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Welcome to The Syndicate

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This is our seventh consecutive series and this year you could be the one that goes to Vegas to represent us at the Main Event in the World Series of Poker! If you are a new player please visit our contact page and let us know that you would like to play. Men and women of all skill levels are welcome.

Why join The Syndicate?

We run a 20 tournament series where cash and points are awarded every time you play. At each event 50% of the cash is awarded to that night's winners and the remaining 50% is saved toward our year-end prizes. At the end of the season your top 14 scores are totaled and the winner gets to play in the WSOP Main Event!

We also award entries into lower buy-in tournaments, ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 for our runners up (2nd, 3rd and 4th place) and even more seats are awarded in an end of the season playoff event. Last season we sent a total of nine players to Vegas! When our players cash in the WSOP they keep 50% of their winnings and the Syndicate shares (and distributes) the other 50%. Everyone who plays in a tournament gets one share in the Syndicate for each event they enter.

For the 2011 World Series The Syndicate had two grand prize winners who each won a $10,000 seat to the WSOP Main Event. If one of our players cashes your share could be worth tens, and even hundreds, of thousands of dollars!

Here are some highlights:

· We take only a player’s top 14 finishes in points over the course of the 20-tournament series to determine the winner.

· We award WSOP seats ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 for our 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers.

· The remaining players in the top 20 will compete for additional $1,500 and $1,000 seats in our post-season playoff tournament.

· Players can earn bonus points & playoff chips - check the full rules for more details.

· We hold four Major tournaments that feature deeper starting stacks, longer rounds and bonus playoff chips.

· We play a mix of tournament formats including: 10,000 and 15,000 chip deep stacks; 4,500 chip short stack; short-handed (6-max) and re-buy tournaments.

* Please note that all prizes are based upon the amount the Syndicate saves and the tournaments offered by the WSOP. Be sure to check the full rules as well as our structure page for more information and all the details.

Latest News:

January 23, 2012

Season VII - Event 12: Finally, in our 12^th event of the season we have our first two time winner as Gary took down our first short-stack event of the season. Early in the tournament Gary was down to 600 chips at the 100/200/25 level, yet somehow he held on to take a healthy stack to the final table. He took about a 2 to 1 chip advantage into the heads-up match with Linn and never gave up the lead. Linn hung in there as long as possible but it seemed that Gary was dealt an ace every other hand. His final table good fortune began earlier when he got quad 5’s to take down a big pot and rivered a royal flush to knock Patsy, who had flopped two pair, out of the tournament. Patsy ended up in 4^th place for her best finish of the year. Rene came in 3^rd place for his best ever Syndicate finish.

The Final Table:

1. Gary

2.   Linn

3.   Rene

4.   Patsy

5. Mark

6.   Craig

7.   Mike P.

8.   Kevin S.

9.   Alan

10. Jonkey

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Upcoming Events:

13 Sun. 29-Jan 4:00PM Re-buy

14 Sun. 12-Febn 4:00PM Deep Stack

15 Sun. 26-Feb 3:00PM Major

16 Sun. 11-Mar 4:00PM Re-buy

17 Sat. 24-Mar 4:00PM Short Stack

Click HERE for the full Season Schedule
Current Rankings:

1 Keith M. 440

2 Jonkey 360

3 Gary F. 359

4 Mark A. 321

5 Tom Czzz. 320

6 Phil T. 300

7 Kevin H. 291

8 Gail C. 288

9 Kevin S. 275

9 Craig C. 275

Click HERE to see the Complete Results

The Leaderboard: Keith and Jonkey held on to stay in 1^st and 2^nd respectively but the pack is catching up with to the leaders with everyone in the top 17 within one win of reaching the top 4. With his win Gary moved up to 3^rd place and Mark’s 5^th place moved him into 4^th place. Tom Czzz dropped to 5^th, just one point behind Mark.

Coming Up: Our next event is on Sunday, January 29^th at 4:00PM. This will be a RE-BUY tournament with a 2,000 chips starting stack. They buy-in is $50 (+$5). There are unlimited re-buys ($25 for 2,000 chips) until the end of the 4th level if you are at or below your starting stack. This includes the start of the tournament so effectively a player can start with 4,000 chips for $75. There is an optional 3,000 chip add-on (for $25) available to all players still in the tournament at the end of the 4th level.

Schedule Change: Please note there are a couple of changes to the schedule at the end of the season. Event 20 is moving from Sunday, April 29^th to Sunday, April 22^nd. The playoff tournament is moving from Sunday, May 6^th to Sunday, April 29^th.

