Welcome to the last #PNWPokerCal Planner. At least for the forseeable future.

MutantPoker.com isn’t going away, and I expect that I’ll probably still keep updating the Pacific NW Tournament Calendar when I can. I’ll post other stuff from time-to-time, and I’ll definitely continue posting @pokermutant on Twitter, but I’m going to step back from trying to make the deadline every Tuesday. Way too may typos and editing errors creeping in. Plus I’ve run out of stupid jokes for titles.

Where to Find Stuff

Over the years I’ve been compiling the calendar, I’ve found some good sources of info on tournaments. Some not-so-good. Here’s where I look for myself.

LOCAL Clubs

Portland clubs have varying levels of engagement with their web sites. Sometimes info goes up elsewhere first, sometimes what’s on the web site is incomplete or out-of-date.

Portland Meadows

The Meadows web page is under the Social menu on the racetrack site. They also have social media links. Facebook Twitter

Final Table

I rewrote the website for Final Table, so at least I think it’s pretty informative. They have a Google Calendar-based monthly and 4-day calendar, plus there are ways to show structures for regular and special events. They’re active on Facebook but not so much on Twitter.

The Game

It’s not the prettiest web site out there and there’s not much in the way of tournaments but The Game does put up a monthly slate of shootout info, with food specials and  other goodies from time to time. Semi-regular posts on Facebook in the NW Poker group.

NW Poker on Facebook

Facebook’s taking it in the shorts right now because they collect info about you that you probably had no idea they had access to and sell it to every Bob, Dick, and Ivan out there so Mark Zuckerberg can pay people to wipe his ass for him (conjecture) but the NW Poker group is the clearing-house for daily info on local games and players.

One Good Hand

The home site for both Claudia’s and Rialto. You’ll also find regular posts from Rialto on NW Poker.

Regional

This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of every poker venue in the PNW, just places I checked in on at least semi-regularly. Or sort of knew about.

Last Frontier Casino

Where would we be without the good buddies up north who have worked so hard to shut down Portland poker? Facebook Twitter

Spirit Mountain Casino

I’ve only played there three times and not at all in the past five years—tournaments are my thing, you know—but they’re still plugging along without the likes of me. No poker-specific social media.

Chinook Winds Casino

My favorite casino at the moment. Very good at getting their schedules and structures up and available before tournament series. Twitter

Black Diamond Private Member Association

An Albany-area club, Black Diamond requires membership to see their schedule. They have an active Facebook page.

Beach Poker Club

Eugene. Facebook is active but no Twitter this calendar year.

High Mountain Poker Palace

Kind of hard to tell if they’re doing anything, the Twitter account has been idle for a couple of months, but there was a Facebook post this month.

Bend Poker Room

For a small-town venue, BPR has busy Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Widhorse Resort & Casino

Will it be my next favorite casino in a week or two? All I know is they don’t have poker-specific social media.

Little Creek Casino

Northwest of Olympia, Little Creek has a regular schedule of small tournaments with the occasional series.

Muckleshoot Casino

Muckleshoot publishes a monthly poker room calendar, usually just after the first of the month but sometimes it makes it out before the end of the previous month (April is up!). Their social media accounts aren’t poker-specific.

Tulalip Casino

Tulalip’s monthly poker calendar is usually more delinquent than Muckleshoot’s (April is not up!).

Compilations

Casinos are corporations and like a lot of corporations, they have processes for getting things done. Their web sites are usually run by an overworked in-house publicity department that’s handling stuff for the entire casino or they’re outsourced to third-party web development services who could care less about whether yo are getting your tournament info in a timely manner. There are, however, people whose job it is to get info out to you (and unlike me, they get paid for it) and poker rooms often send information to these venues long before it gets onto their own casino’s web sites.

PokerAtlas

If you don’t already have a PokerAtlas account (and associated app), get one today (it’s free). Their information isn’t always up-to-date (I’m pretty sure Aces Full isn’t having a tournament today at noon), but their infoo on major tournament series is reliable. You can search for info by geographic region, filter by state and date, and even see info about cash games. They own TableCaptain, a competitor to the Bravo poker management system, which shows live cash game and tournament clock info for venues like Muckleshoot. PokerAtlas also maintains geographically-oriented Twitter accounts: @PortlandPoker, @OregonPoker,  @SeattlePoker, @PokerVancouver, etc.

Bravo Poker Live

The Bravo Poker site and app has dozens of locations with tournament and live game info available. I can tell, for instance that as I type this, there aren’t any tables running at Cactus Pete’s in Jackpot, Nevada; that Tulalip has 5 tables (4 of 1/3 NLHE and 1 2-10 Spread HE with wailing lists of 7 and 1, respectively); 17 tables running at the Orleans (7 different stakes of O8 and HE) and that their 7pm PLO tournament is down to 5 players after four hours.

CardPlayer

The CardPlayer site has an extensive list of tournament series for the US and abroad. It’s not as easily searchable as the one at PokerAtlas, but it works.

The Hendon Mob

Naturally, Hendon Mob has a list of worldwide seres. It has the added benefit of links to netcasts of events as they become available.

PokerNews

last but not least is PokerNews, where the list of events isn’t as comprehensive but it does come with links to live reporting.

tournament series and major venues

World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker Circuit

World Poker Tour

Heartland Poker Tour

WPTDeepstacks

Mid-States Poker Tour

Venetian Deepstacks

Commerce Casino

Bicycle Casino

Pacific Northwest Leader Board

A lot of material for this last leaderboard (holy crap, I did a lot of programming to produce this feature, how am I going to just toss that aside?). The results from the Muckleshoot Spring Classic hit The Hendon Mob this week.  Since they’re all from the same series this week, let’s do it chronologically, more or less.

Jordan Feliciano (Troutdale) took down the Thursday tournament with 324 entries and a prize pool just over $30K, then cashed in the Main Event at 12th for his second and third Hendon Mob records. Nathaniel Janda of Mill Creek, Washington took 2nd in the Thursday tournament for his second recorded cash.

