Home Poker League Tip and CPL Record Books

If you’re going to run a home poker league over a course of time – someone will be interested in knowing who holds various records. You should, then, find some way to keep track of these records if for no other reason than to trot out the fact that you win 85% of the time when you’ve won the first hand of the week (or whatever esoteric stat works for you). Look for a future post to discuss league management software and website – some of which allow for such stat keeping. For now, however, here are some records and all-time leaders from the CPL (which we use an Exel spreadsheet to keep track of).

The CPL has finished up two complete seasons (6 sessions total – Spring, Summer and Fall sessions make up a season with each session consisting of, usually, 11 weeks), which, in total make up 77 matches that have been played. And, while there have been tweaks from time to time this is still largely comparing apples to apples (since we’re in charge we’re saying it is exactly like comparing apples to apples). So, here’s a look back at the first two CPL seasons and the CPL record books.

Most Points in a Session
Karaoke Phil – 128.8 (Summer, Season I)
JP “The Eliminator” – 120.8 (Spring, Season II)
Mike “Blind Me Down” – 113.8 (Fall, Season I)

Most Regular Sessions (11-weeks) Won
Karaoke Phil – Summer, Season I and the recently concluded Fall, Season II (95.4 pts)
Mark “Verbal” Cardenas, Blind Me Down Behr, Jeff “Matusow” Matson, and JP “The Elimator” have each won one session.

Most “Career” Points
Karaoke Phil – 506.9
Mark “Verbal” Cardenas – 476.5
Malinda “Nemesis” Cardenas – 422.85
Mike “Blind Me Down” Behr – 401.9
Bill “Comeback Kid” Lanoux – 366.2

The following records are based on a minimum of 16 matches played within the CPL:

Most Matches Played
Mark “Verbal” Cardenas – 74
Karaoke Phil - 72
Malinda “Nemesis” Cardenas - 70

Career Wins
Karaoke Phil - 11
Mark “Verbal” Cardenas and Malinda “Nemesis” Cardenas tied with – 9
4 players tied at 5 wins each

Times in the Points (top half finishes)
Mark “Verbal” – 43
Malinda “Nemesis” – 39
Karaoke Phil – 36

Percentage of Time Winning
Karaoke Phil – 15.28% (11 of 72 matches)
Malinda “Nemesis” 12.86% (9 wins in 70 matches)
Mark “Verbal” – 12.16% (9 of 74)
Vince “Cursed One” Castellanos – 11.76% (2 of 17 matches)
Jeff “Matusow” Matson – 11.63% (5 of 43)

NOTE: In seeking to confirm whether a Mike “BMD” win is either a “rare” or “100-year” event we have ascertained that prior to his Season III, Week I win Mike had pulled off the feat 3 other times in 49 matches. That 6.12% winning percentage puts him in 13th place of 14 qualifying CPL players (minimum of 16 matches). However, take a look at who leads the next CPL record.

Percentage of the Time in Points
Mike “Blind Me Down” – 65.31% (32 times in 49 matches)
Jeff “Urkelnator” Kuhlman – 61.54 % (24 of 39)
Mark “Verbal” – 58.11% (43 of 74)
Malinda “Nemesis” – 55.71% (39 of 70)
Steve “The Chaser” Bennewitz – 54.76% (23 of 42)

Honorable Mention goes to JP “The Eliminator”, Gene “Ninja” Milne, "Whatever happened to" Damon and Jill “JJ Gold” who, variously, have the percentages to qualify as top record holders in some of the these categories but who have failed to play the required 16 CPL matches to qualify.