Tournament of Champions · 2023

Mike McEvoy Closes the Year Out in Three Minutes

Jeff Holderman had the season title and the Annual. He got to heads-up again and lost again.

Mike McEvoy won the last event of 2023 with four knockouts and a heads-up match that took three minutes and sixteen seconds. It paid $485, the biggest prize the Tournament of Champions has offered.

McEvoy’s year is the strangest in the league. He played ten Eight Deuce tournaments across 2021 and 2022 without ever finishing in the money. Then he cashed in February, won in March, won again in September, finished second in the season standings, and has now taken the Tournament of Champions.

Jeff Holderman rebought, made three knockouts and lost the final for $285. He has played two Tournaments of Champions and finished second in both. Steve McLean, who won this event last year, made four knockouts of his own and took third and $190.

Where the money went

The undercard

Angela Cain rebought and bubbled in fourth, one place off the money in a field where three of nine were paid — a fitting end to the best season she has had. Warren Mervin was fifth.

Lee Ugarte, who won this league’s title in 2022 with four tournament wins, was the first player out.

The bigger picture

Nine players and three rebuys made $960, the biggest pool the event has had in its three years. Mike McEvoy, Jeff Holderman, Steve McLean, Angela Cain, Warren Mervin, Eric Denny, Shawn Miller, David Doole and Lee Ugarte made up the field.

That closes the league’s third year: thirty tournaments played since January 2021, eight different winners in 2023 alone, and Jeff Holderman leaving with the season title and the Annual after a 2022 in which he cashed in nothing at all.

The 2023 Tournament of Champions — Friday, December 1, 2023. 9 entrants, 3 rebuys, three paid from a $960 prize pool. The field is built from the season’s tournament winners; the event is separate from the Eight Deuce season and does not count toward the Player of the Year.