Eight Deuce · Tournament #42

Rick Mazza Knocks Out Eight and Finishes Second. It Keeps Happening.

Jeff Holderman rebought and won his first in twenty-two months — and Andrew Shier came back after five years away.

A year ago Lee Ugarte made eight knockouts in a single tournament and lost. On Friday Rick Mazza made eight of the nineteen and lost too, beaten heads-up in twenty-one minutes by Jeff Holderman, who had rebought and who made three all night.

Holderman took $470, his fourth Eight Deuce win and his first since April 2023. He also holds the 2023 Annual and has two season titles. Mazza took $305.

Justin Vaughn made four knockouts and was third for $210, and David Doole fourth for $155 — his second cash in two tournaments this season.

Where the money went

The undercard

Andrew Shier played his first Eight Deuce tournament, rebought, and bubbled in fifth. He is not a new face: he played fifty-one tournaments at Canterberry and won the 2017-18 League Championship there, and this is the first time he has sat down in the new league.

Lee Ugarte, who won last month, went twelfth — one of Rick Mazza’s eight, as were the men who finished third, fifth, ninth and tenth.

Brian Connolly was the first player out in his second Eight Deuce tournament.

The bigger picture

Fifteen players and five rebuys made $1,140, the fourth-biggest pool the league has assembled, and only January’s has beaten it this season. The rebuy has become the engine: ten of them across two tournaments in 2025, against twenty-three across the whole of 2021.

Lee Ugarte still leads on 130.38 from a single big January.

Eight Deuce #42 — Friday, February 14, 2025. 15 entrants, 5 rebuys, four paid from a $1,140 prize pool. Player of the Year counts each player’s best eight scores.