Eight Deuce · Tournament #52

Twenty-One Players, and Joe Johnson Wins Again

Brian Connolly knocked out seven of them and lost heads-up in four minutes.

The record field the league set in January lasted a month. Twenty-one players turned up in February and five rebuys made $1,460, both new highs, and Joe Johnson won again — four knockouts, four hours and thirty-nine minutes, and $605.

That is the largest first prize a Friday tournament has ever paid, and it is his second win in the third Eight Deuce tournament he has played. He now has as many Eight Deuce wins as Josh Reel and David Doole, from three starts rather than dozens.

Brian Connolly made seven knockouts, a third of the whole field, and lost the heads-up match in four minutes. He took $385. Eight players have now made seven or more knockouts in an Eight Deuce tournament and only four of them won it — and the last four to do it all finished second.

Jeff Ferguson was third for $270 and Eric Denny, the reigning Player of the Year, fourth for $200.

Where the money went

The undercard

Mike Conner rebought, made three knockouts and bubbled in fifth. Rick Mazza made two and finished seventh, and Angela Cain rebought her way to eighth.

Andrew Shier, who was second last month, went fifteenth.

The bigger picture

Two tournaments, one winner, and he has played three Eight Deuce tournaments in his life. Joe Johnson leads the Player of the Year race on 255.00, a hundred and fifty-five ahead of the field — after two nights.

The other story is the size of the room. Twenty and then twenty-one players, where the league had never had more than eighteen; $2,840 in prize money across two tournaments, where the first two of 2021 made $1,600 between them.

Eight Deuce #52 — Friday, February 13, 2026. 21 entrants, 5 rebuys, four paid from a $1,460 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.