Eight Deuce · Tournament #2

Jeff Holderman Wins His First, and Shawn Miller Knocks Out Half the Field

Twenty-three Canterberry tournaments and two runner-up finishes without a win. He got one on his first night in the new league.

Jeff Holderman played twenty-three Canterberry Poker League tournaments between 2016 and last April, finished second twice and never won one. On Friday, in the first Eight Deuce tournament he entered, he won it — three hours and fifty-six minutes, $345, and the first win of his career in either league.

He did it with two knockouts, which was the least interesting thing about the night’s arithmetic. Shawn Miller made six of the thirteen eliminations — half the field — and lost the heads-up match in eighteen minutes, taking $205 for second.

Shawn has not won one either: twelve Canterberry tournaments, two Eight Deuce, a best finish of second in each.

David Doole took third and $140, and Eric Denny completed the money in fourth for $110 with two knockouts.

Where the money went

The undercard

Steve McLean bubbled in fifth. Rick Mazza, who won the opener four weeks ago, was the first player out this time after forty-one minutes — one of Shawn’s six. Josh Reel went eleventh after fifty-seven minutes, so the men who finished first and third in January were the first two out in February.

Angela Cain came sixth, three places ahead of her husband Lance Cain.

The bigger picture

Two tournaments, two different winners, and the new league has already done something the old one rarely did: two rebuys went in on Friday. Canterberry never allowed them in a hundred and twenty tournaments.

Rick Mazza leads the Player of the Year race on 78.62 points from two starts, with Steve McLean and Jeff Holderman level on 70.00 behind him — Mac from two tournaments, Jeff from one.

Eight Deuce #2 — Friday, February 12, 2021. 12 entrants, 2 rebuys, four paid from an $800 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.