me to take the interview. I met Ed, and I was probably awkward and unprepared, but needless to say I was impressed by the organization and took an immediate liking to Eddie P. Ed offered me the opportunity, I accepted, and, for a number of reasons, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Coming from the banking world of counting widgets, one of the first questions I asked Ed was “What are our goals?” expecting to hear something like $5,000,000 in loans a month, or 15 units, Ed looked at me, grinned and said “Our goal is to make money” An answer that still resonates with me 20 years later. In those 3 years at FIF I probably never worked more hours, or worked harder, and I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed the challenge, the co-workers and most importantly the friendship and example Eddie P set every day in that office.

2008 saw Scott Davis win his first of six point titles. Rich, after 3 straight Championships, did not qualify for the final table and headed to the satellite where he and Ed Pascocello did win and advance to the championship, but he would not win number 4, as usual (for the 3rd time in 4 years) Jay Fern was in the final 2, but Tom Brucato would end up taking home his first Brooktown bracelet.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2009, considered by many historians the New Age in Brooktown history. In 2007 and 2008 Jay Fern created, and ran, a sister Poker League we called the FA League. It included some of his financial advisor coworkers, along with Tom Brucato, Rich Southard, Neil Martucci, and Mike Triola. It was fascinating to watch the FA’s get together and share war stories about their trades and money they made (keep in mind none of them were actually listening to each other, they were just waiting for their time to tell their story)  The poker, for them, was just a reason to get together to talk about derivatives and annuities, (I don’t really know if those two things are real, or if that’s what there were actually talking about, but 17 years later that’s the best I can remember and I had to reference something). The events were played on Thursday nights and that’s where the term “Pete o’clock” came from. Pete Costello, a solid player, but had a long ride home from Jackson to Scotch Plains. We knew around midnight, these guys are going to get tired and want to go home, there are trades to be made at 7am, or whatever time your stock market opens!!!

I first met Pete Costello and Luke Lucash at these events, Pete in 2007, and Luke in 2008. Once the FA league decided not to return for 2009, we took the best of the best from the FAs and asked Pete and Luke to come over to Brooktown WSOP. Luke was not an FA at the time, but his infectious laugh, great demeanor, and priorities (getting together each month to participate in nonsense and drinking beer) made him a no brainer for an invite to Brooktown WSOP. Pete was an FA, but he always took the time to chat with us commoners prior to the events and when he showed interest in continuing to play in Brooktown I was happy to include him. Pete’s spreads are legendary, he is very generous and I love walking into his house 3 hours before poker, seeing him in his apron and grabbing a piece of mozzarella.

11 of the 14 guys from the 2009 season are still members of the league today. 2009 saw Jay Fern have a tremendous season with 9 cashes and 3 wins. Scott Davis joined him with 3 wins that season. For the second year in a row Rich Southard found himself in the Satellite event and again, this time with Mike Triola, earned another trip to the championship table. At the final table we were left with defending champion Tom Brucato, Points Champion Jay Fern (4th time in the in money in 5 final events) and Scott Davis (so enthusiastic) as the final 3. Fern would be first to go and then it was Brucato vs. Davis for the title. Scott Davis was overly excited and just wanted it to end and have that bracelet put on his wrist. He pushed all in on every hand and Brucato simply waited until he felt he had the advantage, Tom called Scott twice, won both hands and Brucato was a 2-time Brooktown Champion.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2010 the competition got really strong. Eight different players won events, nobody won more than two that year, and everyone, except one player, had at least 2 cashes. Jay Fern won the point title again and Pete Costello and Neil Martucci won the satellite and, in the championship, Stan Federowicz found himself heads up against Neil for the 2010 title. Neil was low on chips and all in, and when Stan called and showed his cards, Neil was way behind to Stan’s over pair. With 44 unseen cards left in the deck 42 of them would give Stan the championship and only 2 keep Neil alive it was 50/50 who would win. If you are a BROOKTOWN WSOP historian, or simply just a casual fan, you know by now Neil caught one of the 2 cards he needed to survive and eventually went on to win the 2010 Championship ending the Brooklyn Boys run of 5 titles and bringing a bracelet home to New Jersey.