January 9 2012

Season VII - Event 11: We started the 2^nd half of the season strong with a great turnout of 35 entries, including two new players : Jon and Charles. Welcome guys! And now to the older players (and no I don’t mean Mark); one of our more “experienced” players, Farid, took it down as he outlasted Bob in a long heads-up battle. Farid started off with a 2 to 1 advantage but Bob hung in there and doubled through Farid to trade stacks when he called an all in with a straight draw and hit on the river to stay alive. Now Bob had the advantage but Farid just chipped away until Bob made his final stand with the powerful 7-2. Unfortunately for Bob he didn’t even have two live cards as Farid showed the 10-7. This was Farid’s first win since Event 6 of the 2^nd season, though it should be noted that he hasn’t played regularly since that season. In third place was Craig with his best finish of the season. Next was Gail in 4^th place, giving her two strong finishes in a row after her 2^nd place in Event 10. Rounding out the top 5 was Clint.

The Final Table:

1. Farid

2. Bob

3.   Craig

4.   Gail

5. Clint

6.   Steve

7.   Tai

8.   Mark

9.   Mike P.

10. Phil

The Leaderboard: Not much movement on the leaderboard as most of the top players were knocked out early. Phil did close the gap on 3^rd place and a couple of new players jumped into the top twenty. Keith still leads, followed by Jonkey, Tom Czzz and Phil.

Coming Up: Our next event is on Saturday, January 21^st at 4:00PM. This will be a short-stack tournament with a 4,500 chip starting stack and 35 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100. This structure was introduced at The Syndicate last year to provide some experience in the structure the WSOP offers in the $1,500 buy-in events. Though the starting stack is lower, the blind levels are longer.

December 4, 2011

Seas on VII - Event 10: We had a fantastic turnout for Event 10, our second Major of the season, with 40 players. This brings us to 395 entries for the year, by far a record at the half-way point of the season. At our current pace we will easily eclipse last year’s (then record) total and be able to offer even more end of the season WSOP prize packages. As for the results, we had yet another different winner thisweek as Mark held on to win a long, wild tournament. Several players took turns amassing a big stack but couldn’t hold on in a tournament that lasted until 2:45AM! Our second place finisher, Gail, also had her best showing of the year. It may have gone differently except Mark cracked Gail’s pocket kings in the last hand of the morning with the always might 56 off. Mark ended up with 2-pair to end the longest Syndicate event ever. We will definitely make some changes to the format for the next Major to make sure we get done earlier. In third place was a familiar face near the finish as Keith made his 7^th final table appearance out of the first 10 events. MC took 4^th place and Rigo came in 5^th for his best Syndicate finish yet.

The Final Table:

1. Mark

2. Gail

3.   Keith

4.   MC

5. Rigo

6.   Tim

7.   Chris

8.   Rene

9.   Paul H.

10. Rick

The Leaderboard: With his 70 third place points Keith extended his overall lead to 100 points over 2^nd place. Jonkey (2^nd) put a little space between himself and Tom Czzz (3^rd) but it’s still a tight race for 2^nd. All the other spots remained the same with Phil in 4^th and Kevin H. in 5^th place. The big mover this week was Mark who shot all the way from 22^nd to 9^th with his win.

Coming Up: We have a nice holiday break and then our next tournament is on Sunday, January 8^th at 4:00PM. We will again be playing at Jonkey’s house in Carmel Valley before moving over to Gail and Tom’s new house for the rest of the season. This will be a regular deep-stack tournament with a 10,000 chip starting stack and 25 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100. Again, this event will be played at Jonkey’s house so check the Evite for the address.

More on the leaderboard: you will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

November 20, 2011

Season VII - Event 09: Last Sunday’s re-buy tournament featured a lot of action with 30 players, 79 re-buys and 28 add-ons. Josh took down the Chadzilla award for most re-buys with eight. This tournament also featured one of the best meals ever provided at a Syndicate event with Patsy cooking up a full Thanksgiving feast! As for the poker, Brady returned from his new life as Grizzly Adams of the Sierra Nevada to take down the lone event he has played this year. Phil O. and Paul H. had their best showings so far this season with 2^nd and 3^rd respectively and Josh and Keith rounded out the money with 4^th and 5^th places.

The Final Table:

1. Brady

2. Phil O.

3.   Paul H.

4.   Josh

5. Keith

6.   Erica

7.   Yoshi

8.   Clint

9.   Kevin S.

10. Rigo

The Leaderboard: With his 5^th place finish, earning 50 points, Keith moved into sole possession of 1^st place. Jonkey got 10 points for placing 15^th and that was enough to move him into 2^nd place, five points ahead of Tom Czzz. There was no other significant movement except Paul H. moved from 21^st to 11^th place with his strong finish.

Coming Up: Our next tournament is on Sunday, November 4th at 3:00PM. This will be the second MAJOR tournament of the season with a 15,000 chip starting stack and 30 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100. This event will be played at Jonkey’s house so check the Evite for the address. Remember, at the event the top five finishers earn bonus chips that will be added to their starting stacks should they qualify for the playoff tournament.