Tacoma’s Michael Coombs had a small cash in the Omaha 8 tournament Wednesday evening (there was a 4-way deal at the end; alert Angela Jordison!) then won the Friday tournament before triple-dipping with a 29th place finish in the Main Event. The Friday tournament had a four-way split for 2nd place, with Josh Sepulveda (Lynnwood), Michael Turchin (Federal Way), David Gray (Puyallup, his seond-ever recorded cash), and Stone Samrith (Burien) sharing the honors.

Sean Brandow, Thanh Hoang, and Tommy Kivela were all at the final table of the Saturday tournament ($500 buyin) where it looks as if there might have been a final table deal.

Kivela went on to make the final table of the Main Event ($750 buyin) for a good weekend (he has only five recorded cashes and one of the other three was the final table at the Chinook Winds Main Event just last month.

Only two other PNW players were in the top six in the Muckleshoot Main Event: Portland’s Allen Oh in 5th and Kao Saechao in 4th(Damascus, also coming off a good Chinook series run).

This Week In Portland Poker

Portland Meadows is closed for Easter Sunday.

https://twitter.com/devvynpdx/status/978521144675323904

Only a Day Away

Would you believe we’re less than two months from the beginning of the Las Vegas summer series season? The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III starts 14 May; and Planet Hollywood GOLIATH starts 24 May.

• The Bicycle Mega Millions XVIII wraps on Saturday. There are two $245 entry flights each day through Friday for their last event, a $250K guarantee.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit  Planet Hollywood Main Event has entries on Friday and Saturday ($1,675).
• Run It Up Reno at Peppermill Casino has its $600 $150K GTD Main Event this weekend, with entries on Friday and Saturday. There’s also a $5K GTDPLO Bounty tournament on Saturday evening ($235 buyin with $100 bounties).

https://twitter.com/pokerlizzard/status/978361475793272833

• The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza II has a $200K GTD $1,100 entry tournament with flights today and tomorrow. They haven’t got any large events planned this weekend with the WSOPC main down the street at Planet Hollywood, but it ramps back up next Thursday with a $600 $200K GTD.
• WSOPC Council Bluffs starts tomorrow.
• Heartland Poker Tour is at the  Westgate Las Vegas tomorrow. The Main Event ($1,650 entry) on the first weekend of April has a $500K guarantee; there;s an opening event with a $350 buyin with $100K GTD.
• Tomorrow is WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valley. It opens with two $100K GTD tournaments (a multi-entry-day event with $160 buyin during the week with Day 2 on Friday and a single-day tournament on Saturday with $460 buyin) and wraps with a $500K GTD event ($1,100 buyin) starting next Thursday.
• Saturday morning at Bay 101 in San Jose, they’re ramping their tournament schedule back up after last year’s move with a $550 freezeout with big blind antes. They’ve announced the sates for this years Bay 101 Open (14—21 May); most of the tournaments on their schedule come with a $350 voucher for the series.
• The Wildhorse Spring Poker Round Up is coming up in just over a week, with a slightly reconfigured schedule that puts the High Roller up front on the first weekend rather than mid-week. Adjust your plans accordingly. I’ll be there Thursday for the 7pm NLHE High Roller Super Satellite.
• Mid-States Poker Tour Colorado is in Black Hawk next week, starting with a $150K GTD, $350 buyin and wrapping with a $1,100 buyin on a $300K GTD event.
• Deepstacks Poker Tour Edmonton runs 6—16 April at Casino Yellowhead. The capping event is a C$300K tournament with C$1,100 buyin (US$230K and $845, respectively). Flights bracketing the Main Event are going for about $300RT.
• The HPT St. Charles stop near St. Louis is always popular, and they head east after Las Vegas for a series starting 12 April.
• Stones Gambling Hall has a their Spring Classic coming up 10 April with multiple events and a $150K GTD Main Event.

Pacific Northwest Leaderboard

There was a late (late) report from the Chinook Winds PACWEST Poker Classic that showed up in this week’s collation for Oregon players on The Hendon Mob: Eugene’s David Holder, who took 2nd place in the Main Event. It was his largest reported cash—and the first one in nearly five years—thogh he had a string of four-figure cashes for several years in LA and elsewhere, and was the winner of the 2011 TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Challenge.

Ian Johns made it to 10th in a field of 1,533 at the LAPC25 #48 $1M GTD NLHE Double Stack, another number from mid-February that just posted this past week (I reported on Belliga Flores getting 8th in the same event last week). Out in Atlantic City, Max Young is still cranking them out, just missing a third WSOP Circuit Ring in Event #4 NLHE Double Stack. He lost to a guy older than me! So there is hope! max is already qualified for this year’s Global Casino Championship via his Main Event win at Lake Tahoe earlier last fall.

This Week In Portland Poker

Nothing special going on that I’m aware of, but next weekend…

Only a Day Away

Would you believe we’re less than two months from the beginning of the Las Vegas summer series season? The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III starts 14 May; and Planet Hollywood GOLIATH starts 24 May.

