Category Archives: Tournaments

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 20 August 2019

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Just a smattering of content this past couple of weeks, but it’s from all across the country! Not a huge amount of movement, though. (picture above from livingwithagolden.com)

Appearing for the first time on the leaderboard at #1556 is Duc Dinh of Oregon, who got to an impressive 13th place in a field of 1,800 for his first Hendon Mob recorded cash, at Talking Stick Resort’s Arizona State Championship NLHE.

Auburn’s Thomas Kornechuk qualified for the WSOP $1M GTD Global Casino Championship NLHE by winning the WSOPC Thunder Valley NLHE Main Event back in January. He came in 18th in the 129-entry field. He rises 3 places to #102.

Darren Rabinowitz was in Florida for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open #21 $1M GTD NLHE. He placed 13th of 385, and holds at #15 on the Leaderboard.

And it’s another big-buyin-big-win for James Romero, getting 2nd place in a deal with Stephen Song at the SHRPO #27 $500K GTD NLHE. He remains #10 after taking in his share of the 117-entry tournament.

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 07 August 2019

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Not a lot of poker action over the past couple of weeks, but a conversation during last weekend’s Portland Meadows $40K GTD NLHE prompted me to take a look at the Hendon Mob Oregon, USA All-Time Money List, and I am insanely happy to announce that Annie “Hasn’t Actually Lived Here For Over a Decade” Duke is no longer the top player on the list.

That honor belongs—and will likely remain with for a long time—to Seth Davies, whose 8th-place finish in the WSOP #90 NLHE High Roller pushed him into the top slot by about the amount of his  profit in the $50K buyin event. He should retain that position for a while, considering how active he is in high roller events. The next player likely to surpass Duke is the Oregon #3 player, James Romero, but he’s still about $700K back. He hasn’t been as active in high roller events (at least not cashing in them), so it could be a little while. His WSOP bio lists his residence as Las Vegas, unlike Davies, who claims Bend on Hendon Mob and WSOP.

Fourth place is held by Esther Taylor, who hasn’t been here since at least 2011. Her Hendon Mob profile list residence in Pennsylvania but born in Portland.

Climbing on her spot are Max Young and Carter Gill. Young has been out on the circuit; all of Gill’s cashes this year were in events at Chinook Winds and Wildhorse, and he was at my table on Saturday at Portland Meadows.

So the future for the actual Oregon players—the ones who might bring some of their winnings back to the state to play—taking over the top spots on the leaderboard is looking brisht.

We’ve seen some late results come in from months-old events the past few episodes, this time there’s a result that looks like it might be because of a change of residence. Jason Cohen is from somewhere in Washington, his bio doesn’t specify, but back in April, he took 2nd place in the Card Player Poker Tour NLHE Quantum with 728 entries, at Ocean’s Eleven Casino outside San Diego. It’s his second recorded cash, and he bumps up to #858 on the PNW Poler Leaderboard.

Dylan Wilkerson also picked up a 2nd place in the 442-entry WSOPC Cherokee #4 $100K GTD NLHE. He’s staying at #11 on the Leaderboard.

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 23 July 2019

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Only four results make the cut this edition, as outlying series in Vegas don’t tend to report as promptly as the WSOP. Plus, there were a few events that wound up after the WSOP Main Event.

Chad Wassmuth was one of two PNW players at the final table of the Wynn Summer Classic $100K GTD NLHE tournament held on 8 July. He took 3rd place; enough to edge him up from #43 to #42 on the Leaderboard. The winner of that same event was Maxwell Young (still #20). There were 455 entries in the tournament, and the prize pool was more than double the guarantee.

The next week’s Wynn Summer Classic $100K GTD NLHE was won by Seattle’s Cheang Yoo, in a three-way deal. There were fewer entries in this event (343) but the prize pool was still more than $160K. Yoo moves up nearly 200 places on the Leaderboard to #378.

Rami Mornel

Finally, Rami Mornel of Redmond gains 370 spots to reach #248  after placing 7th in WSOP #89 NLHE, the last bracelet event of the season, with 608 players ponying up $5K each to play 30-minute levels. WPT commentator Tony Dunst took 2nd place, Jordan Cristos came in 4th, and it was Phil Hellmuth‘s last close call of the year, as he busted just after Mornel.