October 30, 2011

Season VII - Event 08: Eight events and eight winners! This week’s victor had himself quite a poker weekend, and in fact a pretty incredible month. Alan Ho, who we met at last year’s WSOP Circuit Event, had already won The Haig Kelegian Poker Classic at Oceans 11 earlier in the month (145 players - $4800) plus he took first place on Saturday at the Pala Deep Stack Tournament (91 players - $5300). Yesterday Alan outlasted the toughest field he faced all month when he went up again 33 other Syndicate members and came away with his first Syndicate victory. Congratulations Alan for a great win and an awesome month. Second place was Kevin Hanson., third place was Dave “Jonkey Killer” Bernatz, fourth was Craig and rounding out the money winners was Larry.

The Final Table:

1. Alan

2. Kevin H.

3.   Dave Bern.

4.   Craig

5. Larry

6.   Erica

7.   Renee

The Leaderboard: The two big movers on the Leaderboard this week were Keith, who moved into a tie for the lead with Tom Czzz, and Kevin H. who moved up several spots into fifth place. Jonkey dropped one spot to 3^rd place, five points off of the lead. Phil stayed in fourth place.

Coming Up: We have a light schedule for the rest of the year with only one tournament each in November and December. Next up is a re-buy tournament on Sunday Nov. 20^th. This event will have a 2,000 chips starting stack and the buy-in is $50. There are unlimited re-buys ($25 for 2,000 chips) until the end of the 4th level but you must be at or below your starting stack. This includes the start of the tournament so effectively a player can start with 4,000 chips for $75. There is an optional 3,000 chip add-on (for $25) available to all players still in the tournament at the end of the 4th level.

October 23, 2011
Season VII - Event 07: We had yet another strong turnout last night for our 7^th event of the season, with 35 players, bringing us to 291 entries from 71 different players so far. The story of this tournament was all the new names at the final table as eight of the final ten had their best finish of the season (David, Rick, Josh, Larry, Paul R., Patsy, Farid & Jamey). All the final four players had pulled off a come from behind hand (ie: a big suck-out!) to make it so far. A couple notable ones were when Josh was all in earlier against Paul H. with a flush draw to P-man’s set – and of course he rivered …….. a backdoor straight!   However Josh suffered a similar fate later when they were 3-handed and he got it all in against David Benjamin with A2 on a AK2 board. David held KJ and was way behind until the board ran out AK2-J-J to knock Josh out and give David a commanding 10 to 1 chip lead over Rick H. who was playing in just his second Syndicate tourney. Rick made a good run at it as he almost drew even with David about 20 minutes into the heads-up duel. David pulled away again though to get the win, and his first Syndicate victory ever. Congratulations David! Larry took 4^th place and Paul R. took 5^th.

The Final Table:

1. David Benj.

2. Rick H.

3.   Josh

4.   Larry

5. Paul R.

6.   Jonkey

7.   Patsy

8.   Farid

9.   Jamey

10. Dave Bern.

The derboard: With most of the leaders knocked out early there was little movement at the top of the leaderboard. The only change was Jonkey moving from 3^rd to 2^nd. Otherwise, Tom Czzz held on to the top spot, Keith fell one spot to 3^rd and Phil is still in 4^th. What this means is that the chase pack moved way up and tightened up the race for the top spots.

Coming Up:   Our next tournament is on Sunday, October 30th at 4:00PM. This will be a short-handed (6 players max per table) event with a 10,000 chip starting stack and 25 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100.

More on the leaderboard: you will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

October 8, 2011
Season VII - Event 06: As we start the second quarter of the season it is more of the same – which is a good thing! We are still on a record pace for attendance with 256 total entries from 71 players with an average of 43 players per event. We also had our 6^{th/sup> different
winner and this parity keeps the top of the leaderboard in reach for
anyone with just one big finish. We also learned a few things
about some of our players: David Benjamin likes to make random sound
effects when he folds his hand; Paul H. doesn’t actually turn into a
pumpkin after level 3; and Kevin S. has no problem taking 57 up against
AQ on a A5x board – because he knows the third 5 will hit on the
river!   Speaking of new winners and suck-outs, Phil T. won the
tournament the old fashioned way- with two fortunate plays (for him
anyway). The first came when with 11 players left and Phil shoved
with 99 and was called by Paul R., holding AK. An ace hit on the
flop but Phil doubled up anyway, and crippled Paul, when the river
brought a four-flush. Then, sometime later at the final
table, Phil shoved his final 30k from early position, Kevin S. called
and Jonkey shoved 49K over the top. The action folds to Kevin, who
is getting almost 5 to 1 to make the call, but he ends up folding.
Phil shows A6 and Jonkey turns over KK. Kevin shows the AJ that he
folded and Keith announces that he folded and Ace, leaving Phil drawing
thin to the case Ace – which of course comes in the window and the 100k+
chip pot moves in front of Phil. Phil held on to defeat Keith
heads-up, followed by Kevin S. in 3^rd, Jonkey in 4^th
and Paul H. in 5^th.}

The Final Table:
1. Phil T.

