Congratulations to Ernie Dunn who won the Tournament of Champions this weekend.

This historic win was especially impressive given that Ernie is only the second player in TPT history to win two tournaments back to back.  He is also the first ever player to make the Hall of Fame three times.

The final table finished like this:

1. Ernie Dunn (Previous champion, sixth final table, 3x Hall of Fame)
2. Brent Dexter (Third final table)
3. Matt Wandell (Third final table)
4. Chris Healey (Seventh final table, previous TPCS champion)
5. Jeff Bolling (Forth final table, previous TPCS runner up)
6. Dan Kublawi (Sixth final table, previous TPCS runner up)

For more information, click here.

Due to the inclement weather and for the safety of our players, the 2nd Annual Billy Mitchell Tournament of Champions has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6. The tournament will be held at Fanatics and the start time will be noon.

It’s once again time to find out who is the best of the best. The 2nd annual Billy Mitchell Tournament of Champions will be held on Saturday January 30th at Fanatics in Johnson City. Start time will be Noon. To qualify for this tournament, players must either be in the TPT hall of fame, won a previous TPT tournament, or have finished on at least 2 final tables in previous TPT tournaments. This is an invitational tournament and the qualifying players are listed below:

Chris Healey
Ernie Dunn
Dan Kublawi
Major Bordeaux
Rich Petit
Gail Arrants
Jeff Bolling
Ty Henry
Justin Lester
Curtis Williams
Trazel Silvers
Jason Little
Michael Hicks
Brent Dexter
Angie Tipton
Shaun Julian
Gabe Harrison
Mary Kublawi
Skip Dockery
Hank Middleton
Matt Wandel
Todd Tipton
Mike Miskus
Chuck Hupchick
Chad Whitson
Joe Rosenbalm
Charlie Bennett
Steve Roberts
Amy Booher
Kevin Anderson
Rick Minnick
Dan Hurt
Ron Helsabeck
Landon Maupin
Kenny Ingram
Caroline Hurt
Richard Keen
Jim Edwards

Trophies will be awarded to the Champion and runner-up and there will be numerous giveaways at the tournament as well. There will also be regular tour games for all of those who attend. Come out an be a part of this great annual event.

Ernie Dunn outlasted a great field of players to take down the Triple Dog Dare championship on Saturday, Jan. 2 at Bailey’s. In one of the longest tournaments in TPT history, Ernie was victorious after going heads up with Brandon Pierson. Below is the order of finish for the final table:

1. Ernie Dunn
2. Brandon Pierson
3. Mary Kublawi
4. Jason Clary
5. Gail Arrants
6. Albert “Del” DelGaicco

The Triple Dog Dare tournament has been rescheduled for January 2nd, at noon. The tournament will be held at Bailey’s. Players may continue to qualify for this tournament through Wednesday, December 30, however you may also opt to have your games played through Dec. 30 applied to the next session as well. Please be advised there will be no regular tour games on Thursday, Dec. 24 and on Thursday, Dec. 31. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Due to inclement weather, the Triple Dog Dare tournament scheduled for Dec. 19 has been postponed until shortly after the new year. In the meantime. Players who have not qualified yet may still play qualifed games for the current session. Merry Christmas to all!

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the movie “A Christmas Story”, the TPT will be hosting the Triple Dog Dare tournament on Saturday, December 19th at Bailey’s in Johnson City. Start time for the tournament will be noon (12:00pm). The prize pool for the tournament will be over $2,000 and there will be trophies as well for the final table. The qualifying average for this tournament will be 50. Remember, TPT players must have a minimum of 8 regular tour games this session to qualify for this tournament. There will be no free roll qualifiers. The winner of this tournament will also qualify for the 2nd Annual Billy Mitchell Tournament of Champions to be held in February.

Congratulations to the following players who made the final table of the Autumn Riches tournament:

1. Michael Hicks
2. Andy Bolinger
3. Major Bordeaux
4. Allen Fenoseff
5. Dan Kublawi
6. Ernie Dunn

UPDATE: Pictures of the winners have now been posted here.

There have been a number of questions regarding qualifications for the top player tournaments. All players with an average that is at or higher than the posted minimum qualify for the tournament. All prior tournament champions have a lifetime exemption from top player tournaments. Players in the hall of fame do not automatically qualify for the top player tournament, however they do have a lifetime exemtion from the annual Billy Mitchell Tournament of Champions. Please email us if you have any additional questions.

The upcoming top-player tournament will take place on Sunday, Septemeber 27th at NOON (12pm). There will be a $2000 prize pool for this tournament as well as trophies for the final table. There will also be prizes and giveaways for all participants. The qualifying average for this tournament is 55. There will be no free-roll qualifiers for this tournament. This tounament will take place in the ballroom and not the sports lounge where we normally play. There will be a lunch buffet as usual. The last night to play a qualifying game for this session will be Thursday, September 24th. Best of luck to everyone!

