We all know what a “Key Race” is…a race in which, say, three or more starters go on to win or do unusually well in their next race. Could it be that there is such a thing as a “Key Contest”?? After last weekend’s cash games at HorseTourneys, I’m starting to wonder.
Take a look at the above leaderboard in Saturday’s $12,500 Guaranteed tourney. You’ll see Anthony Trezza won $6,250 for his first-place score of $136.80. Finishing third, good for $3,000, was Charles Browning with a score of $91.20. I typed Charles’s name in italics a la a company line in the PPs for a next-out winner because check out what happened in Sunday’s $7,500 Guaranteed game:
…Yep, Browning, our third-place finisher on Saturday, came out of that race…err, contest…to win our featured Sunday cash game. And check out who ran third on Sunday: Saturday winner Anthony Trezza. If there IS such a thing as a key contest, then I guess last Saturday’s $12,500 game was it. For the record, Trezza collected a total of $7,500 for his win and third — and Browning received $6,750 for his second and first.
Before we move on to the rest of Sunday, kudos to Ben Clayton and Anthony Garafalo who each won full packages to the Orleans Fall Classic on Saturday…and to Peter Milburn and Howard Welsh won won $1,500 entries into next year’s Horse Player World Series.
On Sunday, Kevin Jones and William Epp became the final two online qualifiers for The BIG One, which will be held this Saturday and Sunday at Laurel.
The live-bankroll event, limited to a maximum of 57 players (all with one entry each), awards cash along with 10 NHC spots, eight BCBC entries and 10 HPWS seats. Participants in The BIG One have an excellent chance of walking away with a seat in a “major” tourney. If you want in and haven’t qualified, you can buy in for $9,000 but there are only five buy-in seats available so contact HorseTourneys ASAP if you are interested in one of these five buy-in seats.
Scores were high in Sunday’s 3-seat Guaranteed NHC qualifier. Congratulations to Gary Gristick ($139.70), Edward Osterhout ($125.20) and Dan Flanigan ($124.20) who finished at the top of the heap and all punched their tickets to the big dance.
In other high-end qualifiers on Sunday, Jim Klein ($134.50) and Bill O’Neal ($122.80) won $3,500 packages to next month’s Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge. And Pete Acocella ($96.60) took top honors in winning a $4,500 package to November’s Del Mar Fall Classic.
Last but not least, Ruben Lopez had $1 exacta payoffs of over $90 in both Woodbine’s 8th race and Woodbine’s 9th race to win the $600 first prize in Sunday’s $1,500 guaranteed Exacta Box tourney. Ruben is undoubtedly hoping that this becomes a “key contest” for next Sunday’s guaranteed exacta box tourney!
Thanks to all of our participants in last weekend’s tourneys, and good luck in all of your contest endeavors this week. We’ll be bringing you updates here and on Twitter live from The BIG One at Laurel this weekend.