#PNWPokerCal Planner for 24 January 2018

Posted on by

The Portland Poker Nexus

Portland poker writer Zach Elwood (Reading Poker Tells, Verbal Poker Tells, and Exploiting Poker Tells) was interviewed on the penultimate episode of Season 4 of The Chip Race podcast, by Irish pros David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney. Zach’s segment starts about 15 minutes in and lasts for 20 minutes, it’s worth checking it out.

The same episode features the second half of a Phil Hellmuth interview that has nothing to do with the Northwest but is a prime example of cluelessness, in which he expounds at length on how sad it is that the haters hate Chris Ferguson, all for no reason he can see.

Fortunately, poker nit personality Carlos Welch also makes an appearance ( as he has on a variety of other podcasts over the past few years. He was on the verge of moving to Portland a couple of years ago, and it appears he may still be on the verge. He got his teacher certification last summer. (I wrote about playing with Carlos in a Thousandaire Maker a couple months back).

Last but not least in the personality parade is one of the new faces on the latest session of Poker Time, Jeremy “Worm” Harkin. I owe Jeremy a debt of gratitude for providing me a place to stay (for money, natch, but at a decent rate) when I was in Las Vegas for the 2016 WSOP. And I agree with him that they need to run some PLO on Poker Time.

 #PNWPokerLeaderboard

Chris Hinchcliffe‘s player profile for winning the opening $1M GTD opener at the Los Angeles Poker Classic says Northern California, but Hendon Mob says Olympia. There was a 3-way ICM chop; Hinchcliffe had nearly two-thirds of the chips in play. It was his fourth final table of 2018—so far he’s had three figure, four-figure, five-figure, and six-figure cashes (not in that order).

Ron Brown of Spirit Lake, Idaho bested a field of 160 at the WSOPC Event #4 at Thunder Valley before turning around and beating 128 in Event #8 then taking 12th in Event #10.  The three cashes more than double his tracked lifetime tournament earnings.

 

This Week In Portland Poker

It’s time for the Wild West Poker Tour at Portland Meadows this weekend. Seven events including a 6-Max, Bounty, High Roller, and a Survivor. I’m looking forward to all of them, but the 6-Max is during a work day…might be a lot of sick poker players that day.

My Time Is Coming

A down week for me in more than one way since the last Planner. I sat out my usual Friday evening game at Final Table because of some other obligations, and had a mid-afternoon event on Saturday that prevented me from making it up with the weekly $10K at Portland Meadows or the Main Event at Tulalip. So it was a strictly online for me. Busted three Thousandaire Maker tournaments, dumped four buyins in PLO and PLO8, and played thirteen other NLHE, PLO, and PLO8 tournaments, with only one cash, and that wasn’t particularly big, even though it was 6th in a field of 177. I was double-tabling on Friday and Saturday nights, holding first and second place in two of the tournaments for a while. Then I wasn’t.

Hand of the week goes to the $10K Bounty tournament I played where I got [kh kd] in with 19K against two stacks of 14K and 7.5K. The small stack had [ac as], and the middle stack had [ks ah], So I’m losing more than a thirds of my stack to the aces, but I should still be gaining some chips…unless the case ace hits…

Only a Day Away

I missed a few tournaments this month when I was rounding up stuff for the calendar. Colorado, Alberta, Callifornia…I’ll try to get back on track.

  • Los Angeles Poker Classic 25  at Commerce Casino keeps plugging along.There’s a $350 buyin HORSE tournament tomorrow, with a 2-7 Triple Draw/Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo mix game on Friday and NLHE/PLO mix on Saturday. Omaha Hi-Lo Monday, Stud and Big O (Pot Limit) Tuesday, NL 2-7 Single Draw Wednesday, a bigger HORSE ($570 buyin) next Thursday, and Triple Triple Draw (A-5, 2-7, and Badugi) on Friday. Truly a great week if you’re a fan of the mixed games. And that doesn’t even count Saturday’s Social Experiment II (no phones, hoodies, or sunglasses), the Action Clock this Friday,
  • The Wynn Signature Weekend starts today. The highlight is the $250K GTD $600 buyin tournament (3 entry days). There’s also a $300 buyin Survivor tournament on Sunday with a $2.5K payout.
  • Ocean’s Eleven San Diego Classic starts tomorrow with the first of three entry days for the $150K GTD ($250 buyin).
  • There may still be a seat into the Stones Gambling Hall $1,100 single-table Sit & Go; three players make the money.

  • The $300 Muckleshoot Deepstack is Sunday at noon in Auburn.
  • Monday is the beginning of the first Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza of 2018. Opening day has a $12K GTD PLO/PLO8 tournament. The Venetian teams up with the Mid-States Poker Tour to present a $500K GTD tournament with $1,100 buyin next Thursday and Friday.
  • The annual Winter Super Stack is at Calgary’s Deerfoot Inn next SWednesday. 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.
  • Heartland Poker Tour hits Colorado at Golden Gates again two weeks 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!