Blogiversary

Today is the 75th anniversary of the “date which will live in infamy,” according to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. When I was a kid, it seemed like it was something that happened a long time before I was born, but in reality, I was born just one day before the 20th anniversary (you can do the math, presumably), and now 20 years doesn’t seem like such a long time.

Next Sunday is the sixth anniversary of the first post here at Mutant Poker, so if the amount of time between now and Pearl Harbor was a year, the blog would have been running for almost a month of that year, and that’s truly a weird thing for me to contemplate.

The early days of the blog were mostly self-analysis of online tournaments, on Cake and Full Tilt. Black Friday hit just four months after I started the blog, after which I started playing more live, at Aces Players Club and Portland Players Club (where I won my first live tournament of any size in May of 2011). The next month, I final-tabled the first $10K guarantee I played at Encore Club and I was kind of hooked, in addition to being at loose ends without any steady work. I won a noon game at Encore in July, which got me into the next month’s Champions Freeroll, where I took 2nd place for my first $1K payday. That was eclipsed in the fall when I won a $10K outright, flew to Vegas three hours after I won, and played in a $2,500 buyin Venetian Main Event to try to get to EPT Prague for a major birthday. (Didn’t happen and never will now, as you know if you’ve been reading the blog).

I’ve kept meticulous records all along the way (every buyin, every cash, every expense for nearly six years in an online database) and my attempts to analyze tournament poker profitability led to a post that turned into articles for PokerNews and Deadspin, as well as an NVG thread at 2+2. That led to interviews with Limon on his PokerSesh show, work as a live reporter at the WSOP this year, and this morning I’m going to be recording another interview with High Roller Radio, just a mont after WSOP final tablist and New York Times best-selling author James McManus was on the show.

So thanks everyone for reading and encouragement. I particularly want to thank Brad Smith at Hot Pepper Studios, who—in addition to being my employer for the past few months—was the person who suggested six years ago that if I wanted to get serious about poker, I should start a blog.

Jammin’ Jay

Jay Zeman was a fixture in the NW poker scene for years, both as a player and as a dealer, before moving to the East Coast last year. If you’d played poker in the Seattle area, particularly, you’re sure to have run into him. He still writes about the Pacific Northwest poker scene for Ante Up magazine. Tuesday, he got the biggest cash of his tournament life, over $33,000, for an eighth-place finish at the WSOPC Cherokee Main Event.

Portland Poker Holiday Championship Series

I played the first event in the series before heading to Pacific City for a weekend, got lucky in one spot, made it into the money, and then made a bad move with [ax 9x] and about 11bb. A shorter stack on my left had just doubled up, thought about it for a second, then went all in to call with [ax kx], he flopped a king, I turned a nine, and he stayed ahead on the river, then I was out a few hands later. Min cash! I already posted the results from the series here.

Deal of the Week: LAPC

Time to look ahead to the new year. The LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino is always one of the first major events of the calendar year in the West, running from mid-January to early March. The dates (13 January—2 March) have been set for a while, but the schedule was just released last week.

Unless you’ve got the time and money to spend a months-and-a-half in Los Angeles, the LAPC is something you need to pick and choose from. Here are a few of the highlights I see for myself and other Portland tournament players.

Opening weekend there are three events with a total of $350K in guarantees. 13 January (Friday the 13th), is a 2-day $175 buyin with a $100K guarantee, only one entry flight at 5pm. On 14 January, there’s a $150K with a buyin of $570, also a 2-day event. Sunday, 15 January is a 1-day $100K tournament with a $350 buyin that includes a $100 bounty.

There are a number of non-NLHE tournaments throughout the series (mostly on weekdays) but of special note to Portlanders is the 2 February $570 buyin Big O tournament. No guarantee, but it’s two days (ending on a Friday). There’s a NL HORSE tournament on 19 February if you ever want to know what lighting $340 on fire feels like.

The series culminates with a 5-day WPT Championship event with a $10K buyin. Only one starting day (25 February) but there are lots of opportunities for satelliting in on Saturday nights throughtout the series and in the week leading up to the start.