Neil Martucci, there is so much good I can say about Neil but I can’t imagine he is still reading this far in to it (be forewarned it’s only 2010 and we have 13 more years to go), or that any of you want to hear about it anyway, but this is an oral history and I need to include it in the narrative. Neil is a childhood friend of Jay’s and just think about this -  Neil spent the last 20 years managing Jay‘s and my insanity 24/7 (and while you have all heard countless stories of our escapades, it barely scratches the surface of what Neil has heard and seen) and twice as long managing just Jay’s, and somehow, he is still there for us. Aside from being one of the best players in this league, Neil’s appreciation for all things moron are incredibly appealing and endearing.  Clearly very successful at his job and in the real world, he can also sing the hell out of a Miley Cyrus song, is a GREAT person to go to Vegas and go the distance with, and has been an incredible asset to me going over ideas with regard to structures and troubleshooting so many Brooktown WSOP ideas and just as someone I know I can reach out and, for the most part, gets it and speaks the same language.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2011 – For the first time, the same player won, not only the Points Championship, but the final event as well as Uncle Bob, on the strength of 3 regular season event wins, takes the point title and at the Final Table takes out defending champion Neil Martucci and then Jay Fern, heads up for his second Championship. The 2011 Satellite event saw only five players participate and for the 3rd time in 3 appearances, Rich Southard again wins, this time with Joe Appio. For Joe it turns out to be his only final table appearance. Luke Lucash gets his first Brooktown WSOP win and 2011 also saw the first appearance as a guest from Scott Boles.

Scott Boles and I met at a second mortgage company called The Money Store back in 1996 not that this will surprise anybody, but Scott was a salesman who could, and would, talk to anyone about anything at anytime. I was an underwriter and back then the applications were not queued in a computer and then automatically routed to the next available underwriter to look at and approve or decline the loan. The loan officers would take a loan application by hand, bring it upstairs where the underwriters sat, and put it in a bin, there were four underwriters working on the loans, when an underwriter was done with a loan they would walk over to the bin and take the next package on top and begin reviewing it.  Three of the underwriters were older, old school guys would look at these loans like they were giving away their own money and beat every deal up - and I was just a young kid who looked at every underwriting package as a puzzle and try to find a way to make it work, plus as a people pleaser and somebody who doesn’t like to say no, I didn’t like declining any deals. It didn’t take long for Scott Boles, and some of the other younger loan officers to realize, we need to get our loans in Tom’s hands and as you could imagine, charming Scott was always sure to stop by my desk, share a funny story talk about some nonsense and accidentally just leave his package with me to review, and most likely approve. Scott having all the same vices as I did, had to come as a guest and see if he, and the league, were a good fit. He came to 3 events as a guest, never finished higher than 8th, never stopped talking and making me laugh and I knew the next opening we had was Scott’s.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2012 Was a big year, we eliminated 7 card stud and added the deep stack format, also, my vision of this league and its purpose was always about camaraderie, getting together, maintaining ties, forming and building relationships, have some competition, and a way to stay in touch monthly and have a guy’s night out. I never wanted it to be about the money or the prizes (original season monthly buy in was $25) so originally, I thought 10 people was enough players, and easy to manage. Just because that was my vision, it was not everyone’s, I was wrong in what I thought was best and I needed to be more realistic and take off the rose-colored glasses and look at this from other people’s point of view and do what was best for most of the league. In year two we expanded to 12 because Jim Martucci and Richie Mangine were a great fit, and then eventually went to 14 adding Pete Costello and Luke Lucash in 2009. But I was dead set against increasing the number of regulars to 16. Back then, it was nice to have the option of adding a guest occasionally. I thought 16 was too many people to manage in the league and it was also a lot to ask guys to have that many people over their house each month. Frank Cole, who only made it to three events in 2011 left, which opened one spot. We offered that spot to Scott Boles, that charming little imp and whatever the opposite of a charming little imp is though, was Joe Savoia, who was also invited to the league, so we were now at 15 players. Also making his first appearance as a guest in 2012 was Mike Altilio.

