SUPERMAN KUPERMAN WINS AGAIN !!!
                                 May 16, 2010    By:  Ike Humalot
Los Angeles --  On August 1st of 2009, Zachary Kuperman crashed a party where he knew virtually no one, and he entered a tournament of a game he’s never played before, and he kicked everyone’s ass and took home a big check for $1,000. Even though there’s no denying that winning Pig Madness is an amazing achievement and one of the hardest tournaments to win given the layout of the tournament itself, and the countless x-factors such as weather conditions, sexual distractions, soberness, and concentration amidst all the chaos, many assumed that victory was beginners luck…many were proven wrong this past Saturday.  Superman Kuperman arrived at the Piganapolis 500 by bus and proved once again that his pigs are for real winning the second tournament in his second tournament played and taking home a pocketful of cash and pig-shaped grill!  The guy is 2 for 2; a 1000% batting average.  To put that in persective, longtime NPPL veteran Gary Williams is estimated 1 for 28!   Kuperman did it with style, grace and a lot of good-hearted trash-talking... And he made it look easy. 
After what seemed like a half-hour of rolling to see who goes first, the night will mostly be remembered by some amazing rolls and “hot pigs” early on, to the point that an official inspection was almost called for by one contestant.  Dan Stadler & Rich Washofsky led the early rounds by consistently throwing 30-point rolls along with Gus Mosca and 2008 Champion Eric Fieland who respectably had rolls in the 70s!  They set the pace early and threw off everyone’s gameplan!   In the end, Washofsky,  Stadler  and Fieland went cold though allowing everyone else to force their pig-passing and catch up and surpass them, which was all Kuperman needed throwing an astounding 268 points in 3 of his last 4 rolls!  His 91 points to finish was nothing short of remarkable and about 15 rounds and 90 minutes was all he needed to finish everyone off.  Mosca’s big rolls canceled out his few pigouts, but he needed 3 more rounds to finish in SECOND place, winning himself $50 (not to mention his donation of the grill for the first-place winner – thanks Gus!).  And newcomer Frankie Riddell, a pretty blond straight from Down Under was under the radar all night and finished THIRD winning herself a new set of Pigs!  The reigning champion Johnny Derango was a minor force but then fell apart after oinkering in the 18th round, in the end finishing only ahead of Sean Walsh who drove all the way up from San Diego to finish in last place.  Walsh tied Gary Williams by having 7 pigouts in the first 10 rounds, which was no surprise for Williams who at one point had a staggering run of 12 pigouts in 14 rounds and still somehow managed a NINTH place finish in the field of 14.  John Coscia was his ever-reliable self, throwing very good pigs and managing a FOURTH place finish, in addition to enhancing the tournament with an excel spreadsheet /scoreboard which undoubtedly made the tournament and the night itself that much better and funner.  Click on the link below to see the spreadsheet and stats!  Coscia also made headlines by rolling the most points in one turn of 155 points!  In fact 6 players had rolls of over 100 points.  Now that’s what I call "HOT PIGS!" 
At the end of the day, The Piganapolis 500 has gradually turned into much more than “that other tournament” of the NPPL.  There was only 2 more people than in 2009, but with the addition of the scoreboard, the distance people traveled, and the setup at Brennens Pub, the Piganapolis 500 has slowly broadened itself now as one of the harder tournaments to win and one of the funnest tournaments to attend.   It’s a different tournament than the Madness but one that holds the same philosophy - you have to roll good pigs and you have to know when to pass them.  And Superman Kuperman showed everyone how it’s done.  Mark Rago summed it up best by stating, “The difference between the Madness and the 500 is like winning a 7-card stud Poker championship in Las Vegas and then going to Mexico and winning a 5-card draw tournament in an underground alley with a bunch of mobsters and tweakers.  They’re totally different games with totally different strategies…and Zach won them both!   Fuck.”  
Click here to see the spreadsheet, stats and standings!
Winners:  Gus Mosca and Zachary Kuperman