The B series started Monday January 18th, and it got big in a hurry. The federal holiday allowed for several new faces to join us and swelled the field to 27 28 (good eye Lee !) players who bought, re-bought, and added on 63 times. Those 63 buy-ins mark the 2nd most buy-ins that and EMHD event has ever seen, so the points and prizes were plenty. Congratulations to the winners !

1. Alan G.- 1399

1. Lesley R. – 1399

3. Justin F. – 680

4. John V. – 302

5. Wisconsin Geoff – 151

It’s not a typo, or a lazy re-post, Alan G. did it again, this time splitting the top prize with Lesley R. Justin F. made the money again, another seemingly regular occurrence. John V. played in his first EMHD event and walked away on the leader board, and Wisconsin Geoff bubbled for money, but got his foot in the door with some event points.

*The scores listed above include only event points, and do not reflect attendance or kill points. For a quick look at the standings, check the column to the right, and for a more in depth break down, take a look at the Full EMHD Leaderboard.

You are all very welcome to read this poorly crafted narrative, or check the scoreboard HERE for the quick answer … or look in the sidebar, or click on the scoreboard image near the bottom of this post.

Saturday, December 12th marked the final event in the EMHD A series. Heading into the series there were a handful of EMHD-ers and TurkeyNerds alike vying for prize money awarded the top two overall point leaders. As the field of 19 gathered on a rooftop room in Virginia, Alan G. and ‘Klinker’ Bell held first and second place respectively, with Canadian Shawn in 3rd place having the best shot to upset one of them. Harry G., and Lee G. (no relation to Alan G., that they’ll admit anyways , but Lee G. and Harry G. are father and son) had outside shots, but needed lots of kills and for the top 3 to be knocked out early. Even MH62 had a chance … but his hopes were dashed when the field size didn’t get to 24.

The cards didn’t fall right for Alan G., Lee G. or ‘Klinker’ Bell, but as the final table got together, Canadian Shawn had added some chips to his stack, and Harry G. came as the short stack, due in no small part to having his Ace high flush run into Jim S.’s straight flush, and he exited in 10th place, allowing ‘Klinker’ Bell and Alan to let out a short sigh of relief.

The field further dwindled, many of the chips finding their way into MH62′s and my (Hulk’s) stack. Alan G. and Klinker were pained at every elimination that wasn’t our Friend from the Great White North . Final Table Ernie was the next to fall, followed by Brian P., Joe W., and then Faith L.

The field was large enough that the final 5 players would receive event points, and if Canadian Shawn could hold on to 3rd place he’d overtake ‘Klinker’ Bell for 2nd place in the overall standings. Joe K. had very few chips and eventually succumbed to the ever escalating blinds, and with just 4 remaining, Canadian Shawn was one position from the overall 2nd place prize … and if he could win would take down not only the A-5 event, but the A series championship as well.

With 4 remaining players , Hulk raised to 7000 Under the Gun, blinds were near 800/1600 with 200 antes. Brian M. folded and MH62 moved all (about 40k) of his chips to the middle. Canadian Shawn folded and Hulk called as quickly as he could. MH62 had KK , Hulk had AA. The Aces held, eliminating MH62 from the event and propelling Canadian Shawn into 2nd place ahead of ‘Klinker’ Bell in the overall series standings. When Brian M. fell in 3rd place, it was time for Alan G. to worry.

Hulk had been hit in the face all day with the deck and carried a sizable lead into heads up play. If there were 160,000 chips in play, he had 140,000 of them and decided to try to end it quickly and early against Canadian Shawn’s much smaller stack. The first All-In came as Canadian Shawn got the money in with A 2 , against Hulk’s J 10.  The hand played like a roller coaster A flop of [A J Rag] gave Canadian Shawn the early lead, a turn card of [10] gave Hulk the lead , and a River [2] ended the hand, giving Canadian Shawn some much needed chips, momentum and one double up away from being even with Hulk.

Alan G. had to suffer through a few more hands, but the tournament closed as Hulk’s 5 6 off suit out drew Canadian Shawn’s 77 hitting a 6 high straight on the turn. The tournament , like the event saw Canadian Shawn play spectacularly, but Hulk’s lead in the event, and Alan’s lead in the series was just a bit too much for him to overtake with his late charges.

While Alan G. was forced to watch the ending of the A-5 event he should be applauded for his overall play 2 chopped wins, an outright 3rd place finish, full participation and 5 kills built up a grand total of 2791 points. I missed some of the events for various reasons, but I know the fields he had to work through to get that many points and he should smile widely when cashing the first place check.

It’s also no surprise that Canadian Shawn made the contenders nervous with his hard charge towards the top of the overall standings. He’s got a lot of game to him, and while it’s been a while since I’ve played heads up for anything substantial, I don’t remember ever believing that an 6 or 7 to 1 chip lead was in such jeopardy.

I would also be remiss if ‘Klinker’ Bell wasn’t mentioned. He played like a champion the entire series and was in position going into the last event to defend his title. I’m sure he’ll be in the money for the series again soon.