19th Hole Casino & Lounge, Antioch, CA

06/23/2008	SUMMER SHOOTOUT KING Chris "S.J.Sharks" Tryon martinez 2:15 rolled around..everyone had 1200-1700 in chips...the cards were in the air...and i went on a mini tear. I won the first three hands of the tournament and five of the first ten to build my chip stack. Wally the previous tournament winner graciously went thru five re-buys before he made a chip stack for himself to play. After having about 20k at 100-200 blinds I started to leak them back into the other players hands until I looked down at 2800 in chips. Then.... BAM! It was break time! As i sat wondering what had just happened i gathered my chips and moved to my new table and had my add-on purchased. I then proceeded to tighten up with my add-on cushioned 5300 in chips, the second low stack in the entire field. I waited for my hand...and waited and waited..then finally i picked up pocket a-2suited and made standard three times big blind raise. I was called by one player who thought I was all-in and he flipped his cards to reveal Q-7. I hit the ace on the flop and his hand never improved giving me the much needed half-up. I then got pocket 8's three hands later to beat out pocket 6's and I was up again this time to 17k. As the big blind was on me I was moved to what would eventually be the final table if I survived...The first hand I sat down to was pocket 5's. I called Eli's raise to 8000 at 1000-2000 blinds and was ecstatic to see a flop of 3-4-6 rainbow giving me the open-ended strraight draw and what i thought was the best hand. I pushed all-in again and waited for a minute and a half of gut wrenching stare down time with Eli and he folded, later telling me he had A-q. Phew! I was chipped up and playing very well. I got a couple of Carrie's small blinds on free walks and now had about 30k. I didn't play a hand the whole blind round and now stared elimination in the face. With blinds rising rapidly I was all in with five blue chips(5K) and four players total left...I looked down at K-8 off and was called by Eli this time holding Q-8off. I hoped for the cards to hold up...And they did. The next hand I was forced all-in again with my small blind and looked down to the saving grace of K-Qoff and bot the triple up when my king high held up. The very next hand had my K-9of hearts up against Pocket aces! Oh no I thought, but luck struck me again as i turned a flush to eliminate Fourth place! I was only in for 80 dollars and now had the chance to leave with 910 dollars in profit...if only the other players would split it...and they did! I wound up having the mopst chips at this point and took first place which gave me the big slick trophy and a cool thousand dollars.. Congrats to Eli and Shaun for a great tourney and I will see you all there in July!

06/22/2008	SUMMER SHOOTOUT!!! AND IT WAS A SHOOTOUT! Ace Dewie antioch It was another Great Tourney! there were over 35 players and it took a lot of work and time for me to make it to the final 15....and unfortunally I did not get any higher :(. The tournament featured 39 players this time! And I must say, the guy running it today, think his name was Joe, he seems to be a real standup gentleman to me, not to mention handsome. The tournament was fast action on my table as a couple people doubled up right away, and there were a lot of chips on my table from the start. I was able to fight for some extra chips and had over 4 times my orginal buy-in by the 2nd hour (and I had 500 extra chips, because I got a bonus for signing up for the tournament early!!) I entered the break as prolly the 12th highest stack out of 30 something players. Unfortunally I ran into a bigger stack a few hands later, I had pocket Kings, he had those dreaded Aces! I had the King of spades, and felt new life in my blood as 3 spades came on the flop. Followed by a 3 of hearts and a 9 of diamonds, and my summer Shootout Tournement experience was over. the staff was really friendly, and did an excellent job helping me and all the other players during the tournament. This story doesnt end in all sad news. the Hole now offers a NO LIMIT game right after the tournament!! I bought into that game with $40. 5 hands into it, I lost my $40 when myself and another player slow played our hands, I had pocket 10's, he had pocket A's....darn A's got me again...but I bought back in for $40 more and in three hours had K's twice and my own set of A's and all three held up!! I walked away even for no-limit, and even for the tournament with my No-Limit winnings! So I got to spend 8 wonderful hours, in the exciting entertaining casino atmosphere at the 19th hole, and it didnt cost me 1 single penny! see you all at the FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR on July 27th 2 2:15pm!!!!

