Repeat Champ… with booze too.
Friday, July 10, 2020
With the series winding down, some of us were looking to make the cut for the upcoming 9-seat single table finale to crown the season champ. The MDPL welcomed two special competitors tonight... the Italian Stallion and better half of the Mad Dogs GM duo, Frank Riccardi making a rare online appearance to reconnect with the bros, while daughter of the host, Saralynn Lai (aka CopycatMadDog) makes her rookie debut with her lucky poker shirt and custom-made Big Slick earrings (while ducking the Zoom camera for most of the night). Chips were flying every which way, as were some cool new animations most of us had not seen before, while the frantic re-buy rate tied an online series high with 16 for a tidy $340 pot. Poker Stars dealing (if you can call it that) made for some of the craziest hands we have seen to-date (some photos below) but no one can say it was boring poker tonight at least.
So just like last time, the Wolfman strikes again, as J-Lau repeats with back-to-back victories (and also vaults himself into contention for the finale too)... this time with a liquor store run to start the match late and with drink in hand to cap off the match. A masterful late season surge for him as he pulls all the way from 27th in the red (i.e. 2nd last), all the way up to 3rd (in the black +$150) in the bankroll stats. He sure has momentum on his side, including that other fine playa, Professor Simon Wong, finishing runner-up to move into the lead in both the bankroll stats (+$355) and season standings, as well as a record tying 6th ITM finish in online play. Powerful. Third and forth positions were captured by rookie Saralynn (whose father happily gets half her winnings for bankrolling her) as well as that cagey vet, Dharmesh Dass who still keeps the season lead in his sights (as he sits 3rd overall). Thanks to Steve Bridge for hosting the Zoom meeting and managing the re-buy tracking this evening, and now our first-run invitations to the season finale are extended to: Simon, Quincy, Dharmesh, Gerard, Walt, Lynn, Norman, J-Lau, and J-Lai... good luck to all!
(click photos to enlarge in new tab)
| EVENT STANDINGS |
|---|
| 1. |  | Jason Lau (est.2012) aka 3xovum
ITM $170 | | 2. |  | Simon Wong (est.2010) aka Fulminatus
ITM $90 | | 3. |  | Sara Lai (est.2020) aka CopycatMadDog
ITM $50 | | 4. |  | Dharm Dass (est.2008) aka DharmD
ITM $20 | | 5. |  | Mark Yu (est.2009) aka RoyalBluff33
| | 6. |  | Ian Chang (est.2003) aka Eagle272727
| | 7. |  | Hu Brietkopf (est.2019) aka hukolo101
| | 8. |  | L Wilcott (est.2013) aka SasquachV19
| | 9. |  | Jonathan Shih (est.2014) aka Solaraz
| | 10. |  | Steve Bridge (est.2015) aka CovidOrCohome11
| | 11. |  | Frank Riccardi (est.2008) aka buck
| | 12. |  | Warren Cheng (est.2018) aka VenomSandman
| | 13. |  | Jason Lai (est.2002) aka J-Lai
| | 14. |  | Jonathan Brietkopf (est.2017) aka Jono-1712
| | 15. |  | Quincy Ko (est.2017) aka SharkyQ
| | 16. |  | Gerry Tang (est.2013) aka Gpoke1
| | 17. |  | Norman Chan (est.2003) aka cujo0435
| | 18. |  | Raymond Chiang (est.2013) aka kidada
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