Only a Day Away

• The WPT/Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic has $25K and $50K buyin high roller tournament in the last few days of its schedule, but there’s also a final $1,090 2-day event Saturday, so if you’ve already got tickets to Vegas (or you’re already there)….
• The World Series of Poker Circuit at The Bicycle Casino runs through the 20th. Entry days for the Main Event are this weekend.
• Today is the start of the five-day Venetian Weekend Extravaganza. Their New Year’s Extravaganza begins 22 December.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

Portland Poker Holiday Championship Series

It’s time! Tomorrow is the start of the first series in Portland since the closure of Encore Club this summer. Encore ran eight incarnations of its EPS 4-tournament series (the last of which was in April). Then there was a week-long series for the opening of Portland Meadows Poker Room in May. Both of those series featured $100K guarantee tournaments. The Portland Poker Holiday Championship Series (four events total alternating at Final Table Poker Club and Portland Meadows) doesn’t shoot quite that big, but it’s a sign that both rooms are healthy.

I’d expect all of the events to reach capacity (I know a couple of guys betting on the turnout for the $30K at Meadows), Angie Lynne Schulz at Final Table posted in the NW Poker Facebook group on Tuesday night hat they were taking pre-registration because of a 230-player cap on the Friday night $30K (call 503-719-5457 for details).

The #nitcast Cometh

Spirit gave me $50. Expires this week. Gotta go somewhere. PDX it is!

— Carlos Welch (@HipHop101Trivia) November 30, 2016

Deal of the Week: Last Chance at the Bike

My travel schedule has been a bit constrained since I got back from working at the WSOP this summer, and for one reason or another (mostly a job), the only trip out of town that I’ve managed since then has been to Chinook Winds, which didn’t go so well. I’ve even had to miss some of the bigger special events here in town, and the same thing’s going to happen with the Holiday Series this weekend, because I’ll be at the coast.

And I didn’t make it to EPT Prague, my target for six Decembers.

So, with schedules winding down for the holiday season and still a lot of family stuff happening before the end of the year, is there any (cheap) way to make a big hit and maybe stash something in the old Christmas stocking?

What about the last event of the WSOPC series at the Bicycle Casino? Event #20 is a 2-day tournament with 14 entry flights (2 each day for a week from 13—19 December). There’s a $500K guarantee, and the buyin is $200+$40 (yes, that’s 16.67% rake, actually 19.17% once 3% of the prize pool is taken out for “administration fees”). 10% of the field passes through to Day 2 (on 20 December). If you make it to Day 2, you immediately get $400.

You can enter and re-enter through level 6 (25-minute levels), and you can enter multiple flights. Players who qualify for Day 2 more than once play the biggest stack they qualify on Day 2, and the other stacks are removed from play, with the player getting another $1,600 for each removed stack ($2,000 total, including the $400 qualification payout).

There are still some inexpensive flights to LA from PDX for that weekend, less than $400 including two nights in the Quality Inn across the street from the casino (I stayed there on my way back from Vegas this summer). It might seem counter-intuitive to spend $500 to fly to LA to play a $240 tournament, but there will be six qualifying flights for a $500K prizepool between Saturday at noon and the end of Monday. A similar $500K event in the summer of 2015 (with a somewhat different buyin structure) drew 2,318 entries, making a prize pool of $796,564, with about half of that divvied up between the last 10 players. (26 players qualified twice, 6 players qualified three times.)

Only a Day Away

• The WPT/Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic runs through 11 December. The lower-buyin (by which I mean less than $5K) events are mostly done as of Thursday, with an 11am PLO tournament for $1,090. There is another $1,090 NLHE event on 10 December, but anything else in that price range is a satellite to the $10K buyin Main Event.
• Deepstacks Poker Tour’s Championship series at the Grey Eagle Casino in Calgary is running and continues despite some guy driving his car into the Event Center (as documented by one of my summer WSOP colleagues, @ElleSriracha). 
• The World Series of Poker Circuit at The Bicycle Casino starts tomorrow.
• The Venetian holds the December edition of its Weekend Extravaganza a week from today, then the New Year’s Extravaganza begins 22 December.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

Thanksgiving

There have been a few goodies left on the doorstep of Portland poker this week, and here at Mutant Poker we just want to say thanks for all of it, even if we are having to admit defeat in our attempt to get to the final EPT Prague next month. Just not gonna happen.

