I am encouraging everyone to bring as much beer as they want, everyone should try to bring at least some alcohol (except you Wetzel because I owe you a 12-pack so that will be here ready for you). There will be a number of people showing up to my house just to hang out and not play so it should be a good time as the TVs will all have Cavs vs Warriors on them from 7-10. A special thanks to Mike Yatsco for letting me use his chips to combine with mine. Remarkably we have the exact same chip collection so everything will work out fine.
Okay, now on to the good stuff. After working hard in the lab ive come up with solid chip amounts and a perfect blind structure. Here are the chip statistics for the tournament...
- 10 people will be playing, in a one-table tournament
- Everyone will start out with $20,000 total in chips
- we will be using gray, green, blue, and red chips
- grays worth $25, greens $100, blues $500, reds $1000
- we will color up chips in accordance to the blind structure
BLIND STRUCTURE: blinds raise every 20 min
Level 1, 50-100
Level 2, 75-150
Level 3, 100-200
Level 4, 150-300
Level 5, 200-400
Level 6, 250-500
---color up chips, get rid of $25 gray chips---
Level 7, 300-600
Level 8, 400-800
Level 9, 500-1000
Level 10, 600-1200
Level 11, 800-1600
---color up chips, get rid of $100 green chips---
Level 12, 1000-2000
Level 13, 1500-3000
Level 14, 2000-4000
Level 15, 2500-5000
So there is your blind structure and chip amounts we will be using for the tournament. I dont anticipate it going that many levels, but in case it does we have to be ready. All blind levels and chip amounts will be printed out and posted on a big board for everyone to see in my basement.
The total buy-in will be $15 unless everyone agrees to make it $20. We will discuss it Friday night and ill have a prize pool once everyone decides. Either top 2 or 3 will get paid pending on the buy-in.
So now its finally time to profile the 10 players participating in the tournament. A picture, a small preview of each person, and their Vegas odds to take home the title. The winner will have their picture taken along with all the chips and the winning cards on display. The prestige that comes along with winning this tournament is large enough to change one's life (for a day or so). This is in no particular order, we will be drawing for seats on Friday night. Again remember be at my house by 6:30pm.
PLAYER #1- RYAN POLITO
Yours truly, not really much I can say about myself because it would all sound like im a hardass. I consider myself a solid player and am coming off a 30-person tourney win at YSU. My odds of winning 2 straight high prestige tournaments arent great, but we will see. I am just one of the many Steelers fans who will be in attendance Friday night. It sure would be nice to see like the last 5 players left to be all Steelers fans. Im a fairly tight player but have no problem putting out a big bluff every once in a while (especially against Mr. Hallock). Bruce Ciccone has made it clear to me that he is showing up simply to rip on me, so hopefully ill have a lot of chips before he shows up, otherwise ill go on major TILT and be out quickly.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 4-1
PLAYER #2- MICHAEL YATSCOone word... AGGRESSIVE. I have never ever played with a player more aggressive than Yatsco. This kid doesnt mind over betting the pot on any flush or straight draw. He puts his chips in at an alarming rate and usually ends up winning the pot. He is a very solid player but his aggressive style also is his weakness. If you get stuck sitting with Yatsco on ur left, then you might as well as just quit because the worst seat in the house is having Yatsco on your left. If youre in the big blind and action is on Yatsco, you better be ready to defend that blind cause odds are very low youll be able to check that blind.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 7-1
PLAYER #3- MICHAEL HALLOCK
The hated Cowboys fan. He will probably have his gay Tony Homo jersey on just because he likes to piss people off. Nonetheless, he is also another solid poker player. However, if you show this kid a bluff he often gets really pissed and tries to bluff other people himself. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it is his downfall. He is a player who loves having home-house advantage. Usually that statement would make no sense, but it always seems like Hallock dominates everyone when we play at his house, but struggles everywhere else. We shall see how he does in Big Po's basement.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 8-1
