My buds are WINNERS!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2011 (5109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The second annual Manitoba Lotteries Poker Championships are over, and although numbers were slightly down from the first edition back in April, overall it was once again a huge success.

Unfortunately, I am not able to find the results anywhere on the Internet, as it seems they have not yet been posted. As soon as I find a link, I will be sure to add it to a future column.

Off the top of my head, I do know a few of the winners, as a couple of my buddies managed to tear it up during the series.

In the first tourney, I apologize, as I don’t know who won. I put myself in contention, as I made the final table, but was crippled when my AJ ran into AK, knocking me out a few hands later. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

The next day, a couple of my boys made deep runs. First, Joe Williams finished fourth, but the man of the hour was my boy Rob Whyte. Robbie decided he wasn’t there to mess around and went out and won the entire tourney. Well done, Robbie. It’s nice to see a good guy win a tourney like that. You deserved it.

The main event saw a slight decrease in field size from back in April, but still a great turnout nonetheless. I was cruising along until I ran KK into 1010 and lost for a ton of chips with about 75 players left. I hung onto my stack though, and with about 35 players remaining, I played an over 110 big blind flip with AK vs. QQ. I wasn’t fortunate enough to win that race and was sent packing.

The next day, the final table was played and there were some interesting storylines for sure. There were three of my good friends at the final table — that’s nuts. Oh, and even crazier than that, my buddy, Joe Williams, made back-to-back final tables, but this time he brought along his better half, his longtime girlfriend, Kathy Row. Can you imagine getting to a major final table and having your girlfriend there as well? That could make for a long car ride home if one were to knock out the other.

It wasn’t meant to be for Kathy, as she exited in fifth place. Great job. Guess your gonna have to go and win the Bahamas ladies event (she won a seat online earlier this year). Good luck!

One more twist was having two of my good friends actually play heads up for the tournament win. Zenni Petros and Joe Williams. The two of them battled it out, but in the end, it was Zenni who managed to come away with the title. Good job, boys.

In other tourney news, the World Series of Poker final table is to be played this week. A few months back at the start of the series, I picked five players who I thought would win (obviously, this is like winning the lottery), but so far, let’s say I won the extra. Ben Lamb, one of my five picks, is actually at the final table and is in good shape to win the thing.

If only I had bet something on him, I would have actually had the chance to win a small lottery, as I’m sure I would have gotten 500-1 or more by picking him at the start. Anyway: Go, Ben Lamb.

Follow Marco Carreira on Twitter @DontCryRebuy