Eight Deuce · Tournament #3

Lee Ugarte Takes Six Scalps and Ends It in Three Minutes

The biggest prize pool the league has put up, and the shortest heads-up match it has staged.

Lee Ugarte knocked out six players on Friday, reached heads-up against the man who won last month, and finished him off in three minutes and nineteen seconds. It was worth $395 — the largest first prize either league has paid.

Lee has been at this a while. A hundred and two Canterberry tournaments, eight wins and the 2014 Annual, and now his first in the new league at the third attempt.

Jeff Holderman was second for $235, having made four knockouts himself; between them the last two standing accounted for ten of the night’s fifteen eliminations. Jeff won #2 six weeks ago and has now finished first and second in the only two Eight Deuce tournaments he has played.

Justin Vaughn took third and $165, and Eric Denny was fourth for $125.

Where the money went

The undercard

Lance Cain bubbled in fifth, one place ahead of his wife Angela Cain. Warren Mervin — ninety-five Canterberry tournaments and eleven wins — was the first player out, after an hour and forty-eight minutes.

Rick Mickaliger played his first Eight Deuce tournament and went twelfth. He had played fifty-one at Canterberry.

The bigger picture

Fourteen entries and two rebuys put $920 in the middle, more than either the January or February tournaments and more than any Canterberry night ever managed. The heads-up matches are going the other way: thirty-four minutes, then eighteen, then Friday’s three.

Three tournaments, three different winners. Lee Ugarte now leads the Player of the Year race on 120.44, with Jeff Holderman eight behind him off one fewer start.

Eight Deuce #3 — Friday, March 26, 2021. 14 entrants, 2 rebuys, four paid from a $920 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.