PLAYER #4- RYAN WETZELWell i got a text message from Wetzel today saying hes gonna play very gayly. Not sure if that means hes gonna be flirting with the guys at the table or if hes gonna play loose. Either way if Wetzel is focused he can beat anyone at the table. His downfalls are zoning out and losing chips when hes not paying attention to the game. If action ever stops for 30 sec or a minute, then action is usually on Wetzel who never has any clue its on him. If this happens just scream his name really loud and he will try to defend himself with, "WHAT? Is thinking allowed?" But he is getting a free 12 pack from me so he should be focused and have a good time.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 12-1
PLAYER #5- JASON FAZZONE
The 2nd Steelers fan in this tourney. Whether its playing home games, playing at Mountaineer, or just playing online, this kid just loves the game of hold 'em. Loves to talk about it, loves to watch it, and loves to play it. Even though his results playing online are at best below average, you cant argue with his success playing live. Hes got every skill in the book to be a successful poker player and I would not be surprised at all to see him take this home. He has an undefeated tournament record when playing at my house, so we will see if he keeps that streak alive. He has already guaranteed a win on Friday night, so at the end of the night I will either call him Joe Namath or Anthony Smith.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 5-2
PLAYER #6- MIKE WHITEThe 3rd Steelers fan in this tourney. Never actually played poker with White, but Fiz tells me he can hold his own in any game at any time. He provided me with excellent seats and a ticket to the Steelers home opener this year against the Texans, so I can only return the favor by inviting him to play in Po's tourney. He really can be the wildcard in this tourney since I really dont know much about his game.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 10-1
PLAYER #7- BRENT KANTARAS
The 4th Steelers fan in this tourney. Just like with White, I also know very little about Brent's game. I know he has a long history of playing Texas Hold 'em so that should mean he will be no push-over. He also attend the Steelers home opener with me, so I also felt it necessary to give him an invite. If he ends up winning this tourney then it will count for many more invites in the future. His odds will also be uncertain since I have never ever played cards with him before.
LAS VEGAS ODDS: 10-1
PLAYER #8- LUKE POLITOWell for those of you who dont know this is my younger brother. He is a freshman at YSU and plays hold 'em at least once a week with the family, so he has the experience. Back in 2005, he was nicknamed ''the mechanic" by Will Hanlon for his amazing inability to deal. The first time he played with my friends Will started dying at the table because Luke's dealing style revealed pretty much eveyones cards to the whole table. He has improved his dealing since 2005, but still it will get interesting to see how long it will be until he has his first mis-deal. If he keeps his patience he can end up making a cinderella run to the final 4 or so, but odds are he will lose his patience and give away all his chips.
LAS VEGAS ODDS TO WIN: 40-1
PLAYER #9- WILL HANLON
In my opinion he is the best player at the table. He has more experience playing high stakes cash games and tournaments than any of us. His win-loss record is 2nd to no one. He was born a gambler and is never afraid to get his chips in the middle. Every once in a while he will gamble too much and bust out first, but with the buy-in being jacked up a little higher I feel he will play way above the rim on Friday. If you ask him, he may also try to get you to buy-a-block for this years Superbowl. He is my overall favorite to win the title.
LAS VEGAS ODDS: 2-1
PLAYER #10- BRIAN SYMPSON
The 5th and final Steelers fan in the tournament. This makes 5 out of the 10 players diehard Steelers fans. Should be a lot of interesting table talk with the Steelers having such a good season so far at 8-3. In total we have 5 Steelers fans, 1 Cowboys fan, 1 Dolphins fan, 1 Browns fan, 1 Texans fan, and Yatsco. I actually think Yatsco is a Bengals fan, but these days I dont think he would be happy to admit that. But anyways back to Sympson, everytime I play with Sympson it seems like he makes the money. He doesnt win everytime but he always seems to go deep then get unlucky. If luck is on his side Friday, he could easily be taking his picture with all the chips at the end. And if so, hopefully he gives us a big ''joey'' as well.
LAS VEGAS ODDS: 11-2
Well that concludes the blog, remember carpool if you can, bring beer, come in through my garage and into the basement, $15 buy-in unless everyone agrees on $20, and be at my house by 6:30pm... dont end up pulling a Yatsco and show up a half-hour late or I will murder you. Peace. Go Steelers. Go Cavs.
BASIC KNOWLEDGE.................
