Monthly Archives: September 2018

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 26 September 2018

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My Time Is Coming

The last couple of weeks have been pretty light on poker for me since I headed to Moolack Beach just north of Newport with my wife and friends two weekends ago, Got a great AirBnB on a bluff above the beach with a bank of windows and a deck. The dark patch on the beach in the picture above is a hundred yards or so of crabs and kelp that washed up Friday night; the seagulls were having a field day.

So I missed my usual $10K GTD at Final Table that weekend, but I managed to bust out of a couple of Ignition Casino Thousandaire makers—continuing a non-cashing streak that is now the longest since I started playing them three-and-a-half years ago. It’s starting to make inroads into my profit.

I had been planning to head up to the $100K GTD at Muckleshoot Casino on Saturday, but with my poker travel partner out of commission I decided to spend my money at home, playing the $10K at Final Table on Friday night, then heading to Portland Meadows for the debut of their new $145 buyin freezeout structure $10K GTD on Saturday. Didn’t get close to the money in either one.

I toyed with the idea of heading to Claudia’s for the Monday PLO8 (since that went so well the last time I played it) but since I’m expecting to be at The Game Tuesday for some PLO (writing this Monday night), I just played a small Ignition $500 GTD O8 game and took 3rd of 63 for a little cash. Not enough to make me ready to head up to the Muckleshoot Main Event this weekend (I’m kind of sitting on my money for the Fall Poker Classic at Chinook Winds next month), but I’ve got a piece of a friend for it, at least.

#PNWPokerLeaderboard

A late but new entry on the leaderboard is Jeff Baxter from Oakland (north of Roseburg). He took 3rd in a 199-entry HPT Vicksburg Main Event back in August, but his entry only showed up on The Hendon Mob in the past couple of weeks (perhaps because it had gotten mixed up with another player under the same name). It’s his only recorded tournament score.

Jeff Baxter (image via hptpoker.com)

As mentioned in previous Planners, Ali Imsirovic doubled his already substantial earnings in two days by winning back-to-back tournaments at the Aria.PokerGO Poker Masters. Also not slacking off is Seth Davies who placed 3rd in the $50K buyin that was the second event Imsirovic won. Imsirovic jumps from 23rd on the leaderboard to 13th, while Davies moves from 12th to 10th.

Calvin Lee is still working the circuit in Korea, at the Japan High Roller Festival, where he took 2nd in the KRW 10M NLHE Special High Roller.

Max Young continues to crush US circuits with three final tables at WSOPC Thunder Valley, holding on for 9th in Event #3 $30K GTD NLHE, then placing 5th in both Event #10 NLHE 6-Max Turbo and Event #13 NLHE High Roller.

