I didn’t really think I’d be seeing much go on in just a couple of weeks, but it may be a good sign for the future of poker in 2021.
Most of this week’s action comes courtesy of the World Poker Tour in various forms, and mostly in Florida, but we’re going to start in Las Vegas.
Keizer, Oregon’s Alex Dickson picked up his third-largest cash by taking 3rd in the WPTDeepstacks/Venetian DeepStack Showdown #15 $40K GTD NLHE MonsterStack. 177 entries pushed the prize pool over $90K. Dickson moves from #716 to #630 on the Leaderboard.
Two cashes at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida put Aaron Thivyanathan of Renton, Washington on this edition of the Leaderboard. The big one was 18th place in Event #1 $300K GTD NLHE Deep Stack, which had over 3,000 entries and a prize pool of nearly $1.6M. Thivyanathan moves just behind Dickson to #638.
It’s not common to get much movement in the top 10 of the Leaderboard without a big score, but there’s a unique situation with the four players between 7th and 10th only about $40K apart. So even Lee Markholt‘s 8th place finish in WPT Lucky Hearts #25 $100K GTD NLHE was enough to move him ahead of both Lee Atkinson and Annie Duke (yes, she’s technically still on the Oregon leaderboard at Hendon Mob) to #7. Interesting note: the expected field for this side event, which was a $5K buyin, needed just 20 to make the guarantee. It had 134 entries for a $636K pot.
Chad Wassmuth was 4th in WPT Lucky Hearts #16 $200K GTD NLHE, another event that showed the pent-up passion for poker being released in Florida, America’s aggression-relief valve. 335 entries made a $670K prize pool. Wassmuth moves up 6 slots to #64.
Back in Las Vegas, it was Dylan Wilkerson in 5th place in the WPTDS/Venetian $500K GTD NLHE Main Event. 812 entries more than doubled the guarantee. Wilkerson stays at #14 on the Leaderboard.
Esther Taylor is another ringer on the Oregon leaderboard, and she holds at #26 after an 11th place reckoning in the WPT Lucky Hearts #17 $1M GTD NLHE Main Event. There was a $5M pot made from more than 1,500 entries. You don’t see that every day in buyins that large.
Anchorage’s Adam Hendrix took the title in WPT Lucky Hearts #22 NLHE Big Stack, winning the biggest slice of the $212K prize pool made up of 415 entries. Then he just missed the final table in Event #25 $100K GTD NLHE, getting 10th. Hendrix is another non-mover despite some impressive figures, maintaining at #31.
Wayne Harmon at WPTDS/Venetian via WPT.com
Portland’s own Wayne Harmon pulled into 3rd at the WPTDS/Venetian $500K GTD NLHE Main Event. It’s Harmon’s biggest-ever cash by a substantial amount, and he jumps almost 160 places on the Leaderboard, to #235.
Last but not least, Christopher Brewer (Eugene) is back at the big boy tables, winning an Aria High Roller at the end of January, after heads-up with former PNW Leaderboard crusher Ali Imsirovic (who, as you may remember, switched his reporting to his native Bosnia & Herzegovina). The fields aren’t large (21 entries) but the money is, moving Brewer up 42 places, to #114.
That’s it for this report! Stay tuned. Same poker time! Same poker channel!