#PDXPokerTroubles
Rain is actually falling again here in the River City, which seems to be signalling the end of the latest chapter of Poker On Ice.
Snow started coming down late last week, leading to Final Table and Portland Meadows running games without guarantees on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and Aces Full running with a $500 guarantee on its noon game (rather than $1,000). Friend of the blog Brad Press reported that the prize pools at Meadows on Saturday and Sunday noon games easily exceeded what would have been guaranteed.
Final Table ran Monday without guarantees (Meadows had guarantees, as well as a new noon structure), then Meadows closed on Tuesday in expectation of and early afternoon freezing rain deluge that never materialized, while Final Table operated without guarantees.
There’s still two more months of winter.
The Jackpot That Wasn’t
If you weren’t aware of it, there is a “Portland, OR” thread on the 2+2 poker forum. Not very busy, but something to keep an eye on. Last Friday, nebluefc had an interesting post:
The story, based on a press release from Vancouver, BC-based Jackpot Digital said that the company “has signed a licensing agreement with Portland Meadows Horse Track and Poker Club (“Portland Meadows”) after Portland Meadows received approval from the City of Portland to install Jackpot’s PokerPro electronic table games (ETGs).” It went on to relate an “initial rollout in February.”
While ETG’s might at first seem to be a possible solution to the issue of paying dealers that has aroused the interest of the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries, a big hurdle would be how the licensing fees for these types of machines could possibly be afforded, given the relatively low door fees paid by players. You’d need to have enough of them on hand to handle a large tournament, but like tables, most of the time they’d be sitting unused. Unlike tables, poker rooms still have to pay for the machines if they’re just sitting there.
A day later, a comment on NW Poker from Jerry Camelleri said that Brian Sarchi at Meadows refuted the story, then Monday a news release from Jackpot “clarified” the story by saying “the transaction announced on January 10, 2017 will not proceed.” That de-escalated quickly.
It might be noted that for an e-gaming vendor the Jackpot Digital website is remarkably short on images of their products in action (and no videos). The product shots that are shown appear to be composites rather than live photos. This can be for of a number of reasons: the LCD screens may not show well in the photo from all angles, attempts to clarify the screens may make them look less realistic, etc., it’s the same reason you see a disclaimer about simulated pictures in ads for TVs and computer monitors, but it’s odd that there aren’t more live shots.
Jackpot’s PokerPro ETG technology was acquired when they bought the PokerTek unit of MultiMedia Games, Inc. in 2015. At the time, the tables were reportedly in 82 venues, most of them being cruise ships. MultiMedia bought PokerTek in 2014 for $13.5 million; Nine months after that deal closed, Jackpot bought PokerTek for $5.4 million, with an earn-out that could increase the sale price to $7.5 million. Last month, Jackpot applied for an upgrade in the status of its OTC Pink ‘penny stock’ securities, which are currently selling for 0.6¢/share. According to otcmarkets.com, the company has a market value (as of 17 January 2017) of $175,286.
If you’re interested in knowing more about OTC Pink stocks, check out David Dayen‘s 7-part series at The Intercept from last September.
Reading Material
What’s 25 years old and not Donald Trump’s fourth wife-to-be? Trumped! The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump—His Cunning Rise & His Spectacular Fall, a memoir by one of the guys who ran Trump’s casino operations in Atlantic City for several years in the 1980s. Poker tells expert Zach Elwood review the book in a blog post he put up just before Christmas. It sounds like an interesting read, and Zach’s review is enlightening in and of itself.
One of the main points Zach bring out about the book is Trump’s seeming inability to understand the variance of the gambling world (i.e. that even in an upward trend there are temporary setbacks). On the same note, Robert Wooley (aka ‘PokerGrump’) has three pieces at PokerNews on regression to the mean, and what it means to poker players. There’s a part 1, part 2, and a follow-up.
Vegas Summer Poker Schedule
2016 WSOP Main Event 6th-place finisher Kenny Hallaert has already posted the first installment in his annual summer poker tournament series schedule, which got a little more flesh on its bones this week with the release of dates for the big weekend events at the WSOP. The Colossus III, Millionaire Maker, Seniors & Super Seniors, Monster Stack, Crazy Eights, and Little One for One Drop starting dates have been announced, along with the Main Event, Casino Employees, and Ladies Championship. Those dates are all on the #PNWPokerCal.
Deal of the Week: LAPC $1M Guarantee
A month from today is the last of four entry days for a two-day tournament at the LAPC with a guarantee of $1M. Entry is $1,100 for 15K in chips (150bb) and 40-minute levels through Level 12. One re-entry through the first six levels, and you have the option to try to qualify more than once for Day 2, getting the lowest payout from Day 2 for any stack removed from play due to multiple qualifications. There are $175 satellites starting 13 February (Monday).
This is a new event for the LAPC. Last year, they had a $500K Guarantee with a $1,650 buyin that ended up with a prize pool of over a million, though similar guarantees in the spring and fall last year were smaller. Presumably, that’s what led to the reduction in the buyin.
This Week In Portland Poker
No announcements as of yet, but I expect a lot of pent-up poker frustration to explode this weekend once people dig themselves out of the ice.
Only a Day Away
- The Heartland Poker Tour East Chicago Main Event starts tomorrow in Indiana. Entry days through Saturday with a $1,650 buyin and final table on Monday (live-streamed rather than televised, HPT has announced they’re going to more on live streaming than television). You can still get a RT ticket for Friday and four nights at the host casino for less than $1,000.
- Commerce Casino‘s LA Poker Classic starts its second weekend with a $250K Guarantee. Two flights each day through Saturday with a $250 buyin. There are PLO, PLO8, and Survivor tournaments early next week, and a $300K Guarantee with a $350 buyin starting Wednesday.
- The Tulalip Poker Pow Wow has a $50K Guarantee this weekend and $100K Guarantee next weekend.
- Poker Night in America at Thunder Valley outside Sacramento just started up, this weekend is the $425 buyin $250K Monolith (with the final on Sunday) and there’s another $250K next weekend that’s a 3-day, $1,100 buyin. Lots of smaller events packed in-between.
- The Venetian January Weekend Extravaganza starts today and runs through Sunday. The biggest event is a $150 buyin $60K Guarantee, but there’s a $9K Guarantee $250 PLO Bounty tournament on Saturday evening, which looks like fun. The month-long Deepstack Extravaganza I gets going just a week after its done, on 30 January.
- If you head up to the Seattle area for the $100K at Tulalip but bust out on Day 1, you might wander down to Muckleshoot Casino for their 5th Sunday $3K Added tournament ($330 buyin).
Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!