The first event of the 2007 season was a great turnout with 24 players.  The event had a shaky start with a deck malfunction at one of the tables.  During the third hand it was remarked that they may have been 5 aces on the first hand and a check of the deck indicated that a euchre deck was in play.  The table took it in stride and everyone got their chips back and play restarted.  A big thanks to the players (especially JP because of a big win) for their understanding and good humour with the issue. 

The tournament director has been reprimanded and it will not happen again .

The rebuy round was busy with 7 players taking the opportunity to rebuy their stacks.   There was a steady stream of losers beginning at 8:00pm and until the final table was settled a little after 10pm. 

 
In the meantime, the cash table was kept busy with lots of action.  The table saw many players coming and going (mostly going) with Jean being the big winner for the night.

 
 
The final table took their time and it took another hour before the players started to bust out.  In the end, new comers Scott and his father finished in the money with Mike.  Once Mike busted out third, the father-son team decided to split the pot and played a winner take all hand for the points.  Congrats to the money winners.

 
 
Tournament Notes

• The tournament started at 7:15pm, thanks to everyone for showing up on time.  It’s my goal to start these events at 7:00pm sharp, therefore please arrive by 6:45pm.  Seating will be pre-drawn prior to the event so we’ll be sitting people as soon as they pay their fee
• The tournament took about 5½ hours, which is longer than i intended.  My goal is for a tournament that lasts 4-4:30 hours.  With this mind, I will be removing one of the mid tier levels and shorting the blind levels in the later rounds.
• The tournament went to 2 tables when there was 16 players remaining (table of 5,6 and 6), and went to 1 table at nine (table of 5 and 5).  Tables of 5 lead to more aggressive play at different parts of the tournament.  Feel free leave comments on this structure as I’m open to alternatives.
• For our accountants out there,
  • 24 buy-ins and 7 rebuys were collected (24+7)*20 = 620$
  • 558$ was distributed to the top 3 and 62$ has been added to the tournament of champions pot (2$ from every buy-in and rebuy).
• Thanks to Doug for taking pictures at the event.  The CLPT photo album is located here

Continue to visit the website for updates on the February event of the CLPT and feel free to leave a comment and discuss the game.