06/17/2008	3 SETS FLOPPED SCRAP Antioch It was Monday 6/9/08--NO LIMIT night at the 19th Hole. The action had just begun. With pocket eights for my first hand, I took down a small pot by betting out, though an ace hit the flop. Pocket fours magically appeared for my second hand of the night; and, magic they were. Several of us limped in. The flop could not have been sweeter to my eyes, when a 2 3 4 hit. What I could not have known was that it also appeared just as sweet to two of my opponents. One with pocket 2's and the other with pocket 3's. The limping ended with the flop, when the set of dueces bet out. The treys merely called. I was not about to pusseyfoot around and pushed all-in; and, especting there might be a few minutes of contemplation, I stood to go and pour myself a drink. Before I even took six steps around the table, there were two quick calls. Dueces were proudly turned over exposing the first set. When the treys were shown as the second set, everyone at the table pretty much thought the damage was done. I now had already stopped stopped in my tracks, pretty much blown away myself. Coincidentally, I was standing behind and between my two opponents. A moment of shock, and reaching between them and across to my hand, I said that's real sweet but check this--and with extreme delight in just such a moment, turned over my pretty top set of fours. Though I certainly have won much larger pots, it was an incredible and memorable moment.

06/04/2008	DEAD MAN'S HAND kidd chips antioch, ca Got paid Friday, thought i'd go down to my favorite bar, The 19th Hole. I walked through the poker room & I saw 2 hot looking chicks playing blackjack. There was just 1 open seat, & it was right in the middle of those 2 sweet young things! Naturaly, I had to sit down & play a few hands. Naturaly, I lost. I was down to my last $100 bill, I pulled it out & bet the max. $50. this impressed my new lady friends. The cards came 2 8's, the dealer was showing a deuce. I either had a 16, (a real hard 16), or I had to split them. The cowboy next to the chick on my right, hit on a 15 & took my damn 10. The chick was hopping up & down cuz she had a natural black jack. Can see why they call her Bunny. As I split the 8's with my last $50, the cowboy spoke up. He said, I'd be careful son, ya know the dealer's been awful hot. The worst card that could possibly come, did. An 8. What to do now? I slowly pulled off my high school class ring & staring at in my hand, I said the nerd on 3rd base told me I had to split again. I looked up & my eyes met the old cowboy's eyes. So i gave him my ring & asked politely if he would back my bet. If you lose, I keep the ring. I said ... okay. So I hit the 1st 8 & got the ace of spades. On the 2nd 8 I got the ace of diamonds. To my surprise, when I hit the 3rd 8, I got the ace of hearts. Now, I once heard a heart is always you're best bet. The nerd on 3rd base had 20 & stood pat. The dealer turns over a 4 to go with her deuce. Next, she hit a 5 making it 11. My heart was pounding & I was weak in the knees. her next card another deuce, giving her 13. Her next hit was a three of clubs. I held my breath & closed my eyes. The next thing I heard was the dealer saying, "Queen of Hearts, dealer busts" & as the table cheered she said "Everybody's a Winner at the 19th Hole! Naturaly, i threw the dealer a $20 chip, settled my debt with the cowboy & headed to the bar for drinks with a hot chick on each arm. You can guess the rest. MAN, I LOVE THIS PLACE! KIDD CHIPS

05/19/2008	SPRING FLING Ace Dewie Antioch Well, it was that time again, another wonderful and exciting 19th hole tournement on Sunday May 18th. This time I had to fight through 30+ players solid players. I ended up doing pretty well by the time the break came. I didnt have an exact count, but I was prolly in the top 10 chip stacks. Then I went card dead after the break. I spent another hour in the tournament, and QJ offsuit was the best hand I saw. Of course it happened to be the hand I was pushed all in with, and John (one of the friendly 19th hole dealers playing on his off day) had AQ. So needless to say I lost that matchup, and was happy to see my chips helped John cash in 9th place, and then his chips and mine (that he won from me) went to Wally, the tournament Winner. The next tourney is June 22nd!! And I am getting ready for it already!! hope to see all of you guys for the Summer Shootout!!

