2010 Southwest Beer Pong Championships
The first phase of the tournament consisted of preliminary games. Each team would play six random teams and track their record as well as their cup differential. The out-of-towners cleaned up in prelims, with 6 of the top 7 finishes. I guess most ABQ players aren’t used to playing that much beer pong so early in the day. El Paso made sure everyone knew they were here to play, with their teams EP Elite and Sink and Dethrone being the only two to go undefeated in the prelims.
Clovis’s We Met on eHarmony had the highest cup differential at +23, even after losing one of their games! Other honorable mentions go to Arizona’s Nate’s Unemployed and Zonah for both going 5-1. The strongest performing ABQ team ended up being The Bob and Tom Show, going 5-1, which surprised more than a few locals. Props also go to ABQ team TKO, who also went 5-1. The final rankings and stats for prelims can be found here.
The next phase of the tournament consisted of bracket play, where the top 16 ranked teams would be seeded into a double-elimination bracket. The winners bracket games would all be best-of-3, and the losers bracket games would all be single-elimination. City-Number of teams: El Paso-4, Clovis-1, Phoenix-2, ABQ-8, Portales-1.
The early stages of bracket play saw few surprises, with the exception of the Burque Bombers’ games. In what was most certainly the most exciting match of the day (including the finals) they played against El Paso’s EP Elite. Up until this point, EP Elite had been simply destroying the competition. Undefeated until this match, they were arguably the favorites to win. EP won the first game of the series, and then a crowd began to gather around the table. The noise and trash talk rose to Vegas-esque levels. After another two incredibly intense games, the Bombers found themselves to be the first to stand up and take down the El Paso boys.
EP Elite then found themselves in a tough losers bracket situation. Their first game was against home-town rivals Sink and Dethrone, whom they defeated. They then faced another familiar face in Pill Poppin’ Animals, who finally brought the top seeded team’s tournament to an end.
The final four had two NM teams in the losers bracket, and two AZ teams in the winners bracket. Nate’s Unemployed and Zonah had both dominated the winners bracket before facing each other. Zonah ended up the victors, putting them undefeated in the finals. Back in the losers bracket Clovis’s eHarmony found themselves up against ABQ favorites TKO. All of the 505’s hope rested in the TKO boys, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. ABQ was out of the running. This left eHarmony and Nate’s Unemployed in the semi-finals. After a brief hiatus resulting from belligerent players, the game was finally played. eHarmony made very short work of the AZ team, making them the losers bracket finalists.
This put eHarmony playing for New Mexico against Zonah playing for Arizona. The final match would consist of two parts. The first would be a best-of-3 series. If Zonah were to win the series, they would be declared the tournament winners. If eHarmony were to win the series, the two teams would then play a single game to determine the tournament winners. What was left of the crowd (it had been a long day) gathered around the final table while the ridiculously oversized 1st place check was brought out.
The players on both teams were visibly tired after the long, grueling day of beer pong (approximately 7 hours at this point with only a single 30 minute break). Of the four players, only one was shooting up to his ability, and his name is CO. Hitting cup after cup, it seemed the Clovis player simply could not miss. Even though his partner Andy was sluggish after the exhausting day, CO was a machine. He almost single-handedly (Andy did help) took down the first two games, making them the winners of the best-of-3 series.
This meant each team would play a single additional game. Whoever won this game would be declared the tournament winners. Amidst chants of “MVP,” CO got to work making cup after cup. Then there was the three rack. I know this is my personal worst rack, but I never thought I would see it break someone on a shooting spree such as CO in this final match. After his first miss, the crowd was quiet except for a few people telling him it was alright to miss one in thirty. After the second, Zonah knew it was time to take advantage and finally put an end to eHarmony’s run. Lucky and Nate quickly made their last five cups, putting the pressure on eHarmony. They exhaustion was simply too much, though, and eHarmony bowed out at 2nd place. The final bracket for the tournament can be found here.
Congratulations to Arizona’s Zonah for taking the win in the first annual Southwest Beer Pong Championships! I expect to see you carrying that ridiculous check around to every tournament you play in!
- Clawless
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WSOBP 8 Satellite Tournament
February 4th, 2012
Southwest Beer Pong
Spectators Sports Bar
Guy/Guy Teams: $50
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Albuquerque, NM
February 4th, 2012
Southwest Beer Pong
Spectators Sports Bar
Guy/Guy Teams: $50
Guy/Girl Teams: $40
Girl/Girl Teams: $30
Preregistration Discount Here
Albuquerque, NM
2012 Southwest Beer Pong Championships
August 3rd-5th, 2012
Southwest Beer Pong
Spectators Sports Bar
Friday: WSOBP 8 Satellite
Saturday: $5k Doubles Main Event
Sunday: Singles Championships
Albuquerque, NM
August 3rd-5th, 2012
Southwest Beer Pong
Spectators Sports Bar
Friday: WSOBP 8 Satellite
Saturday: $5k Doubles Main Event
Sunday: Singles Championships
Albuquerque, NM