I had written up a little historical summary prior to S8 Ep7 that I thought may be of interest:
Hey Gang,
I don't normally do this, but since my wife's in Reno and I'm stuck
here in town this weekend (stupid job forced me to cancel my vacation
for this weekend)...
One thing I don't usually emphasize is the history we have for our
poker league. You'll see me refer to the game at the end of this
month as S8Ep7, meaning it's Season 8 Episode 7. I thought I'd go on
a trip back through memory lane for Episode 7s in seasons past.
S7Ep7 was on March 22nd, 2014. We had a relatively quiet night, with
six players in the Quick Tournament (George won and I took second in
the money finishes, Tom was the bubble, and Shawn, Dave, and Shannon
rounded out the players). Then Grant came over to play in the Main
Event (our Standard tournament), which was a good idea on his part as
he took first place (Shannon and Tom were also in the money, I bubbled
and Shawn, Dave, and George finished out the roster). Finally, since
the early tournaments went so quickly we ran an additional late night
tournament for the six of us (Grant apparently took our money and ran
after his win), which I won and Shawn took second (George bubbled).
The three tournaments had a $70, $220, and $80 prize pools.
S6Ep7 was on March 2nd, 2013. Those tournaments used our old
structure where we played with single chips (the Quick Tournament
started with blinds of 3 and 6, the Standard Tournament started at
2/4). We had a big night in early March, with 11 total players. The
Quick Tournament was won by Grant with Pam, George, and Julius also
finishing in the money. Shannon bubbled, and Tory, me, Dave, Oz, and
Dave's friends Masum and Krista were also playing that evening. The
Standard Tournament was won by Tory, with Shannon, me, and Grant in
the money finishes. George bubbled, followed by Pam, Masum, Oz, Dave,
Julius, and Krista. The two prize pools were $140, and $340.
S5Ep7 was on June 2nd, 2012, and was one of the last poker nights at
our old house on Periwinkle Lane (we moved into our current place in
July of that year). We had 8 players for both of those tournaments.
I won the Quick Tournament (back when it had unlimited rebuys -- I
rebought 3 times in the first 3 levels!), with Dave and Phil also
finishing in the money. George bubbled in that tournament, followed
by Pam, Shannon, Dave O, and Solveig. In the Standard Tournament,
Phil won with Solveig and Shannon finishing in the money. I bubbled
that tournament, followed by George, Pam, Dave, and Dave O. The two
prize pools were $140 (I wasn't the only one rebuying a bunch in that
tournament!) and $220.
I was going to stop there, but these are sort of fun to suss out. S5
was the full season at that house on Periwinkle and ran from January
2012 to when we moved out in late July of that year.
Season 4 is a bit tougher to put together. It was the second year
(and third poker Season) of me living in my apartment, and I had lost
my job at the beginning of 2011. As near as I can tell, we only
played six "Episodes" that season (in some sort of odd sequence of
Main Events: Ep1: New Ante, Ep2: Bounty, Ep3: Standard, Ep4: Add-on
Extravaganza, Ep5: Standard, and Ep6: Cheap Rebuy). We were also
playing one or two weeknight tournaments each month, so it's difficult
to figure out my recordkeeping.
Season 3 was also run in that apartment. It ran for eight Episodes,
and S3Ep7 was on March 19, 2011. The Early Tournament had a $5 buy-in
at that stage, and five of us duked it out for a $30 prize pool
(congrats to Dave and me for finishing in the money, while ChrisG,
Shannon, and Solveig brought up the rear). We played a Standard
Tournament ($10 buy-in) that night as well and the reinforcements
showed up as there were 8 of us playing. Solveig won with Dave and
Neal also finishing in the money. Duncan, Billy, ChrisG, Colin, and
Shannon were the other participants for the $140 prize pool. We were
having so much fun that we finished the night with a third
(Quick-style) tournament with the big-money $10 buy-in. Colin and
Duncan (both Billy's friends) finished in the money, while Neal,
Billy, Shannon, and a late-arriving Dave were the other participants.
The prize pool was $60 for that one.
Season 2 was also run in my old apartment, and S2Ep7 happened on April
10, 2010. Five of us weren't scared of the Early Tournament $5 buy-in
and I won while Dave came in 2nd. Shannon, ChrisG, and our old friend
Scott were the other participants ($35 prize pool). The Main Event
that evening was the Standard Tournament and the same five of us
played (this time at $10 a pop) with Scott winning and me taking
second. ChrisG, Dave, and Shannon finished out the order of finishes
($70 prize pool). As seems to be the theme for old school Episode
7's, four of us played a third tournament that evening with me winning
the full $40 prize pool (Chris went home early that evening).
Season 1 occurred way back in the basement of our old place on
Bluegrass Way, but it only ran for 4 tournaments before we shut it
down, so no Episode 7 recap. Previous to Season 1 we had been running
poker tournaments (at least another 20 or so for at least 18 previous
months) but that was before I had the Tournament Director software
that I struggle with every night, so we weren't keeping records (or
putting events into Seasons).
It's fun (at least for me — I was around for all these events!) to
walk back through memory lane a bit and see some of the old familiar
names. I only mentioned Scott one time, but he played a lot in those
early years (he was #7 on our all-time leaderboard heading into Season
8), and Solveig had a great run of success on Season 7 evenings.
George, you haven't missed an Ep7 since 2011 (which was three
dwellings ago for us!). Grant, you won an event in each of the past
two Episode 7s. It's fun, too, to see how our attendance numbers and
buy-ins (and prize pools!) have grown over the years. Even the
structures we used (I saw some tournaments where the starting stacks
were 225 chips, of all random numbers) progressed over the years.
Anyway, hopefully you'll be able to make it on the 28th to help us
make some new history for Season 8, Episode 7. I know I'm looking
forward to seeing everyone.