The Annual · 2nd Denny Poker Tournament
Thirty-Three Minutes to Settle It
Same nine players’ worth of seats, same $450, and a heads-up match nine times longer than last year’s.
Year two kept the shape of year one — nine players, a $450 pool, three paid — and then refused to end. Joe Johnson and Chris Johnson reached heads-up with three knockouts apiece and spent thirty-three minutes and twenty-seven seconds there. Twelve months ago the same stage of the tournament took under four. Joe Johnson came out of it with the trophy and $225 after six hours and forty-three minutes at the table.
Nobody dominated this one the way the first was dominated. Last year one man made seven of the eight eliminations; this year the eight were spread across four different players, and the two who made three each are the two who finished first and second. Chris Johnson takes $135 in his first appearance here.
Dan Myers, who won the inaugural running twelve months ago, took third and $90. He recorded one knockout on the way, against the seven he made twelve months ago — the difference between running a tournament and surviving one.
Where the money went
| Player | Prize | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Johnson | $225 |
| 2 | Chris Johnson | $135 |
| 3 | Dan Myers | $90 |
The undercard
Rick Mazza was the bubble man in fourth — the same place he shared last year, and a second straight May one seat short of the money. Joe Sanchez played his first Annual and finished fifth. Warren Mervin was sixth on debut with a knockout to his name, and he took out Eric Denny, the host, in seventh.
Mandy Denny finished eighth, and Mike Short was the first player out after three hours and twenty-two minutes. That is nearly three hours earlier than the first man out managed last year — this field was in less of a mood to wait.
The bigger picture
Two Annuals, two different winners, and the names at the top are already starting to rhyme. Dan and Joe Johnson have taken four of the six paid places available across the two years, finishing first, third, third and first between them.
Six of this year’s nine were here last May, and the tournament has settled into the same nine-handed, no-rebuy, three-paid shape both times. It is beginning to look like a fixture.
The 2nd Annual Denny Poker Tournament — Saturday, May 10, 2008. 9 entrants, no rebuys, three paid from a $450 prize pool.