• I somehow missed the announcement of the Atlantis All In Poker Series in Reno (which started last Thursday). It runs through this weekend, so if you were heading down a couple days early for Run It  Up Reno, you might check in on the $200K NLHE Main Event with $1,100 buyin on Friday and Saturday at 11am.
• The Bicycle Mega Millions XVIII with a $1M GTD for a $160 buyin has entry days through Monday, with two $160 entry/$100 addon flights each day at 11:30am and 4pm, and $550 flights (a higher percentage of players make it to Day 2) Friday—Sunday at 2pm. Tuesday (Day 2 of the $1M event) is the first of six flights for a $245 tournament with $250K GTD.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit is back in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood tomorrow with an opening $150K ($365 entry) this weekend, PLO on Monday, and the Main Event next weekend.
• The $40K/1st tournament at Lucky Chances is Sunday at 9:30am.
• Run It Up Reno is at Peppermill Casino starts Monday. It has a reputation as an extremely fun series, and while the events aren’t particularly large (with a $600 buyin $150KGTD Main Event), they do have a range of games, includiing PLO, HORSE, and 8-Game 6-Max.
• Monday is also the beginning of Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza II which kicks off with a $200K GTD $1,100 entry tournament for the non-weekend-warriors: starting days on Wednesday and Thursday next week, offset from the Planet Hollywood Main Event.
• Next Thursday is WSOPC Council Bluffs.
• The Heartland Poker Tour return to  Las Vegas at the Westgate next Thursday. The Main Event ($1,650 entry) on the first weekend of April has a $500K guarantee; there;s an opening event with a $350 buyin (flights 29—31 March) with $100K GTD.
• Also starting next Thursday is WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valley. It opens with two $100K GTD tournaments (a multi-entry-day event with $160 buyin during the week with Day 2 on Friday and a single-day tournament on Saturday with $460 buyin) and wraps up next weekend with a $500K GTD event ($1,100 buyin).

• The Wildhorse Spring Poker Round Up is coming up in just over two weeks with a slightly reconfigured schedule that puts the High Roller up front on the first weekend rather than mid-week. Adjust your plans accordingly.
• Mid-States Poker Tour Colorado is in Black Hawk two weeks from today, starting with a $150K GTD, $350 buyin and wrapping with a $1,100 buyin on a $300K GTD event.
• Deepstacks Poker Tour Edmonton runs 6—16 April at Casino Yellowhead. The capping event is a C$300K tournament with C$1,100 buyin (US$230K and $845, respectively). Flights bracketing the Main Event are going for about $300RT.

Yeah, that’s right, it’s been a year since I won the trophy as the best poker player in Portland!  And now that I’ve won my first five-figure score I’m going to be insufferable!

This week’s edition of the Planner is going to be a short one; I need to go and soak my swelled head.

The PACWEST Saga—Now With Hendon Mob!

We’ve had the results of the PACWEST Poker Classic posted for a couple of weeks now, but for those of us who live and die by numbers, the real question was when were they going to show up on The Hendon Mob?

Like an idiot, I was checking them obsessively—sometimes several times a day—even though you can have (and I do) Hendon Mob alert you when a change is made to your results. Angela Jordison took time out of her busy schedule of playing poker and drinking in LA at the WSOPC/Mega Millions series to text me Saturday afternoon when they weren’t showing up yet. I checked again early Sunday and there was my latest cash, but they were still entering them in; while all of the events were listed for the serie, only the first event had a link when I first checked it. A couple of hours later, all were up. You can find them here.

I put together a points spreadsheet for the series, using the WSOP Circuit point system for Ring events. Tam Nguyen was the overall winner with a first-place in Event #7 NLHE Seniors and final table in Event #1 $100K NLHE, for 67.5 points. For “open” events (non-restricted by age, in this case), the crown would go to TJ Amhaz, whose technical 2nd in Event #1, final table in Event #13 $50K NLHE, and min-cash in Event #16 $200K NLHE Main Event, got him 62.5 points, just enough to edge ahead of Richard Chouinard, who also had two final tables (Event #3 and the Main Event) and a min-cash for 60 points. Two more players with two final tables tied for the next spot with 55 points: Kris Monteith and Calvin Le. With wins in one event and a min-cash in another, Angel Farrington and Dan Beecher got 52.5 points, putting them ahead of everyone who won an event but didn’t cash anything else (50 points): Angela Jordison, Jacob Dahl, Kao Saechao, Matthew Jacks, Paul Nguyen, and Paul Thomas.

Pacific Northwest Leaderboard

The winner of the Chinook Winds PACWEST Poker Classic, Portland’s Paul Nguyen, was the top new name on the leaderboard, with his only recorded cash in Event#16 $200K NLHE Main Event putting him in 299th place on Hendon Mob’s Oregon listings. Event #1 $100K NLHE 4th-place finisher William Tinoco was the second newbie (ir was also his first cash) in the big money for the week’s reports.

Meanwhile, down in Los Angeles, James Romero took first place in the WPT/LAPC #59 $200K GTD $5,250 NLHE 8-Max, besting 57 others. Portland’s Andy Su grabbed 4th in the Wynn Spring Classic $1M NLHE Championship in Las Vegas. Glenn Larson of Olympia was the second Larson at the final table of the WPT Rolling Thunder $3,500 NLHE Main Event at Thunder Valley, making 8th place (the event was won by a David Larson from San Jose). Out of Seattle, Belciga Flores took 8th at the LAPC #48 $1M NLHE Double Stack. 

Calvin Le from Portland was the big money-winner at the PACWEST Poker Classic after Paul Nguyen, with 4th-place finishes in Event #13 $50K NLHE on Friday and Event #16 $200K NLHE Main Event, just edging out TJ Amhaz, who was a co-winner in Event #1 $100K NLHE, took 6th in Event #13 $50K NLHE, and 33rd in the $200K Main Event.

Dylan Wilkerson got a 6th in the Wynn Spring Classic $3,150 NLHE (with a $385K prize pool), then headed north to THunder Valley for a small cash the WPT $3,500 NLHE Main Event.

Portland’s Richard Chouinard was one of a handful of players to cash three (or more) times at the PACWEST Poker Classic. He had a min-cash in Event #1, lost the heads-up batrtle to Angela Jordison in Event #2, and made 7th place in the Main Event. Event #1 co-winner Kao Saechao went down to Thunder Valley and made the unofficial final table of WPT Event #3 NLHE Knockout.

Bryce Schnellenberger of Portland got his second Hendon Mob record for 3rd place in the Main Event. Olympia’s Chris Hinchcliffe got his 88th with 13th place at the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event.