And hey, breaking the rules for just a minute here, the Poker Mutant three-way-chopped the $10K at Final Table last Friday for not nearly enough to get onto the Leaderboard even if it was tracked by Hendon Mob, but it’s more than enough to make me feel a little better about flying to LA for rake-free WPT satellites at The Bike in a couple weeks and/or to make my reservations for the week in Lincoln City for the upcoming Chinook Winds Fall Coast Poker Classic!

And, oh, this.

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 17 July 2019

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The World Series of Poker is essentially over, my man (in my mind, at least) Hossein Ensan‘s the first over-50 Main Event winner in the modern era of poker and the oldest since Noel Furlong in 1999 (by the way, there’s a great documentary about that Main Event that’s been making the rounds, in case you haven’t seen it).

With the end of the series comes the last big rush of results through Hendon Mob, so it’s time for another edition of the Leaderboard!

Not a lot of movement this time, most of the names are high up on the board where smaller cashes don’t affect the standings at all.

First, though, let’s clear up an old result, from April in Pendleton where Yakima’s Ronald Anderson broke into the Leaderboard with a win in Wildhorse Spring Poker Round Up #1 NLHE, with 486 entries. He went on to cash in several tournaments in Las Vegas this summer, as well. Welcome to the Leaderboard at #915!

Dylan Linde maintains his #8 ranking with his 52nd place showing (from 2,800 entries) in WSOP #84 $1M GTD NLHE The Closer. A cash in The Closer at 26th for Max Young keeps him at #20.

Bremerton’s Austin Hortalenza got his fourth recorded cash with a 12th place finish from 6,248 contenders in WSOP #75 NLHE Little One for One Drop. Hortalenza moves from #2123 to #501.

Moving up in the buyins a bit, James Romero got 10th place in WSOP #86 NLHE 6-Max Championship, which doesn’t budge him from #10, but doesn’t hurt, either.

Finally, another name from the upper reaches, Darren Rabinowitz (#15) is the big winner for this roundup, finishing 6th of 2,589 in WSOP #82 NLHE Double Stack (won by Thomas Koral, the winner of the 2013 Oregon State Poker Championships at Chinook Winds).

And that’s it! Quite the dropoff from the past few weeks, but a lot easier to type up with a cat on the desk.

Heads Up!

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Ignition Casino $7 NLHE Jackpot Sit & Go

This the Ignition version of the three-person winner-takes-all Sit & Go with a variable payout. 2x the buyin for most of the games, 5x for about 25% of the games, with payouts much higher for a very few games. Never got more than the 5x payout on anything, but I’ve been profitable in them. Cashed 50/114, which wouldn’t be enough to profit if they were all just 2x payouts but about 16% ROI.

Structures are very fast and some of the players are decent—I was in one the other day where none of us hit the wall before we were all down to 5bb—but most of the players still limp into every hand long past the point where they should just be shoving.

I was heads-up this morning on hand 8 in a $35 payout after losing some chips in the first couple hands (starting stack 500, down to 330) and the other player had just swallowed up the third player. (he had 1170, with blinds at 20/40.

J♥4♣ He called, flop was Q♠5♣T♦ and I folded to his bet on the turn.

3♥8♥ Folded my small blind.

2♥4♥. Folded to his bet on A♠7♦T♣ flop.

3♥A♦ Shoved after he limped in. He folded.

3♦Q♠ This hand got checked down to the river with a 9♠5♣4♠T♠A♦ board. He had 3♥Q♣. I’m still down at 270 against his 1230.

J♠2♠ I fold small blind.

2♥5♦. Really, any hand without a deuce or trey in it would be nice. He limps, flop is 7♠3♥J♥ and I fold to a bet. 210 left.

4♦2♣ Uhhh, guys? Fold small blind.

J♠2♠ This looks familiar. He calls, the board gets checked down K♦A♥7♣4♣Q♥ and at showdown he has 3♣6♠, so jack-high takes the cake. A win!

9♠9♣ I shove on the first hand of 30/60 and he calls with 7♦A♦. Board runs out clean and I double to 460.

