Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Event #8

Observations following another Virtual MPT, the eighth event of the 2020 season, played on Pokerstars.net on November 29, 2020.

• This was the shortest tournament in MPT history, finishing in 1 hour 43 minutes, eight minutes faster than the 2007 Showdown at Showboat and ECLVA Summer Classic
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• Solotrombone became the only the sixth different player and first person since 2015 to win more than one event in a single MPT season
• Solotrombone broke out of a three-way tie to take sole possession of sixth place on the all-time wins list
• RowanB tied Sass for the second most all-time runner-up finishes with nine, trailing only Bigfus's twelve second place finishes
• RowanB's five cashes this season tie him with Harv29 (2008), Sass (2009), and Bigfus (2011) for the third most finishes in the money by a single player in a single season, trailing only Bigfus (2008 and 2010)
• RowanB broke a tie with Harv29 for second place on the all-time cashes list, moving within two places of Bigfus for the all-time lead in that category
• Solotrombone passed Sionow for the top spot in the season money standings
• JTinLV tied Skiteacher for tenth place on the all-time money list
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• Solotrombone closed to within seven points of Syrorange3042's season point lead, while RowanB also gained ground, now trailing by only 11 points
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• Solotrombone regained the top spot on the all-time player ratings list, passing the idle TSS777, while Syrorange3042 dropped back behind Bigfus in four place on the all-time ranking list
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• Syrorange3042 tied Bigfus for fourth place on the all-time list for most finishes on the bubble, with five, needing only 11 events to do so
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• This event tied the October 2008 "Bounty Bowl" and the tournament earlier in November for the most bounties awarded in a single event, with six
• Solotrombone's win with a bounty for knocking him out marked the first time a player has collected a bounty on themself since Harv29 did so in December, 2015
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• Solotrombone's five "kills" put him in an eight-way tie for tenth place for the most players eliminated in a single event
• Solotrombone moved past Sionow into eighth place on the all-time "kills" list
• JTinLV also moved out of a tie with Judykq to take sole possession of tenth place on the all-time "kills" list
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• Sionow finished in last place for the first time in his MPT career, surviving his first 16 tournaments without being eliminated first, trailing only TSS777 (24), Amazon (23), and Bigfus (17) for this longest streak without a last place to start anyone's MPT career.
• Syrorange3042 is now the player who has played the most events (11) without ever finishing last

Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Event #7

 Observations following another Virtual MPT, the seventh event of the 2020 season, played on Pokerstars.net on November 1, 2020.

• Pehffff is the 66th different player to play in at least one MPT event
• Syrorange3042 is the 15th player to appear in ten or more events in MPT history
• dukegal76 is the 22nd different player to win at least one MPT event
• With different winners in each event this season is now tied for the most different winners in a single season, with the 2008 and 2009 seasons
• This was the second longest online Texas Hold'em tournament of the season (and, thus, in MPT history), running only four minutes less than the Start of Summer MPT in June, though both far behind the 4 hour, 44 minute HORSE tournament in August
• dukegal76 and Sionow's battle for first place was the longest heads up play of the season in an online Texas Hold'em event, a minute longer than Sass and Skiteacher played on May 24th of this year
• Sionow is the 11th player in to finish in second place in more than one MPT event
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• dukegal76's first place prize along with the two bounties she collected tied for the sixth largest cash in MPT history
• Skyweb22 is the 41st player to cash in at least one MPT event. He is also the 13th player to cash in a MPT event this season, one of short of the 14 different players who cashed in the 2009 season
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• This event tied the October 2008 "Bounty Bowl" for the most bounties awarded in a single event, with six
• Harv29 passed Bigfus for most events played with a bounty paid for eliminating him, with 23, one ahead of Bigfus
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• After a middle of the pack finish by Solotrombone, idle TSS777 moved back to the top of the all-time player ratings list
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• Sionow leapt to the top of the money list, while Syrorange3042 inched past Harv29 into second place despite finishing out of the top spots in this event, but collected a bounty for eliminating Solotrombone
• Syrorange3042 extended his lead at the top of the Sealy Cup standings, thirteen points ahead of Harv29, who is closely followed by a pack of five other players
• With 80 points earned this season, Syrorange3042 has already earned the third highest point total in a single MPT season, trailing only Bigfus in 2010 and 2011
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• JTinLV finished on the bubble for the second straight event
• Bigfus moved into first place on the all-time list of last place finishes, after being the first player eliminated for the eighth time in her MPT career, breaking a tie with Sass

Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Event #6

Observations following another Virtual MPT, the sixth event of the 2020 season, played on Pokerstars.net on September 20, 2020.