Kris Monteith of Gresham was another three-cash winner at PACWEST, making final tables in Event #9 Omaha Hi/Lo and the Main Event, and a small cash in Event #11 Big O. Robert Mitchell from Corvallis was another PNWer who cashed in the Wynn $1M NLHE, taking 15th.

Daniel Magdalen (Milwaukee) got 5th in the PACWEST Main Event, which was just enough to pull ahead of me (3rd place in Event #1) for the reporting period, but I still jumped 300 places on Hendon Mob’s Oregon All Time Money List.

Poker Time With Tedder

There’s a new session of 2 Poker Guys’ Poker Time $1K Sit & Go that features Elizabeth Tedder. Liz is in both 442nd (as Liz) and 69th (as Elizabeth) positions on the Oregon All Time Money List. If she got those combined she could get out of the 69 position (and move up to 61).

This Week In Portland Poker

It’s the big St. Patrick’s Day $50K GTD NLHE at Final Table this Saturday. There’s a $160 buyin with 1 live rebuy and $80 addon (with $15 daily membership fee). 12K chips for buyin/rebuy, and 10K for the addon. Expect the plaques to come out for this one!

Lucky Chances Battle of the Bay

The Cardroom, a magazine and website covering the Northern California poker scene, announced that Lucky Chances Casino (south of San Francisco) has scheduled their annual Battle of the Bay. The series runs from 22—30 April, and features guarantees for first place ranging from $10K during the week to $40K on opening weekend, and presumably $100K for first place in the Main Event (it’s not specified in the article but it appears elsewhere). Buyin for the $40K/1st event is $630 (with staff appreciation) and the Main Event is $1,110. Lucky Chances has a $40K/1st on 25 March (also $630) at 9:30am.

Only a Day Away

• Muckleshoot Casino Spring Classic starts at noon with the $2K Added NLHE Shootout ($300 entry), and a $200 entry O8 at 7pm (not included with any of the satellite packages). That builds up to the $10K Added NLHE  Saturday ($500 entry, last year Portland’s Allen Oh won). Sunday is the $750 buyin Main Event, which had a $142K prize pool last year.
• The Bicycle Mega Millions XVIII with a $1M GTD for a $160 buyin event starts tomorrow.
• The Venetian March Extravaganza runs this weekend.
• Coming up next Thursday, the World Series of Poker Circuit is back in Las Vegas (pace yourselves, guys!) at Planet Hollywood this time.
• The $40K/1st tournament at Lucky Chances mentioned above is Sunday, 25 March.
• Run It Up Reno is at Peppermill Casino a week from Monday.
• Monday, 26 March is also the beginning of Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza II.
• Two weeks from tomorrow three tournament series kick off: WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valley in California, HPT Las Vegas at the Westgate, and WSOPC Council Bluffs, just across the river from Omaha, Nebraska (you can actually get RT tickets for less than $300, no non-stop flights though).

Bilzerian PNW-Style

https://twitter.com/jackiburkhart81/status/970179122604400641

Stepping Up The Game

Over in SW Portland, The Game is splashing shootout pots with half the membership fees every three hours from open to close on Sundays. They’re also advertising 20/40 at noon on Monday and Thursday, though it;s not specified in anything I’ve seen whether it’s LHE or NLHE. I’m, uh, guessing limit since the calendar says the game’s full kill, but then again you might want to bring $20K along with, just in case. Discount entry fees before noon, 2/5 NLHE running three days a week, with 2/5 PLO and 1/2/5 PLO on Thursdays and Saturdays, respectively.

Wow nice turn out for the @Dashpay tourney!@PDXmeadowspoker pic.twitter.com/oTsaaXaP30

— Devin Sweet (@devvynpdx) March 3, 2018

Portland Meadows DASH Tournament

I was busy getting my ass walloped in the Final Table $20K last Friday, but the Portland Meadows DASH/CRYPTO 20% Overlay tournament—the first brick-and-mortar tournament with buyins and payouts in cryptocurrency—got a respectable turnout, with some players reportedly re-entering four or five times (note: this is never even remotely profitable).

At the time of the tournament, DASH was selling at about $610 (the buyin for the tournament was 0.1D). It dropped a little bit on Monday and is about $580/D as I write this.

DASH tournament final table courtesy Brian Sarchi/Portland Meadows Poker Room

This Week In Portland Poker

It appears as if the most recent addition to the Portland poker scene, Room 52 is no longer in operation. You might keep an eye on the NW Poker group on Facebook to see if there’s more info.

Downtown at the Rialto, they’re trying to get a mixed game shootout running on Mondays, though they’re using the Monday MIx moniker popularized by Devin Sweet, which caused a little dustup in the Facebook announcement.

Just before last weekend’s $20K, Final Table announced a $50K GTD tournament on St. Patrick’s Day.
This week looks like a regular old week of poker in Portland,

My Time Is Coming

Life since the PACWEST Poker Classic has been hideously poker-free. I played a single $10K and a short (losing) microstakes cash game on Ignition Casino because I had an overdue freelance project, the schedule of which was not helped by me spending two weekends in Llincoln City. Then I dropped two buyins at Final Table’s $20K on Friday night in just under 70 minutes. Almost got to my target number in the Saturday night Thousandaire Maker but lost a flip (I had only gotten there by sucking out with nines vs. kings) and busted half-way through; late-regged the $4K 6-Max and busted 49/125; was the first one out of an O8 Turbo, Just missed winning a Jackpot SnG, and dropped my buyins in PLO and NLHE Zone (the Ignition equivalent of PokerStars’ Zoom cash tables). The Black Diamond Poker Open is running online through the end of the month, so I may hit that a little, if I can get this project off my desk.

Splitting 10 decks of cards in a hydraulic press via the Hydraulic Press Channel. pic.twitter.com/AQBf1w4LJp

— MachinePix (@MachinePix) March 6, 2018

Pacific Northwest Leaderboard

Results from the Chinook Winds series still haven’t posted to Hendon Mob! What? It’s only been a week and a half since the end of the series? Aaaaaagh! They haven’t updated my photo, either.

