Rookie, Katie, Wins Big and Cleans Up!

United States - Aaron Whitcomb, Natasha Rene Stafford, Katie McClain, and champion, Meg Holko, sat down for a title match on Sunday night that lasted nine hands. The list of finalists consisted of three veterans and one rookie and it was the rookie that would earn the title of MEGA-Nertz Open Champion.

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To start, the champ, Meg, quickly got down to business winning the first two hands on back-to-back Nertz calls. However, her lead dwindled when she was set in the 3rd hand by a Nertz call from Natasha. Natasha didn't just set Meg, but she also set Aaron and Katie making a full table set.

Katie, currently tied in second place at the start of hand #4, took the lead with a 20-point Nertz call after claiming the 4th. Katie followed that call with another Nertz call, this time acquiring 27 points(a game high) in the 5th . Katie was quickly set in the 6th by the champ, Meg. Then, 13 points off of the leader, Katie, made another Nertz call completing her second back-to-back, which had pulled her 1 point away from the lead.

Katie, sensing the champs pressure, asserted herself in the 8th with a 19-point Nertz. She now had a total of 92 points and only needed 8 points for the victory. Well, in the 9th, Katie more than closed things out with a 19-point full table set that secured her place in Nertz history.

The NNA crowned Katie "The MEGA-Nertz Open Online Champion". But the accolades don't stop there. Katie also received the "Rookie of the Tournament" award. And she also had the hand high for the tournament(37) in which she will receive an "Official Nertz Scoring Pad". Aside from the 2nd and 3rd place prizes, which would be impossible to obtain by winning the tournament, Katie won every prize available in this tournament. Her prize pouch will include an invitation to the "2009 Tournament of Champions", a "Nertz Champion" T-Shirt, and a free copy of the "Nerts High Speed Card Game" software. But that is just for winning the this tournament, there's more! As mentioned before, Katie receives the "Official Nertz Scoring Pad" from her tournament hand high, as well as, an "I Love Nertz" bumper sticker for winning the "Rookie of the Tournament" award. Her goal may have been to win all the prizes possible in this tournament, but all of the prideful tournament players that played in this tournament really only wanted one thing... : To go down in Nertz history as the first MEGA-Nertz Open Online Champion in history.

Meg placed 2nd in this tournament while Natasha placed 3rd. They both will be receiving copies of the "Nerts High Speed Card Game" as well.

New Rankings:

Out of the 9 rookies that played, 6 of them busted into the top 20 in the NNA Player Rankings. Katie went from being un-ranked to being ranked 2nd only having two-time champ, Sara Paseka in front of her. Meg only fell one spot but raised her player ranking with her outstanding play in this tournament. Brock Ellis moved down 6 places but Mallory Holko moved up three into 11th on the list. Natasha also made a leap moving from 10th to 7th, which landed her just behind her arch-nemesis, Aaron Whitcomb who is now 6th on the list.

The NNA wants to thank all of the tournament participants from every online tournament this year. The inception of the NNA Online Nertz Tournament System has been very successful. Everyone is looking forward to future NNA tournaments whether they are live/in-person tournaments or online tournaments.

2-Time Champ Battles In Thriller!

United States - Three of the four veterans made it to play in the ACEG MEGA semifinal match. 2-time champ Sara Paseka and veterans Aaron Whitcomb and Natasha Rene Stafford went at one another for 9 hands. Brock Ellis wasn't available for tonight's hardcore exhibition of talent.

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Sara started the match with a 20-point Nertz that put her out in front. Aaron countered in the second with a 27-point Nertz. This only moved him into second place as Sara remained in first with 20 points of her own in the 2nd. Natasha stuck a blow in the 3rd with a 22-point Nertz, which resulted a place swap with Aaron, while Sara, still in 1st place, inched closer the 100-point mark.

In the 4th, Aaron then traded places again with Natasha moving himself back into second place after a 28-point Nertz, while Sara continued her march to the finish after yet another 20-point tally. At that point the scores read as follows: Sara 74, Aaron 63, and Natasha 55.

Sara was within striking distance, but the feud between Natasha and Aaron was starting to heat up. Aaron was bested by Natasha in the second round by only two points. This time Aaron was determined not to let Natasha beat him. However, Natasha, currently in 3rd place, wasn't about to let Aaron get the best of her this time either.