Portland Poker Holiday Championship Series

As we’ve already announced, the Final Table Poker Club and Portland Meadows Poker Room are running a 4-event series the first four days of December, with $80,000 guaranteed between the four tournaments, and a trophy for the player with the most points through the series. Decompress from the T-Day family arguments over politics with some poker.

Pac West Poker 

As if that wasn’t enough of a present for all of you good little girls and boys, the great folks at Chinook Winds Casino have already released a preliminary schedule for February’s Pac West Poker Classic, with a week-long schedule of events starting with a $330 $50K guarantee NLHE 6-Max on 18-20 February and culminating in a $550+$200 $100K guarantee NLHE Main Event, with no re-entry. Show your appreciation for the gang down there by playing in the new poker room over the holidays.

The Decision

The Oregon Supreme Court recently published its affirmation of an Court of Appeals judgment on a case covering Portland poker. A lawsuit brought by MT & M Gaming Inc., the owners of Last Frontier Casino in La Center,

The case made its way up from Multnomah County Court to the Court of Appeals, which found that since MT & M wasn’t covered by Oregon law (as it operated in Washington state and under Washington gaming laws), it couldn’t invoke Oregon laws in its attempt to claim Portland was allowing poker rooms to steal its former customers. The Supreme Court’s interpretation was somewhat different, but it had the same effect, and it’s worth a read to see the arguments that the City’s attorneys put up in defense of the status quo, whether that’s because they’re protecting the city’s poker clubs or just because they don’t like getting pushed around by some guys from La Center. It makes for some interesting reading.

Deal of the Week: Venetian New Year’s Extravaganza

The  next months is a little slow for series as everyone hunkers down for the holiday season, but if you’ve got some time coming up around the new year, the Venetian in Las Vegas has been running a series that spans Christmas and New Year’s for several years now (though, seriously, with every month having a mid-month “Weekend Extravaganza” and four month-long Extravaganzas each year, it’s getting hard to find time when there’s just a regular schedule running for more than a couple of weeks).

None of the events in the New Year’s Extravaganza have buyins of more than $400 (most are in the $200 range). There aren’t any enormous guarantees—the largest is near the end of the series for $150K on a $250 buyin—but there are a lot of solid events twice a day that will likely be in the 60-100 entry range for the single-flight tournaments.

The three big events of the series are a $125K, $100K, and $150K, for buyins of $250, $400, and $250, respectively. The first is two days after Christmas, the second starts New Year’s Day, and the last begins 4 January. Presumably, in addition to some tournaments, there should be some action from a surge in visitors to Vegas during the holidays.

And sometime around the end of January, the first of the 2017 Extravaganzas should get going.

This Week in Portland Poker

I haven’t heard of anything out of the ordinary for Thanksgiving weekend (what with the Holiday Championship Series coming up next week), but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a late announcement of something, Keep an ear out and watch @pokermutant on Twitter.

Only a Day Away

• Speaking of the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza, the last day of the current series is tomorrow.
• It was on and off my schedule because of an error on my part (I had links to last year’s event), but the Ante Up NorCal Classic got going Tuesday. It runs through Sundaty at Thunder Valley outside of Sacramento, and the Main Event this weekend is a $200K guarantee with a $555 entry. The 2-day event finishes Sunday, with starts on Friday and Saturday.If you get done with turkey, get someone else to handle the drive down before the l-tryptophan kicks in.
• The WPT/Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic Starts Friday, with five low buyin events, including a $560 on the Sunday, and a Shot Clock tournament Tuesday.
• Deepstacks Poker Tour’s Championship series at the Grey Eagle Casino in Calgary starts Saturday. Pairing with Run It Up, they’re offering a C$550 buyin C$100K guarantee with two entry days at the beginning of the series.
• Tulalip Casino north of Seattle has a Last Sunday of the Month $75K guarantee tournament with an $820 buyin at 11am 27 November. Muckleshoot Casino has a game the same day at noon, with a $150 buyin (8K in chips) and a $100 addon (10K in chips, with 2K if you buy them both at the same time; how’s that for incentive?)
• The World Series of Poker Circuit shows up at The Bicycle Casino next Thursday, with a $50K Circuit Ring event and a $350 Survivor tournament leading the way. See last week’s Deal of the Week.
• On 7 December (the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor!) the Venetian holds the December edition of its Weekend Extravaganza, featuring a $100K guarantee tournament with a $340 buyin.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