Matt Affleck made the Main Event final table of the Rio Las Vegas WSOPC stop, though he was out in ninth.

Powell Butte, Oregon’s Bryce Clark picked up 3rd place in Event #43 of the Venetian Deepstacks Extravaganza. It’s his best-ever score.

Stephen Schumacher from Lewiston picked up his second five-figure cash, getting to 14th in the same WSOPC event as Affleck., then cashed the next day in 12th at the Venetian in Event #44, a $150K GTD tournament.

https://twitter.com/aliimsirovic/status/971180051835142145

Back at the Rio, Seth Davies picked up a little cash in the $2,200 High Roller, then went for the long green at an Aria High Roller ($25K buyin) getting heads-up with David Peters in a 15-entry tournament.

And, not to leave out the Wynn, Aaron Thivyanathan (Renton) took 4th place in the 227-entry field of a $100K GTD tournament.

Recognize Anyone?

image via Dion Hunt on NW Poker

2018 Summer Schedule

The last couple of weeks have seen a spate of schedule releases for summer tournament series (believe it or not, the first of them—at the Venetian—opens in just 68 days).

As usual, the first place you should look for info to compare series is Kenny Halleart‘s comprehensive spreadsheet. Hallaert has been putting this together for a number of years, well before he got to the WSOP Main Event Final Table, and as a tournament director in his own right, he’s meticulous about getting all of the info.

The World Series of Poker schedule was announced weeks ago, of course. and it’s easy to find. Structure sheets are linked underneath the name of the event.

DeepStack Extravaganza III includes
$1,100 @msptpoker NL $3,500,000 GTD

June 1-8
Day 1A/B/C/D @ 12pm
Day 2/3 @ 12pm

20K/Chips
40-Min Levels
Reg/Reentry until 7:30pm

Live updates & live stream by @msptpoker https://t.co/lVYNWBGa0u

— Venetian Poker Room (@VenetianPoker) March 6, 2018

The schedule for the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III has been released (last Thursday) but it’s not linked from the poker room’s blog yet. Between Labor Day and the Fourth of July, events for the series will take place in the Venetian’s Sands Convention Center, to accommodate an expanded schedule.

The Planet Hollywood GOLIATH schedule is still in working status, but you can get a good idea of its scope. It features events with both $1M and $2M guarantees.

The Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget only has a draft schedule out, as well, but it features two $250K GTD events and a $500K GTD Main Event which aren’t likely to change.

The 2018 edition of the @ARIAPoker Classic runs May 26 – July 8 in Las Vegas. Check out the full schedule https://t.co/WjsqiBr1T1

— PokerNews (@PokerNews) February 18, 2018

The Aria/WPT500 schedule is out (sans structures), on the WPT site.

That leaves the Wynn, Bellagio, and Binions schedules yet to come (and finalization on a couple of the above). All of the above are linked through the Calendar.

Only a Day Away

• Muckleshoot Casino has one last $125 Wednesday satellites (7pm tonight) for packages to the Spring Classic coming up next week. Each package has the option of entry into the $500 $10K Added tournament on Saturday, 17 March and two of the Wednesday—Friday tournaments or entry into the $750 $20K added Main Event and one of the weekday tournaments. There are Mega Satellites Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday for tickets to all of the NLHE events, then Wednesday is the opening $2K Added NLHE Shootout ($300 entry) at noon, with a $200 entry O8 at 7pm (not included with anmy of the satellite packages). That builds up to the $10K Added NLHE  next Saturday ($500 entry, last year Portland’s Allen Oh won). A week from Sunday is the $750 buyin Main Event, which had a $142K prize pool last year.
• The Wynn Classic’s $600 buyin $250K GTD NLHE has three noon flights starting tomorrow.
• The Bicycle Casino WSOPC/Mega Millions XVIII has the WSOPC Main Event this weekend, with entry flights on Saturday and Sunday at noon (you can also buy direct into Day 2 on Monday, with the original starting stack). Tomorrow is their $10K GTD Big O tournament ($240 entry) and there’s a $3K Survivor tournament tomorrow at 4pm ($365 buyin). The event I’m really sorry to miss is the return of the $100K GTD HORSE game ($350 entry), with six entry flights between Saturday and Wednesday. Next weekend is the beginning of Mega Millions XVIII $1M GTD.
• The Venetian March Extravaganza runs next week, with twelve events, including a $200K GTD with flights next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday ($600 entry).
• Coming up in just over two weeks, the World Series of Poker Circuit is back in Las Vegas (pace yourselves, guys!) at Planet Hollywood this time.

I ♥ Poker

If you’re reading this Wednesday, you and a loved one may still have time to get up to Muckleshoot Casino south of Seattle for tonight’s Valentine’s Day Doubles Tournament (7pm). 15K chips for $140 (per team), with each partner getting one optional rebuy of 10K ($50), and a $50 10K addon for the team at the end of round 3. Hop in the car, grab a burger for your V-Day dinner, and head up to Auburn!

Coming up next month at Muckleshoot is the Spring Classic (14—18 March). There are five noon NLHE events with a total of $55K added to the prize pools (plus a Limit Omaha 8 tournament with nothing added on the opening evening). It kicks off with a $2K added NLHE Shootout where two qualifiers from each table move on to the next level ($300 entry) and concludes with the $20K added two-day Main Event ($750 entry).

$225 Mega Satelllites to all of the NLHE events in the series are running at noon 18 February and 11 March (both Sundays), and at 7pm on the Monday and Tuesday before the first event (12 & 13 March). There are also $125 satellites running at 7pm on the next three Wednesdays that get you entry into two or three tournaments, depending on your choice.