2. Keith

3.   Kevin S.

4.   Jonkey

5. Paul

6.   Tom Czzz

7.   David Benj.

8.   Mike P.

9.   Jesse

10. Tom E.

The Leaderboard: There was a little shuffling around at the top of the leaderboard but Tom C. held on to the top spot thanks to his solid 6^th place finish (that’s 4 final table appearances in 6 events!); Keith (also with 4 final tables) is now in 2^nd place; Jonkey still holds 3^rd and Phil T. moved up to 4^th.

Coming Up: Our next event is on Sunday, October 23^rd at 4:00PM. This will be a regular deep-stack tournament with a 10,000 chip starting stack and 25 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100.

SCHEDULE CHANGE ALERT:         Since our poker venue is not available we are changing Event #8 from Saturday, November 5^th to Sunday, October 30^th. We apologize for any inconvenience.

More on the leaderboard: you will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

September 19, 2011
Season VII - Event 05: Another great turnout for the Syndicate last night with 41 entries as we finished the first quarter of the season. So far no one is running away with the lead which means anyone can move way up the leaderboard with one good finish. Speaking of good finishes, we had a couple of new faces go real deep last night. Kal (with a K) kept up the pressure all tournament long to make a final five that included the real Cal, Jonkey, Kevin Hanson and Billy “Buzzsaw” Bench. Billy earned his new moniker late in the tournament as he seemed to chew up almost every pot for about an hour. Going up against him was like trying to escape a buzz saw as Erica found out in this big hand: we were 6 handed and Erica made a standard raise to about 9k. Billy, with a big pile of woodchips in front of him, called in position. The flop came JJ4 rainbow. Erica had about 35k in front of her and she shipped it, figuring that as long as Billy didn’t have a jack she could take down a nice pot. Well, of course Billy had a jack (JT) and Erica’s Ad6d didn’t improve and she was out in 11^{th/sup>. Buzzsaw!}

So, back to our final five. We lost Gary, who went deep again thanks in part to an early royal flush, in 6^th place at about 10:45 and it looked like an early evening for the Syndicate. Except we didn’t lose our next player until just after midnight! Cal was the first to go down followed soon after by Kal. By now the buzzsaw had lost a few teeth as Billy had been card-dead for the entire final table. By now Jonkey, who survived several all-ins earlier at the final table, had taken over the chip lead followed by Kevin. These three zigged and zagged for almost an hour until this big hand: with the blinds at 7000/14000 Jonkey made it 45,000 from the button and then Kevin shipped his 130,000-ish stack in. Buzz quickly folded and Jonkey made the call. Kevin showed KQ and Jonkey turned over AQ which held up to give him an overwhelming chip lead going into heads-up play. Buzzsaw managed to hang on for about 20 minutes until he shoved with A6 of diamonds and got a quick call from Jonkey holding AT. The board didn’t bring any help to Billy and the first Major of the season was over at a respectable 1:10am.

The Final Table:
1. Jonkey

2. Billy

3.   Kevin

4.   Kal

5. Cal

6.   Gary

7.   Jesse

8.   Tom Czzz

9.   Dave B.

10. Alan

The Leaderboard: With his win, Jonkey moved was up the leaderboard into 3^rd place. Tom C. earned enough points with his 8^th place finish to hold on to the overall lead. Gary also held on to the #2 spot with his 6^th place finish. Keith and Kevin H. round out the top five.

Coming Up:   We have a little break now and come back in three weeks on Sunday, October 9^th at 4:00PM. This will be a regular deep-stack tournament with a 10,000 chip starting stack and 25 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100.

More on the leaderboard: You will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

September 12, 2011

Season VII - Event 04: As usual for a re-buy tournament it was a lively event Saturday night. We had 31 players (including two newcomers -- welcome to Kal and John G.) and a total of 93 re-buys and 30 add-ons! Leading the rebuy charge was Jonkey with 9, which was one more than all of table 2's players combined! That might seem like a lot of re-buys but Jonkey explained it this way, "I lost a lot of hands and it was the only way to get more chips". So it makes more sense now.

Once the re-buy carnage ended, the freeze-out portion started with an average stack size of 10,900 chips. Phil had a huge chip lead at table 3 by that time, despite having six re-buys earlier, and he managed to hold on to his stack deep into the final table. The final five were Steve, Greg, Phil, Clint and Tom. Steve was this week's "chip and a chair" dude as he came to the final table with just 3,300 in chips. Two triples up later though and he was back in business. His new business lasted all the way to his best finish of the season (5th place) when his 33 ran into KQ but couldn't hold on.

Meanwhile, Tom C., with just 2 re-buys, took a different route to the final table as he played short stacked almost the entire tournament. He only got a formidable stack when he, Phil and Greg got into a huge pot when they were 4-handed: Greg shipped his short stack in from early position and Tom re-shoved over him. Phil then called as well. Greg showed A8, Tom had JJ and Phil had AJ. Tom was looking good to almost triple up until an Ace hit on the flop. The turn blanked but the river brought the case Jack to keep Tom in the tourney, now with a big stack of his own. For Greg it was his best finish ever in limited Syndicate play and he seemed to enjoy seeing what our tournaments were like after the 2nd level!

