Eight Deuce · Tournament #27

Eric Denny Wins One for the First Time in Two Years

And Warren Mervin reaches the last two again, still without a win in this league.

Eric Denny won back-to-back Eight Deuce tournaments in July and August 2021 and had not won one since. On Friday he made five knockouts — the players who finished second, third, fifth and twelfth among them — and closed it out in eleven minutes heads-up for $320. It is his third here and the seventeenth of his career.

The man across the table was Warren Mervin, who had rebought and who made it to the final two without a single knockout all night. He took $220. It is his second runner-up finish of the season, and he has now played twenty-five Eight Deuce tournaments without winning one; he won eleven at Canterberry.

Jeff Holderman was third for $150, his fourth cash in a row, and Jeff Ferguson fourth for $110 with three knockouts — all three of them players who finished sixth, seventh and eighth.

Where the money went

The undercard

Shawn Miller bubbled in fifth, which breaks a run of three straight cashes. Lee Ugarte went tenth, his fourth finish outside the money in six starts this year.

Justin Vaughn was the first player out after ninety-six minutes.

The bigger picture

Twelve players and two rebuys made $800, the smallest field since last September and the fourth tournament in a row under $1,000. Seven tournaments in, 2023 has put up $6,360 — nearly a thousand behind where last season stood at this point.

Seven tournaments, six winners, and only Jeff Holderman has two. He leads on 252.89, fifty-six clear of Lee Ugarte, and has cashed in four consecutive tournaments after a year in which he cashed in none.

Eight Deuce #27 — Friday, July 14, 2023. 12 entrants, 2 rebuys, four paid from an $800 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.