04/28/2008	INCOME TAX BONUS??? NOT FOR ME Ace Dewie I delayed writting this poker story, as I was eliminated early in the income tax bonus at the 19th hole, Sunday April 20th. I had Ace-King 5 times, and I ended up re-buying after every single one of them! But I kept at it, and was able to get towards the chip lead by the add-on time. Then I made my mistake....I was at 10,400 Chips, and I choose not too purchase my add-on of $2500 chips for $25 dollars. From the break on I went "Card-Dead." I was luck to pick up Q-3 suited let alone a pocket pair, or some decent hand. I was blinded all the way down too 1,200 in chips, with 1000-2000 blinds....and there were about 12-14 players left. Needless to say I went out on my next big blind.....Can't help but thinik I would have probably made it in the top ten, and made $$ if I had those extra 2,500 chips to work with! Oh well, I shall learn from my mistakes hopefully and try my luck again at the Spring Fling! which is only a couple weeks away!

03/17/2008	ST PADDY'S DAY TOURNEY Erma Desimone Antioch I love these sunday Turney's, Tom and always play. My entry was my winning 11th place (BIG DEAL!!!!!). But yes it ended up being a big deal.. I started getting cards right away, so built up my chip stack early. I NEVER had to re-buy. I did at the break do my add-on, it took me to the final table. Having only been there a total of 3 times, I was feeling good. However I was being very careful, but was losing chips due to the blinds. I got lucky and came in 2nd. I was clam all day and it just flowed right for me. I will be 1st some day. Thanks everyone, I had a great time and look foreward to the next Tourney. Erma

03/17/2008	THE BLARNEY!! Ace Dewie Antioch Wow, what another wonderful tournament at the 19th hole this past Sunday, March 16th! I got on a really hot streak and proceeded to be the early chip leader. Which was hard on my table as 3 people started with 1700 chips instead of 1200. I hear they signed up for this tournement, last month...so they got $500 extra chips...I already took advantage of this bonus and have signed up for the Income Tax Bonus on Sunday 4-20-08 @ 2:15pm...I will be one of the 1700 Chip starters this time!! anyway, I was chip leader. But then my own friend Jack Kingovsuett called my big raise of all in preflop with Jack King offsuit, he flopped a straight and my pocket Aces were no good. well again, I'm taking my chances at the prize money for sure in April!! I hope to get another chance to advenge Jack's win over me! Ace Dewie

01/29/2008	SUPERBOWL SHUFFLE Ace Dewie Antioch Man, this one was loaded with Talent. There were 48 players this time!! I was on the 19th holes blackjack table this time, me and 7 other players fought for 4 grueling hours before our table was broken down into the other 4 tables. I ended up getting bounced with 2-pair versus a pocket pair, that tripped up on the river. I think I lost to that lady that has finished 3rd 4 straight times!! how do you finish that high in the money that many times???? I think I am going to ask her for tournement advice...and if she agrees....watch out players!! cause I am finally cashing in the February Valentines day Love Fest!! I am ready for the love fest Ace Dewie!

12/17/2007	XMAS WISH LIST TOURNEY Ace Dewie antioch Man, this was another exciting tournament and I almost cashed in it again!! the tourney featured 34 players this time, only 3 more than thanksgiving, but the prize pool was a whopping $4525!! which I did not get any of, but it was a great experience regardless. I have a pretty lousy job, as I do all kinds of management work for no pay, and my bosses claim they'll meet with me when they don't......so I really like to get a chance to get a break from my job and play poker! Theres no better place to play than the monthly tournies at the 19th Hole!! My final hand was those evil pocket jacks. I pushed all in for over 4x the blinds, but someone with A-10 called me, Ace on the turn, and my fun was over. I know I will be back January the 27th at 2:15pm for my chance to get at that fabulous prize pool....I mean theres not too many places u can play a 34 man tournament, with 10 places paid (33% of the players get paid!!), and have a $4500 prize pool!! See you next tourny, and beware, I plan on winning it!!