The summer of 2012 we held our first non-sanctioned event as we tried a heads-up tournament. 16 players double elimination format. I think the concept is a fun idea, but a bear in execution. Some games end quickly, and others take a long time; there is a lot of sitting around waiting for your next round opponent to be finished before you can play your next game. Looking back at it now there are some players I didn’t even remember were there, Charlie Mulea, “Alan”, who I believe was a wine friend of Augie’s, Rich Southard friend Irv, and Dan Rovner (R.I.P) who even made it to the finals against Rich Southard, but at 3 o’clock in the morning, they were still playing.  Dan was a little worried about some softball tournament in the morning he had to be at, and Rich would’ve happily sat there till Wednesday to secure a victory, and it was Rich winning the first ever on sanctioned league Brooktown event over Dan Rovner with Augie LaMalfa taking 3rd place.

2012 saw Rich Southard win his first of back-to-back point titles, Stan Federowicz was back at the final event thanks to his first 2 win season, the Satellite that year saw Jay Fern’s first appearance, which he won, along with Scott Boles. The final event saw a rematch of 2011 with Uncle Bob vs Jay Fern, and again it was Uncle Bob winning the Championship for the 2nd year in a row, but even more incredibly, at 8 final tables, Jay Fern has finished 2nd in 5 of them… it would be six years before Fern would sit at another final table.  

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2013. Saw a Brooktown record 183 entries, we had 10 different guests that year including a second visit from Mile Altilio.

The first time I met Mike Altilio was November 14th, 2010. He probably remembers the day much better than I do because he walked in to a friend’s house just as The New York Jets were upsetting the Cleveland Browns in OT to move their record to 7 and 2. I may have had a drink or two, or eight that day, and the only words I said over and over again for the next hour was a high-pitched screech of seven and twoooooo. Mike is also been a legendary part of beer pong lore, having won 3 mixed couples beer pong championships, and if you want to see him hit the winning cup in two of them, watch these videos-  Beerpongapalooza Winning Shot and Beerpongapalooza IV winning shot

Scott Boles gets his first Brooktown win this year and goes into the November event with the season point lead, 350 points ahead of Rich Southard. As you can imagine the two of them were a bit chatty, Boles finishes 5th and the only way Rich can catch him is to win the tournament, and sure enough Rich wins and is the point champ for the 2nd year in a row.

 With the league now at 15 players we had our largest Satellite event to date with 9 players. It was won by Scott Davis and Frank Cole (who returned after taking off in 2012). Also, the 2013 Satellite was only the 2nd for Scott Davis, and it was also his last, as Scott has qualified for the final table strictly based on points the next 10 years.

The Championship event, after 8 great years in Jackson, moved to Middletown and our final four were Neil Martucci, Fran Cole, Rich Southard, and Ed Pascocello. Neil and Frank ended up heads up and it was Neil Martucci, drinking the sweet inexpensive championship champagne winning bracelet number two, joining Tom Brucato and Uncle Bob but still one short of Rich Southard’s three titles. Nine years into the league we’ve got only four players to win championships and the past winners were very protective of that little club. BROOKTOWN ANNUAL PAST WINNERS PHOTO

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2014 we celebrated our 10 year anniversary, and with the addition of Mike Altilio the league was full at 16 players. In the summer of that year, we invited all previous Brooktown players and had a 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY MULTI TABLE EVENT which was eventually won by Anthony Mangine heads up against Rich Southard. Augie LaMalfa, and Tom Brucato also cashed and finished in the top five.

We did add a new member to the BROOKTOWN WSOP HALL OF FAME as Mike Triola wins the points championship, and our Satellite, now a 10 player event was won by Frank Cole for the second year in a row, and Ed Pascocello. But the big winner that year was Scott Davis, as his dreams can come true as his A-7 final hand takes down points champ Mike Triola and we have a new member for the annual January BROOKTOWN ANNUAL PAST WINNERS PHOTO

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2015 – we made a couple of tweaks, after seven years of opening the year with a January HORSE event, we changed that to SHOE. Also, we added a qualifier to the Satellite event whereas the two lowest point totals would not qualify for the Satellite and the satellite would again be an 8 person event. Speaking of the satellite Rich Southard wins his 4th satellite in 5 appearances. We also had the most entries, as 189 players participated in tournaments that year, we had 9 different winners and 17 different players cash in 2015 including two cashes in two events from Jay Fern who played that year as guest. We even had our first 17 player event in April, and then another one in May. Mike Triola repeated as the point champion and in the finals, joining Rich Southard with championship number three was Uncle Bob defeating Mike Triola.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2016 was the tightest season on record, only 1275 points separated 1st place, Scott Davis, from 8th Mike Triola, who, after back-to-back point championships and back-to-back final table second places, finds himself in the satellite. Not only does Mike win the satellite along with Ed Pascocello, Mike then joins Neil Martucci and becomes only the 2nd player to ever win the satellite and then go on to win the championship

