Card Night 17-Mar-2015

Mark DeVol suffered his worst Card Night ever, dropping $137.00.  (Previously his worst night was on 07-Jun-2012 when he lost $115.00.)  Most of that came from Four-Three where he lost back-to-back pots of ~$51.00.

Mike Stefanidis and Paul made their annual appearances tonight to draw teams for the NCAA Basketball Pool.  Entries/Results can be found here.

Mark D	‑$137.00
Mary	‑$23.00
Paul	+$31.00
Chris	+$12.00
Jeff	‑$60.00
Lyndon	‑$43.00
Jason	+$247.00
Mike S	‑$63.00
Glen	+$42.00

Jackpot is now $25.00.

Card Night 18-Mar-2014

For only the second time in Card Night history, we had a total of ten players tonight.  The reason was because we were drawing our teams for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the results of which you can see here.

The last time we had ten players was back on 14-Mar-2012, another night where we drew teams for the tournament.  However on that night, we never had all ten players playing at once.  Tonight, thanks to a large table provided by Mike Stefanidis, all ten players were able to play at the same time.

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Uh, could someone please do something about Bill?  He’s up $684.00 for the year, and it’s only March 18!  At this rate he’ll win over $2,800.00 in 2014.  Wha?

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Mark D	‑$24.00
Mary	‑$88.00
Paul	+$11.00
Bill	+$231.00
Chris	‑$67.00
Jeff	+$147.00
Lyndon	+$17.00
Jason	‑$181.00
Mike S	‑$96.00
Glen	+$35.00

Jackpot is now $43.00.

Card Night 19-Mar-2013

Mike Stefanidis and Paul attended their first Card Night for 2013.  (They showed up to draw teams for our NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament pool.  Entries and results are here.)

Until tonight, Paul had missed the last eleven Card Nights.  Prior to that, the most consecutive Cards Nights Paul had ever missed was one.

Mike also set a personal record for consecutive Card Nights missed at thirteen.

Both Mike and Paul did well.  Paul made a huge comeback to win $19.00, having been stuck for $140.00 at one point.  And Mike was the big winner of the night, pocketing $174.00.

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Lyndon also posted his first win for 2013: +$21.00.

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On the flip side, Jason had his worst Card Night ever, losing $217.00.  (When Jason was down about $100.00, he said he was going to start playing more conservatively.  Not sure that happened.)  Prior to tonight, Jason’s worst night had been 14-Aug-2012, when he dropped $181.00.

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Mark D	+$99.00
Mary	‑$18.00
Paul	+$19.00
Jeff	‑$38.00
Lyndon	+$21.00
Jason	‑$217.00
Mike S	+$174.00
Glen	‑$54.00

Jackpot is now $27.00.

Card Night 02-Apr-2012

Well.  That didn’t last very long.

Two weeks ago, Mike Stefanidis broke the long-standing record for most money won at a single Card Night when he cashed out $271.00 ahead.

Tonight, Jason blew that away when he won exactly $300.00.

Jason won pretty much the same way Mike did, unconsciously scooping pot after pot.  It was especially nice when Jason didn’t realize he had the winning hand and snatched the pot away from people who thought they’d won.

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It wasn’t a very exciting game (except for a bit of a run by Kansas at the end), but Kentucky won the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  Mary had Kentucky in our pool and ended up winning $62.00 (for a profit of $32.00).  Mary now holds the all-time record for the most tournament champions (3).

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Mark D	‑$31.00
Mary	‑$118.00
Paul	+$42.00
Jeff	‑$131.00
Jason	+$300.00
Glen	‑$84.00

Jackpot is now $57.00.

March Madness madness

A number 15 seed beating a number 2 seed twice in the same NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is amazing enough.  But what made it even more amazing in our pool this year is that in the first game Paul’s number 15 took out Warren’s number 2, and in the second game Warren’s number 15 took out Paul’s number 2!

PAUL   #15 Norfolk State 86
WARREN  #2 Missouri      84

WARREN #15 Lehigh        75
PAUL    #2 Duke          70

Sweet revenge!

Card Night 14-Mar-2012

Ten players tonight!  And although we never actually had ten players playing at once (Bill left when Jason and Mary showed up), it’s the first time we’ve ever had ten players at one Card Night.

We picked our teams for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the results of which you can see here.

Ty	‑$125.00
Mark D	+$50.00
Mary	+$98.00
Mark H	‑$38.00
Paul	‑$94.00
Bill	‑$20.00
Jeff	+$19.00
Jason	+$101.00
Mike S	+$31.00
Glen	‑$37.00

Jackpot is now $21.00.

Card Night 04-Apr-2011

Tonight was a Monday session as we got together to watch the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game.  In our pool, Mark DeVol had Connecticut, while Bill had Butler.  Connecticut ended up winning the game, but Bill actually won more money in the pool than Mark, thanks to many of Bill’s teams winning earlier in the tournament.

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We played for a half hour longer than usual, starting around the same time as the start of the basketball game.  It was only a half hour more, but it seemed to make for a wild night.

It was Glen’s 100th Card Night, and he celebrated by posting his second best winning night ever: +$135.00.

Mark also had a big night, posting a $120.00 win.  A big chunk of that came on a hand of Buck ’em, when Mark beat Jeff on a two-cards-out-of-three round, and then won the game on the subsequent three-cards-out-of-five round; $33.75 each time for a total of $67.50.

Meanwhile, Paul had his second worst Card Night ever, posting a $165.00 loss.  He was making a lot of good hands that ended up being second best.

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Despite the wild results, none of the fireworks came from Four-Three.  Pots never got higher than $13.25.  (There was one interesting hand where three players stayed in; Mary made three-of-a-kind, Jeff made a flush, and Paul made a full house. Mary took the low with a 9-high.)