Q♣T♠ He limps, I shove, and he folds.

2♦K♥ Shove. Up to 580.

8♣J♦ He limps, I check and we check through the flop to a board of 3♦8♠A♥5♣. I bet my second pair for 180 and he folds.

4♥Q♠ I fold my small blind. This is the 21st hand of the tournament.

6♣T♠ He calls and I check. 6♦2♦9♣ flop and I check-call his bet of 60. Q♠ turn and I check-fold to another min-bet. Down to 490.

6♠J♥ Fold the small blind.

K♦7♠ He folds.

8♠7♥ I fold.

9♥A♥ He folds.

2♠6♥ Not back to this, please. Fold.

9♣2♠ He limps in and the flop is 4♦3♦2♥. I do have a pair, so I jam the last 400 in, he calls with J♣A♠ and the board is safe for me. I hate to double on that hand, but there you go. I’m in the lead with 920.

4♠6♣ Blinds to 40/80. I fold my small blind.

8♠8♣ I shove, he calls all in with 6♣5♣ and the board runs out 4♠T♣K♣9♥Q♣. back down to 260 aka 3.25bb.

4♦9♥ Fold.

Q♠T♥ He limps, I shove and he calls with 2♥3♠. I double to 440.

A♥A♠ I still only have 4.5bb. I shove, and he calls with A♣5♣. Reasonable, and this time the spade flush runs out for me. Up to 880.

Q♠A♠ He limps, I shove. He calls with 5♦Q♦. I’m 70% to win the pot and the game, but the board runs out 8♥6♠2♥2♠6♥. I make two pair with an ace, but he has the crucial eight for the better two pair. Down to 260.

6♥8♦ I shove, he calls with 5♣Q♠, and I spike an eight on the river to double to 520.

4♥A♦ Old pattern. He limps, I shove, he calls wih K♦5♦ (59%/41%) and the board is T♠4♠6♠3♠ no don’t do it! 2♣. Couldn’t even give me a spade on the river to make the flush instead of the straight.

 

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 12 July 2019

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The PNW Poker Leaderboard is mostly reserved for major poker achievements; scores of $10K or more and those which represent a 400% ROI. If someone min-cashes a $10K normally, it’s not going to get on here unless they cross the $50K payout threshhold, or I’d be just posting every single cash from PNW players in high buyin tournament. Ain’t got time for that.

That said, because the WSOP Main Event is such a big thing in the poker world that I cover it the way I have been the past week, I’m going to run down the folks who’ve cashed the Main and how it affects them on the Leaderboard. One thing you’ll notice here is that there are people in the list who were not on the daily reports, because their Hendon Mob profile home town does not match their WSOP profile.

 NameHometownWSOP ME PositionPrevious PNW RankCurrent PNW Rank
Shane AbbottSeattle77299146
Jeff DewittRedmond127172122
Takashi MatsushitaSeattle161493245
Nicholas RamponeMcMinnville1674140
Sai Ram SirandasPortand327292211
Jacqueline BurkhartBoring336159129
Mans MontgomeryCouer d’Alene3379683
Dien LeBellevue39210999
Donald SchiavoneBrookings458-921
Christopher WolfeTacoma4642381746
Trong DangBellevue513-951
Rittie ChuaprasertPortland520236190
Allen NielsonMercer Island534403288
Michael FaulknerViola5871295637
Eric KepperSeattle666501373
James FrankStayton6822246853
Scott EskenaziMercer Island7207569
Glenn WardSalem76822351018
Brandon CantuVancouver84233
Bradley ZusmanGresham941832498
Theodore McNeelyMyrtle Point9561426826
Aaron OgusRedmond9677977
Dylan LindeCoeur D'Alene96888
Ryan StokerSpokane990118113
Adam BarkerBonney Lake10151203749
Jeffrey FarnesSalem1044493388
Jason AntonelliRedmond1046513409
Tyler PattersonEverett11111313
Glenn LarsonOlympia1122294252
Steven Josephsen1211835592
Jacob DavisTigard1240-1523

Other Stuff

From Bremerton, Austin Hortaleza dragged down the win in a $200 buyin Rio Daily Deepstack the day before the 4th, then he came in 12th out of the 870 entries in WSOP #75 NLHE Little One for One Drop just a couple of days later. They were his third and fourth recorded cashes. He debuts on the Leaderboard at #2117.

