You’re asking me, “will it be alright?”
Because I’ve been around, I have the insight
And I was there the first time so I must know what it’s like
If you’re asking me, don’t take my advice—Ray Davies, “You’re Asking Me”, Working Mans Café
It’s hard and time-consuming to keep up with everything going on in the tournament poker world, even just the stuff close to home here in the Pacific Northwest. Not everyone is good about putting up info in a timely fashion (as I write this less than two weeks before the Tulalip Pow Wow, the schedule for that series still isn’t up on the Tulalip Casino web site). It’s incredibly easy to overlook or miss things that are going on. But here’s a collection of hopefully-useful links and Twitter feeds to keep you busy not that I’ve hung up the calendar.
Other Calendars
These sites have calendars for national or worldwide tournament series.
Hendon Mob
The link will bring you to the current month’s list for the entire world. Use the selectors to narrow to a geographic region (The Americas, for instance) and timeframe. Twitter: @thehendonmob
CardPlayer
The link will show you the current month’s listings for (mostly) North American tournaments. Twitter: @CardPlayerMedia
PokerNews
You can sort this listing by country and dates, starting with the USA and Canada. Twitter: @PokerNews
Bravo Poker Live
The Bravo poker room management system is used by many of the card rooms in Las Vegas and elsewhere (including at the WSOP). It can publish a live feed of cash games currently being played and waiting lists, as well as tournament clocks. You can sort venues by geographic area on both the web version and the Android/iOS mobile apps. Want to find out how many cash games are going on within a mile of the center of the Strip (ZIP Code 89109)? 500-1500 PLO at Bellagio, anyone? Twitter: @BravoPokerLive
PokerAtlas
The PokerAtlas web site has some of the same info as Bravo, but from a player perspective (as opposed to data supplied by the poker rooms). Bravo excels at showing you cash games, but if you want to find out what’s coming up in your area for tournaments, PokerAtlas sorts them for you by day and time. There are people who actually get paid to comb the internet for this stuff—lucky stiffs—and they do a pretty thorough job, though it always helps to double-check with a specific room. Table Captain is their equivalent to the Bravo room management; casinos using it (including Muckleshoot) can elect to have their current cash game and live tournament clocks shown via the PokerAtlas site. Twitter: @PokerAtlas and a wide variety of regional feeds like @PortlandPoker, @OregonPoker, @SeattlePoker, @EasternWAPoker. See also the Oregon and Washington room listings.
Tours
World Series of Poker
2019 is the 50th series. Twitter: @wsop.
World Poker Tour
Upcoming events this winter and spring in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.Twitter: @WPT
World Series of Poker Circuit
West Coast stops in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Thunder Valley, WSOP.com (Nevada), and Lake Tahoe. Twitter: @WSOPC
WPTDeepstacks / Deepstacks Poker Tour
Events in Canada are run outside the WPT umbrella. There’s a WPTDeepstacks event at Thunder Valley in April. The DSPT hasn’t announced dates for 2019. Twitter: @WPTDeepstacks and @Deepstacks
Heartland Poker Tour
You can get to HPT stops in Colorado, East Chicago (Indiana), Kansas City, St. Louis, Sacramento, Las Vegas, and Reno non-stop from PDX. Twitter: @HPTPoker
Mid-States Poker Tour
One of the expanding tours, MSPT sponsors events during the Venetian Deepstack series in Las Vegas; their events in Minneapolis, Chicago, and in Colorado are one flight away. Twitter: @msptpoker
CardPlayer Poker Tour
Run in conjunction with other events in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. Twitter: @CardPlayerMedia
Ante Up Poker Tour
Their 2019 schedule shows planned stops in the Phoenix and Sacramento areas. Twitter: @anteupmagazine
Run It Up
This series has held a couple of events per year in Reno, and recently branched out to Sacramento. Twitter: @runitup
RUNGOOD
Most of the events in this series run outside a short trip, but there are usually a couple a year in Kansas City. The Council Bluffs stop in February is just across from Omaha (direct flight on Alaska). Twitter: @RGPokerSeries
Portland
Love all you guys! If you want to keep on top of the local scene, I’d suggest the NW Poker Facebook group.
Final Table
Twitter: @FinalTablePDX
Portland Meadows
Twitter: @PDXmeadowspoker
Pacific Northwest
Chinook Winds
Two week-long tournament series per year. Facebook: Chinook Winds Poker Room Twitter: @PACWESTClassic
Wildhorse
Spring, summer, and fall series.
Spirit Mountain
More of a just-in-case; I haven’t seen a series run there for years.
Muckleshoot
Several tournament series through the year, preceded by satellites where the prize is entry into multiple events. Sunday morning special events can be found on the monthly poker calendar that’s usually out by the first of the month. Twitter: @Muckleshoot_C
Tulalip
Special Sunday morning tournaments at the end of the month. Also a monthly poker calendar. Twitter: @TulalipPoker
Little Creek
Runs small series on no schedule I’ve been able to determine, but they’re there. Twitter: @Little_Creek
Northern California and Nevada
Thunder Valley
A regular stop for several different series, including the WSOPC, WPT, and WPTDeepstacks, just northeast of Sacramento. Twitter: @tvpokerroom
Stones Gambling Hall
An increasing number of tournaments east of Sacramento, along with Twitch livestreams, Twitter: @StonesGambling
Lucky Chances
Between San Francisco and the airport in Colma, city of graveyards. Specializes in tournaments with guaranteed first-place prizes. Twitter: @LuckyChancesC
Bay 101
In San Jose near the airport; the Shooting Star tournament returns for the spring of 2019, after a couple years of hiatus as the venue moved to its new building. Twitter: @Bay101Casino
Southern California
Commerce
The largest poker room in the world. Home to the LAPC, California State Poker Championship, Commerce Poker Series, and LA Poker Open. The LAPC Main Event is a WPT event. Twitter: @LAPC and @CommerceCasino
The Bike
Home of Live at the Bike and several major tournament series each year, including a WSOPC stop and WPT500 event, as well as CardPlayer Poker Tour series. Their late-summer Legends of Poker Main Event is a WPT stop. Twitter: @BicycleCasino
Hustler
has at least a couple big tournament series each year, in Gardena. Twitter: @hustlercasinola
The Gardens
Formerly Hawaiian Gardens. In Hawaiian Gardens. Twitter: @gardenscasino
Hollywood Park
Not really Hollywood: Inglewood. Twitter: @playhpc
Ocean’s 11
Just north of San Diego. Twitter: @oceans11_casino
Las Vegas
Venetian
The most active of the tournament schedules in Las Vegas, with five multi-week Deepstack Extravaganza series, and shorter near-monthly specials, it’s almost harder to find when theire regular dailies are running. Twitter: @VenetianPoker
Aria
Mostly known for their High Roller series (as well as being the venue for the PokerGO studio, the information on their web site usually sucks. Twitter: @ARIAPoker
Wynn
The Wynn runs several series throughout the year, including during the summer, typically in the circuit price range between $400 and $1600. Twitter: @WynnPoker
Planet Hollywood
Home of the PHamous summer series, as well as a stop of the WSOPC. Twitter:@PH_POKER
Golden Nugget
Runs the annual Grand Poker Series during the summer. @GoldenNuggetLV
Binion’s
The original home of the WSOP. Twitter: @BinionsLV
Orleans
The best place to find some 8/16 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and some off-duty dealers. Twitter: @OrleansPokerRo1