Eight Deuce · Tournament #19

Lee Ugarte Wins a Fourth and Settles the Season Early

He knocked out everyone else who got paid, and with one tournament left nobody can catch him.

Lee Ugarte won again on Friday — his second in a row, his fourth in six tournaments, and his fifth in this league. He made four knockouts, and they were the four players who finished second, third, fourth and fifth. It took three and a half hours, the quickest the league has ever finished a tournament, and paid $245.

With one tournament left in the season, that settles it. Lee stands on 416.34; the best anyone else can reach in October falls short by nearly thirty points. He is the Player of the Year whatever happens next month.

Josh Reel was second for $175 after under seven minutes heads-up, his second runner-up of the season. Paul Coffman took third and $115 without a knockout — a third straight top-three — and Warren Mervin was fourth for $85. He has played seventeen Eight Deuce tournaments and cashed in exactly two of them, these last two.

Where the money went

The undercard

Lance Cain, who won in July, bubbled in fifth. Mike McEvoy made two knockouts and came sixth.

Eric Denny was the first player out for the second tournament running, after eighty-four minutes.

The bigger picture

Ten players again, and $620 — September looks like August did. The two of them together barely out-earn March, which drew seventeen players on its own.

What Lee has done with the season is worth stating plainly. Nine starts: four wins, two second places, a ninth and two fourteenths. Nobody else has won more than one tournament all year, and five other men have taken one each.

Eight Deuce #19 — Friday, September 16, 2022. 10 entrants, 1 rebuy, four paid from a $620 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.