A few moments later the tournament was pretty much decided when the two remaining big stacks clashed over this hand: with the blinds at 3,000/6,000, Clint folded his button and Phil raised to 12,000 from the small blind. Tom called and they saw a flop of QJ7 (with two spades) Phil made a pot sized continuation bet and Tom called. There's now about 75,000 in the middle and Phil has about 110,000 back and Tom has about 85,000. The turn was the 2h and Phil shoved. Tom thinks for a few moments and makes the call. Phil showed Q3 but was drawing thin when Tom showed QT. The river didn't help Phil and he was on life support while Tom became the overwhelming chip leader. Phil busted soon after that and the heads up duel with Clint was over in 2 hands to give Tom his first ever Syndicate victory. Congratulations Tom!

The Final Table:
1. Tom Czzz.

2. Clint o:p>

3.   Phil T.

4.   Greg I.

5. Steve

6.   Paul R.

7.   Max

8.   Chad

9.   Keith

10. Tom E.

Coming Up:   Our next event is on Sunday, September 18th at 3:00PM. This will be our first MAJOR tournament of the season. The starting stack is 15,000 and the buy-in is $100 (+$5). Remember, there are bonus playoff chips awarded for the top five finishers: 1st - 2,000 chips; 2nd- 1,500 chips; 3rd- 1,000 chips; 4th- 750 chips; 5th- 500 chips. These chips will be added to your playoff starting stack should you qualify for that tournament.

More on the leaderboard: you will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

September 1, 2011
Season VII - Event 03: The Syndicate season keeps rolling with another strong turnout and still more new players. This week we welcomed: Jamey, Kimberly, Phil O., Rick and Robert. Thanks for checking us out! So far we are averaging 46 players per event so we are on pace to improve on last year's record breaking season! This week we played our first short-handed tournament and you could tell the difference in the format as players were dropping quickly throughout the evening. By 9:30 we were down to 10 players and by 10:30 we were down to 4. Then something happened and the final 4: Kevin, Carl, Mark and MC slowed way down and we didn't have a winner until 1AM!

Kevin S., who gained a big stack early, made it to 4th place followed by one of our new players, Carl, in 3rd. That left MC and Mark who played a heads-up battle for 73 minutes. MC felt fortunate to even still be in the tournament when this hand happened with two tables left: with the blinds at 400/800 an early position player brought it in for a raise to 2200. Gary called from the cut-off and Jonkey made it 10,000 from button. MC called all-in for 9,800 from the big blind. The initial raiser folded and Gary thought for awhile but ended up calling. There was now 34,450 in the main pot and 400 on the side. The flop was A24 and both players checked; the turn was a 3 - check, check again; and of course the river was a 5 to put a wheel on the board. Gary (with about 30k left) checked and Jonkey (55k behind) paused and then pushed all-in. Gary tanks and finally folds and Jonkey shows a set of aces to split the pot with MC who held A9. MC then rode that lifeline all the way to victory as he outlasted Mark in a fantastic heads-up duel. They started off with Mark holding a 2 to 1 advantage but were fairly even after several hands. The lead went back and forth with each player holding a commanding lead a couple of times only to see his opponent come back again. To illustrate how careful these guys were playing MC ended up with a royal flush, holding the 10 and Mark had the second nuts holding the 9 and they didn't get it all in. The hand got there on the river and MC made a value bet that Mark merely called, basically losing the minimum. Congratulations to MC on his first ever Syndicate victory!

The Final Table:
1. MC

2. Mark

3.   Carl

4.   Kevin S.

5.   Josh

6.   Jonkey

MC's Royal Flush!
The Leaderboard: Gary continued his strong season with a 7th place finish and now has sole possession of 1st place. Keith, who got 8th place this week and Carl, who has two solid finishes in a row, are now tied for 2nd. Tom E. and MC are tied for 4th place./span>

Coming Up:   Our next event is on Saturday, September 10th at 4:00PM. This will be a RE-BUY tournament with a 2,000 chips starting stack. They buy-in is $50 (+$5). There are unlimited re-buys ($25 for 2,000 chips) until the end of the 4th level if you are at or below your starting stack. This includes the start of the tournament so effectively a player can start with 4,000 chips for $75. There is an optional 3,000 chip add-on (for $25) available to all players still in the tournament at the end of the 4th level. Since this is a Saturday tournament be sure to bring some extra dough as the cash game will definitely get going once we have a free table.

More on the leaderboard: you will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

August 22, 2011
Season VII - Event 02: We had another great turnout at this event and welcomed several more new players into the Syndicate: welcome to Donna, Max, Jimmy, Billy, Henry and Mitch. Mitch definitely made his presence known when he rivered a straight flush to beat Paul H., who held the Jack-high flush, to take down a huge pot. In fact it was a night of big hands and big suck-outs; twice there was a full house on the board to keep players alive and our eventual second place finisher, Keith M., survived three all-ins holding an under-pair to his opponent. Twice he hit a set and once, holding 44, he ended up with an 8-high straight! His luck ran out though on the final hand of the night when he called an all-in by Gary F. at 12:28 in the morning. Gary showed AK and Keith had A8. The board bricked out for Keith to give Gary his first ever Syndicate win. Congratulations Gary!! Tim F. rode a roller coaster at the final table to take third place and Wayne hung in there for fourth.

