For the second straight week, we lead with Gary Blair. With the exception of those who cashed big at the NHC, it seems fair to say that no one has had a better 2019. Certainly no one has been as consistent.
There’s a lot going on this weekend. For me, it’s usually all about the “featured tourneys” offering the biggest prizes—and there are certainly plenty of those this weekend (20 to be exact). We’ll cover all of those…but there are two interesting side attractions of note as well.
Gary Blair is a five-pin bowling center manager from Toronto. Similar to many people who work in a leisure-based industry, the 60-year-old has a busy work schedule filled with a lot of nights and weekends. Horse racing is his number one pastime, however, and he devotes much of his free time to carefully mapping out the plays that will be the foundation of his near-daily contest entries.
We alternate every weekend between putting the accent on either live-format or Pick & Pray tourneys. This week, it’s Pick & Pray’s turn to rule the roost. Sixteen of our 18 featured events will be run in “set-it-and-forget-it” style. Prayer services begin on Friday.
It has been three days since “Fourgate” (full credit to Justin Dew, who I believe was the first to coin that term), but people are still buzzing about it. As we await word on how the NTRA will settle the issue, it is somewhat interesting to take a step back and gauge people’s reaction to last Saturday’s free NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. Or…if nothing else…it’s a way to pass the time.
They say March comes in like a lion. Well it sure did here. The star of the weekend, thanks to his Friday performances, was Eric Kurzhal who scored a hat trick from a total of just four featured tournaments. Kurzhal’s exploits will havt to wait slightly, however, because the lead story was Saturday’s free NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
The first free qualifier to the 2020 NHC is already upon us. It takes place this Saturday. To compete and win, you must be a paid member of the 2019 NHC Tour. If you’re not a member yet, there’s still plenty of time to do so prior to Saturday’s free tourney in which the top five will all win NHC seats. Just go to NTRA.com. Membership prices start at $50, and they all make you eligible for a variety of benefits—including four more free online qualifiers at HorsePlayers later in the year.
The free NHC event is just one of 24 featured tourneys this weekend, which get under way on Friday.
It was a Pick & Pray weekend for the most part, and while there were a few people who managed to multi-table their way to two-baggers, the weekend winners were surprisingly spread out. From 18 featured tourneys, there were 33 different recipients of grand prizes. So while the wealth was largely shared, there were still plenty of lucrative rewards and eye-popping handicapping performances.
It’s another busy weekend with 19 featured tourneys stuffed into the Friday-Saturday-Sunday period, and Fridays just got a little bit more fun.
One event that never takes a breather is the NHC. Just five days after Scott Coles was crowned champion of the 20th edition, HorsePlayers was offering seats to the 21st renewal during a holiday weekend that had a robust 22 featured events (and, yes, a total of five 2020 NHC seats up for grabs).