Coming in at 28th in the same event was Rafael Lebron from Puyallup. And Ridgefield’s Jeffrey Bushaw got his biggest recorded cash for 35th, less than a week after a decent showing (60th) in WSOP #69 NLHE Mini Main Event (5,521 entries). Lebron moves up one spot on the Leaderboard to 61; Bushaw jumps from 1227 to 705.

James Romero (Portland) makes a rare appearance here outside of the high roller events but, as usual, it’s up near the top of something, this time at 3rd in the Venetian/MSPT #75 $1M GTD NLHE MonsterStack. The event drew 2,232 entries and more than doubled the guarantee.

Did someone say Limit Hold’em? Yes, it was Tam Hang (Lynnwood), who came in 3rd in the WSOP #72 LHE Championship. 118 entries. Hang maintains his position at #16

Portland’s own Ming Zhu was the 11th-place finisher in WSOP #64 NLHE Crazy Eights (10,185 entries), which pops him up almost 50 spots to #126. Before he cashed in the Main Event (see above) Dien Le of Bellevue took 67th in the same event (both cashes moved him ten places on the Leaderboard to #99). Right behind (or before, depending on which way you look at it) Le was Salem’s Tam Nguyen, in 68th. He maintains on the Leaderboard at #27.

Shelton’s Loren Camp jumps 450 places to #326 with a win in the 496-entry Aria Poker Classic $100K GTD NLHE Seniors in the middle of June.

Steve Harper (Portland) climbs nearly 30 places to #213 with 2nd place on one of the $400 Rio Daily Deepstack tournaments.

Joshua Griffith nearly made it to the final table in the WSOP #77 LHE 6-Max (yes, Limit again!). He took 9th in the field of 193 (right behind Jeff Shulman) for the biggest-ever cash of this Portland player. He moves from #1722 to #1114.

He was on a Main Event feature table. He was on a Tag Team with George Wolff, Angela Jordison, and Jacki Burkhart, and he got 8th place in the Venetian #86 $200K GTD NLHE Double Stack. Eugene’s Mason Barrell beat out nearly 900 other contenders in a tournament where the prize pool neared $500K, and he moves 16 places on the Leaderboard to #196.

Finally for this edition, Shoreline’s Victor Chung was 20th of 1,363 entries in the Venetian #91 $1M GTD NLHE Summer Saver. His second-largest cash (after cashing the Main Event last summer) puts him up to #760 on the Leaderboard.

PNW Poker Players: 2019 WSOP Main Event Day 7

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Sorry for the lateness of the post, I was working on a new edition of the PNW Poker Leaderboard last night and just didn’t manage to get even this minor post done before work.

Essentially, everyone from the PNW contingent has been eliminated, apart from Preben Stokkan, the Norwegian pro whose WSOP profile says is from my hometown of Corvallis, and who is—amazingly enough—still in the game with 30 players remaining despite having been down to a single big blind on Day 3, up to the chip lead by the end of that day, then 104/106 at the start of play yesterday.

As always, in addition to PNW players, I’m on the bandwagon for Hossein Ensan, senior EPT crusher, who was 2nd in chips at the end of Day 6 and is still in the top 4 (all between 30M and 40M).

PNW Poker Players: 2019 WSOP Main Event Day 6

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So who knows Ian Pelz? The WSOP reports say he lives in Eugene, but most of his previous cashes come from Illinois and Colorado (he won the opening event of the 2018 Colorado Poker Championship) and Hendon Mob says he’s from Boulder. GL to him!

Play starts today (106 players remaining) at 80,000 for the big blind, so even Shane Abbott and Preben Stokkan still have 10bb. It’ll be 200,000 by the end of the day. Stokkan famously was down to a single big blind at the first break of Day 3 before he ran it up to EOD3 chip leader. Maybe lightning will strike twice.

Great job to Jacki Burkhart, Nick Getzen, Mans Montgomery, and Jeffrey Dewitt for making the money and bringing at least a little of it back to the PNW!