This month’s Deepstack tournament at Muckleshoot ($300 entry), on 25 February, has had its starting time moved up to 10am from the usual noon, perhaps to get a jump on the 11am start time of the Tulalip Casino Last Sunday of the Month $20K GTD ($230 entry). If they start leap-frogging each other, poker players might figure going to church is better than getting up at 6 on Sunday morning…

Chinook Winds PacWest Poker Classic

The forecast for Lincoln City during the series is mostly showers with a chance of suckouts. Temperatures somewhere between freezing and fifty sound like good weather to be inside playing poker.

I went through most of the schedule in last week’s Planner, but just a reminder that there are a variety of Main Event satellites running throughout the week. Saturday night after Day 1 of the $100K there’s a 5-Seat GTD satty (6pm) with a $40 buyin, $30 rebuys and a $30 addon. Sunday evening is a $70 buyin satellite (5-Seat GTD), and there’s another one with that format on Monday. Tuesday and Thursday are reiterations of the Saturday format but Thursday has 10 seats guaranteed. Friday is a $150 Mega Satellite with 15 seats guaranteed (roughly 1 in four entrants should get a voucher). Your last chance for a discount is Saturday morning (24 February) at 10am, with a $60 buyin for 5 seats guaranteed.

Poker Time News

What’s this, you ask? Poker Time is going to twice weekly! Cash games released on Tuesdays still and this new Sit and Go format will be coming out every Friday. https://t.co/RqDBdyO3Wt

— The Poker Guys (@2PokerGuys) February 9, 2018

There is! To get a seat on poker time, you gots! to contact Briansarchi@gmail.com

He has details for all games and sets the lineup. https://t.co/sMiF7BlBc0

— The Poker Guys (@2PokerGuys) February 11, 2018

#PNWPokerLeaderboard

Seth Davies was the big winner for the Northwest (with the biggest number, anyway) even though he fell victim (6th of 44 entryies) to the Stephen Chidwick steamroller in Event #3 of the US Poker Open.

Dylan Linde picked up a win in the 125-entry Event #16 at Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza I. Down in Australia (it is a country) Matt Affleck was the lone American at the final table of Aussie Millions Event #23, taking fifth of 242 entries.

And out of Waldport, Keith Kroeger picked up the two biggest wins of his career at the LAPC25 Events #20 (NLHE Triple Stack) and #38 (NLHE Shootout), making 5th and 3rd, respectively. Just 40 miles from Waldport to Lincoln City? Damn.

My Time Is Coming

Busted four Ignition Casino Thousandaire Makers (one in just three hands after late-regging—hate it—and running into aces). Practiced on an online 6-Max Turbo with no luck; regretted not doing the live rebuy on Friday’s $25K GTD special at Final Table. Monday’s home game was over with me in fourth place (out of six) when my turned and disguised two pair ran into my cousin’s husband’s disguised flopped set. I did late reg (hate it) an online $4K Turbo with 500+ entries and blast up from 9K (less than starting stack) to 90K in ten hands, reaching 2nd place on the leader board as we were getting into the mony, Couldn’t manage to stay up top and busted out in 19th place for a whopping 200% ROI!

Sten Ridgway, the poet laureate of thwarted ambition

Only a Day Away

• Tonight is the Valentine’s Day Doubles Tournament at Muckleshoot Casino (see above for more info on that and other events this month at Muckleshoot).
• Los Angeles Poker Classic 25  at Commerce Casino is coming into the final stretch and the event buyins are getting bigger as the WPT Main Event approaches (Day 1 is 24 February). Today is the first of four flights for a $1,100 buyin $1M GTD tournament. Sunday has a $1,675 entry bounty tournament and $1,100 O8/Stud 8. Next week’s events include $1,100 ($100K NLHE, PLO8, $100K NLHE Seniors, $50K NLHE Eternament), a $570 Archie 8/66 (5 Card Triple Draw Hi/Lo), $2,140 2—7 Triple Draw, and a $5,250 $200K NLHE 8-Max, Plus all sorts of satellites.
• The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza has a $250K GTD NLHE tournament for $600 starting tomorrow, with a $1,600 buyin $1M GTD NLHE starting Monday (also Monday is a $12K GTD O8 for $400).
• Heartland Poker Tour Colorado Main Event ($1,675 entry) has its first flight today, with the last flight on Saturday.
• Tomorrow is the first day for MSPT Canterbury Park outside of Minneapolis. The Main Event there is $1,110 and has a $300K guarantee. Two entry days, on 23 and 24 February.
• The WSOPC Rio Las Vegas starts Friday and runs through 27 February. The opening event has six flights over 3 days ($365) with a $250K guarantee. The Main Event (starting 24 and 25 February) is $1M GTD.
• The Chinook Winds PacWest Poker Classic (see above) starts Saturday.
• The Wynn Classic kicks off Monday and features a $1M GTD Main Event ($1,600 entry) starting 1 March. There’s a $25K GTD PLO 8-Max on Tuesday at 2pm, and a $400 Survivor on Wednesday with a $5K payout.
• The Great Canadian Freeze Out is at Calgary’s Cash Casino from 22 February to 4 March with six events., including a C$660 buyin Main Event with 4 entry days (28 February to 3 March) and Day 2 on 4 March. Oddly enough, all of the Freeze Out’s events are reentry.

I hope they’ve put in some tables with more cushioning on the top and pillows for our break naps pic.twitter.com/8rlceoFauF

— Liz Tedder (@pokerlizzard) February 5, 2018

$500K of Guarantees at the PacWest Poker Classic

We’re less than two weeks away from one of the biggest poker events in the Northwest—and the closest to Portland—at Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City.

This year’s winter tournament series at Chinook promises to be one of the best, with what I believe is the biggest-ever guarantee in an Oregon poker tournament, $200K for the Main Event (by comparison, the Main Event for last fall’s series at Wildhorse had a prize pool of $200,475 with no guarantee; the two 2017 series at Chinook had prize pools just under $200K). It’s particularly ambitious as there are no re-entries into the $550+$200 tournament.

