I think I see the beginning of a tradition here.

On Thursday, December 6 a gathering of the minds took place amongst some heavy hitters in the SEO world. David Klein hosted the Purposeinc Texas Hold’em tournament in the poker room of the Venetian casino. Approximately 90 people showed up, all looking for their seat at the final table. The BOTW crew had seats at four of the original 10 tables. After all the players had jockeyed for position, we were given a warm welcome, and the cards were dealt.

The action heated up quickly with big bluffer Neil Patel quickly sending Dan Rezmovits home with the infamous designation of first man out. The first table was consolidated in short time, and the action grew a bit more frenzied. Yours truly made an ill-advised (in hindsight) play on a pair of Jacks and was dealt a fatal blow by Ben Huh, chief cheezburger at the wildly popular I Can Has Cheezburger. Ben ultimately finished in 7th place and took home some money – sweet!

After the first break, approximately 7 tables remained, and a couple dozen or so of the early losers wandered about sharing their tales of misfortune. When play resumed, most of us watched the others for a bit, while others found alternative outlets to satisfy their desires (Vegas is good like that). With just 5 or so tables remaining, team BOTW was looking good with Jared, Rob and Brian still alive. However, the luck changed quickly.

After the second break, both Jared and Brian were playing with short stacks. Only Rob was looking good with a handful of big take downs that had him sitting with a nice pile of chips. Some of the other players still hanging on were Rebecca Kelley, Patrick Sexton, Dave Dellanave, and many others who were soon to be eliminated. Fortunately, there was a side game going on at a table a few spots away, and the recently disposed had a place to hop in to keep their ride going.

When the dust settled, at the final table three players remained. One of the finalists was our very own Rob Schmid, representing BOTW at the final table. With his relatively small stack, he appeared to be a long shot at best. Unfortunately, his mad skills were just no match for high stacks Shoemoney. In a surprise run, playing some stand up head to head poker, Dan Perry was able to out last Shoe and claim the title of PubCon Poker Tournament Champion.

At the end of the night, some money was raised for charity, we were in the company of friends, the drinks were coming (although a little slowly), and a good time was had by all. We were happy to co-sponsor the tournament, and look forward to doing it again next year.

Much love.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 6:13 pm and is filed under For Fun, Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.