Eight Deuce · Tournament #31
Lee Ugarte Opens the Season With a Win for the Second Year Running
Mike McEvoy knocked out seven and lost to a man who knocked out two.
Mike McEvoy eliminated seven of the sixteen players who went out on Friday — the most anybody has managed without winning an Eight Deuce tournament. Lee Ugarte eliminated two, and won it.
Lee took $390 after five hours and one minute and an eleven-minute heads-up match. It is his seventh win here and the fifteenth of his career, and it is the second January in a row he has opened a season by winning it. McEvoy, who won the Tournament of Champions six weeks ago, took $270.
Shawn Miller was third for $185 without a knockout all night, and Lance Cain fourth for $135.
Where the money went
| Player | Prize | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Ugarte | $390 |
| 2 | Mike McEvoy | $270 |
| 3 | Shawn Miller | $185 |
| 4 | Lance Cain | $135 |
The undercard
Steve McLean bubbled in fifth. Steve Sarbaugh played his first Eight Deuce tournament and finished twelfth.
Paul Coffman was the first player out after two hours — one of McEvoy’s seven, as were the players who finished third, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth.
The bigger picture
Fourteen players and three rebuys made $980, the first tournament over $900 since August.
Lee Ugarte now has seven Eight Deuce wins. Jeff Holderman, Eric Denny and Steve McLean have three apiece and nobody else has more than two. Lee won last January’s opener too and then went the whole of 2023 without another, so the result is worth reading carefully.
| Player of the Year — after #31 | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Ugarte | 85.00 |
| 2 | Mike McEvoy | 56.67 |
| 3 | Shawn Miller | 42.50 |
| 4 | Lance Cain | 34.00 |
| 5 | Steve McLean | 28.33 |
| 6 | Eric Denny | 24.29 |
| 7 | Angela Cain | 21.25 |
| 8 | Rick Mazza | 18.89 |
Eight Deuce #31 — Friday, January 12, 2024. 14 entrants, 3 rebuys, four paid from a $980 prize pool. First tournament of the 2024 season; Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.