The biggest events of the series are the Main (with one entry day on 24 February and Day 2 on 25 February), the opening weekend $100K guarantee ($280 entry/re-entry with $100 add-on) on 17 February (Day 2 on 18 February). and a $50K guarantee on 23 February ($200 single entry, with $100 add-on). There’s a 6-Max tournament (moved from opening weekend to Monday) with a $30K guarantee and $330 entry/re-entry), plus two $25K guarantees and a $20K guarantee Big O tournament.

The John Hesp Chair

Jack McGiffin, a long-time fixture at Final Table before he moved to the east of England last year writes that his home club in Hull has upholstered a chair in the style of the jacket Hesp wore at the WSOP Main Event this past summer. He’s sent along some photos!

Now I can only dream about the chair I’d be honored with if I ever made it to the final table of the WSOP. My guess is they’d run a steamroller over the seat cushion to make it seem like I’d been sitting there a long time. Alternatively, it could be pristine to give the impression I was never seated long enough to make an impression.

photo by Jack McGiffin

photo by Jack McGiffin

#PNWPokerLeaderboard

Snohomish’s Larry Voeks had just a couple of lot three-figure cashes from past years in Las Vegas before he blasted into second place at the Tulalip Poker Pow Wow Main Event last month. Lyle Munday (Edmonds) took first place in the 366-entry event. and from the payouts it would appear that a deal was made among the top five finishers, with three players getting slightly less than Larry’s second-place money. They included Daya Patibandia of Seattle, who earned her biggest cash by far; Stone Samrith of Burien, who more than doubled his recorded tournament earnings; and I’m going to add in Wayne Harmon whose Hendon Mob profile says he’s from “Portland, CA”, but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong. Harmon, by the way, took his biggest recorded win and hit the WPT Borgata Main Event for his second-ever five-figure cash (44th place out of 1,244 entries) just ten days later. Almedin Imsirovic made 74th, getting a small cash in the Borgata Almighty Stack side event, then heading back to the Venetian for some money in a bounty tournament this past weekend.

The $330 buy-in tournament at Tulalip also produced some big winners, with Carl Woodward taking first place. Woodward now has three recorded cashes on Hendon Mob. They all came in the Poker Pow Wow series over a span of 11 days and they included two final tables. Seattle’s John Hartmann chopped second place (he got 15th in the Main Event, as well) with Php Phan of Bellingham (listed by Hendon Mob as Maine, but whatever).

After making a final table at the Card Player Poker Tour Main Event in Colorado, Max Young took the long haul down to the Aussie Millions where he got sixth place in a Hyper Turbo tournament with a 10-second decision clock. Presumably, he then went looking for some surf.

Kevin MacPhee also made the final table of an event Down Under, taking ninth

My Time Is Coming

A big up when I cashed last Thursday’s Ignition Casino Thousandaire Maker, then a bust after four-and-a-half hours at Final Table’s $20K Friday night and a heartbreaking 30-minute run in Ignition’s $250K on Saturday afternoon. Blasted out of an online $25K, two more Thousandaire Makers, and a couple of Omaha Turbo tournaments (plus a couple of cash sessions). Still up for the week, but sets have been failing me and if you can’t trust sets, what can you trust?

Only a Day Away

• Los Angeles Poker Classic 25  at Commerce Casino just completed a week of mixed games and moves back into NLHE mode with a $300K GTD tournament this weelkend ($570 buyin, entry flights Thursday through Saturday. There is also a $570 Dealers Choice tournament on Friday evening, with 2-7 Triple Draw on Saturday afternoon. The casino is sponsoring two events for the RealGrinders poker group on Saturday and Sunday. Both are $345 buying, with the first being a bounty ($200 per player). Sunday opens a week of $1,100 buyin tournaments with LHE and PLO on Sunday; O8 and a $50K GTD NLHE Action Clock tournament on Monday; HORSE and a $50K GTD NLHE Survivor(!) on Tuesday; then four entry flights for a $1M GTD NLHE on Wednesday through Friday.
• At Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza this weekend is an 8-Max $1,100 tournament with $250K GTD. Next weekend is another $250K GTD with for just $600.
• The Main Event of the Winter Super Stack at Calgary’s Deerfoot Inn starts Friday
• WSOP Circuit Wisconsin Main Event has a $750K guarantee with entry days on Friday and Saturday.
• Heartland Poker Tour hits Colorado at Golden Gates starts today. The first entry day (4 total) for the Main Event ($1,650) is Valentine’s Day (next Wednesday)
• 8 February is the first of three entry days (four flights) For the Love of Money in Minneapolis at Running Aces. $350 buyin.
• Also coming up in Minneapolis is the MSPT Canterbury Park. The Main Event there is $1,110 and has a $300K guarantee. Two entry days, on 23 and 24 February.
• The WSOPC Rio Las Vegas starts 16 February. The opening event has six flights over 3 days ($365) with a $250K guarantee. The Main Event (starting 24 and 25 February) is $1M GTD.
• The Chinook Winds PacWest Poker Classic (see above) starts 17 February.
• The Wynn Classic kicks off 19 February and features a $1M GTD Main Event ($1,600 entry) starting 1 March. get there before they change the name!

Stephen Bokor wins the 2013 Battle at the Beach, via PokerNews

Stephen Bokor 1988—2018

Max Young posted a notice on NW Poker Friday afternoon that Stephen Bokor had passed away. Bokor was an accomplished poker player who grew up in Knappa, Oregon, outside of Astoria, playing online before heading out on the live poker circuit for several years following Black Friday.

Bokor ran up a string of cashes before his big win at Pompano Beach in 2013. Even before then, he’d caught the eye of poker journalists, and he was profiled in the Global Poker Index’s The Chase shortly after his win. His short career as a live tournament player (his last recorded cash was winning the Fall 2016 Turbo at Wildhorse) currently has him in 18th place on the Oregon All-Time Money List, with more than $400,000 in recorded live tournament winnings.