Short

Lots of stuff happening the past seven days, and I’m not going to try to explain or recap the week apart from saying that I played just awful during the Final Table $20K last Friday and due to other circumstances, I’m not going to make the High Roller at Wildhorse tomorrow, so everyone can have at the money I would have won.

Main Event Ages

I updated my chart of WSOP Main Event November 9 player ages to show the final placement of this year’s contestants.

This Week in Portland Poker

No announced special events as of way-too-early Wednesday morning.

Only a Day Away

• It’s bounty time at the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza this weekend. Friday and Saturday are entry days for a $150K guarantee, $600 entry, with a $300 $12K guarantee on Saturday evening.
• The Mid-States Poker Tour Main Eventstarts tomorrow at Golden Gates Poker Parlour in Blackhawk, Colorado. It’s a $200K guarantee with a $1,100 buyin.
• The Wildhorse Fall Poker Round-Up comes to an end this weekend, with the $1,100 High Roller and a $225 event tomorrow, a larger $335 tournament on Friday, and the $545 Main Event spanning Saturday and Sunday.
• The Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Open.has more $350 entry days to the  SoCal Poker Championships through Saturday. After that, other events continue, including satellites to next weekend’s $1,100 Main Event with $100K guaranteed for first.
• The HPT moves across Missouri to Kansas City on 10 November art the Ameristar Casino. Seven events, with three entry days for the $1,650 Main Event.
• There will be a little bit of a slowdown in the number of tournaments over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, but don’t worry! The Poker Mutant will be here to keep you updated. Unless he’s in Prague.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

The Main Event

In case you’ve been living under a rock since 3:20am. Speculation on Twitter is that Qui Nguyen’s WSOP Main Event win might finally draw Vietnamese immigrants to the world of poker.

@ 2016 WSOP/Jayne Furman

The Main Event?

Yeah, I somehow forgot to mention in last week’s Planner that Sunday was the start of World Series of Poker Main Event final table coverage. I’m an idiot. I remembered to DVR it, at least, and Reading Poker Tells author Zach Elwood invited me over to watch some of the broadcast with him, so after the trick-or-treaters tapered off on Monday, I caught some of it with him. Seriously, though, maybe they could have waited until a weekend after both Halloween and the election.

Finally figured out my Halloween costume. #ScaryClown is big this year. Combine it with poker. Or…maybe…#SexyClown… pic.twitter.com/L2QoP7TTSX

— Poker Mutant (@pokermutant) October 30, 2016

Separated at the Poker Table

Final Table tournament director Heath Bloodgood pointed out a similarity in chip stacking:

The State of Portland Poker

Last week was a busy one for Portland players, following on the success of Portland Meadows’ $20K guarantee with the regular $10K events at Final Table on Friday, the Saturday $10K at Meadows, and a special $15K freezeout on Sunday at Meadows.

The freezeout reached a prize pool of more than $22K, with 171 entries. I was only able to make the first of the three events, and six players (including yours truly) chopped the $12K+ at Final Table for $1,600 each.

Final Table $10K, 28 October 2016

Even though I didn’t make the Saturday $10K at Meadows ($13,700 prize pool), I did go out to catch the 7pm—thinking it might be juiced a bit by busted players from the noon game—and chopped that three ways, then promptly dusted off a third of my profit playing Big O with Jeremy Harkin. That did free me up to have some drinks with River Rich, who had just finished taking down the $10K.

Combined with rumors of an impromptu 10/20 NLHE shootout running at Final Table last Tuesday night, there might be some life in the old beast yet.