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2017, we brought back RAZZ after a 10 year hiatus, also a couple of slots open up as Frank Cole leaves again and Rich Mangine retires (for the first time). Jay Fern came to 3 events as a guest and cashed in 2 of them, giving him 4 cashes in 5 events as a guest. We add Bobby Camisa and, after having been a guest, and playing in at least one event in each of the previous five years, Augie LaMalfa gets a seat at the big table. Augie finished last in points though in his first year and was ineligible for the Satellite, which was won by Uncle Bob and Pete Costello. Neil Martucci wins his 2nd points title (and first since Brooktown season 1) but that year Tom Brucato joins 2011 Uncle Bob as the only other player ever to win 4 tournaments in a season Including and most importantly his third bracelet with a heads up victory over Neil Martucci.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2018 Jay Fern and Rich Mangine return after a year off replacing Bobby Camisa and the league is full again at 16 players. RAZZ didn’t last long, as the format for the Limit events never work out well and is replaced with a Dealer’s Choice event. We also added 2 multi rebuy events which were dominated by Jay Fern and added a new dynamic and buzz to the games.  Having forgotten the chaos that was the 2012 heads up tournament we held another heads-up event, unfortunately it wasn’t any better as Pete Costello cruised to three easy quick wins and had about an hour plus wait for the bracket to get back to him. Rather than wait for 6 loser bracket events to get played, Pete forfeited the championship to whoever was able to come out of the loser’s bracket. With Pete long gone and home asleep, Rich Southard again won the HEADS UP TOURNAMENT , while some say there should be an “*” some do not, and most don’t even remember we had the event or who won. Rich Southard though, also won the points championship, and everyone remembers that! Mike Triola and Stan Federowicz win the satellite event, but most importantly Scott Davis wins the final event making him arguably the happiest man on the planet with Brooktown Championship number 2.

I first met Scottie D around 2005. He ran youth basketball rec and travel leagues for the area. My son loved to play, and I coached some of the boys teams years ago, but didn’t really get to know or meet Scott until he saw my daughter at a basketball camp when she was about five years old.  Scott approached my wife about starting a travel team for the girls, but he needed a coach. After my first experience coaching the boys I had no interest in doing it, especially not for girls! But to no one’s surprise my wife was all in on it and somehow her and Scott decided that Shari and Jason‘s wife Roberta were going to coach the girls teams and they needed to find six or seven other young girls. Now I’m competitive, and I can be intense, but there was no way I was going to let my five year-old daughter and those other poor girls I had not even met, have to deal with the “competitiveness” and “intenseness” of Shari and Roberta. I don’t know if that Scott’s plan all along to suck me into doing it, but I decided to coach and asked Augie LaMalfa to be my assistant coach. I’ll never be able to thank Scott Davis enough for giving me that opportunity to share those moments with my daughter and form such a close bond with Augie and his daughter, and with so many other kids and families. Scott’s passion and love of this game and league was my goal when this started, and as someone who prefers not to leave my 10 mile radius I am in awe of the commitment Scott shows driving from Delaware each month and it drives me to come up with ways to make this league stronger and better each year.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2019 we opened the season with the January event, and Joe Savoia M.I.A. unresponsive to calls and texts becomes the first player in history to be expelled and receive a lifetime ban from Brooktown events. This allowed us to add Jason Stuart who enters the league never having played as a guest and immediately shows he belongs with the big boys cashing in his first three events but more importantly fitting in with the banter and the flow of the other guys. We added and held our first 3 table event, it was also the last time we have seen Joe Appio at an event. Joe, an original FOUNDING member, who played in 80 regular season events without winning one, holds the longest winless streak in Brooktown history. You can however still play some poker with Joe on-line in the nightly Pokerrr On Line Omaha Hi-Lo games.