11/19/2007	THANKSGIVING TURKEY TROT Ace Dewie Antioch It was an exciting 3 table tournament. I was lucky enough to survive being all-in after the break over 8 times!! but in the end my tournament ended on a sad note as I finished a few spots out of the money :(. I can't wait until december 16th 2007 at 2:15pm to get my chance to play again, this time I hope to cash!! Look forward to seeing all of you guys! Ace-Dewie

09/11/2007	FREE ROLL MADNESS anonymous anonymous Antioch Man there has been like 40 people at the freerolls lately! Its been fun take on so many people. I've noticed I do best when If i can double up by the third blind levels. My favorite freeroll was a while back, but it ended up heads up, me and this other guy who was an Indians fan. He has a 2 to 1 chip lead on me, and I was able to come back and win the whole thing!

07/22/2007	MY NITE AT THE HOLE Cyndee Last Name Antioch I like to tell Joe and Brian from the 19th hole that they need more stories on their website!! I have offered to do one myself..... So Joe posted this picture up of me, and when I write more about my exciting experiences at the 19th hole, they will be in this article!! thanks,

07/22/2007	MY LONG AND LOSS FILLED TOURNAMENT! Joe Fagundes Antioch The 19th hole was well staffed this last weekend, they have the best dealers/floor persons in my opinion by the way :). So I got to enter the Stars and Stripes tournament on Sunday July 22nd. I started a little late, but instantly got to experience "the re-buy" as my pocket Jacks lost to A-K. It wouldn't be long until I would be re-buying again when pocket 7's were crushed, by former May Champion, Bob C's 4 of a kind 10's. I would recover a couple chips with consecutive double ups, with A-K. I found myself at the final table and the low stack with 5500 in chips. The final ten were very good players, and after lasting through a couple blinds I found myself with 7,500 chips, but unfortunally 6000$-3000$ blinds. I got J-6 under-the-gun, and being that it was our old bosses' favorite hand, i felt it was a good time as any to throw them all in :). I got extremely lucky and tripled up when a 6 came on the river giving me 2 pair, over the K-J of ricks hand. It was a fun tourney!! but my luck would run out a few hands later as the eventual champ Carrie defeated my KQ with 7-8 when the flop came down 7-7-8 :). I was very happy to take 7th place in that extremely challenging final field!! I will hopefully not be playing in the August 26th 2007 tournament, but I will be here to see one of you guys win it!!! thanks Joe

06/29/2007	THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE HOLE Kat Antioch I was playing at the 19th hole in Antioch on a Thursday nite, or actually Friday Morning. It was after 2 am, and they were still playing a 10 handed game! I sat down with 60$ and proceeded to win 1 pot, and then 4 consecutive Kill Pots!! It was great, I was able to go play cards at my convience in the early morning, then I caught a card rush like that, it made it that much more fantastic!! thanks 19th hole for an excellent Thursday nite/Friday morning!

06/07/2007	BIG WINNINGS AT THE 19TH HOLE David Marsh Antioch CA I played one of the 19th Hole's Tourny on a Tuesday night in May of 2007. The tourny featured 45 Players and over 1000$ of prize pool money. After over an hour of just surviving, I got on a card rush by the final Table. I was able to take out the next two chip stacks too me with back to back pocket pairs of Jacks and nines respectively. After all was said and done I split the winnings with a nice lady named Angie, and we both got a 10$!! bonus in the 3-6 game. My rush continued there and I ended up leaving the 19th hole with almost 1,000$ of total Winnings!!! The staff was excellent, they had Aladino's Pizza and great cocktails! Thanks to everyone, hope to see you every Tuesday from now On!! I'm barely in this pic, but heres a shot of me at one of the 19th hole's bigger Sunday Tournaments!! David

06/06/2007	BAD BEAT STORY Angela G Antioch It was the last hand of the tournament, winner take all. I had the best possible hand, and went all in. First place was $1,000, there was only one card in the deck that could beat me, and guess what.....There it came, it was awful.