• Sass became the fourth player in history to play in at least 50 MPT events
• JTinLV moved past Judykq and into a tie with Solotrombone for 8th place on the all-time appearances list.
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• Syrorange3042 is the sixth different MPT winner this season
• Syrorange3042 became the 10th different player to win more than one event in his MPT career
• All of Syrorange3042's career victories have been in September (including a win in the inaugural non-points paying MPT in 2016)
• Syrorange3042 set the record for longest time period between victories in MPT history, at 4,012 days between his win in September 2009 and his win in September 2020
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• The Sealy Cup race remains close, as four players are within 11 points of the top spot
• Syrorange3042's win combined with Harv29's rare early exit moved him to the top of the season standings, while Harv29 remained in second place, 9 points back
• Syrorange3042's 72 Player of the Year points already rank as the fourth highest single season point total in MPT history, trailing only Bigfus (in 2010 and 2011) and TSS777 (in 2010).
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• Syrorange3042 moved into a tie with Harv29 at the top of the season money list
• Despite his fourth cash of the season, with his only win coming in the smallest event of the season, RowanB remains mired in the middle of the pack on the season money list, moving up one spot into sixth place
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• Syrorange3042 became the seventh player in MPT history to earn 20 or more points in a single event more than once in his MPT career, joining TSS777, Betdponies, RowanB, and Sionow, each of whom has also accomplished this feat twice, and Harv29 and Skiteacher, who have done so three times in their MPT careers
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• By earning his third straight finish in the money, RowanB tied Harv29 for second place on the all-time list of cashes, though Bigfus extended her lead in that category with her 29th career cash
• RowanB's four cashes this season have already tied his personal best for a single season, accomplished in 2009, and this marks the first time since 2011 that any player has cashed that many times in a season
• Syrorange3042 moved in the top ten in career cashes, tying JTinLV and Skiteacher for 10th place all-time
• ru47suited became the 29th player to cash in more than one MPT event
• Bigfus ended a streak of five straight tournaments outside the money, the second longest cashless streak in her MPT career
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• JTinLV tied Judykq for tenth place on the all-time "kills" list, by eliminating the 14th opponent in his MPT career
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• JTinLV became the ninth player in MPT history to be eliminated on the bubble three times, tying TSS777, Amazon, and Ging for sixth place on the all-time bubble list
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• Harv29 slid out of the top spot in all-time best average finish, allowing the idle Solotrombone to once again top that list
• Harv29 moved into solo possession of sixth place on the all-time list of last place finishes, becoming the first player eliminated from a tournament for only the 4th time in his long MPT career

Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Events #4 and #5

Observations following the two MPT events in August, 2020, played on Pokerstars.net on August 9 and August 16, 2020. 

• 2020 marks the first year since 2011 that the MPT has hosted a tournament in the month of August
• The two virtual tournaments this month were the 5th and 6th MPT poker tournaments in the month of August and the first games played outside of Las Vegas
• The two August, 2020 tournaments tied the shortest gap between MPT events, held a week apart, which only occurred previously on September 26 and October 3, 2009
• The August 9, 2020 HORSE event was the first MPT tournament to include any poker games other than Texas Hold'em
• The HORSE tournament was the longest event in MPT history, running 4 hours 44 minutes, 37 minutes longer than the 2017 Las Vegas Spectacular. The HORSE tournament also shattered the record for longest heads up play, running 1 hour 15 minutes.
• The HORSE tournament was the MPT's first winner take all event, paying only one player
• In the HORSE event, ru47suited became the 42nd player to participate in more than one MPT tournament
• With a win in the HORSE event, RowanB tied Harv29 for third place on the all-time win list
• RowanB won an event with six or fewer players for the fourth time in his career, the most times in MPT history any player has won against such small fields
• August 9th was the the first tournament that Syrorange3042 played in which he did not either cash or finish on the bubble
• Six of the last ten MPT winners have had an Ace in their winning hand
• JTinLV was the 27th player to finish in last place in an MPT event, doing so for the first time in his 16 appearances in the HORSE tournament
• The August 16th event was the third fastest tournament in MPT history, running 2 hours 8 minutes, trailing only the 2007 Showdown at Showboat and 2007 ECLVA Summer Classic.
• Sionow is the 9th player in MPT history to win more than one MPT event
• Sionow's first place cash tied Solotrombone (from the last MPT hold'em event) for the sixth highest cash in MPT history, and topped his result at last year's Las Vegas Spectacular for his personal best cash
• Sionow has now cashed in two events in each of the last two seasons, joining RowanB as the only players to do so in 2019 and 2020
• Sionow's 25 points are the 5th most a player has earned in a single event in MPT history
• Harv29's runner-up in the August 16, 2020 event was the 8th time in MPT history the same player has finished in second place in consecutive MPT events, joining Skiteacher as the second player to accomplish that feat this season. Bigfus (2008, 2010), Sass (finishing second in three straight 2009 events), Betdponies (2011), Mr. Lucky (2011), and RowanB (2013) were the other players to finish as back to back runners-up.
• Harv29 leapt back into the top spot in the season point standings, with his second deep run in a large event this year
• Harv29 inched closer to the top of the all-time money list, closing to within $250 of Bigfus's lead
• Sionow's 6 "kills" tie him with five other players for the 4th highest number of players eliminated in a single tournament, trailing only TSS777, Trojanrabbit, and Noahcat
• RowanB moved past Bigfus into second place on the all-time "kill" list, though he slipped farther behind Harv29, who retains the top spot
• In the August 16, 2020 event, Bigfus joined Sass for the most last place finishes in MPT history, each having been the first player eliminated in seven different events

Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Event #3

Observations following the Start of Summer MPT, the third event of the 2020 season, played on Pokerstars.net on June 28, 2020.

• This was only the third MPT event in the month of June
• This was the first MPT tournament held during the summer outside of Las Vegas since July 2, 2011
• With 13 players, the 2020 Start of Summer MPT is tied with the 2008 Showboat House of Blues tournament for the fifth largest field in MPT history
• The first three tournaments of this season have included the most players (37) in MPT history, besting the mark of 31 players in the first three events of 2009
• This is the most players over any stretch of three tournaments in MPT history, topping a total of 34 players who participated in the tournaments between July 9 and September 29, 2009
• ru47suited is the 65th different player to play in at least one MPT event
• dukegal76 and Skyweb22 are the 41st and 42nd players to play in more than one MPT event
• This was the first time since October and November, 2011 for consecutive events that included players new to the MPT
• Solotrombone's 24 points set his personal record for most points in an event, and tied him for fifth place on the all-time list of the most points earned in a single MPT event
• Solotrombone moved past TSS777 to the top of the all-time Player Ratings list
• Harv29 moved past Bigfus into first place on the all-time Points list, marking the first time since she took the all-time lead from Sass on November 13, 2010, that Bigfus has not been on top of the all-time points list, and the first time since September, 2010 that Harv has held the all-time points lead.
• Solotrombone and Skiteacher leapt to the top of the this season's Player of the Year standings, tied for first thirteen points ahead of Harv29 and Syrorange3042
• Solotrombone earned his highest career cash, and the sixth highest for any player in MPT history
• Skiteacher cashed in back to back MPT events for the first time in his career
• Skiteacher is now the 10th player in MPT history to finish in second place in more than one MPT event
• With his second cash of the season, Solotrombone moved to the top of the money list for this season
• ru47suited is the 19th player to cash in his first MPT event
• dukegal76 and ru47suited are the 39th and 40th different players to cash in at least one MPT event
• dukegal76and ru47suited are the seventh married couple to play in at least one MPT event together, and this was the 8th time in MPT history that a tournament included two different married couples
• dukegal76's elimination of ru47suited was the 13th time in MPT history a spouse or significant other has knocked their partner out of a tournament
• dukegal76 and ru47suited are the 42nd and 43rd different players to eliminate at least one opponent in at least one MPT event
• Syrorange3042 busted on the bubble for the fourth time in the six events he has played, moving him into fifth place on the all-time list in the category
• Sass has now finished in last place in more MPT events than any other player, moving out of a four way tie with Betdponies, Baccarat King, and Bigfus on that list
  

Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Event #2

Observations following the Memorial Day MPT, the second event of the 2020 season, played on Pokerstars.net on May 24, 2020.

