DPS I  (February 5 – June 17, 2008) 

The first ever Deerfield Poker Series kicked off in February 2008 in the PDX Metro area, conceived amongst friends as a way to improve their weekly poker night.  The DPS Commissioners, passionate about stats and with a nod to the tradition of the PGA Tour, created a poker points format and a major poker tournament schedule. 

Originally created as a 6 month series, DPS I was later shortened to 19 weeks as the DPS schedule was finalized.  With only word-of-mouth and friend-of-friend promotion, DPS I saw 27 different poker players compete for a total of $3200 in payouts.  Some games were big (14 players for game 1 in Week 2), though most games were small and hardly ever started on time. 

From M. Gonzalez being the first to be knocked out in a DPS league game in week 1 to A. “Slamma” Hopper’s perfect game in week 13 all the way to H. Huntington’s huge comeback win in the final game (and everything in between), DPS I had 11 different winners.  Coming into the last weeks Ma. Pittman held a slight Large lead over D. Luke and J. DeLara.  But D. “I am your Father” Luke stepped up in the clutch, winning twice in the final 5 games to beat out Ma. Pittman by 25 points for the DPS I Large Title, and a whopping $1475 extra chips for the 2008 Plasters. 

DPS I Stats at a Glance

Best Game (Total Points):  155 (J. DeLara & H. Huntington - Week 2, Game 3)

Best Game (K.O. Points):  35 (3 time, most recently A. Hopper - Week 13, Game 26) 

Best Game ($ Won):  $100 (J. DeLara - Week 2, Game 3)

Most Wins:  6 (D. Luke & E. Planer)

Runner Ups:  7 (Ma. Pittman)

3rd Place (Master):  8 (R. Slaughter)

Large:  1475 (D. Luke)

Total Points:  2150 (Ma. Pittman)

K.O. Points:  275 (D. Luke)

$ Won:  $570 (D. Luke)

Final DPS I Standings

(columns are sortable)

DPS I Results

DPS I Stats

dps-i.xls

2008 Plasters

12 players gathered at the Deerfield House to test their Poker skills for the first ever DPS major.  Taking place on the hottest day to date in 2008 (Saturday June 28th) the 2008 Plasters lived up to its major tournament billing.  Each player got 2500 in base chips plus their DPS I Large.  D. Luke (10th place) came into the tournament with the most chips at 3975, a commanding lead over J. Gonzalez (11th place) who had no Large at all.  E. Planer’s (12th place) Large was all but lost on the very first hand, the victim of a botched nut flush slow play, to R. Slaughter (3rd place).

In the end M. “Prodigy” Gonzalez proved his poker skills, enroute to a 5 K.O. victory and a hefty $295 payout.  The player knocked out first in the very first DPS game went on to win the very first DPS Major.  While it was a dominating performance through most of the 2008 Plasters, M. Gonzalez did get a little luck from the poker gods when he found himself in a huge pot with then chip leader J. DeLara (5th place).  Holding JK with a board showing J K 5, M. Gonzalez went all-in on top of J. DeLara’s 1200 raise.  The call put him all-in for his tournament life as J. DeLara flipped over his pocket fives in confidence.  Turn comes a 9………………and river comes a………………………………. J!  M. Gonzalez took more than 30,000 in that pot and never looked back.  C. Fruge (2nd place) battled in the head-to-head matchup but could not overcome M. Gonzalez’s chip lead in the end.

Congrats to M. Gonzalez, C. Fruge and R. “3rd” Slaughter for cashing in the first DPS major!