Neil Martucci and Ed Pascocello won the satellite, for Ed it is his 4th satellite victory and Neil’s 2nd in only 4 appearances, but 2019 saw the greatest individual season in Brooktown history as Jay Fern became the first player with over 7,000 points, he cashed 8 times, finished in the top two 7 times, he is the only player with 5 wins in a season, and his $4,819 in prize money is $1,500 more than anyone else has ever won in a single season. Jay Fern also won the largest regular season prize pool with an $808 first place win in NL Hold 'Em Multi Rebuy. But more important than any of that, after having finished second 6 previous times in the final event, Jay Fern gets his championship defeating Neil Martucci heads up at the final table.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2020 was the season of Covid. We took a break for a couple of months skipping April and May, but then came back in June a little shorthanded as Uncle Bob, Frank Cole, Stan Federowicz and Rich Mangine chose not to play in any events. We had some events with just one table of 10 players. Uncle Bob, returned in September and immediately won the next 2 events. October gave us one of the most iconic moments in Brooktown History when Mike Altilio eliminated Rich Southard from the newly created MULTI REBUY NL HOLD ‘EM TURBO BOUNTY event collects his bounty and proceeds to do the crotch chop heard around the yard. Rich Southard was not amused but it may go down as my all-time favorite Mike Altillo moment ever. Scott Davis breaks Jay Fern’s record for most points in a season. Anyone who made it to at least 5 events that year cashed at least twice. Jay Fern wins his 2nd satellite event in 3 tries along with Mike Altilio and our championship final four of Augie LaMalfa, Jason Stuart, Ed Pascocello and Mike Altilio was won when Augie pocket ACES took down Jason and pocket 7’s (watch the Video here Augie Wins 2020 Brooktown Championship )

Everyone has a first time they met Augie story and they all follow the same storyline - my wife telling me she can’t wait for me to meet him. “You guys are going to hit it off, you have so much in common”, so at a daddy daughter dance in 2008, Ronni and I show up to meet Augie and Vicky. We are seated at the same table, and I think Augie may have said four words to me the whole night. I went home and asked my wife what the hell are you thinking, but after having spent the last 15 years vacationing together (no one better to vacation with) coaching together (a one of a kind partner to have on your bench, always looking for an edge to help win), winning Travel Tournaments (Hazlet Tournament Champs ) and rec championships together with our daughters and watching our girls grow up together, it turns out my wife was right after all. As always. If you ever “need a guy” Augie has one and he is the first person to always offer help when asked.

In 2021 Brooktown dipped its toe into the Corn Hole realm and set up a 12 team husband/wife, Wednesday night league that, if I wasn’t so insane and had a little thicker skin, and again, wasn’t too rigid with the rules and what I thought it should be, it could’ve been a huge success. It did turn into a huge success for Jason Stuart and Jay Fern, as they met in the championship with Jason and his wife Roberta taking home the cornhole title 2021 BROOKTOWN CORN HOLE  

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2021 still had some lingering effects of Covid as the league started out with only 14 players. Neil Martucci joined us a guest twice and cashed both times, Scott Davis won his 2nd straight points title, as well as 4 regular season events. We finally eliminated the last 7 stud event. We held one 7 Stud Hi event every year from 2005 through 2011 and we held one 7 Stud Hi Lo every year from 2006 through 2020. But, as we have said, the limit events do not work well in our 6 hour format, and it was a long time coming to remove them. Our Satellite saw Scott Boles and Luke Lucash win, for Luke it was only his 2nd trip to the final table, having earned his seat with a top 6 finish in 2014, he was unsuccessful advancing in 10 previous satellite appearances. 2021 we experimented with a 13-event season and added a Wednesday evening and a Saturday afternoon event, and we had an introduction to Al Wierciszewski as a guest. Al’s first tournament, he goes right after the big guns and knocks Rich Southard out, and Al immediately was crowned the dragon slayer, Al embodies everything I would want as a member of the league. He “gets it", he’s affable, he takes it serious, but not too serious, and an invite to join the league in 2022 was a no brainer, Al, if by any chance you are still reading this, I am a BIG FAN of yours. But no matter how great Al is or how many dragons he can slay, in 2021 Rich got the last laugh as he won his 4th Brooktown championship after surviving a final four of Jay Fern, Scott Davis and Uncle Bob

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2022 got back to a standard, once a month, schedule and a full roster of 16 players with the return of Neil Martucci and the full time addition of Al Wierciszewski. I’d argue this group of 16 may not only be the best in terms of quality of play, but also in demeanor and ability to “play well with others.”

