The seasons over and after 31 tournaments, 45 players, 15165 points- it all came down to 87 points. Yep, only 87 out of 15,000 points played all year so it was a very close season.  And the winner this year?  Kyle C.  We’ll be sending him to to Biloxi to representing the HSL in a satellite tournament to see if he can use the same skill he has been using against all of us against some unsuspecting player in the Gulf State.

See you all next year when we start over again and see if we can have an even closer tournament in 2010!!

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 37-year-old former pro bowler from Georgia outlasted a 44-year-old New Yorker in a marathon poker session Wednesday to win $1.28 million and the mixed-game H.O.R.S.E. title at the World Series of Poker.

David Bach of Athens, Ga., took the last of John Hanson’s chips with a nine-high in Razz on Wednesday morning, about 20 hours after the final table began Tuesday afternoon.

Heads-up play lasted about seven hours including breaks, as the players’ chips slowly swung back and forth across the felt at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

“I’m just going to go to bed,” said Bach, who said he was no stranger to long poker stretches — but it had been a few years.

“I’ll celebrate at some point,” he said.

Bach, a pro poker player nicknamed “Gunslinger” after Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” novel series, took a 2-1 chip lead on Hanson four times during heads up play before finally ending the match. He had Hanson on the ropes for all his chips about four hours into heads-up play, but Hanson won the seven-card stud hand and regained the lead a few hands later.

“He wanted to play big pots with a big hand,” Bach said. “I just said to myself ‘Be a professional.’ “

Bach picked up roughly 5 million chips in a crucial limit Texas Hold ‘em pot when he made a pair of eights and called Hanson after the opponents built a large pot.

“No pair,” Hanson said after the betting in the hand was finished.

Chips have no monetary value; Bach needed to win all the chips in play to win the tournament.

Hanson won $789,199 for second place. He took third at the same tournament in 2007 for $852,000. He left the tournament room without speaking to reporters.

The final table officially lasted 18 hours and 44 minutes, the second longest in World Series of Poker history behind last year’s World Series of Poker Europe main event in London.

The $50,000 buy-in tournament rotates five games and tests the all-around player more than no-limit Hold ‘em. Instead of the drama of all-in bets that allow players to risk their tournament at anytime, H.O.R.S.E. is said to truly reward the more skilled players over time.

The mixed game tournament is largely considered the series’ most prestigious event behind its main event, the $10,000 buy-in no Limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament that offers poker’s richest prize.

The final table on Tuesday boasted five previous gold bracelet winners among eight players, including eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel and Huck Seed, who won the series’ no-limit Texas Hold ‘em main event in 1996. Seidel busted out eighth to win $162,382 while Seed finished fifth, winning $276,610.

Bach said he felt he had a good read on Hanson and two other opponents at the final table because they started the tournament Friday at the same table.

Bach said he knew that Hanson had some side bets on his finish in the tournament, which Bach believes helped him understand Hanson’s play.

“A lot of poker is if you can figure out someone’s motivation, you’re halfway to figuring out their hand,” Bach said.

Christmas when he sat on Santa’s lap, Kyle must have asked for Terry to get knocked out of the Top Dog position, because for the first time in months Terry has been dethroned!! Tuesday night Kyle took First Place with 106.04 points for an accumulated total of 1012.61

See the Leaderboard for current standings and hope to see you Tuesday night! With the points so close it’s still anyone’s game.

Despite the sour economy and Nevada gaming revenues being down almost 10 percent in 2008 and more than 16 percent down over the first two months of 2009, is apparently not an overriding concern for officials for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas who remain optimistic and confident that the variety and depth of the best poker players in the world will be the draw needed for the 57-event WSOP tournament that begins its six-week run May 26 at The Rio, the host casino for the event.

To sweeten the pot, a $40,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event on May 28 is expected to draw poker’s most elite players.  Then, two days later, the tournament will host a $1,000 buy-in no-limit event that is expected to attract another approximate 6,000 players.

If that’s not enough draw, on May 31, a special two-day Champions Invitational will take place with the 27 living previous World Series of Poker world champions being invited to participate in a no-limit hold’em event.

The 2009 World Series of Poker event will include 10 World Championship $10,000 buy-in events and seven $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournaments.  The $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event, which mixes five different poker games, will take place on June 26.  The $10,000 buy-in World Championship No-Limit Hold’em Main Event will being on July 3 and reach its final table of nine players on July 15.

For the second straight year, players will then wait four months before returning to the Rio on November 7 to play for the championship, which ESPN will televise on a same-day taped delay.

Last year’s World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas drew 58,720 entries from 124 countries and awarded a prize pool of more than $180.7 million.  The winner in November was 22-year-old Peter Eastgate of Denmark, who became the tournament’s youngest-ever word champion, taking away $9.15 million in a four-hour heads-up final table with Russian Ivan Demidov.

Only 150 points separates the first five placeholders so one First Place win could catapult anyone  into 1st! Today, Terry holds the spot with two wins, 661.68 points and an average 73.52 points per game.  Kyle is nipping at his heels with only 37 points between them. First thru Fifth is separated by only 150 points.  Right now it’s anyone’s First Place game to win!!

Terry G took first place and the points lead with 388.46 this week. Two first place wins under his belt helped Terry hold onto the Points Leader title as he is only seven points higher than Matt B who holds the next highest points total. The Point Leader title is proving to be a tight battle.

This week’s winner and placers this week:

Terry G     126.74

Matt B     89.62

Drew H     73.17

Look forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday!!

With the fourth Tournament finished, the top three players of the night finished:

       Mark C     149.97

       David C     106.04

       Matt B     86.58

That 3rd Place finish (that’s twice in a row!) catapulted Matt B into the Point Leader place with 291.77 points this week! The points lead is changing week to week within ten points so a one-place win is making the difference. 

NOTE:  On the LEADERBOARD, click on your name to open up a new window to see your weekly points record.

1st     Kyle C     126.74

2nd     Gary C     89.62

3rd     Matt B     73.71

Now that Kyle has the bulls-eye on his back next week’s game is sure to be even more exciting.  We look forward to everyone being there.  See you next Tuesday!!

NOTE: On the LEADERBOARD page, be sure to click on your name if you wish to see your own tournament history.

Two tournaments in to the season we’ve had two winners, Chris D and Terry G, and another, Richard N in the points lead with 142.98 points!  Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!!

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We’ve added something to help you see if you can beat your opponent(s) with what you have in the hole- a Poker Odds Calculator!  A mini version of it is right here in the sidebar but see the tabs at the top of the page for the full blown edition where you can calculate for a table at a time.  Nothing like increasing your odds!