Black Belt Poker entered the new year with just one New Year's Resolution: to continue offering value to our players. And first up was the latest Black Belt Poker League, which arrived last (Super) Tuesday with a near-recording breaking attendance.
153 in total sat down for the opening leg, including Black Belt Poker sponsored pros Kevin Williams, Warren Wooldridge and Jamie Burland, as well as head honcho Neil Channing - all keen to make an explosive start to the League's unlucky-for-some thirteenth outing.
The dangling-carrot on this occasion is three free seats into a 2012 Black Belt Live Main Event, as well as 200 Belt Points just for participating in all eight legs. Meanwhile, each leg winner once again earns entry into a Second Chance SNG to battle it out for the fourth Black Belt Live seat.
The first man to secure his spot in the SNG - although he may, of course, be collecting silverware in eight weeks' time - was Mark 'SebastianKat' Cooper, who used his feline skills to outwit fellow furry beast Ian 'FlopTheNuts77' Fox and snap up first. $173.28 sure buys a lot of catnip.
Meanwhile, mrdroodle proved that his League XII form was no fluke with a sixth place finish, whilst Sarannedipity also finalled in 10th. Reigning Champion Mark 'bornTOflirt' Atkinson came 68th.
1st SebastianKat -- $173.28
2nd FlopTheNuts77 -- $121.60
3rd kippery -- $91.20
4th vinsangel -- $68.02
5th Nanoplankton -- $45.60
6th Mrdroodle -- $38.00
7th Yosemity2207 -- $30.40
8th BobbersAllin -- $22.80
9th AlRawling -- $17.10
10th Sarannedipity -- $13.68
11th LegendKing1 -- $13.68
12th huzi9mm -- $13.68
13th StilettoMafiosa -- $12.16
14th gnomeeee -- $12.16
15th AngelVickie48 -- $12.16
16th rungootPLS -- $10.26
17th Mo33a -- $10.26
18th Touagorimou -- $10.26
19th forgot2piknik -- $8.74
20th wondrwman -- $8.74
21st TeeDeeEye1 -- $8.74
22nd FastFuse -- $8.74
23rd clevski1 -- $8.74
Get the calculators out - some complicated maths required for this one. Unsurprisingly, the top three also hold fort on the standings podium after turning a tournament token into a fruitful venture.
1st SebastianKat -- 177 points
2nd FlopTheNuts77 -- 169 points
3rd kippery -- 165 points
4th vinsangel -- 161 points
5th Nanoplankton -- 158 points
6th Mrdroodle -- 155 points
7th Yosemity2207 -- 152 points
8th BobbersAllin -- 149 points
9th AlRawling -- 146 points
10th Sarannedipity -- 144 points
11th LegendKing1 -- 142 points
12th huzi9mm -- 141 points
13th StilettoMafiosa -- 140 points
14th gnomeeee -- 139 points
15th AngelVickie48 -- 138 points
16th rungootPLS -- 137 points
17th Mo33a -- 136 points
18th Touagorimou -- 135 points
19th forgot2piknik -- 134 points
20th wondrwman -- 133 points
The action returned the following night with a respectable 37 players in the Deepstack Mulligan. Yellow Belt MRMANC (not a Manchester United fan, I suspect) took the spoils:
1st MRMANC -- $205.36 (50 Belt Points)
2nd WiseOwlBB -- $138.75 (30 Belt Points)
3rd 99Ranny -- $83.25 (10 Belt Points)
4th 47chris -- $55.50 (5 Belt Points)
5th S0lution -- $41.62 (5 Belt Points)
6th desiretheright -- $30.52
Also on Wednesday was our latest, and newest Orange Belt Freeroll, the 'Omaha Orgy', in which winners earned entry into various Omaha tournaments on Black Belt Poker, including the $100+9 Monday Night Omaha freezeout.
Ironically, 'LillJem' rose highest. The face behind the moniker? Jemma Pateman, who completed an incredible double after picking up an entire season's worth of League tokens in last week's Freeroll. Can she score the hat-trick in next week's Slice of the Action and bag a piece of UKIPT Cork Champion Sam Razavi in Galway?
1st LillJem -- Monday Night Omaha ($100+9)
2nd bagpussrocks -- $500 GTD Omaha ($50+5)
3rd JHobbit1 -- Monday Night Omaha Satellite ($20+2)
4th FlopTheNuts77 -- Monday Night Omaha Satellite ($20+2)
If you're new to Black Belt Poker, and like what you see, then jumping aboard the gravy train is easy: simply click here to download the poker client and follow the step-by-step process to opening your account.
With just one leg in the bag, the League is still wide open.