Sara continued the match unaware that the magnitude of her opponent's rivalry would have such an impact on her tournament life. Natasha quickly made back-to-back Nertz calls pulling herself back into second place just 1 point away from the leader, Sara.

Aaron didn't waste anytime in the 7th hand calling Nertz and making a full table set which put him in the lead. In a volley-like fashion, Natasha returned Aarons Nertz call with her own full table set in the 8th.

The ninth hand would prove to be the last of the match. All three vets had a chance to take it. But who wanted it the most? It just so happened that 2 of them did take it. Aaron's and Natasha's rivalry fueled them both to play any and every card they could in the 9th hand up until a Nertz call was made. It was Aaron who ended up calling Nertz but much to everyone's surprise, he did not solely posses the highest match score. Natasha tied with Aaron at 101 points to end the match as both players further solidified their places as arch nemeses.

The 2-time champ, Sara, fell just short of advancing to her 4th final appearance. She had a dominating second round match in which she won in only 4 hands. Sara will be plotting her revenge having already preregistered for the next NNA tournament. It is unlikely that Sara will fall from the #1 spot in the tournament ranking due to both her quality performances in this tournament and her previous ones...especially the ones in which she captured 2 titles.





Final Preview:

Aaron and Natasha will face Katie and Meg in the Finals of the MEGA-Nertz Open. Meg Holko, the only champion remaining in this tournament, has the lowest PPG average of all the finalist. That may not be a factor, due to Meg's experience in the finals.

Meg beat Aaron Whitcomb in the finals of the NNA004 tournament. However, rookie Katie McClain just put a beat down on Meg along with another tournament champion in the same match.

In addtion, Natasha Rene Stafford beat Aaron W. in her second round match after advancing on a "bye", so we know she can beat a champ-beater.

Aaron is looking to be the first male ever to win a NNA online tournament. He has taken down the 2-time champ twice in his tournament life.

Katie isn't perfect in her 1st tournament appearance despite her impressive stats. She did lose to rookie Josh Consalvo in her second round match. Katie still currently holds the tournament hand high in which she will be awarded a prize for if it stands. She is also a strong favorite in the "Rookie of the Tournament" running. If her record holds, a victory in the final would likely earn all four tournament prizes. A truly magnanimous feat. However, the veterans in this final will do everything they can to prevent this from happening.

The final match-ups look to be extremely close in talent. All of the finalists have the skill, but it will be about who executes when it counts. We will see next week who can execute!

Katie Owns In Semifinal!

United States - Simply put, Katie McClain put a beat down on two Nertz champions and one promising rookie. It was over in 5 hands. Katie took on champions Jill Younker-Sny and Meg Holko, as well as, rookie Josh Consalvo.

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Katie started with a 30-point Nertz. Meg followed the next hand with a 29-point Nertz to take the lead. Then it was all over. Katie called a quick Nertz in the 3rd, made a big full table set in the 4th, and closed out the match in the fifth with a 33-point Nertz, which was the hand high of the match. Katie finished with 112 points and made two other players finish in the negative. Meg wasn't too far behind finishing with 76 points.

Meg and Katie have advanced to the Final in this MEGA-Nertz Open online tournament. Meg the most recent tournament champ has her work cut out for her if she plans on becoming the MEGE-Nertz Open champ. Katie still holds the tournament hand high record with 37 points. If she keeps up her outstanding level of play she could clean up in the prize department. If she wins the tournament and her hand high stands, she would win the 1st place prizes, the "Rookie of the Tournament" prize, and the tournament hand high prize! 4 prizes total. She has all but secured two of them, pending the official announcements from the NNA when this tournament is completed.

Though Katie shouldn't count her chickens before her eggs hatch as she still has four other veterans eagerly awaiting to face her, one of which is a 2-time champion. Aaron Whitcomb, Brock Ellis, Natasha Rene Stafford, and Sara Paseka will play their semifinal match this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. CST. Both Katie and Meg will have their hands full with any of the players that advance from that match.

Katie may be taking an extra bit of confidence going into the Final. It isn't easy to knock off two champions in such dominating and quick fashion....but she did make it look easy. We will see what happens in the Final of the biggest online Nertz tournament ever. Keep an eye out for the results.