Deal of the Week: Big Entry, Small Field at Tulalip

As anyone who’s read this blog for a while (I pity the fools!) knows, I have a thing for small-field tournaments because of their relative value (ask Fedor Holz about that). It’s why things like the High Roller at Wildhorse next week are attractive. This month, on the weekend after Thanksgiving, the Tulalip Casino north of Seattle is turning their Last Sunday of the Month game into one of those events by making it a $75K guarantee with an $820 buyin (including dealer addon). 30-minute rounds, 15K+3K in chips. Alternates, late entry, and re-entry for the first 4 rounds.

The monthly calendar doesn’t specify how much of the buyin goes to the prize pool, but I think we can assume about $750, so the field is expected to be something over 100 entries, but you’re probably not looking at more than 200. 11am on 27 November.

This Week in Portland Poker

It’s a new month, which means the Final Table First Friday $20K is upon us. That’ll be at 7pm on 4 November. $80 buyin with a live rebuy and $40 addon.

Only a Day Away

• The Liz Flynt Fall Classic draws to a close tomorrow at Hustler Casino with a one-day $20K deepstack tournament. If you hurry down to LA, you might be able to catch the last flight of the $200K guarantee tonight at 5pm. $240 entry.
• At the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza this weekend, there’s a $175K guarantee bounty tournament with an $1,100 buyin, with entry days on Friday and Saturday. Entry days for a $250 buyin $150K guarantee are Monday through Wednesday.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Main Event has starting flights ($1,675 buyin) on Friday and Saturday. The last event starts on Sunday. One-way airfare to Sacramento early Friday can still be had for a couple hundred dollars and Reno’s about three hundred, but you’d need to get from either airport to Lake Tahoe.
• HPT St. Louis Main Event at Ameristar Casino St. Charles has one entry flight on Friday and two on Saturday. $1,650 entry and there are plenty of satellites running as late as noon Saturday. Might be a bit spendy to get to St. Louis at this late date.
• The Rio Final Table Festival starts tomorrow with a mic of has $500 and $300 NLHE events, and a $1,100 satellite into the 2-day $10,000 main event on Monday (Halloween). Several other satellites to both the Main and smaller events that are running through the weekend.
• The Mid-States Poker Tour starts tomorrow at Golden Gates Poker Parlour in Blackhawk, Colorado with a $360 buyin $100K guarantee and an $1,100 buyin $200K guarantee Main Event a week from tomorrow.
• The Wildhorse Fall Poker Round-Up starts tomorrow. Individual tournaments are listed on the calendar.
• The final leg of the SoCal Poker Championships is at Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Open. The first event is Friday, followed by eight days of starting flights for the $350 buyin $3M guarantee SCPC. The LAPC Main Event has $100K guaranteed for first place with a $1,650 buyin.
• The HPT moves across Missouri to Kansas City on 10 November art the Ameristar Casino. Seven events, with three entry days for the $1,650 Main Event.
• There will be a little bit of a slowdown in the number of tournaments over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, but don’t worry! The Poker Mutant will be here to keep you updated. Unless he’s in Prague.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

Quick Turnaround

Not a lot up top this week since the chock full late post on the weekend. I did want to mention that the $20K at Portland Meadows last weekend nearly doubled the guarantee (damn you, Sunday special tournaments!) with almost 300 entries.

Photo via Portland Meadows post on the NW Poker Facebook group

The Christmas Present: WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic

If you (or someone you love) have always wanted to play a multi-day tournament with a good structure in a fancy environment, you might consider taking a flier on one of the nearly two-dozen events at this year’s (no longer Doyle Brunson) World Poker Tour Five Diamond at the Bellagio, starting the day after Thanksgiving and running through 10 December.

Sure, several of the events have buyins of $5K and $10K (though there are satellites into those) and there’s a $50K, but there are seven open non-satellite side events at $1,090 or $1,600, plus a seniors tournament at each of those buyins. The side events include PLO, a NLHE 6-Max, and a NLHE Shot Clock tournament, as well as a Turbo at the end of the series. There’s even a $560 buyin event.