Only a Day Away

  • At the Muckleshoot Fall Classic there’s a satellite tonight (Wednesday) for $1,750 in buyins (7pm, 190 entry). Thursday is a $200 entry for the only non-hold’em event: $15K GTD O8. Friday is another $400 buyin $100K GTD. Saturday is Day 1 for the $750 buyin $150K GTD Main Event. The last event on Sunday is a $40K GTD NLHE Shootout.
  • The Gardens Poker Classic runs through Sunday. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, there are a total of six entry flights ($350 entry) for their $300K GTD Main Event.
  • The WSOPC Online got going Tuesday. There’s a $100K GTD $350 buyin on Sunday. You can check in on the results from earlier events at WSOP.com. Sunday is the $525 Main Event with $200K GTD. $215 $25K GTD PLO 6-Max on Friday. How else can you win a Circuit Ring for less than you might spend on a First Friday at Final Table? Plus airfare to Vegas or New Jersey, of course.
  • The Wynn Fall Classic runs through 14 October and features a $500K GTD Main Event, plus two $250K GTD and two $150K GTD side events, along with a Survivor, PLO, and Seniors event.
  • Deepstacks Poker Tour Edmonton is at Casino Yellowhead Friday, with the C$1,100 buyin Main Event (now with BB ante) getting under way next Thursday. Other events include a bounty, 8-Max, Seniors, and Ladies tournaments. The Main Event is about US$850.
  • Lucky Chances Casino near San Francisco has their monthly $350 buyin $20K-to-first guarantee tournament Sunay at 9:30am. It’s kind of a turbo structure with 20-minute rounds for the first two hours.
  • There’s a Last Sunday of the Month tournament at Tulalip Casino at 11am. $25K GTD with a $100 bounty. $340 buyin including dealer appreciation. Big blind antes!
  • Bicycle Casino‘s Big Poker Oktober is back on 1 October, opening with a Quantum $400K GTD tournament ($245 and $365 entry flights, with 10% and 15% getting to Day 2, respectively). They have another $400K GTD ($1,100 buyin) in conjunction with the CardPlayer Poker Tour mid-month.
  • Canterbury Park Casino‘s Fall Poker Classic has more than 20 events from 5—21 October outside Minneapolis. Lots of tournaments including PLO, 6-Max, HORSE, Crazy Pineapple, and the $1,100 buyin Main Event. Should you be silly enough to blow off the first weekend of the Fall Coast Classic at Chinook Winds, you can get there for the Main and have a place to stay for about $500.
  • WPTDeepstacks San Diego runs 5—15 October at Oceans 11 Casino in Oceanside, and has a $200K GTD Main Event starting 11 October.
  • 5 October is the starting day for WSOPC Chicago (actually northwest Indiana), featuring a $1M GTD Main Event overlapping the first weekend of the Chinook Winds series.
  • Stones Gambling Hall (outside Sacramento) brings back its own Fall Classic with a total of $250K GTD between 12—21 October. They open with a Win the Button tournament (that’d be killer with big blind antes). The Main Event (starting 18 October) is $500 for entry and $150K GTD.

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 19 September 2018

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There is no other news. Ali Imsirovic, a 24-year-old guy from Vancouver, Washington beats a field of top players in a high-roller series to win back-to-back events and score enough points to take the second-ever Poker Masters purple jacket trophy. (Read Chad Holloway at PokerNews for more.)

By all accounts, he’s been incredibly successful for several years on Bovada and—particularly—America’s Cardroom, but at this time last year, his total live recorded cashes were for less than $70K. By the time the Poker Masters started, he’d ramped that up to $1.2M, and the money he made last week doubled that.

There are a couple of good, long interviews with Ali. Evan (@gripsed) Jarvis talked to him last fall for PokerNews, before Ali’s incredible streak in the high rollers got going. Remko Rinkema caught up with him for Poker Central just after the Poker Masters concluded. Both times he tells the same story of how his streak in poker tournaments began. It sure sounds like he’s talking about Final Table…

Only a Day Away

  • See the 28 August Planner for info about the Muckleshoot Fall Classic starting this weekend. There’s a satellite tonight, events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then satellites Monday through Wednesday nights before the four events next weekend.
  • The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III continues through Sunday. Entry days for the final $250K GTD event run through Saturday with a $250 buyin.
  • HPT Golden Gates $1,650 Main Event stared today with entries through Saturday and Final table on Monday.
  • The Gardens Poker Classic started last weekend, there’s a $100K GTD Friday at 2pm [170e100a], with the $50K GTD PSPC Moneymaker event (guarantee includes the $30K PSPC package) on Saturday. The $350 buyin $300K GTD Main Event starts next Thursday.
  • The WSOPC Online got going Tuesday. There’s a $100K GTD $350 buyin on Sunday.
  • The Pechanga Endless Summer Poker Series f$200K GTD Main Event ($400 buyin) starts Friday.
  • The Wynn Fall Classic runs 26 September—14 October and features a $500K GTD Main Event, plus two $250K GTD and two $150K GTD side events, along with a Survivor, PLO, and Seniors event.
  • Deepstacks Poker Tour Edmonton is at Casino Yellowhead s week from Friday, with the C$1,100 buyin Main Event (now with BB ante) getting under way 4 October. Other events include a bounty, 8-Max, Seniors, and Ladies tournaments. The Main Event is about US$850; RT flight and a room near the casino for the last few days of the series can be found for about US$450.
  • Lucky Chances Casino near San Francisco has their monthly $350 buyin $20K-to-first guarantee tournament on the last day of the month at 9:30am. It’s kind of a turbo structure with 20-minute rounds for the first two hours, but a prize pool with a 5700% potential return is nothing to sneeze at.
  • There’s a Last Sunday of the Month tournament at Tulalip Casino on 30 September at 11am. $25K GTD with a $100 bounty. $340 buyin including dealer appreciation. Big blind antes!
  • Bicycle Casino‘s Big Poker Oktober is back on 1 October, opening with a Quantum $400K GTD tournament ($245 and $365 entry flights, with 10% and 15% getting to Day 2, respectively). They have another $400K GTD ($1,100 buyin) in conjunction with the CardPlayer Poker Tour mid-month.
  • Canterbury Park Casino‘s Fall Poker Classic has more than 20 events from 5—21 October outside Minneapolis. Lots of tournaments including PLO, 6-Max, HORSE, Crazy Pineapple, and the $1,100 buyin Main Event. Should you be silly enough to blow off the first weekend of the Fall Coast Classic at Chinook Winds, you can get there for the Main and have a place to stay for about $500.