The Final Table:/b>
1. Gary F.

2. Keith M.

3.   Tim F.

4.   Wayne M.

5.   Gail C.

6.   Carl A.

7.   Linn H.

8.   Kevin S.

9.   Craig C.

10. Max G.

The eaderboard: With his win, Gary joined Tom E. at the top of the leaderboard. Keith and Mike R. are now tied for 3rd.

Coming Up:   Our next event is on Sunday, August 28th at 4:00PM. This will be a SHORT-HANDED tournament with a 10,000 chips starting stack. They buy-in is $100 (+$5). We will spread the field out over six tables to start and then once we get down to 36 players we will play with no more than six per table the rest of the way.

Website Updates: The full results, including the Leaderboard and the Player Stake page, will be available soon on our website. You can always keep up with everything on our website as we update it as soon as possible after each event. You can also follow us and interact on our FaceBook page at The San Diego Syndicate: Poker.

More on the leaderboard: you will notice that the Leaderboard is color-coded to indicate the projected end of the year WSOP prize packages. Dark Blue is for the $10,000 Main Event package; light blue is for a $5,000 seat; Red is for a $2500 seat; and Green is for the guaranteed $1500 seats. The Orange indicates the players that currently qualify for the playoff tournament. These projections are based on our year-to-date attendance and savings and will be adjusted as we progress through the season. You can see more information on this at the bottom of the Results page below the Stake chart.

August 8, 2011
Season VII - Event 1: "And they're off!" That's how our founder Mark Antis started us last night on opening day of Season 7 of the San Diego Syndicate. It was a record breaking event with 51 players and $2,500 going into our prize pool. Thank you to everyone who came out and made this a great tournament. Included in this group were twelve players who had never played with us before, with three of them making it to the top ten! On the other end we had five players who have been with us since the first season: Mark, Farid, Tom S., Chad and Jonkey. Of course we've picked up a lot more regulars along the way and we really appreciate the support from all the players.

Now for the results: Season 7 has started the way Season 6 ended, with our season 6 champion Tom E. at the top of the leaderboard. At the mid-point of the tournament Tom was on life support, but after a couple of timely double ups he was back in business and never looked back. One of our newcomers, Mike R. (aka the singing blackjack dealer - or just plain "Jack") had a great first event and came in second place. He was followed by Kevin H. and Tom Czzz. Tom is our host so it's always good to keep him happy and Kevin started with us at the end of last season. He was the player that won the WSOP Circuit Event that Gail got 3rd in.

Thank you also to everyone for arriving on time. Even with such a huge field, we started right at 4PM and ended at 12:40am. The help on cleanup was also much appreciated. This tournament went real smooth, just the way we like it!

The Final Table:

1. Tom E.

2. Mike R.

3. Kevin H.

4. Tom Czzz.

5. Mike P.

6. Larry

7. Erica

8. Dave B.

9. Farid

10. Samantha

Coming Up: Our second event of the season is on Sunday, August 21 at 4:00pm. This will be the same format as Event 1 -- a 10,000 chip starting stack with 25 minute blinds. The buy-in is $100. Oh, and dinner will be served earlier this time!! We expect another large field so RSVP early if you plan to play.

August 4, 2011
Event 1 Update: Good news/bad news poker players - the good news is that we now have 60 players signed up for our first event of the new season this Sunday. The bad news (if you wanted to play and haven't signed up) is that we are now SOLD OUT! If you still want to play then send us an email; we'll put you on the alternate list and try to get you in. Alternates will be eligible to play in the order they go on the list and will be notified once we get a cancelation.

August 2, 2011
Tiki Tourney Results: We had a record turnout last week at the 6th annual Summer Tiki Tournament, both in the number of players and the amount of cool Hawaiian shirts! There were 47 of the former and approximately 42 of the latter. Next year I'm going to make the cool-shirt-bonus T1000 and see if we can get 100% participation! With 47 players and 6 re-entries there was a prize pool of over $5000. The top Tiki of the night was Syndicate newcomer Josh H. followed by Don B. in 2nd and Paul P. in 3rd.

Along with many of our Syndicate regulars we had a pile of newcomers who are getting ready to join us for season 7. So thanks to everyone for coming out and making it a fun tournament. See you all next Sunday!

TThe Final Tiki Table

1. Josh

2. Don

3. Paul P.

4. Eddie

5. Dave BG

6. Jonkey

7. Gil

8. Tom Cz.

9. Steve L.o:p>

Along with many of our Syndicate regulars we had a pile of newcomers who are getting ready to join us for season 7. So thanks to everyone for coming out and making it a fun tournament. See you all next Sunday!