More importantly, these tournaments don’t have particularly large fields. Last year’s $1,090 PLO tournament got just 135 players, and even the NLHE events only had a couple hundred players each. Aside from the $560 tournament (which got just over 300 entries last year), the biggest field was 233, which paid 27 places and $53,000 for first place.

You stand to make a little more for your cash in one of these fields due to their smaller size, and you’re paying less rake, so the buyin to prize pool ratio is better.

Live a little.

This Week in Portland Poker

You people are killing me! There’s nothing I love more than a freezeout tournament (except for a Survivor tournament). It’s one of the purest forms of tournament poker and I rue the day when someone added “re” in front of “buy.” But Sunday is one of those family days for a lot of us, so I’m going to be missing this one. No need for you to if you don’t love your family. This Sunday’s $15K Freezeout at Portland Meadows will be the last big event in town before the Wildhorse series in Pendleton starts.

Next week is the regularly-scheduled First Friday $20K at Final Table, which technically is after the start of WIldhorse, but it’s just conflicting with the first day. Last change to spin things up before the series.

Only a Day Away

• LATE ADDITION! I somehow managed to let Run It Up Reno slip off my calendar, but its Main Event is this weekend, with $600 entry days Friday and Saturday to their $100K guarantee. Plus $125 O8/Stud 8, PLO/NLHE, and 8-Game (all 6-Max) running through Sunday, along with more. Nothing scarier than a Reno Halloween!
• This weekend at the Hustler Casino is their Day 2 and Day 3 of the  SoCal Poker Classic. Sunday is the first of four days (two flights per day) of a $200K guarantee with a $240 buyin that’s the Main Event of the Classic
• At the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza this weekend, there’s a $600 buyin NLHE bounty event (2 days, starting Friday and Saturday), and a PLO/PLO8 $9K guaranteeon Sunday evening. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are starting days for a $400 buyin $150K guarantee.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe has three entries days to their first big event on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Monday is the $365 6-Max, Wednesday is the Monster Stack. The Main Event starts next Friday. The Tahoe stop is one of the best for ring-hunters; last year their Main Event got fewer than 500 entries compared to the 1,300 that were in the Main at the Horshow Casino in Indiana this week.
• HPT St. Louis is under way, with its  opening $100K guarantee ($350 buyin). The Main Event starts next Friday.
• The Rio Final Table Festival starts tomorrow with a mic of has $500 and $300 NLHE events, and a $1,100 satellite into the 2-day $10,000 main event on Monday (Halloween). Several other satellites to both the Main and smaller events that are running through the weekend.
• 30 October at Muckleshoot Casino is the Fifth Sunday special, a $330 buyin with $3K added to the prize pool. Game starts at noon.
• An hour earlier on 30 October (11am) is also the Tulalip Casino LSOM tournament. It’s $345 with the dealer toke, and has $5K added to the prize pool.
• The Mid-States Poker Tour wanders west to Golden Gates Poker Parlour in Blackhawk, Colorado. Satellites start Halloween, but a $360 buyin $100K guarantee starts Thursday, 3 November, with the $1,100 buyin $200K guarantee Main Event (though I hate seeing asterisks after that number when I can’t find what it’s for) kicking off 10 November.
• The Wildhorse Fall Poker Round-Up also begins 3 November. Individual tournaments are listed on the calendar.
• The final leg of the SoCal Poker Championships is at Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Open. The first event is 4 November, followed by eight days of starting flights for the $350 buyin $3M guarantee SCPC. The LAPC Main Event has $100K guaranteed for first place with a $1,650 buyin.
• The HPT moves across Missouri to Kansas City on 10 November art the Ameristar Casino. Seven events, with three entry days for the $1,650 Main Event.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

Prague

Five years ago, I was on a mission to get to EPT Prague for my 50th birthday in December. Poker, a big birthday, and snow in St. Wenceslas Square for Christmastime! What could be cooler?

Needless to say, after Phil Laak crushed my dreams at the Venetian, I didn’t make it, and now—with PokerStars rebranding their various tournament series around the world—this year will be the last EPT Prague. SO I’ve only got a couple of months to get things together.

