MPT Tournament Structure

Since 2007, each Mattress Poker Tour event has been played using this structure. Please note the Todd Shrader Memorial Level 5.

All tournaments, unless otherwise noted, will be No Limit Texas Holdem. Each player will start the tournament with $2,500 in chips.

Level	Duration	Small Blind	Big Blind	Ante	Start Time
Round 1	10m	$5	$10	$0	0:00
Round 2	10m	$10	$20	$0	0:10
Round 3	10m	$15	$30	$0	0:20
Round 4	10m	$25	$50	$0	0:30
Round 5	10m	$35	$70	$0	0:40
Round 6	10m	$50	$100	$0	0:50
Break 1	5m				1:00
Round 7	10m	$75	$150	$0	1:05
Round 8	10m	$100	$200	$0	1:15
Round 9	10m	$100	$200	$25	1:25
Round 10	10m	$150	$300	$25	1:35
Round 11	10m	$200	$400	$25	1:45
Round 12	10m	$300	$600	$50	1:55
Round 13	10m	$400	$800	$50	2:05
Round 14	10m	$600	$1,200	$75	2:15
Break 2	5m				2:25
Round 15	10m	$1,000	$2,000	$100	2:30
Round 16	10m	$2,000	$4,000	$100	2:40
Round 17	10m	$4,000	$8,000	$200	2:50
Round 18	10m	$8,000	$16,000	$200	3:00

New Statistics Now Available

Thanks to the accurate record keeping of the somewhat biased, but always honest, representative of the reputable national accounting firm that works part-time as our Tournament Director, we now have a multitude of statistics available on this site to track the progress of your favorite MPT Superstar.

In addition to the point leaders from this season, you can now see the money leaders - both for this season and for all-time - in addition to the all-time leaders in wins, cashes, and even "losses". Over time, we have records of additional statistics that will eventually be available on this site, including leaders in "kills" (number of players busted) and all-time points leaders. Let's check who has been paying close attention to the MPT series. Try to answer the following question; which two MPT Superstars are tied for first place in all-time points earned in series tournaments? Please post your guesses below.

In the meantime, try your hand at speculating about the upcoming Las Vegas MPT event by answering the new poll question. However, beware that the polls close on August 1st and precisely 8:08 PM EDT.

Pictures from MPT 2008 #3

Last weekend, former MPT Champion Baccarat King (formerly known as mtohio) hosted the third MPT event of 2008 in his fabulous House of Blues Suite inside the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.


Players chat in the suite before the event begins



The feature table was where the action was early in the tournament, with frequent all-ins fueled by our host's first class bar



Multiple MPT Champion Betdponies deals, as "E" and Bigfus look on



The defending champion loses on the river, as Dave wins a big pot and collects a $5 bounty on the satellite mattress early in the tournament


Before the final table was finished, a lot of bottles sacrificed their lives for the benefit of the players; below is a look at some of the casualties



The second consecutive lengthy MPT heads up battle featured "E" surviving a series of all-ins against the big stack of Amazon



The blinds rose high enough that the players could not afford to wait for premium hands late in the tournament



Betdponies, Baccarat King, and Dave join the peanut gallery while enjoying the final table action



An impromptu break during heads up action as Amazon was needed relief from the bottle of Grey Goose that she vanquished



The bottle of Grey Goose wasn't Amazon's only victim during this afternoon, as fans react to her victory over "E"



The final heads up hand



Our Tournament Director, Harv29, presents the trophy to our Newest MPT Champ, Amazon



The Champ with her Designated Chip Handler, Mrs. Harv29

Pictures from MPT 2008 #2

Event #1 champion rowanb hosted the third MPT event outside of Atlantic City this June, with the first annual ECLVA Spring Classic in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. The following photographs are courtesy of Mrs. Harv29.


Rookie players and MPT veterans prepare to compete in the largest field in our history.



The tournament host chats with Mrs. Betdponies, his sister, and Bigfus



Players enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries, courtesy of MPT newcomer, Amazon



The first big pot of the day came when Bigfus flopped three 9's against her friend's top-pair top-kicker, as she patiently extracted maximum value calling each street



A few hands after taking most of her brother's chips with QJo against his AA, Rowanv eliminates Rowanb after calling his short-stacked preflop all-in with A-7 and having the hand hold up against an open-ended straight draw and flush draw after the flop



The winning hand, as the blinds forced Bigfus to move in with a weak hand, ending an epic heads-up battle where both players held commanding chip leads at different times



The new champion, Rowanv, poses with her trophy and prize winnings

MPT 2008 #3 - Showdown at Showboat's House of Blues (4/27/2008)

(originally posted 7/8/2008, by Harv29, with a few minor edits)

The participants:

Feature Table (aka the action/loud/drunk table)

• Baccarat King
• Bigfus
• Janek13
• Amazon
• civicmon
• "E"
• Betdponies

Satellite Mattress (aka the passive mattress/quiet table)

• Dave
• Rowanv
• Mrs. Betdponies
• Rowanb
• Harv29
• Neil

The Results:

1. Amazon ($150)
2. "E" ($90)
3. Rowanb ($55)
4. Mrs. Betdponies ($35)
5. Harv29
6. civicmon
7. Dave
8. Bigfus
9. Betdponies
10. Neil
11. Janek13
12. Rowanv
13. Baccarat King

First I'd like to again thank our gracious host, Baccarat King for providing his wonderful suite (and a special thanks to his wife for putting up with us!). Thanks again to all of the participants, without you, there is no tournament.

