Last night TWO ABSOLUTE LEGENDS were paid out in our $25,000,000 Target Tournament, sharing the $5,000 prize between them.
Q: How often have you turned $2 into $2,500?
Me: Never, but I’m not MattyDs86 or George112.
Anyway, it turned into a spectator sport with everyone getting around the lads.
Here's a short recap of how it all went down...
As you can see from the image above, the Trash Talk chat facility had started populating itself with other Champs egging the two in contention on, and wondering what they were backing next.
Earlier in the night George122, indicated he was going to put 1.9mill on some horse “DASHING POET” in the last race of tournament, still some 2.5 hours away.
In a side strategy, he was also trying to build about $5 mill of ChampCash to have a plan B bet.
We'll get back to George, but at 10:15pm, with a lot of captive viewers, is when things took a DRAMATIC TURN.
The other ledge in the running, MattyDs86, who was on an amazing streak of winners, had worked his way to 6mill. He had recently adopted an all in strategy, putting his whole balance on the races prior, and again went all up into WEST ON OLLIE at Mandurah… and after trailing, it flashed home to win by a literal whisker. Man it was close.
Now he had worked his way to $12,692,520 and had extended his winning streak to eleven races in a row.
Meanwhile, George122 was going up and down on the spot, moving between $2.5 and $4 million ChampCash for the best part of the previous hour.
So next, Matty again went all up, with everyone watching on. He told the crew in Trash Talk who he was on so everyone could get behind it and him...
AND IT WON!!!!!!!!!
BUT The SportChamps betting service provider TBS PAID IT OUT AS A LOSS… so he dropped to the bottom of the leaderboard.
Rightly so, a chorus of people in Trash Talk started crying foul and offering their disgust.
Us here at SportChamps HQ were also losing our minds trying urgently to get a fix on the situation, that was honestly completely out of our control, but nothing would work.
NOTE: We've since found out Mattys bet of $12,692,520.82 (which is eleven digits) had exceeded the amount they'd ever seen before, and their system wasn't geared to handle a bet that big / long. It has since been fixed and won't cause an issue again.
THEN THE TBS SYSTEM REINSTATED HIM TO $12 MILL, BUT THE BET WAS LEFT PENDING FOR THE REMAINING HALF HOUR.
We, SportChamps, had no choice but to honour Matty with the win and award him the $5,000 real cash prize. He'd picked twelve straight and in all likelihood, without the TBS error, have not only got the next winner he needed, but ten more, he was in that good a form.
While a satisfying result for all, we had a “winner” but still no one reaching the $25,000,000 (even though Matty almost certainly would've).
For the crowd left watching, there was only one race of relevance left - George's 1.9mill on Dashing Poet in the last race on the tournament card. He'd called it early remember...
To explain my emotions as a bystander, I have never wanted to see a nag get up this badly, that I didn't have a substantial stake on, in my life. But hopes seemed dashed, when after looking particularly good into the straight, on the fence, with a bit to give, it started going backwards at the 150metres, and looked cooked.
NOT TONIGHT THOUGH! THIS WAS GOING TO BE HISTORY AND SOMEHOW IT KICKED!
After getting headed, it fought back over the last 50metres AND WON. Paying the $13 he needed, taking him to $25,000,000.09.
WE GOT OUR FIRST (ACTUAL) WINNER and the crowd went mad.
Both guys had very different strategies, with Matty backing 12 winners in a row, and George putting the required amount on Dashing Poet early, and then opting for a spray and pray approach Plan B.
Damn that was good, and thanks to all the Champs who followed along in Trash Talk and made an event of it.
Good news is, the Target Tournament is back again today and tonight, with a $5 version requiring the $25,000,000, and paying a whopping $10,000 to anyone who reaches the target.