Then again, if any devoted readers want to spring for a great birthday gift, just drop me a message @pokermutant on Twitter.

Ignition

A week and a half since the Ignition Casino deposit, and no problem with the check bouncing yet. I wrote up the first of the two Thousandaire Maker tournaments I cashed in the other day as Three Hundred Dollars an Hour.

I had one of those aggravating-even-when-positive results the other day in a $55 buyin, $50K guarantee turbo. There was an $8.6K overlay with 828 entries, with a little more than that  set for first. We were down to 19 players when this happened.

Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be, Particularly That Lender Part

Is it time to start naming name? Asking for a friend.

Beach Poker Club

The Beach Poker Club opened last week in west Eugene with a big party and a 7-day schedule of at least two tournaments a day (including PLO on Tuesdays at 6pm). According to a post on Tuesday morning, they’re planning a 5-day series 19—23 October, with the schedule to be announced.

House-Bound

Except for a home game, I haven’t had a chance to play live since mid-September. Didn’t make the $20K at Final Table because of work, but I’ve been playing online a lot. Got a concert to go to this Friday (no Final Table for me!) and something that’s going to keep me from playing the big game at Portland Meadows yet again. Is there still live poker in Portland?

Deal of the Week: HPT Championship at Thunder Valley

If you’ve got $3,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you’re in luck, because I have a way you can use it (assuming you’re not donating it to me EPT Prague fund).

The Heartland Poker Tour hits Sacramento’s Thunder Valley Casino this weekend, but the big event is next weekend: a $500K Guarantee, $2,500 buyin Championship event with three starting flights. It’s a three-day tournament, with a televised final table (played on Monday, 25 October).

Last year’s Thunder Valley Championship had just a $1,650 entry fee but still put up a prize pool of $672K, with more than $150K for first.

You can still find round-trip flights to Sacramento for less than 400 thjat get you there before noon when the tournament starts (though there aren’t many direct flights left). ALternatively, if you’ve got the time or a couple of people to travel with, the drive is about ten hours. Alternatively, if you don’t want to drive., you can catch an overnight Greyhound bus at 6:25pm in Portland and get to Sacramento at 6:45am ($107 each way) and take a nap.

Still need to get out to the casino and find somewhere to stay.

This Week in Portland Poker

Thought I was going to get to Final Table’s Wednesday $1K Bounty game but if you follow the blog, you know that it’s waaay past its usual post time, so that’s not happening. Rialto still has cash games every night, there are the afore-mentioned $10K games (Final Table 7pm on Friday and noon at Portland Meadows on Saturday). No big series announced to take the place of the fall EPS—and I haven’t heard a peep about the $200K guarantee Final Table planned before this summer’s unpleasantness—but maybe I’m just out of the loop.

Only a Day Away

• It’s ig Poker Oktober at LA’s Bicycle Casino through next week. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are starting days for the CardPlayer Poker Tour Main Event, a $400K guarantee with $1,100 buyin.
• The HPT kicks off its Thunder Valley Championship stop starting tomorrow with the $425 buyin, $250K guarantee Monolith. As mentioned above, the Main Event next weekend has a $500K guarantee.
• Kennewick, Washington hosts the Tri-Cities Poker Championship Friday through Sunday at Lucky Bridge Poker.
• Eugene’s Full House Heads Up Championship runs Saturday and Sunday.
• WPTDeepstacks San Diego opens at the Oceans 11 Casino on Saturday; they have a $200K guarantee Main Event with starting days next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
• The SoCal Poker Classic hits the Hustler Casino next Friday as part of the Liz Flynt Fall Classic. The Main Event is a $240 buyin $200K guarantee with eight starting flights beginning the day before Halloween.
• The next Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza starts Monday, 24 October and runs through Thanksgiving. It opens with a $150K guarantee $250 buyin and has a total of 56 events.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit holes up at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe on Thursday, 27 October. It’s one of the smaller-turnout venues for the WSOPC.
• By contrast, St. Louis is a big destination for the HPT, and its first event is the same day, a $100K guarantee with a $350 buyin.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!