• This is the first time in MPT history that two tournaments have been played in the same month
• With 15 days since the last event, this is the second shortest break between MPT tournaments, trailing only a 7 day gap between tournaments on 9/26/2009 (Stone Harbor) and 10/3/2009 (Caesars AC).
• This was the third time in history and the first time sine 2009 that the same venue has hosted the MPT twice in a row. The previous venues to host back to back MPT tournaments were Showboat (12/28/2008, 6/13/2009 and Caesars Atlantic City (10/3/2009, 11/21/2009).
• Pokerstars.net is the 11th different venue to host more than one MPT
• With a field of 14 players, the Memorial Day MPT tied the 2013 Las Vegas Spectacular as the third largest field in MPT history
• dukegal76 and Skyweb22 were the 63rd and 64th players to play in a least one MPT event
• Sass is the seventh player in MPT history to win three or more tournaments
• Twelve tournaments and 1,974 passed days since Sass last won an MPT event, though she only played in six tournaments during that time. This is the third longest stretch of time between wins in MPT history, trailing only Bigfus (12/27/2012-9/29/2019) and RowanB (5/3/2014-12/27/2019), though Harv29 holds the record for most tournaments between MPT wins, with 17 (11/22/2008-8/1/2011).
• This was the first time Sass won a tournament when Bigfus did not finish in second place
• Sass's 29 points was the third highest single event total in MPT history
• Sass's first place prize was the fifth highest cash in MPT history
• After completely different players cashed in each of first two events of the season, nine different people have already cashed in an event this year, already tied with the 2007 for the fifth highest number of different players to finish in the money and the most in one season since 2011.
• Skiteacher became the 21st player in MPT history to finish in second place in at least one event
• Skiteacher tied Stan's record for most points by a second place finisher in MPT history, with 22
• Skiteacher's second place cash was the second highest for any runner-up finisher in MPT history, trailing only RowanB in 2013, though RowanB's payout was earned after chopping the first and second place prize pools with the winner of that event, Harv29
• Skiteacher ended his streak of seven tournaments out of the money with his first cash since July, 2015
• Martin is the first player in MPT history to cash in the first three events of his MPT career
• Martin earned his first career "kill", the 41st player in MPT history to eliminate at least one opponent
• Sass set her personal best for Kills in a single event with 6, tying her with four other players for the fourth most in a single event in MPT history
• Syrorange3042 is the 19th player in MPT history to cash in more than one MPT event
• Solotrombone became the 11th player in MPT history to bust on the bubble more than once
• Tss777's 10th place finish was the lowest ranked finish he has ever recorded in a MPT event
• After an early exit to this tournament, Bigfus joined Betdponies, Baccarat King, and Sass in a tie for the most last place finishes in MPT history (though she did so after playing more tournaments than any of those other individuals)

Statistical Notes Following MPT 2020 Event #1

Observations following the Virtual MPT I, the first event of the 2020 season, played on Pokerstars.net on May 9, 2020.

• The Virtual MPT I was the fourth shortest tournament in MPT history
• Syrorange3042 tied Dorianmac for the longest gap in between MPT tournaments played, with 31 events since he last participated, though Syrorange3042's gap between tournaments was more than nine years (3,534 days) compared with nearly seven years for Dorianmac (2,555 days).
• Scurvydog then obliterated the record for longest gap between tournaments played, returning for the first time in well over eleven years, a gap of 46 events since his last MPT event in 2008.
• Harv29 moved into sole possession of third place on the all-time MPT win list, with his seventh career victory
• Sionow moved into a 5-way tie for the second longest streak of cashes in consecutive tournaments he played, extending that run to four events, trailing only Bigfus' six straight cashes in 2008-2009.
• Skiteacher extended his streak of consecutive tournaments without a cash to seven, tying RowanB for the 5th longest stretch of tournaments outside the money
• Solotrombone leapt ahead of Bigfus into second place in the all-time player ratings list, coming within less than a point of top ranked TSS777
• Solotrombone joined the top five in all-time points per event, passing several players to move into third place in that category
• After Scurvydog failed to win this event, Trojanrabbit is now the only player in MPT history to win 100% of the MPT tournaments he has played
• Harv29 became only the second player to collect all of the bounties in a single event in which three or more bounties were available. Harv29 collected all three bounties in this event, trailing only the four bounties the Bigfus swept in the September, 2019 Las Vegas Extravaganza.
• Harv29 tied Bigfus for most times eliminating the first player of a MPT event, doing so for the eight time in his career
• Sionow became the eleventh player in MPT history to eliminate an opponent on the bubble more than one time
• Syrorange3042 finished on the bubble for the third straight time in the four MPT events he has played
• Harv29 closed the gap on Bigfus on the all-time points list, coming within ten points of the top spot for the first time in years
• Amazon was the first player eliminated for only the second time in her MPT career, becoming the tenth player in MPT history to finish in last place more than once