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 12 September 2018

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My Buddy Dave

If you’re been playing the games and stakes I’ve been playing for most of the past decade, you probably know David Long, who’s been in the hospital since last week.

I wouldn’t normally intrude on anyone’s illness, but Dave’s been my travel companion on a number or trips to Lincoln City and Pendleton—sometimes for a day, sometimes for overnighters—and he outed his condition on Facebook the other day, but the algorithm in its infinite wisdom didn’t bother showing it to me for four days.

Dave’s been playing poker a lot longer than I have, he’s been a fount of info and gossip for me since I met him after I started playing at the Portland Players Club. In one of those odd coincidences of fate, even through we lived in Eugene at the same time in the mid-’80s without having run into one another, his wife, Arlene, was the person who took over my Sunday night slot on KRVM-FM when I moved to Portland.

We’re due to make another trip to the beach next month for the Fall Coast Poker Classic, so send your best wishes!

Poker Celebrities in Town

They just keep coming.

By “8 weeks of Poker Time” with these guys I’m pretty sure they mean that the rest of the session I was playing in is going down the memory hole. Bye-bye, fame!

My Time Is Coming

Sort of a truncated poker week for me. Just a couple of tournaments on Ignition Casino (PLO and PLO8) where I made it halfway through, a $100K Cheap Seats step 1 satellite where I made it to the chip lead briefly before losing 2/3 my stack in a 70/30 hand. I made a horrible call in the Final Table First Friday $20K, managed to hang in until I got it all in against another short stack with [ac kc] v [jh th] and he hit a straight on the river to leave me with less than 3bb UTG. So, out on the next hand.

I did manage to chop my original home game (14 players and a bunch of rebuys) with my cousin’s husband Saturday, so the week wasn’t a complete loss!

#PNWPokerLeaderboard

Seth Davies cashed again at EPT Barcelona in Event #27 €10,300K NLHE12th of 327.  The prize pool reached more than â‚¬4.2M (just under $5M).

Down at Aria in Las Vegas at the 2018 Poker Masters, Almedin Imsirovic continued his assault on the high rollers, just missing getting on the TV final table in Event #1 $10,500 NLHE.

