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May 20, 2007: El Guapo Recap

At the March 11th El Guapo tournament, Peter and The Logo (playing as "socalbeerpong") battled with Easy Eddie and Jackie Jr. in a heated final game. After pushing that game to 4 OTs, and an argument over rules, it was decided to split the pot, with both teams getting a number 1 ranking for El Guapo's World Series (not to be confused with bpong.com's World Series of Beer Pong). With a new website and their own tournament to promote, the priority for May 20th should have been promoting Southern California Beer Pong, but this group was fully geared up to win. In practice sessions, Lodge West looked strong in shooting at El Guapo's squat cups. Peter, coming off of a broken wrist, had his cast removed just a week earlier. He had shot well at the Scarlet Lady earlier in the week, but was having trouble adjusting to the smaller cups. In another twist, The Logo had work demands take him to the fine city of Yuma, Arizona, making Peter switch up teammates.
 
To those that regularily frequent El Guapo, "beer pong" is played with a ten cup triangle,
while "beirut" is played with 8 beer cups that are arranged with no cups touching. The small group of guys that have played beirut at El Guapo for years (but never beer pong) did not participate in the March 11th tournament, but they'd be making an appearance May 20th. SCBP had to be on the lookout for anyone over 40 - a true sign of a hometown ringer.
El Guapo Beirut Cup Formation
 
Lodge West opened up the first round with a game against two girls. Notoriously slow starters, Tyler and Fred could not get going; they quickly found themselves down 5 cups. Luckily, the girls did not continue their streaky shooting, and Lodge West finally started to hit cups and pulled out the W. Air Mattress Sleeps 4, a late entry into the tournament, started off hot. At one point they hit 5 cups in a row, completely breaking down the confidence of their opponents. They too were two girls that cannot be taken lightly. They had multiple turns at the last cup though, and could not get past the rim. The smaller cups definitely played a role, as Meghan was on target, hitting rim on most of her shots. SCBP gladly accepted a first round bye, granted for their top 7 place in the previous tournament.
 
Round 2 found SCBP playing a couple El Guapo regulars - Stix and Romeo. Not being used to the triangle formation, they missed on quite a few turns to start the game, giving SCBP a little breathing room. After not looking good the night before, Peter stepped up to the plate, and didn't miss much. He couldn't get synched up with Grant though, preventing them from running away with the game. They probably hit one cup per turn, which gave them enough of lead to cause the ringers to even try a 'sniper' shot (sniper rule: 2 balls in same cup = remove 3 cups). Peter was quick to pull the cup that was hit - spilling half the beer, but preventing the make. The ringers ended up coming back with a vengence, eliminating cups quickly with multiple double backs, and actually hit the last cup first. With only one cup left for SCBP, Peter was up to the challenge, hitting for the redemption to force the 3 cup overtime. Overtime is never a sure thing, with the shoot-til-you-miss rule, but Peter/Grant prevailed, hitting 3 cups in two turns. Bitter, the old guys went off to sulk in the loser's bracket.
 
Round 2 was not so friendly to Lodge West. They too met up with Team Guapo, a couple of ringers, one being the owner of El Guapo, and the other being a tall beast who with the lean, easily released the ball halfway across the table. Lodge West played solidly, but could not hit the last cup, going down to the loser's bracket earlier than they would've hoped. Air Mattress Sleeps 4 also did not fare so well, losing their 2nd game.
 
SCBP's second game was against the lucky team that squeaked by Air Mattress in the first round. It was closer than expected, but Peter and Grant advanced with no major problems, closing out the game with a . They were one of 4 teams left in the winner's bracket, looking forward to a rematch with Easy Eddie, except that Easy Eddie lost. Meanwhile, Lodge West could not break out of their funk, with Tyler hitting front or back rim on every shot, but never in the middle. Just like March 11th, they would be eliminated from the tournament in disappointing fashion.
 
Round 4 pitted SCBP versus a sharp shooting team. Peter could not adjust to the different table, while Grant was on enough to hit SCBP's first four cups. Once they got the rearrange, Peter started to feel the range a little bit, but it was not soon enough, as the other team consistently hit cups. Two were left on the table, which proved to be too many for Peter and Grant to hit for redemption.
 
Down in the loser's bracket, SCBP would be faced up against Easy Eddie. Always an intense matchup, these two teams have respect for one another off the table, but no love lost come gametime. Jackie Jr. rose to the occassion again, almost getting in a fight with a mostly innocent bystander. The bystander was mostly innocent because he was simply cheering for his friends from the table he was seated at. The 'cheers' were slightly instigating in nature, but tame nonetheless. The move by Jackie Jr. to take 5 minutes to take his shot has been witnessed before. He was engaged in an argument, but it could be that he just like to slow the game up, to throw an opponent off. He just loves to hold the ball when it's his turn to shoot, but when the balls are on the other side of the table, the F bombs start flying. When it came time to play the game, Jackie was thrown off a bit, and even knocked over one of his own cups - a huge advantage in a game between two good teams. That one cup helped out majorly, as SCBP got to the finish line first with two cups left on the table. Even Easy Eddie couldn't pull off another miracle, propelling SCBP on to another round.
 
With only 4 teams left at this point, SCBP had to keep playing, and keep winning. Their next matchup was somewhat critical. They'd been moved to another table, and with bad lighting, combined with the late afternoon shadows, they'd have some more adjusting to do. Numero Uno was a somewhat controversial pairing, as a teammate swap had been made mid-tournament. This was somewhat moot, as the team was easily carried by the charter member. Coming off the win against Easy Eddie, SCBP was feeling confident. They had been fairly consistent, but had a hard time of combining on their hits to get double backs. Numero Uno started the game with a double back, and one player was on fire, not missing on his last 6 or 7 shots. It was just too much for SCBP to handle, and they had to settled for 4th place.
 
Meanwhile, in the winner's bracket final, the first team SCBP lost to met Team Guapo and seemingly had them dominated. They finished off the game with 4 cups left on the table - but the owner comes in, and with the shoot-til-you-miss rule, promptly hit the last four cups himself. They didn't look back, and Team Guapo ended up taking the title, with the two teams SCBP lost to finishing 2nd and 3rd.
 
In the end, with their victory over Easy Eddie and Jackie Jr. and their 4th place finish, SCBP takes sole possession of the #1 spot on the El Guapo World Series board. On to June 2nd in El Segundo.
 
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