Monday, January 31st: Adel Jo Chops Even With David Poces, And Assumes Top Spot On Player Of The Month Leaderboard!!!

ICYMI: Sunday's $400 No Limit Hold'em ($20,000 GTD) was scheduled to be the second-to-last tournament of the month, meaning anyone that was in contention for the Player of the Month title, would likely be in attendance.  The field ended up reaching (94) entries, with players competing for a piece of the $32,712 prize pool.  Action would play down to a heads-up final table, at which point Adel Jo (Miami, FL) and David Poces (Boca Raton, FL) agreed to an even chop.  The 23.84 leaderboard points that Adel Jo earned, helped him eclipse Jonathan Marcu (top spot on the rankings), with now one event remaining in the month.  Official results from the tournament are listed below, along with an updated Player of the Month leaderboard:

1. Adel Jo (Miami, FL) $8,297
2. David Poces (Boca Raton, FL) $8,297
3. Terraine Taylor (Salisbury, NC) $3,925
4. Michael Newman (New York, NY) $2,535
5. Paul Freedman (Hampton, NH) $1,963
6. Robert Kessler (Parkland, FL) $1,554
7. Stephen Pheasant (Duncansville, PA) $1,308
8. Altabal Mohamed (Cutler Bay, FL) $1,145
9. Peter Cleven (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $1,038
10. Eric Siegel (Melville, NY) $949
11. Mikhail Prokopchuk (Pompano Beach, FL) $883
12. Scott Zakheim (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $818

Tournaments: At 6:00pm this evening, the $250 No Limit Hold'em ($20,000 GTD) "Final Table Finish" returns, with a little wrinkle.  This particular tournament had such a good structure, that the final table action ran into the closing time of the poker room (players are then faced with chopping, or bagging for a Day 2).  To keep that from occurring, there will be some slight changes moving forward.

The event will be structured with 25,000 chip starting stacks, (20) minute levels, and open registration through Level 8 (and the break that follows).  The new format-wrinkle comes into play when discussing payouts, as the tournament will pay out just the final table, regardless of how many entries.  Exact payout percentages are as follows (final tables are now nine-handed):

1. 40%
2. 18%
3. 10%
4. 7%
5. 7%
6. 6%
7. 6%
8. 3%
9. 3%

Promotions: From 9:00am (the minute the doors open) until 11:00pm, $300 high hands will be awarded every (30) minutes. These high hands must be aces-full or better, use both hole cards, and be the winning hand (in a pot that has at least $10).  From 11:00pm until close, $100 high hands will be awarded every (30) minutes.

In addition to the high hands, there is a "bonus" promotion in place, which offers $1,000 to the highest hand from the 9:00am-12:00pm time period.  If a player makes a straight flush in the 9:00am-9:30am qualifying period, and that is the best qualifying high hand from 9:00am-12:00pm, they will earn an extra $1,000 (in addition to the $300 they were awarded for the half-hour time period).

6:00pm: $250 No Limit Hold'em "Final Table Finish" ($10,000 GTD)

• Players start with 25,000 in tournament chips
• Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels
• Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack
• Levels will last (20) minutes