Eight Deuce · Tournament #35
Rick Mazza Wins One Nearly Three Years After the Last
Five tournaments, five different winners — and Justin Vaughn is in the final two for the second month running.
Rick Mazza won the very first tournament this league held, and one more in June 2021, and nothing since. On Friday, thirty-five months later, he made three knockouts, beat Justin Vaughn heads-up in fourteen minutes and took $380 from a four-hour-fifty-seven-minute tournament.
It is his third here and the tenth of his career, and it comes after a stretch in which he was runner-up in last October’s finale and did little else.
Justin took $270, four weeks after winning #34. David Doole was third for $180 and Juan Lopez fourth for $130, his second cash in three starts this season.
Where the money went
| Player | Prize | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rick Mazza | $380 |
| 2 | Justin Vaughn | $270 |
| 3 | David Doole | $180 |
| 4 | Juan Lopez | $130 |
The undercard
Lance Cain bubbled in fifth with two knockouts, and Angela Cain made two of her own on the way to sixth — one place behind her husband.
Steve McLean was the first player out after eighty-five minutes, and Warren Mervin, who won in March, finished fifteenth.
The bigger picture
Five tournaments, five different winners. That is how each of the league’s first two seasons began as well, and the last one produced eight winners from ten.
Sixteen entries and a single rebuy made $960. Warren Mervin holds the lead on 195.49 by two and a quarter points from Lee Ugarte, with Juan Lopez and Justin Vaughn a further thirty-five back.
| Player of the Year — after #35 | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warren Mervin | 195.49 |
| 2 | Lee Ugarte | 193.24 |
| 3 | Juan Lopez | 159.57 |
| 4 | Justin Vaughn | 159.27 |
| 5 | Rick Mazza | 155.32 |
| 6 | Shawn Miller | 134.83 |
| 7 | Steve McLean | 124.13 |
| 8 | Mike McEvoy | 112.72 |
Eight Deuce #35 — Friday, May 10, 2024. 16 entrants, 1 rebuy, four paid from a $960 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.