Is It a Teakettle?

I stole the design for my 3D-printed card caps from an accessory on a Simpsons figurine, and last week it showed up in the “couch gag” opener of the show, as Homer searches through the animated worlds of South Park, the California Raisins set, and the Nerd from Robot Chicken, to find the iconic ship painting that hangs over the family’s couch. TMI?

Portland Poker Championship II

It’s here! This weekend and next!

It’s Alive!

https://twitter.com/limonpoker/status/836642606201221120

Frankly, for me poker Twitter without a slice of Limon is dull poker Twitter. And Tuesday morning—despite having sworn off of social media and leaving his gig at Live at the Bike in February—he tried out Twitter only to find he was un-banned.

The world was then full of light. And the c-word.

Apologies

There’s a load of news I was wanting to cover. Max Young’s position on the WSOP Circuit Leaderboard that could net him a seat at this year’s Global Casino Championship, Jacque Lavadour‘s run in the WSOPC Rio Monster Stack or Liz Tedder‘s 3rd-place finish in the HORSE, but my evening got sucked up by another cash in the Ignition Casino Thousandaire Maker, so I’m going to have to cut this short.

This Week In Portland Poker

With the good (the afore-mentioned Portland Poker Championship Series II) comes the not-so-good: this is the week Final Table and Portland Meadows raise door fees to $15/day. This isn’t so much of a big deal to the cash game players—$5 is just a straddle to them—but for someone like the daily 11am Final Table tournament with a $20 buyin, that extra $25/week can add up (I’m speaking from experience).

Deal of the Week: Week 1 of the WSOP

Have you been poring over your WSOP schedule? I have started to give it a personal look, although I’ve never actually played more than two tournaments a season there that weren’t the dailies. But this may be the year I step it up a bit.

First off, I intend to make use of WSOP.com. They’re already running a variety of satellites to events ranging from the online bracelet events to the Colossus, to the Main Event. They currently run on Sunday, but as the WSOP gets under way, there should be MTTs for specific events a day or two before they start.

The first game on my schedule is 3 June, Event #8, $333,333 GTD NLHE. It’s a $333 buyin on Saturday afternoon, and just one day.

Sunday, there should be plenty of satellites to events through the next week.

Monday is Event #11, $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed, then Event #14, $1,500 HORSE on Wednesday (an event I covered for WSOP.com last year). Event #16, $1,500 NLHE 6-Max is Thursday (in case the HORSE doesn’t work out), then Friday is the start of Event #18, $565 PLO. I think that’s a pretty good set of tournaments to set sights on. And there’s plenty of other series going on if things don’t work out.

Only a Day Away

• Commerce Casino‘s LA Poker Classic ends tomorrow with the final day of taping for the WPT Main Event. The last event is a $1,100 1-day $100K GTD NLHE Bounty tournament tomorrow at 2pm. There’s no prize pool! You get $1,000 for every player you eliminate (the other $100 of your buyin is fees). Then once things get down to the final nine players, it turns into a winner take all for the last $9K. Interesting concept. No laddering!
• Tonight is another Wednesday satellite for the Muckleshoot Spring Poker Classic. The series begins two weeks from today.
• $1,100 mega satellites for the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star start tomorrow. There’s a $2,100 two-day event starting Sunday (only 250 players and 50 alternates), and another $2,100 Turbo and a $25K High Roller on Wednesday. The Shooting Star Main Event has starting days on Monday and Tuesday.
• The Wynn Spring Classic has a $750K GTD championship ($1,600 entry) with entry days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with the final day on Sunday.
• The Stones Gambling Hall  $250,000 Spring Classic is coming to a close with three entry flights to their $125K GTD Main Event Thursday through Saturday (10am each day). It’s a $450 buyin, with the final day on Sunday.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit event at The Bike is part of their Winnin’ o’ the Green series. It starts Friday and runs through the end of the month. The first WSOPC event is Saturday, 4 March, with the Main event beginning the next Saturday. Mega Millions XVI starts on St. Patricks’s Day, with 22 entry flights over 11 days, with a $160 buyin, and $100 addon, with a $1M GTD prize pool.
• The South Sound Poker Championship at Little Creek Casino in Shelton—west of Olympia—starts Monday with a Super Satellite tournament ($50 including dealer addon). Super Satellite for what? Well you’ll need to call the poker room for that, but Tuesday is a $125 NLHE Seniors game, Wednesday is a $150 Bounty tournament ($1K added to prize pool), Thursday is $120 NLHE ($1K added). Next Friday is a regular $180 NLHE tournament. Saturday (11 March) is the big $340 buyin tournament with $5K added to the prize pool. Then Sunday is a Last Chance Survivor ($127 buyin). Monday and Thursday events start at 7pm, all others begin at 11am.
• As the WPT nears the end of its run at Bay 101, it makes the second stop it the annual “California Swing” at Thunder Valley outside of Sacramento. The Rolling Thunder Main Event ($3,500) is half the buyin of the Shooting Star, and the field is typically smaller (400+ compared to Bay 101’s 700+). There are lots of multi-table satellites (beginning Sunday) and other events, including next week’s $250K GTD (starting days Wednesday through Friday), a one-day $100K GTD ($1,100 buyin) next Friday, and a $1,100 Bounty tournament where the payout for knocking out a player is $500.
• Deepstacks Poker Tour (officially merged with rhe WPT last month after several years of working together, but still running separately in Canada) are in Calgary starting 10 March at the Grey Eagle. It opens with a C$100K GTD on Friday (C$550 buyin), features HORSE, PLO, and Survivor tournaments, and wraps up with either a C$300K or C$250K GTD Main Event, depending on which part of the schedule you look at. The Canadian dollar is currently at about 76¢US.
• Gardens Casino in LA has an ad in the latest issue of CardPlayer nothing on their websitefor a $50K GTD game ($175 buyin with $100 addon) at 5pm on 10 March, but there’s that I can find.
• The Venetian March Weekend Extravaganza starts 14 March (Tuesday) and runs through Sunday. The big event is a $600 buyin $200K GTD with three entry days. The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III kicks off a week after it’s over. How time flies.

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