Earl Stewart was declared the winner of the May Dan Le Batard Celebrity Poker Tournament held at Dania Jai-Alai. It was a 10-person chop, with each player receiving $690. Stewart was the chip leader and took home the trophy.

I heard somewhere that you want the good players to your left, and that was my case Wednesday night; I had Earl, then another player to his left (the guy in the striped shirt in the photo/send me your name!) who made the final 10 of the 196-player tournament.

Apparently, Earl is a regular at the fronton, because when players came to our table, most of them knew him. Seems like a nice guy; I'm glad he won.

He was all-in a few times, but I can't remember if he had any more luck than the rest of us. Seems like we had a ton of pocket aces, and other pocket pairs, especially sixes.

We were entertained late in the tournament when a new player came in whining about how he got rivered, then went all in with king-queen, only to run into pocket aces. Then he drops the name of David "Chino" Rheem, loses another race, and is gone, but not before dropping several f-bombs. (See earlier post, re: Phil Hellmuth and civility.)

The entry fee for the monthly event is $50. Dania Jai-Alai’s cardroom is open Sundays through Thursdays from noon to midnight, Friday and Saturdays from noon to 2 a.m. The fronton is located at 301 E. Dania Beach Blvd in Dania Beach.

Meanwhile, big Friday night tournament at Dania, with a $100 buy-in. I'll update with the details soon; I had the flyer but now can't find it.