Only a Day Away

  • The Main Event of the Mid-States Poker Tour at Canterbury Park is a $300K GTD $1,100 buyin with entry starting tomorrow.
  • The Commerce Poker Series in in its last few days. The first flight of their $500K GTD $1,100 buyin Main Event starts tomorrow, with flights on Friday and Saturday.
  • See the Planner from two weeks back for info about the Muckleshoot Fall Classic. There’s a satellite tonight and next Wednesday, and another this Sunday. The first event is a week from Friday.
  • The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III continues through 23 September, this weekend is a $200K GTD ($600 buyin)  Ante Up Poker Tour Thursday through Saturday. The series ends with a $250 buyin $250K GTD event.
  • WSOPC Thunder Valley $1,700 Main Event has $500 GTD and entry flights on Friday and Saturday. I5 is open again for now.
  • The Aria Poker Masters$100K buyin Main Event starts tomorrow.
  • HPT Golden Gates starts Thursday with a four-flight $400 buyin tournament. Their $1,650 Main Event begins next Wednesday.
  • The Gardens Poker Classic (starting Friday) is the third stop on the West Coast for the PokerStars Platinum Championship, where you can compete for a ticket to a $25K buyin in the Bahamas in January and $5K in expenses (also known as the cost of a banana at the Atlantis Resort). There are a few other things going on during the Classic, including a $300K TD, a $200K GTD, a $550 buyin 8-Game Mix, some HORSE, and a Progressive Bounty tournament.
  • The WSOPC Online was announced last week. It will run from 18—30 September with 13 events over 13 days and $700K GTD total ($200K for the Main Event). Playable from either NJ or Nevada (It’s not supposed to matter where in either state),  at $200, Event #1 is going to be the cheapest prixe-point for a Circuit Ring so far. The Main Event is 30 September and costs just $525, less than a third of the live Ciircuit Main Events. There’s a $215 PLO 6-Max event that last weekend calling me…
  • The Pechanga Endless Summer Poker Series features a $200K GTD Main Event  with a $400 buyin, as well as some leadin events and 3 (count ’em three!) Survivor tournaments (the Ladies Survivor has a $150 buyin while the other two are just $70). Pechanga Resort and Casino is about halfway between LA and San Diego, inland from Oceanside about 20 miles.
  • The Wynn Fall Classic runs 26 September—14 October and features a $500K GTD Main Event, plus two $250K GTD and two $150K GTD side events, along with a Survivor, PLO, and Seniors event.

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 06 September 2018

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Brian Pygon

Brian Pygon

Picture via Brian J Pygon’s Facebook timeline

I didn’t know Brian well, despite having shared Jeremy Harkin‘s Las Vegas house with him and several other folks the summer of 2016, but he was always a friendly and solicitous face to see, especially when other folks you might run into during a Vegas summer could be a bit wrapped up in their personal fortunes.

Jeremy posted a long tribute on Facebook Tuesday, take the time to read if if you would and leave a message if you knew him.

Another post on Brian’s Facebook page mentions there will be a celebration of Brian’s life at Creekside Golf Course in Salem on October 6th.

Poker Celebrities in Town

Three-time WSOP Main Event Top 100 finisher Andrew Brokos reached out for info on cash games  shootouts (about which I know nothing) at Portland Meadows last week, not long after I noted Twitch sensation/author/grinder Carlos Welch was back in town. and I lamented the fact that I wasn’t going to get a chance to get a picture of them. Carlos helped out with a snap froom N Portland.

My Time Is Coming

The last week has bee a little bit of a bringdown from the previous one.

It started off well with a relatively early late-reg into a $10+1 NLHE Turbo with a $4K GTD. 500 entries made the prize pool $5K and I managed to get to the final table. First hand and we’re only six-handed because three players get moved to our table between the button and the blinds, I jam 3bb (only one player has more than 10bb) with [qs kc], BB calls with [jd as], the case queen comes on the flop but it’s [ah] on the river and I go out.

Everything else is a brick: online PLO8, 6-Max, and another Turbo, then the Final Table $10K. A couple more 6-Max tournaments, a Thousandaire Maker where I never get any traction, 6-Max, a truly heart-breaking Thousandaire Maker where I build from the starting stack of 2,500 to more than 12,000 iin 43 hands, then get all-in  with queens, flop a set, but lose to runner-runner Broadway.

Played a satellite for the Ignition Casino $100K, some more PLO8, an online $25K where I cannot manage to recover after some early success, and a cash game where I manage to get it all in on the river against a guy who flopped quads.

Another episode in my run at PokerTime is out. I’m looking pretty good by the end, even if the @2PokerGuys do malign the way I stack chips.

This Week In Portland Poker

It’s the first Friday of the month, which means a $20K GTD tournament at Final Table at 7pm. It’s $100 for a 12K stack (with an extra $1K if you register before starting time), with a live rebuy ($100 for 12K at any time) and a $50 addon (10K in chips) at the first break. It’s the biggest regular game in town; last month’s prize pool was over $30K!