Unfortunately since it was such a large field (13 players), I do not have a lot of hand history information. From what I do know the group was divided at random by the computer onto two tables (another MPT first!).

With heavy road traffic for the holiday, the tournament was delayed so we did not start until around 4, but did not take long for the action to begin. The mattress began with a group of MPT veterans, who had all played against each other before and relatively little alcohol, but things were hot and heavy on the table, as we heard much hooting and hollaring from our perch in the "bedroom". In fact, after only 24 minutes (4:27), we lost our host, Baccarat King, knocked out by "E".

Another 17 minutes later (4:44) we lost our current champion, Rowanv, who went all-in on the turn with top pair against Dave, who rivered three of a kind to eliminated the defending champ (in much the same manner she had crippled her brother, the previous defending champ, in Event #2). Rowanv had come back from a crippling loss to Neil a few hands earlier after calling his all-in bet and losing to his A-Q top pair. Dave collected a $5 bounty for beating a past champion.

Shortly after that (4:53) we lost Janek13, who was busted out by civicmon, and then the cycle of table then mattress eliminations continued when we lost Neil on the mattress at 5:26, who was busted out by Rowanb after raising preflop with AJ and calling Rowanb's all-in, then finding himself dominated by A-K, which held up to oust the MPT rookie.

During much of the first hour we could hear talk from the Feature Table about how many times Amazon survived on the river while moving her chips in as an underdog against the more experienced players. She was down to 35 chips at one point and needed to double up numerous times to work her way back into contention. From the sounds of things from the mattress, Betdponies was Amazon's most frequent victim, so it seemed fitting that she would eliminate Betdponies at 5:28 to make the final table of 8:

• Bigfus
• Dave
• civicmon
• Harv29
• Mrs. Betdponies
• Rowanb
• Amazon
• "E"

Then Amazon continued her bust out streak (by that I mean eliminated players, apparently the "real" bust out occured much later), by eliminating Bigfus at 5:39 and then Dave 5:48.

At 6:17 we lost civicmon, busted out by Rowanb. I arrived at the table as the short stack, doubled up once, but finally was eliminated by "E" at 6:27 and out on the bubble for the second time in three events this season.

Amazon continued her bust out parade, eliminating Mrs. Betdponies at 6:32 who finished 4th cashing for $35, her third MPT cash and second at the Showboat.

After relatively passive three-handed play and with increasing blinds, Rowanb moved all-in preflop w/Q-10s while first to act and Amazon, who despite being anxious for a cigarette break made a good call with A-7o and eliminated Rowanb at 7:16. Rowanb's 3rd place finish and second cash of the year (for $55) put him atop the season points standings.

We are now heads up with Amazon and "E" with Amazon holding around a 3-1 chip advantage. "E" offers a chop to Amazon who wants to accept it because she is missing out on precious gambling time and now really "needs" a cigarette, but from the urging of the crowd declines the offer. The chip lead changes a few times and then Amazon wants to accept the chop but "E" says it is too late. The chip stack swings again and finally at 7:38, "E" is busted out by Amazon to become the "House of Blues" M.P.T. Champion!!!

"E" took $90 for second place and Amazon took $150.

Here is the current Sealy Player of the Year point standings:

• Rowanb 26
• Amazon 22
• Harv29 21
• Bigfus 19
• Mrs. Betdponies 19
• Rowanv 16
• "E" 14
• civicmon 9
• Dave 8
• Betdponies 6
• TSS777 4
• Neil 4
• Just Jason 3
• Janek13 3
• DJ Chuck Chillout 1
• Baccarat King 1

Amazon with the win in a large field and 6 eliminations scores big, with rowanb taking 13 points (11 for 3rd and 2 eliminations) to take sole control of first place.

There are players who are loose-aggressive, loose-passive, tight-passive and tight-aggressive, but I believe Amazon brought a new type, drunk-aggressive. Those of us who were on the mattress only heard rumours about her play, but apparently she was a river queen, taking quite a few wins on the river. We heard she was all-in early for $35 and came all the way back to win. With her big. . . stack of chips and drunk-aggressive style ("I just want to go gamble and smoke a cigarette, I'm all-in" was her battle cry), she caused many of her opponents to fold. We'll definitely be seeing more of her, er, if you haven't already, at the M.P.T. Tournament of Champions in December.

Other player's comments are welcomed.

The current list of qualifiers for the ToC:

• Rowanb
• Bigfus
• Rowanv
• Harv29
• Amazon
• "E"
• Mrs. Betdponies
• Betdponies (defending champion)

We look forward to seeing you at the next event, tentatively scheduled for 8/9/8 (note the date change) at the MSS. We've moved the date so we can really get our gamble on for 8/8/8.