MattM Fights Off "The Shakes", Wins Tourney #2

Many players try to focus on "tells" that their opponents give them to tip off their hand. The nature of "tells" has been documented extensively, even in grainy 70s style photographs that appear in books that line Brett's library at home.

One of those tells could be the way a guy plays with his chips or perhaps if he looks a bit nervous and shakingly puts his bet in. Both were evident for MattM, but he "shook" them off en route to a controlling win and five big points. Not even a terrible mental mistake of folding a full house (when all he had to do was check) could stop Matt from his path to victory.

It was a return to glory for the Aussies who placed two in the money. This brotherly love for one another was tested when Jon openly pleaded with MattM to team up with him in order to take out the lone remaining limey at the table. But his diminutive countryman declined such an alliance, putting Jon all in and taking him out.

With two tournaments down and three to go, the final table is slowly starting to take a little bit of shape. Here are the standings from this month:

1) MattM
2) Adam
3) Jon
4) Chris
5) Steve
6) Aran
7) Ben
8) Amool
9) Andy
10) Brett
11) MattG
12) Doug
13) Dave

Camel Cup Poker Kicks Off with a British Feel

Always known as a pretty aggressive player, Ben is a tough player to read. On Thursday, October 16, he was so tough that he got up big early, took a dip and then surged to victory as the inaugural Camel Cup Poker Tour satellite champion.

The 10-man tournament yielded Ben the standard 5 points plus a nice chunk of change (100) for his efforts. He staved off a strong performance by Chris who lost two tough hands to Ben down the stretch to drop into second place.

The cockroach of the night was MattG who was down to 1400 chips when heading to the final table of 8 but managed a nice comeback to get into contention in the final three before going all in and finishing third late on. Tough beat of the night goes to Andy who felt good about two pair on the board with his ace kicker. Little did he know he was going up against quad 9s from MattG.

The full standings are below. A big thanks to Adam for hosting the kickoff event and for his efforts in organizing the tour.

Next event will be at Steve's on Thursday, Nov. 20. Check the standings on the right for the points and check the history page for the all-time money leaders table.

Order of finish from Oct. 16:
1) Ben
2) Chris
3) MattG
4) Steve
5) Dave
6) Adam
7) Aran
8) Andy
9) Brett
10) MattM

Track the Camel Cup Poker Tour here

We'll use this blog for recaps and scheduling updates periodically, but primarily it will be used for posting the updated standings and results.

Be sure to check out the league rules.

If you have anything to share, contact MattG or Adam.

League Rules

OVERVIEW
There will be one $20 buy-in tournament each month with 6+ players. The goal is to get at least eight players, but there is a required six players in order to make the tournament count for points. New for 2010, the season will now run from April to January (10 tournaments) with a Tournament of Champions in either February or March to end the season.

TOURNAMENT BASICS
Each tournament will include the same setup:

• $4,000 in chips for each player
• No re-buys
• Blinds start at $25/$50 and raise every 15 minutes (by the clock, not by rotation of the dealer)
• Blinds will raise as follows: 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 150/300, 200/400, 300/600, 400/800, 500/1000, 600/1200, 1000/2000, 1500/3000, 2000/4000, etc.

PAYOUT & POINTS
Each week's payout will work as follows: (amounts below based on eight players but will be adjusted for more or less)

• 1st place: $80, 5 points (or 50% of the pot)
• 2nd place: $50, 3 points (or 30% of the pot)
• 3rd place: $30, 2 points (or 20% of the pot)
• Top half of attendees: $0, 1 point
• Bottom half of attendees: $0, 0 points

* In the case of odd numbers, the number of top half players will round up (i.e. 9 players means 4th and 5th place get a point)

Each season is 10 games/months. At the end of the season, the top 8 players in points will be invited to the tournament of champions which is a $100 buy-in. The top player in points will receive a free entry into the tournament of champions as a bonus for winning the season.

Using the same 50/30/20 payout, the tournament of champions will pay $350 for 1st place, $210 for second and $140 for third.

IMPORTANT NOTES

• There is no maximum of players and in the case when there are more than eight players (maximum for one table), a second table will be used until enough players are eliminated to form a final table.
• In the event that any of the top eight players cannot attend the tournament of champions, the #9 in overall points will be invited and so on.

League History

All-Time Earnings Table
(through March 12, 2010)

Rank	Player	Earnings
1	Ben	730
2	Dave	500
3	MattG	415
4	Steve	395
5	Chris	320
6	Adam	310
7	Jon	270
8	Tyler	240
9	MattM	195
10	Aran	170
11	Brett	125
12	Beast	100
13	Tim	70
14	Andy	0
-	James	0

All-Time Tournament Wins
(through March 12, 2010)

Rank	Player	Wins
1	Ben	4
2	Dave	2
-	MattG	2
-	Steve	2
5	Adam	1
-	Aran	1
-	Beast	1
-	Chris	1
-	Jon	1
-	MattM	1
-	Tim	1
-	Tyler	1
13	Andy	0
-	Brett	0
-	James	0

All-Time Tournament Cashes
(through March 12)

Rank	Player	Cashes
1	Ben	9
2	MattG	7
3	Dave	6
4	Chris	5
-	Jon	5
6	Adam	4
-	Steve	4
-	Tyler	4
9	Aran	3
-	Brett	3
11	MattM	2
12	Beast	1
-	Tim	1
14	Andy	0
-	James	0