July 20, 2011
The following is a report from Tom E. about his experience playing in the Main Event this season:.

Pre-game and the players at my table

First, going to the main event is a great feeling. The night before I was very nervous. Linn and I registered on Friday and we watched day 1b for a while. That helped calm things down as we watched a few people play not so great and realized that, hey, we can hang with these guys!

I didn't sleep much Friday night. Linn played cash late into the night, but I checked in at midnight. However, I did the right thing by getting up early (as far as Vegas goes!) and walked around. I went and got snacks and a backpack. Took about two hours total, most of which was walking. By the time I got to the Rio, I was very relaxed and ready to play. I had just enough time to get a neck massage, which felt great!

When I got to my table, I obviously didn't know how people were going to play, but here is the assessment of the players that I built over the next several hours:

Seat 1 was a pretty unlucky player who busted out early. He wasn't that good, but also took bad beats. He was replaced by a young kid who I read as an internet player who would make a lot of moves. Seats 2 and 3 were pros. I've seen them on TV a bit, not much though. Seat 4 was a wealthy business man who knew the pros. I figure he plays tournaments a lot for fun since he can afford it. I was in seat 5. I played very few hands early so people perceived me as tight. Seat 6 was the same. I was a bit more aggressive than seat 6. He was a bit more tight passive where I was more tight aggressive. Seat 7 was tight aggressive. Seats 8 through 10 were the worst players. They played a lot of pots, called a lot, etc. For instance, seat 8 called an A,10, 4 board flop against the pro who bet to the river with AK. Seat 8 had Q4 and hit two pair on the river. I think that about sums up seat 8.

That is pregame. Now I will summarize the action during the 4 rounds that I played.

Please click HERE to read Tom's full report.

July 14, 2011
Season VII Wrap-up: Now that our players have bowed out of the Main Event that officially closes the books on Season VII of The Syndicate. We had a good run this year, sending nine players to the WSOP, including two to the Main Event. Congratulations again to all our WSOP pplayers: our champion, Tom E; runner-up: Linn; 3rd place: Mark; 4th place: Paul; and our playoff winners: Gail, Jonkey, Tom C, Kevin and Mike. Though we didn't cash this year we did have two players go real deep: Paul in his $1,500 event and Linn in the Main Event.

Linn Goes Deep:/b> In fact, Linn had our best finish ever in the Main Event. When he got knocked out near the end of day two there were about 1,900 players left and that means that Linn bested 70% if the field! At the end of day one Linn bagged up 87,050 chips and was in the top 7% of the tourney. After that Linn hung in there against a very tough field and at around midnight on day two he finally got it all in. With about 53k left in his stack in the middle of round ten (600/1200/200) Linn picked up pocket 6's in middle position. The UTG raised to 3,200 and Linn three-bet to 7,500. UTG calls. The flop came down 678 all clubs.   UTG led out on the flop and Linn shoved his 50k stack into the middle. UTG calls with AcKx and of course a club lands on the river. Maybe the UTG felt his overs were live and that's why he called but Linn made a strong move as a 70/30 favorite in the hand. But, as they say, "that's poker".
Ready for Season VIII: We are now ready to start Season VIII and this looks like it could be our best season ever. Last season for the first time we sent two players to the Main Event along with seven others to preliminary events. Overall we had 645 entries with 80 different players and averaged 33 players per event. All of these are records for The Syndicate and with the interest we are already getting this off season we should have another record-breaking season ahead of us. The new schedule is up and we are ready to go again - could this be the year we break though?!

July 6, 2011
Tiki Tourney Update: So far there are 28 players signed up for the preseason TIKI TOURNEY. For this event there is a limit of 40 players - so if you plan on playing you should sign up soon. Please note that while this event is sponsored by The Syndicate it is not a regular season event so there are no points and ALL PRIZE $ will be awarded that night.

Last year's prize pool was $3480 with our first place winner Tino banking a solid $1128! Also, if you plan on playing you better start digging through your closet for a cool Hawaiian or Tiki shirt/dress - everyone who wears one to the tourney gets an extra 500 chips!

June 30, 2011

The Summer Syndicate Summary: So far we've been shut out at the WSOP. One after another we took our swings and kept striking out. By now all of our preliminary event players have taken their shot. Two players, Paul H. and Mike P., went very late into day one but couldn't win that key pot to keep going. Next up are our two champions, Tom E. and Linn H. They will be starting on days 1c (July 9) and 1d (July 10) respectively. You can follow their progress on our FaceBook page or on our new Tournament Blog. Will this be the year that we go deep in the Main Event? Stay tuned!

Coming up: On Saturday, July 23rd we are holding our annual preseason Tiki Tourney. There are no points earned for this event and all prize money will be awarded that night. This tournament features a 10,000 chip starting stack and 25 minute blinds. The buy-in is $110 (+$5) and includes one $10 bounty per player. If you knock a player out you get $10 on the spot! There is ONE re-entry allowed if you run out of chips during the first four levels. This buy-in is also $110 for 10,000 chips. We already have a lot of players signed up and space is limited so sign up soon if you plan to play.

