Eight Deuce · Tournament #30

David Doole Wins the Finale, Jeff Holderman Wins a Second Title

Two men who had not won since 2021 met at the end, and it took two and a half minutes to settle.

The last two players in the season’s last tournament had each won two Eight Deuce tournaments and neither had won one since 2021. David Doole settled it in two and a half minutes heads-up and took $340, twenty-five months after his previous win.

Rick Mazza made five knockouts, more than anyone in the room, and got $240 for second. His last win was June 2021.

Angela Cain was third for $160 — her third third-place of the season and her fourth cash — and Warren Mervin fourth for $120, which is his fourth top-four of the year and still, after twenty-eight tournaments here, no win.

Where the money went

The title

Jeff Holderman came ninth on the night and won the season on 304.21, thirty-five clear of Mike McEvoy. It is his second Player of the Year, after 2021, and it follows a 2022 in which he played seven tournaments and cashed in none of them.

He won twice this year, in February and April, and cashed five times running between June and August. Nobody else has won the title twice.

Angela Cain finishes third in the standings on 246.62, her best season by a long way — four cashes, three of them third places, from eight starts.

The undercard

Jeff Ferguson bubbled in fifth. Eric Denny was the first player out after eighty-three minutes, and Holderman, who had already done enough, made three knockouts on his way to ninth.

The bigger picture

Ten tournaments and eight different winners, which matches the league’s first season and is two more than last year managed. Only Jeff Holderman and Mike McEvoy won twice.

The money is the one number that went backwards: $9,080 across the season against $9,520 last year and $9,200 the year before. Seven of the ten tournaments came in under $1,000, and the fields ran between twelve and seventeen all year.

The Annual follows in November, and the Tournament of Champions after it.

Eight Deuce #30 — Friday, October 6, 2023. 14 entrants, 1 rebuy, four paid from an $860 prize pool. Final tournament of the 2023 season; Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.