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Thanks to the extra half hour, we contributed $22.00 to jackpot.  It now stands at $131.00.  Jackpot fever is officially an epidemic!

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Mark D	+$120.00
Mary	+$16.00
Paul	‑$165.00
Phil	‑$95.00
Bill	+$54.00
Jeff	‑$87.00
Glen	+$135.00

Card Night 16-Mar-2011

Surprise, surprise!  The shadowy figure following Mary into the room was none other than long-lost Frank!  Then, a few minutes later, Mark Huyser came sauntering in!

Mark hasn’t played since April 2009.

And Frank hasn’t played since November 2006!  He missed 213 consecutive Card Nights between then and now, a new Card Night record for “Longest streak of missed Card Nights between attended Card Nights”.

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With nine players and our new affinity for $2-$4 games, the pots got quite large, as is evident by the final results for the night.  Still, our old favorite Four-Three provided most of the entertainment.

On one hand, Paul decided to play with 7-7-5-5, a pretty good starting hand because he already had a high, and he could also potentially make a good low.  Paul was particularly pleased when it turned out he’d be heads up.  However, he wasn’t thrilled when his opponent Mary turned over four clubs.  Her chances of scooping were also good.  Mary ended up making her flush along with a jack-high for low.  Paul didn’t improve on his high and drew a king, forcing him to play king-high for low.  Mary scooped a pot of over $35.00.

Mark had never played the game before, and it was a rather rude introduction.  He lost a heads-up match, much like his brother.  But luckily for him, he later split a pot when everyone convinced him he should stay when it was folded around to just him and another player.

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Bill still hasn’t lost in 2011 and remains atop this year’s leader board.  And Jeff had another huge night, propelling him into second place on the year.

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We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day early thanks to Frank and Mary who brought a bottle of Tullamore Dew, a smooth and malty Irish whiskey.

We also picked our teams for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the results of which you can see here.

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Mark D	‑$35.00
Frank	‑$31.00
Mary	‑$29.00
Mark H	‑$85.00
Paul	‑$96.00
Phil	+$66.00
Bill	+$68.00
Jeff	+$151.00
Glen	‑$23.00

Card Night 05-Apr-2010

For the fifth time this year, a player had his best Card Night ever.  Tonight it was Mark DeVol’s turn, posting a huge $181.00 win.  It was the fifth biggest Card Night win of all time and beat Mark’s previous personal best by $41.00.

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Tonight also marked the second time in Card Night history that two players won $100 or more (Mark and Jason) while two other players lost $100 or more (Mary and Paul).  The last time it happened was on January 2, 2009, when we played on a Friday and the game went past midnight.

Tonight we played a little longer than normal because we started the game around 6:45 p.m.  (Everyone showed up early to watch the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.)  However, the big money swings were probably due to a lot of $2-$4 games being called (both Hold ’em and Omaha) as opposed to the length of time we played.

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Early in the night, Mike was debating whether to call or fold on the turn in a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo.  He had a few draws, but even if he made one of them, he ran the risk of losing to a better hand.  Mark (who was out of the hand) was looking over Mike’s shoulder as he finally called, and the river gave him the second-nut low.

Paul announced that he had two pair for high, and Mike and Mary looked at each others’ hands and saw that they would be splitting the low.  As the pot was being divided, Mike and Mark were discussing at length the merits of Mike’s call on the turn.  As the high half of the pot was being shipped to Paul, Paul grabbed the stack of chips and slammed them down in front of Mike, declaring, “You’re an idiot.”

Mike had rivered a straight, and Paul was the only one who noticed.

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What promised to be a blow-out turned out to be one of the best NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships in history.  Underdog Butler kept the game close the whole time, and had two big opportunities to win the game at the end, but Duke was able to hold them off and win by two.

Congratulations to Mary, who drew Duke in our tournament pool and ended up with a $24.00 net win.  Also congrats to Warren, who drew Butler, and ended up ahead $18.00.

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Mark D	+$181.00
Mary	‑$138.00
Paul	‑$100.00
Phil	‑$54.00
Jason	+$113.00
Mike S	‑$35.00
Glen	+$25.00

NCAA Basketball Pool records after the second round

Paul and Warren are doing great in the NCAA Basketball Pool at the completion of the second round.  Paul has three teams left, Warren has four teams left, and they both have already recouped $24.00 of their $30.00 entry fees.

Paul wanted to know, in the history of our pool, who has done the best at the conclusion of the first week of play.

• Mark DeVol holds the record for most teams advancing (seven) and most money earned ($14.00) after the first round.  He did that in 2009.
• Warren (2006) and Mark DeVol (2009) share the record for most money earned after the second round: $26.00.
• Paul holds the record for most teams advancing past the second round (five), which he did in 2001.  The payback worked a little differently that year than it does now.  If the payback had been the same in 2001 as it is now, Paul would also hold the record for most money earned after the second round with a total of $30.00.  As it was, Paul was up $20.00 after the second round in 2001.
• Warren holds the dubious record of fewest teams advancing past the first round: one.  That happened in 2009 when only his number-one pick Connecticut won in the first round.  As a result, Warren also holds the record for least money won after the first round ($2.00).
• Three people share the unbreakable record for fewest teams advancing past the second round (zero):  Mark Huyser (2003 and 2004), Mike Stefanidis (2004), and Dave (2006).
• Mark Huyser (2003 and 2004), Mike Stefanidis (2004), Dave (2006), and Warren (2009) share the record for least money won after the second round: $6.00. (Warren also won only $6.00 after the second round in 2001, but, again, our payback was different that year, and he would have won $8.00 under the new system.)