#PNWPokerCalendar Planner for December 9

TV Hand

Last week, I totally spaced out including the interview with Justin “Red” Phillips about winning the “TV Poker Hand” poll at Poker Update last month.

With this one hand, a relative unknown was pushed to the forefront of the poker scene — Justin Phillips. And it was such a memorable hand that it emerged victorious among 31 other competitors in PokerUpdate.com Most Memorable Televised Poker Hand bracket.

Mutant Poker readers pushed the hand to the top in the semi-final and final stages of the competition, and I was happy to help Jeremy Harkin put Justin in touch with Poker Update. Catch the publicity wave!

Thinking About Poker

Local shoutout to @pdxheater on Andrew Brokos’s Thinking Poker podcast a couple weeks ago, as Brokos mentions he was at the same table of the World Rec.Gambling Poker Tournament, the long-running (25 years) play-by-email poker tournament. The podcast episode also has an interview with Brad WIllis, the head of blogging for PokerStars, and the author of Bust, an excellent series of articles about the effects of a police raid on an underground poker house in North Carolina.

Calgary

Last week’s Deal was the Deepstacks Poker Tour event in Calgary at Grey Eagle Casino & Resort.

That’s about $154K in US dollars.

Anniversary

It’s just about time to tick over another year here at Mutant Poker Central. My first post was on December 11, 2010, Five years ago come Friday. It wasn’t much, I was just getting things set up, and didn’t really start posting in earnest until January of 2011,  Mucho water under the bridge since then, though I still haven’t made it to Prague for the December EPT. Maybe next year. The Poker Mutant celebrated his birthday this past weekend by cashing three straight online tournaments—including taking second place in a 143-player NLHE 6-Max—and by putting in a new tagline at the top of the page, a quote from November Niner Neil Blumenfield’s interview on the 2+2 Pokercast.

 Deal of the Day: Christmas In Vegas

If you get a wad of cash in your Christmas stocking, you can plan on a trip down to Sin City for two concurrent series running between Christmas and New Year’s.

The Venetian has its New Year’s Eve Extravaganza running between Christmas Day and January 10, with three major events ($100K-$150K guarantees). None of the 34 events have buy-ins greater than $400, there are two each day (noon and 7pm), and there are 4pm satellites to the multi-day events.

Planet Hollywood’s PHamous Poker Weekend just runs the 26th to the 30th of December, with a $565 buy-in $200K guarantee tournament anchoring the series. It also includes PLO and a Bounty PLO tournament.

This Week in Portland Poker

  • Final Table‘s new 9pm $10 buy-in All-In-Or-Fold tournament started up Monday. Today will be a double guarantee ($2K, $20 buy-in/re-buy/add-on) at 11am and a triple guarantee ($4.5K, $40 buy-in/re-entry, $20 add-on) at 7pm.
  • Portland Players Club has a new Bonus Guarantee schedule posted, with $500 Big O tournaments tonight and next Monday at 7:15pm, a $1K Big O at next Wednesday evening, and NLHE freerolls at 12:15pm Thursday through Saturday with $400, $500, and $1K guarantees, respectively. Late Addition: Saturday at 5pm is a $2K guarantee Big O game. $100 buy-in.
  • At The Game this Saturday at 2pm, they’re having a  Cash Game Tournament. The tournament ($30 buy-in/re-buy, $20 add-on plays down to the 10-handed final table. Everyone at the table gets a new stack of chips representing 10% of the prize money. The player with the shortest stack after each hand can elect to cash out for the value of their chips. To make the deal sweeter in this first run of the game, The Game is adding $1K to the prize pool.

Only a Day Away

Check out the Pacific Northwest Tournament Calendar for more poker.