Added to #PNWPokerCal This Week

  • South Sound Poker Championship, Shelton 3—9 September
  • WSOPC Online, Nevada 18—30 September
  • Tulalip $25K NLHE Bounty 30 September

#PNWPokerLeaderboard

Just a few big results (although I know of a couple of cashes that hadn’t been reported to Hendon Mob yet.

Seth Davies was at EPT Barcelona and came in 6th of 54 in Event #17 €50K NLHE (no that’s not the guarantee), then 13th of 77 in Event #22 €25K NLHE.

On this side of the Atlantic, at WSOPC Foxwoods Main Event, Dylan Wilkerson got 5th place in a field of 519. And Portland’s Linn Sayre got 3rd in what looks like a chop in the Ante Up Poker Tour #2 NLHE at Atlantis Casino in Reno.

Only a Day Away

  • Mid-States Poker Tour stops at Canterbury Park in Shakopee (just outside of Minneapolis) through 16 September. There’s a $300K GTD $1,100 buyin Main Event with three entry days (13—15 September) with satellites running daily until then.
  • The Commerce Poker Series runs through 16 September. A $200K GTD event ($240 buyin) has already begun and ends this weekend. An $1,100 entry $500K GTD starts 13 September.
  • See last week’s Planner for info about the Muckleshoot Fall Classic. There’s a satellite tonight.
  • The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III continues through 26 September, this weekend is a Mid-States Poker Tour event with a $250K GTD for $1,100 (starting days Friday and Saturday), a $100K GTD ($340 entry) has starts Monday and Tuesday, then there’s a $200K GTD ($600 buyin) foor the Ante Up Poker Tour Thursday through Saturday next week. The series ends with a $250 buyin $250K GTD event.

  • The South Sound Poker Championship snuck in this week at Little Creek Casino west of Olymppia in Shelton. If you see this early Wednesday, you might make their Bounty tournament at 11am, but Thursday is a 7pm $120 (including addon) toournament with $1K added to the prize pool, there’s a game at 11am Friday, and the big game is Saturday at 11am, with $3K added and a $340 entry. Registration is available online.
  • WSOPC Thunder Valley starts tomorrow with a $300K GTD tournament for $400 entry. It’s a 2-day event with five flights (two on Thursday and Friday, one on Saturday). HORSE on Monday and O8 on Tuesday! The $1,700 Main Event has $500 GTD.

  • The Aria Poker Masters starts Friday with its smallest buyin: $10K. You can only rebuy once. Watch it on PokerGO.
  • HPT Golden Gates kicks off in Colorado 12 September with a four-flight $400 buyin tournament. Their $1,650 Main Event begins 19 September.
  • The Gardens Poker Classic (starting 14 Septepmber) is—among other things—the third stop on the West Coast for the PokerStars Platinum Championship, where you can compete for a ticket to a $25K buyin in the Bahamas in January and $5K in expenses (also known as the cost of a banana at the Atlantis Resort). There are a few other things going on during the Classic, including a $300K TD, a $200K GTD, a $550 buyin 8-Game Mix, some HORSE, and a Progressive Bounty tournament.
  • The WSOPC Online was announced last week. It will run from 18—30 September with 13 events over 13 days and $700K GTD total ($200K for the Main Event). Playable from either NJ or Nevada (It’s not supposed to matter where in either state),  at $200, Event #1 is going to be the cheapest prixe-point for a Circuit Ring so far. The Main Event is 30 September and costs just $525, less than a third of the live Ciircuit Main Events. There’s a $215 PLO 6-Max event that last weekend calling me…
  • The Pechanga Endless Summer Poker Series features a $200K GTD Main Event  with a $400 buyin, as well as some leadin events and 3 (count ’em three!) Survivor tournaments (the Ladies Survivor has a $150 buyin while the other two are just $70). Pechanga Resort and Casino is about halfway between LA and San Diego, inland from Oceanside about 20 miles.