Canterberry Poker League · Tournament #26

Brian Albers Turns Up Once a Year and Wins

Six knockouts from a seventeen-man field, in the fourth league tournament he has played since June 2008.

Brian Albers sat down at the league’s very first tournament in June 2008 and has played it three times since. On Friday he won it — six knockouts, four hours and twenty-six minutes, and a twelve-and-a-half-minute heads-up match for $145.

It is his first cash in this league as well as his first win. Two and a half years of turning up occasionally, and the fourth attempt was the one.

Josh Reel was second for $85 with three knockouts, his first cash of the season, and it equals the runner-up finish he managed last April as his best since winning in November 2009. Warren Mervin took third and $50, David Doole fourth and $35 without a knockout all night, and Charlie Drotar completed the money in fifth for $25 — back-to-back cashes, and six in twelve league tournaments.

Where the money went

The undercard

Ashley Lee bubbled in sixth with a knockout, one place outside the money in only her third league tournament. Lee Ugarte was seventh with three knockouts, more than anybody who missed the money. Kjell Wygant, who has led the standings since July, came eleventh — his first finish outside the top six all season. Tom Buzbee was the first man out after an hour and twenty-three minutes.

The bigger picture

Six tournaments, five different winners, and the lead has barely moved. Kjell is on 104 points, thirty-four clear of Warren, having spent the night going out eleventh.

Four nights left. Behind Warren there are five men and women inside eleven points of one another, so third place is a considerably livelier contest than first.

Canterberry Poker League #26 — Friday, November 19, 2010. 17 entrants, five paid from a $340 prize pool. Points shown are the league standings after six tournaments of the 2010-11 season.