#PNWPokerCal Planner for 7 September 2016

Pokerlandia

I wrote an article a few weeks back for PokerNews on the current situation for poker in Portland that includes quotes from Chadd Baker of Portland Players Club, player David Long, and author Zach Elwood. Updated it a little a week or so ago, and it’s finally made it to the site.

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Long, Beautiful Hair

With all the angst and turmoil in the Portland poker scene the past few weeks,how about something on the lighter side? This was the response from Donnie Peters—former Editor-in-Chief at PokerNews and now in the marketing department at the World Poker Tour—to a photo (on left) I tweeted of Huck Seed playing last Friday’s $20K at Final Table, and focused on something entirely different: dealer Wayne’s impressive beard.

And in some Seed trivia, it’s apparently not the first time he’s been in Portland for part of a summer.

Memorial for John Ogai

Last Sunday, family, friends, and acquaintances of Encore Club owner John Ogai got together in Portland’s Washington Park.

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The State of Portland Poker

I min-cashed in two of the seven tournaments I played on Ignition Casino this week, getting 85th in a 740-entry tournament and 4th in a small Omaha Hi-Lo Bounty (along with two bounties that were half of the buyin each). Played a couple cash sessions and made a few bucks, including one PLO session where I quadrupled my small buyin.

The big game of the week for me was the $20K guarantee at Final Table. I had to rebuy not long before break at an active table after getting to the club at the half-hour mark, with my friend BP on my left and AR and DH in the 1 and 2 seats, respectively. I raised [ax kx] in early position, got called by DH on the button, if I remember correctly, and he called with bottom pair—the bottom pair, as he was playing [6x 2x]—when I shoved from a short stack. DH was short as well, but I got a new stack, then did the addon.

Most of the rest of the night went reasonably well. AR and DH were both gone before our temporary table broke. BP moved to a seat on Huck Seed’s left and was there for a couple of hours at least, while I bounced through three table breaks.

I got up over the chip average, then took a bit of a bath on a hand when I 3-bet/shoved [ad jd] (Mutant Jack!) over an active raiser, then the big blind didn’t notice my bet and shoved for less with [9d 6d]. The original raiser folded, and by the turn, the big blind had a gutshot straight, with a ten and seven on the board. He caught a six on the river and I lost more than half my stack. Two hands later he lost all of his chips with [ax kx] to a DT with a huge stack and [ax qx].

I built my way back up to average, though, as usual in Portland tournaments at this stage, the average was somewhere between 10 and 15 big blinds. By the time we were down to four tables, both BP and Seed were gone. We were closing in on three tables and only a table away from the money when a guy two seats ahead of me in the cutoff made his third or fourth all-in shove in less than two orbits. The player on the button tanked long enough that someone called for the clock. I was fairly interested in what he was about to do because I had [tx tx] and I was going to be all in to call, but I wasn’t going to do that if the button called. I kind of wish he had. He eventually folded, I called, the big blind folded, and I was up against [3x 3x] (the button said he’d had [ax jx]). The flop came out [ax 2x 4x], there was something like a seven on the turn, and naturally the river was [5x], knocking me out eight spots short of the money instead of putting me up to about 25bb. I’d have lost there with aces, too.

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Weekend Getaway: Have You Got the Stones?

If you’re looking for a quick weekend of poker after Chinook and Muckleshoot, look to the Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights, a suburb northeast of Sacramento.

Their $250,000 Fall Classic starts Friday, 23 September, and the roster of commentators on the live stream final tables includes Bart Hanson, Lon McEachernDavid Tuchman, and Chris Moneymaker. Opening weekend, there’s a $500 entry Monster Stack with 30-minute levels and 30K in chips, with a $75,000 guarantee on Saturday, then a $40,000 guarantee$350 entry 40-minute level, 15K starting stack on Sunday. Both events are just one day and start at 10am.

Flights to Sacramento are less than $100 each way right now; Stones is about 20 miles from the airport, on the opposite side of town. As prices go up, you might be able to get an overnight bus to Sacramento from Portland for $75 (one-way); leave in the evening and get into downtown Sacto with plenty of time to make kickoff and free wifi all the way. Beats driving all night then having to play poker all day.

Once you get there, you’ll probably need to rent a car, is for no other reason than you won’t be able to get a hotel room anywhere near Stones for a price that makes sense.

This Week in Portland Poker

Things may be a little quiet with the Fall Coast Classic going on at Chinook Winds, then again, there were late announcements over the weekend for an $8K at Portland Meadows that got 260+ entries, and a Labor Day special on Monday night, so who knows what the weekend holds in store?

Only a Day Away

  • Tonight at 7pm is the last satellite for the Muckleshoot Summer Classic series.
  • The Fall Coast Poker Classic at Chinook Winds Casino got going yesterday with the Seniors tournament, which had 179 entries. By the time you read this, if you’re not already at the beach, it’s probably too late to get there in time for the $330 Big O tournament at noon, But tomorrow is a $25K guarantee NLHE and $10K O8, Friday is the $20K NLHE 6-Max, and Saturday is the $100K NLHE Main Event ($550 entry and $200 addon).
  • This weekend at the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza 3.5, there’s a $1M guarantee event with entry days ($3,500 buyin) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It’s a three-day event with Day 3 on Tuesday.
  • The Commerce Poker Series in Los Angeles has a $470 buyin $200K guarantee this week, with entry days on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and Day 2 on Sunday. There are two $50K guarantees on Saturday and Sunday, for $175 and $240, respectively, with the Sunday event awarding $50 bounties on top of the guarantee.
  • The South Sound Poker Championship at Little Creek Casino west of Olympia runs through Sunday, with the big event on Saturday: $340 buyin with $3K added to the prize pool. You can buy in online through their web site.
  • Friday is the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge; see last week’s Planner for more info.
  • HPT Colorado opens up Friday, at Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk.
  • The Muckleshoot Poker Summer Classic is just one week away.
  • A week from Friday is the start of the Gardens Poker Classic in Los Angeles, which starts with a $260 (including $100 addon) $50K event, and includes the first leg of the Socal Poker Championships (see the Deal a few weeks back for more info).
  • It’s probably too late to get aboard, but CardPlayer Cruises leaves from Seattle on Friday, 16 September.
  • The WPTDeepstacks tour rolls into Casino del Sol in Tucson on 17 September.

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