Just a reminder that we will be playing poker on Labor Day (Monday, September 7) at Fanatics in Johnson City. Have a great holiday.

In recent weeks the question of deliberately exposing hole cards while a hand is ongoing has been raised.  Many members may have seen this kind of behavior on shows like High Stakes Poker, and therefore believe that this is an acceptable practice within a tournament.  However, the rules for cash games and tournaments are often quite different.

According to the 2009 World Series of Poker tournament rules (rule 52), deliberately exposing hole cards is not permitted.  Although the action DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY render the hand dead, it does invoke a penalty.  The penalty as specified in rule 53 can range from a verbal warning, to being forced to sit out for a certain number of hands (while still being blinded as appropriate), right up to disqualification from the tournament.  The exact choice of penalty is generally up to the tournament director and management, and various factors will be considered when assessing a penalty.

The TPT management have concluded that the best course of action for the benefit of all members is a simple three strike rule.  Deliberately exposing your hand during play (with action in the hand still possible), will result in a verbal warning.  A second infraction will result in a final warning from the dealer.  And a third infraction will result in disqualification from the game.  If you are disqualified from a game, you will not receive a refund and your score for that game will be recorded as a zero.

As a reminder, rule issues will come up from time to time.  This is an amateur pub poker league, and while we try to adhere to WSOP / Robert’s Rules of Poker as closely as possible, there are some obvious constraints and limitations within a pub poker league.

If you feel that certain important rules are not being followed correctly during games, we invite you to email us at our web site, or have a discussion with management.

Whatever happens, please remember to be courteous and respectful of other players and the dealer.  NO ONE wants to hear a confrontational shouting match during a friendly pub poker game, no matter how right you think you are.  Dealer decisions are final at the table.

Finally, regarding showing a hand to another player, spectator or dealer, the rule is; ’show one show all.’  If you show your cards to anyone else at the end of a hand, your card will be revealed to everyone at the table.  If you show your cards to the dealer, the dealer will put them to one side, and reveal them at the end of the hand.  Showing cards to other players or the dealer during a hand is very poor poker etiquette and may be subject to verbal warnings (and possible disqualification) as described above, especially if such an action gives a player an unfair advantage over another player.  

As a general rule, it is best that only you look at your cards, and reveal them only if instructed to by the dealer.

During the past week the Tennessee Poker Tour web site, shattered all local records by receiving its 50,000th unique visitor!

Our site has now received over 244,000 ‘hits’ or visits from 50,000+ different people.

Thank you for helping us to be the number one poker league web site in Tennessee!

On July 22nd, 2009 the Poker Players Alliance will present a petition to President Obama asking for him to keep poker legal in the United States.

In recent years politicians have trampled the rights of American Citizens, and curtailed rights to play poker legally (online and offline).

The Poker Players Alliance stands up for the right of citizens to play poker if they wish to.  More than 300,000 Americans have already signed up, and if you care about freedom for poker players, you should to.

Click here to electronically sign the petition, and tell politicians to let us play poker without government interference!

The Beachbucks tournament concluded this weekend, with an unprecedented showing for Gail Arrants, who became the first player in TPT history to make win two main events.

The previous record holders were me (Chris Healey), and Amy Booher who each hold a first and second place finish.

Gail’s decisive victory landed her in the Hall of Fame for the second time.  The other inductee this session was Landon Maupin who scored a 90 average with 32 games in session 14.  Landon had a close fought battle with Lee Chandley Jr who managed an average of 88 with 36 games, which is certainly an impressive average.

For more information and pictures, click here.

Thursday of this week saw online poker players attacked by the government under the guise of preventing money laundering and terrorism.

The federal government issued instructions to five US banks freezing $30,000,000 in online poker winnings, in a move that affected 27,000 online players who were trying to cash out.

A 41-year-old from Virginia was among the players affected.  He had just won a seat at the World Series of Poker worth $10,000.  When he went to collect his prize, the check sent to him from an online poker site bounced because the government had put a hold on the sites’ account.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance said, “There is no legal precedent for what the government is doing.”

He continued, “We contend playing online poker is not unlawful. The government is going after the players’ money, not the sites’. The fact is, there is no federal law against playing online poker.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York refused to comment on the story or even admit that any such investigation or action was underway.

The Poker Player’s Alliance is a pressure group that supports the rights of poker players in the United States.  You can join their cause in various ways including becoming a member of their organization, or by signing one of their online letters to politicians requesting change in the law.  Learn more about them here.