Get ready: The new full schedule will be ready soon but the first three tournaments of Season 7 have already been scheduled for August 7, August 21, and August 28. All at 4:00PM.

June 7, 2011

Season VI WSOP Players Begin Their Campaign This Weekend!

On Saturday, June 11th, in WSOP Event #18: $1500 NL Hold'em we have Mark, Paul, Gail and Jonkey all playing. Then the next day Tom C. plays in WSOP Event #20: $1000 NL Hold'em. Mike and Kevin will be playing later in the month and of course our Main Event players, Tom E. and Linn, will get going in early July.

This year there will be two ways to follow our players:

·         The main source will be our FaceBook page at The San Diego Syndicate: Poker. You will need to have a FaceBook account and then "Like" The Syndicate group page to see our updates.

·         Another resource will be our new BlogSpot page at http://www.sdsyndicate2011.blogspot.com. You will need a gmail address to sign into BlogSpot. Once you do then be sure to "Follow" our blog to get real time notices of any updates.

Both sites should feature real time updates and we will try to "cross-update" them whenever possible. We'll of course summarize the action on the website as well once the tournaments are over.

Good luck to all of our Syndicate WSOP players!

May 15, 2011

Season VI - Playoff Event: Gail won the playoff event and a $1,500 WSOP prize package with her first ever Syndicate victory. Gail survived a scare at 7-handed when she lead out into a board of QTx and Farid, sensing weakness, put Gail all in. Gail snap-called and Farid said a version of "oops". Gail showed QT for top two and Farid had only a gut-shot and needed a 9 to win the hand. Of course a 9 came on the turn   .....   followed by a 10 on the river to fill Gail up! Not too long after that Gail and Farid got involved in another hand - this time Farid had the advantage with AA to Gail's KK. The flop didn't change anything but when a king hit on the turn Gail chipped up again and Farid's season was over in dramatic style.

Jonkey took 2nd place (and the second $1500 prize package) for his first Syndicate WSOP prize in 6 campaigns. After losing about 1/3 of his stack early he chipped up with a several big hands, including quads, a flush, a set and trips. With a comfortable chip lead he was able to coast the rest of the way into the top 5.

Tom Czzz made it a family affair as he took 3rd place and a $1000 WSOP package and Kevin and Mike P. got 4th and 5th respectively to round out our Las Vegas crew.

The Final Table:
1.   Gail
2.   Jonkey
3.   Tom Czzz
4.   Kevin
5.   Mike P.
6.   Gary
7.   Farid
8.   Yoshi
9.   Tim
10. Felix

The Leaderboard: It's over! Season VI of the Syndicate is in the books. Now we just have to wait to see how much loot our players bring home from Vegas. Congratulations again to our 2011 San Diego Syndicate winners: Tom E., Linn, Mark, Paul, Gail, Jonkey, Tom Czzz, Kevin and Mike. We are sending 9 players for total buy-ins of $29,000 and $3,350 in expenses. Could this be THE year?!

Coming Up: Stay tuned after the World Series for news about Season VII of The Syndicate. We'll announce the new schedule as well as any changes in July once the WSOP is over. We expect to get underway sometime in August.

May 8, 2011

Season XI Winners Announced: Congratulations to our Main Event Winners: Tom E. and Linn. Both had great seasons though they arrived in different ways. Tom only had 8 scores but he made them count with 3 wins, a 2nd and a 4th while Linn had 12 scores with one win and five top 5 finishes overall. Both players avoided the leader's jinx of previous seasons in which no player with a lead going into the final event came away with a top prize before. Right behind them in 3rd and 4th place respectively were Mark A. and Paul H. Both were in the race till the very end but came up just short. They are going to Vegas too as each earned a $1,500 WSOP prize package. We'll send a message soon on how you can follow all our winners as they represent the Syndicate and try to send us back some dough!!

More on Season XI: The Syndicate had a record breaking season in every respect. We had 80 different players (previous record was 51) who combined for 646 entries (previous 414). This generated a WSOP Prize Package fund of $32,400 (previous $23,050) with the same amount paid out at our tournaments. This extra savings allowed us to award TWO Main Events for the first time as well as the two guaranteed $1500 seats plus five playoff seats. That's 9 players going to Vegas!

Gratitude: The Syndicate would like to thank Gail & Tom for graciously allowing us to transform their garage into a pretty sweet poker room. Thanks also to Chef Patsy for cooking for us - every tourney there was a mad dash to be in the front of the line for her tasty cuisine! I would also like to personally thank Chad for helping me take care of the check-ins all season (again!) and to all the players who helped setup, cleanup and get water & ice. More thanks are due to Steve, our web-master (and Sierra Nevada connoisseur) for maintaining our super-fancy website.

Finally, the Syndicate would like to thank all the players that came out and made this our best season ever. There is no doubt we'll be back next year and there is no doubt that The Syndicate really is San Diego's Finest Poker!