Portland Meadows Goes Crypto

The first Friday in March, Portland Meadows Poker Room will host what owner Brian Sarchi says is the first live tournament poker event with buyins and payouts made in cryptocurrency.

Sponsored by Dash (Digital cASH), the promotional tournament is guaranteed to have a 20% overlay; Dash is contributing an extra Dash coin for every Dash coins contributed by players to the prize pool. Dash is providing an on-site cryptoATM for trading in Dash coins.

The tournament starts at 7pm on 2 March with 20-minute levels. Buyins are 0.1 Dash coin and payouts will be made in Dash coins. Dash was trading at $672 at 10pm Tuesday, but like a lot of crypto currencies, the price is volatile, and it was over $1,000 as recently as two weeks ago, so another month and who knows?

Details on how to get yourself set up with Dash—and how the buyin and payout process will work—should be forthcoming soon.

Meanwhile, congrats to Robert Brewer, who won Saturday’s Wild West Poker Series High Roller at Meadows. More on that in a bit.

Spring Poker Round Up Schedule Released

The next Wildhorse Spring Poker Round Up is just a couple months off, the new schedule is out, and there have been some big changes in the routine.

The High Roller tournament has been moved to the first weekend of the series, out of the mid-week doldrums.

HORSE  is back! It has a smaller buyin and it’s running on the first Sunday—at 7pm—which doesn’t seem to be very high expectations, but it is on the schedule, and it leads directly into Omaha Hi-Low on Monday and Big O on Tuesday, so mixed-game players can make the most of their time out east. That also means the end of the week after Wednesday’s Seniors tournament is straight Hold’em leading into the Main Event on Saturday. I can get behind that.

Last Week’s Poker Time

The final table of the Wild West High Roller was played out on the RFID table used by The Poker Guys to shoot their Poker Time show, and they’re also running Sit & Gos this week that should all be showing up on YouTube soon.

#PNWPokerLeaderboard

Idaho’s Dylan Linde played the Lucky Hearts Poker Open High Roller last week and took 5th place out of 75 players putting up $25.5K each.

This Week In Portland Poker

Friday is the First Friday of February (and Groundhog Day), so it’s time for a $20K at Final Table. This is also Super Bowl weekend, and Portland Meadows will be closed for the day (according to their web site). Final Table will be open, though you may want to check about guarantees on Sunday.

My Time Is Coming

I had a ticket to a Quarterfinal single-table-satellite to this weekend’s Ignition $250K GTD (the winner of the 6-Max table got a seat into the direct satellite). We started with 75bb, a player got knocked out on the first hand, I was cut down to 7bb on hand 6 when I ran into aces, I managed to battle back to 65bb and the chip lead with three players by hand 35, but I couldn’t close out the heads-up.

Wild West Poker Tour Event #3 $1,500 GTD NLHE Bounty

I played a bounty tournament and just got a couple of bounties, played my first live tournament in a couple of weeks at Portland Meadows on Friday night and just frittered my stack away. I didn’t see a pair over sizes in three hours—one of the guys at the other end of the table got aces on consecutive hands (see my PokerNews article “In and Out of the Luckbox”, or just play with the Starting Hand Distribution Simulator). Didn’t even make the break. I had to work and missed the 6-Max at noon, but it had just gotten into the money as the bounty tournament was starting up, with more than four times the guarantee in the prize pool.

I hadn’t though the Warp Speed to the Final Table tournament would have been very exciting, but the crew made a show of the all-in first hands on the RFID table, and people seemed to be having fun.

Wild West Poker Tour $50K GTD NLHE High Roller

Saturday, I lasted about five hours in the High Roller, doing what I thought was reasonably well until my table broke and I was moved to Table 1 which housed Brandon Cantu and the eventual champ (pictured above) Robert Brewer (btw, you can read my 2015 interview with Robert at PokerNews).

I missed the Survivor tournament on Sunday night because of a family thing, and that’s the  end of a very unproductive poker week.

Only a Day Away

• Los Angeles Poker Classic 25  at Commerce Casino finishes out its first month of events with HORSE tomorrow, Triple Triple Draw on Friday, and NL HORSE on Saturday. Early next week is Stud Hi-Low, Omaha mix (Big O, PLO8, and O8), and NL O8 on Tuesday, then a $300K GTD multi-entry tournament at the end of next week.
• At Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza  the Mid-States Poker Tour to present a $500K GTD tournament with $1,100 buyin Thursday and Friday. Saturday is a $100K GTD Bounty ($1,100 buyin). Next week is a $400 tournament with $100K GTD and on the weekend if a n 8-Max $800 tournament with $250K GTD.
• The annual Winter Super Stack is at Calgary’s Deerfoot Inn today. Thursday is the first of three C$550 Mega Stack entry days, and there’s a C$330 PLO Bounty on Saturday. No guarantees, but the opening event last year (same buyin) had a prize pool of $128K in US dollars, with the $1,500 buyin Main Event (starting 9 February) reaching US$250K.
• Alaska Airlines has seasonal direct flights from Portland to MIlwaukie, Wisconsin, but winter is apparently not the season. I’m going to throw WSOP Circuit Wisconsin into the mix anyway, since you can get there direct from Seattle and prices are reasonable (less than $500 RT). The Main Event for this stop has a $750K guarantee. Starts 1 February.
• 1 February is also the start of the US Poker Open at Aria in Las Vegas. The events have buyins of $10K to $50K, but there are supposedly side events in the mere three figures, according to Poker Atlas.
• Ontario Poker Room has a $115 buyin Deepstack on Saturday if you’re on the east side of Oregon.
• Heartland Poker Tour hits Colorado at Golden Gates again a week from today,
• 8 February is the first of three entry days (four flights) For the Love of Money in Minneapolis at Running Aces. $350 buyin.

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