Scott Davis won his 3rd consecutive points title and 5th overall, Uncle Bob and Ed Pascocello win the satellite event, with Ed becoming the first player to win it 5 times. 2022 also saw Scott Davis post the 5th, and Jay Fern post the 4th, highest seasonal earnings totals, see the Brooktown Record Book, with Fern becoming the only player to ever post over $3,000 in winnings in two seasons. But to get to those type of numbers you know the real money is made at the final table, and in 2022 for the first time the final 5 players remaining at the championship table were all past winners, Tom Brucato, Uncle Bob, Neil Martucci, Scott Davis and Jay Fern, but it was Jay Fern taking them all down for his 4th win of the year (only player with 4 or more wins twice in a season) and more importantly his 2nd bracelet in the last 4 years.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2023 saw no material changes to the roster or schedule, but we did tweak the way we selected our tables. For years the computer randomly selected the table at seat, however in 2023 we gave previous winners the ability to select who they wanted to play with, and on other subsequent months, the players at their table selected who they wanted to sit with.

Uncle Bob joins Jay Fern as the only player to win 4 regular season events, but again it’s Scott Davis with his 4th consecutive points championship. Scott has 3 of the 4 highest point seasons in Brooktown history all since 2020.

For the second year in a row, we saw our defending champion playing in the satellite. In 2022 Rich Southard was in the satellite and not able to win and get back to defend his title, and the same held true for 2023 as Jay Fern was in the satellite and did not get to the final table. The satellite was won by Luke Lucash, who after missing 10 straight final tables was at his 3rd in a row, and Pete Costello winning his 3rd satellite in 6 attempts. But the highlight to the 2023 season was the final table, where the final 5 saw 4-time champ Rich Southard, battling from an early low stack position all night, 3-time champion Uncle Bob coming off a 4 win season, 2-time champion Scott Davis who also became the All Time Brooktown money leader, 2 time-champion Neil Martucci who has 11 cashes at 15 final tables, and Jason Stuart who 3 years later still bemoans his pocket 7’s losing to Augie for the 2020 championship. After Rich, Scott and Bob getting knocked out it was Brooktown Hall of famer and one of the top BROOKTOWN WSOP HEADS UP players, Neil Martucci, versus the 2020 runner up  and 18-1 long shot, Jason Stuart. They battled for over one hour head to head, but this time the pocket 7’s do not let JStu down and  he adds to the already full Brooktown trophy case a career defining championship catching runner runner – if you haven’t joined the nearly 6,000 other people who have watched this video here is your chance JStu is your 2023 BROOKTOWN WSOP CHAMPION

Jason Stuart our defending champion, no one loves accolades, awards, and jewelry, more than this guy and, as a man who loves to keep score and give out accolades, awards and jewelry, he and I are a match made in heaven. For Jason to join a league that’s been in existence, and play with guys going on 20 years and 200+ tournaments, with Jason’s main exposure to tournament poker prior to joining was a semimonthly get together playing poker with our wives (and I won’t even begin to tell you how vastly different playing with them versus playing in this Brooktown league is), there was never a doubt Jason‘s personality and demeanor would be perfect for the league and his desire and drive to be successful is obvious. Jason coached boy’s hoops for years, won championships. Has won Multiple beer Pong championships in all disciplines mixed couples, couples and individual. A Corn Hole Champion, Fantasy Football champion, JStu prides himself on consistency and rules, and he has consistency been a winner and always a rule follower. Another great fit for the league, a good man and a great friend.

Over the last 20 years we’ve had 56 different people enter tournaments, 3193 entries in total, awarded over $250,000 in prize money. February 2024 will be our 250th tournament.

I have thanked all of you countless times and I will continue to do so. I understand we all have our individual personalities and obviously sometimes they conflict, I’ve done some things wrong and I’ve made mistakes and I will make more. I still wear those rose-colored glasses sometimes. No one knows how many more years Brooktown WSOP has left or what the future holds but it’s important to me that if nothing else my original goal of having a guy’s night out, has kept us in contact and we have not lost touch has been a success and I thank all of you for all your help hosting, showing up laughing and sharing our lives the last 20 years.