1st Annual Billy Watson Memorial Tournament, Results

Last Saturday brought our Sitka Poker group to the Bell Residence for the first annual Billy Watson Memorial Tournament. This year’s event was a $5 rebuy with the first buy-in from each player donated to the Hard Six program of TLC in Mesa, AZ. Hard Six is the program responsible for bringing Billy back to our family after years of drug abuse. Each day he struggled with emotional instability and addiction, and my family and I are grateful for the strength he showed for so many years.

23 players showed up for the tournament on Saturday. Along with other donations, we were able to gather $300 for the cause! The tournament itself was fast paced and gut-wrenching (as rebuys tend to be). There were 82 rebuys and 21 add-ons, making the total prize pool $515 after the charitable deduction!

My brother Erick flew up from San Diego, and my Dad (and Billy’s best friend) flew up from Arizona to participate. I was so very glad they made it, and I hope that wherever we hold the tournament next year, we can have even more family members participate. This was my tournament though, as I fought through the brutal blinds schedule (the tournament lasted only about 4 hours), the extremely tough field that our group comprises, and the other three money winners to take 1st place overall.

Thank you so much to everyone that participated! Thanks again to those that donated on the side. Thank you, thank you, thank you! to the Bells for hosting! And I hope to see a lot more people next year!

The winning hand:

Late night poker:

Cash game followed. Joe the Pro ruled!
Winners: Yours truly: 1st, Betty 2nd, Emy 3rd, and Tammy 4th.