EOD RANK | NAME | CITY | CHIPS

10 | Ian Pelz | Eugene | 9,365,000 ** DAY 2C PNW CHIP LEADER

===== AVERAGE CHIP STACK START OF DAY 6: 4,850,000

===== MEDIAN CHIP STACK START OF DAY 6: 4,013,000

103 | Shane Abbott | Seattle | 1,110,000

104 | Preben Stokkan | Corvallis | 1,100,000 ** DAY 3 OVERALL CHIP LEADER

PNW Poker Players: 2019 WSOP Main Event Day 5

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If you haven’t already had an opportunity to check out the article I posted last night (“Dropping Like Chandeliers”), it has a little interactive chart showing the percentage of the field making it through to the end of Days 1 to 4.

In addition to more players making it through to Day 5 this year because of the size of the field (354 from 8,569), a higher percentage of entries got through Day 4 than in any year since 2014 (4.13%, slightly more than 2017, but fewer than 4% made it in 2015,2016, and 2018).

Even so, the task of rounding up the PNW players in the field is, sadly, easier by far today. On the bright side, though, hometown fave Jacki Burkhart has officially made a deep run in the Main Event, and ditto for Eugene’s Ian Pelz. Kudos also to Mans Montgomery from Idaho, and Shane Abbott and Jeffrey Dewitt from Washington. And, of course, there’s Preben Stokkan.

Players this deep are approaching payouts of $40K. The $100K mark won’t be reached until there are fewer than 73 players remaining. We probably won’t get there until sometime on Day 6, so today is all about slowly climbing the pay scale from a $30K to $60K.

The big blind inthe first level of Day 5 will be 24,000. By the end of the day in Level 25, the big blind will be 60,000.

Pelz starts at a table with 2013 Main Event runner-up Jay Farber.

EOD RANK | NAME | CITY | CHIPS

28 | Preben Stokkan | Corvallis | 2,900,000 ** DAY 3 OVERALL CHIP LEADER

104 | Ian Pelz | Eugene | 1,866,000 ** DAY 2C PNW CHIP LEADER

144 | Jacki Burkhart | Boring | 1,503,000 ** DAY 2AB PNW CHIP LEADER

===== AVERAGE CHIP STACK START OF DAY 5: 1,452,300

===== MEDIAN CHIP STACK START OF DAY 5: 1,272,000

182 | Shane Abbott | Seattle | 1,249,000

197 | Mans Montgomery | Boise | 1,224,000

244 | Jeffrey Dewitt | Redmond | 891,000

PNW Poker Players: 2019 WSOP Main Event Day 4

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Congratulations! You’re all in the money!

Play ended as the clock counted down the last minutes of Level 15 and the money bubble popped with 1,286 players remaining from the field of 8,569. The remaining PNW group includes 11 from Oregon, 4 from Idaho, and 20 from Washington.

More or less.

The wild story of the day belongs to a nominally PNW player, Preban Stokkan, who has a US flag and listed hometown of Corvallis on reports and the WSOP player database, but whose Hendon Mob profile lists as a Norwegian living in London with over $1.7M in live tournament earnings. He was down to a single 5K chip at the first break of the day but he’s in the chip lead now.

It’s not unusual for the WSOP player database to have incorrect or just old info, or for non-US players to claim a US hometown because they were in the US when they first played the WSOP or tax reasons (or even for players from different states to have not updated their info: looking at you, Nick Getzen). That’s why Annie Duke and Esther Taylor-Brady are still at the top of the Oregon leaderboard on Hendon Mob.

EOD RANK | NAME | CITY | CHIPS

1 | Preben Stokkan | Corvallis | 2,184,000 ** DAY 3 OVERALL CHIP LEADER

108 | Allen Nielson | Mercer Island | 909,000

138 | Jacki Burkhart | Boring | 819,000 ** DAY 2AB PNW CHIP LEADER

159 | Ian Pelz | Eugene | 773,000 ** DAY 2C PNW CHIP LEADER

300 | Shane Abbott | Seattle | 596,000

312 | Glenn Ward | Salem | 579,000

318 | Christopher Wolfe | Lake Tapps | 570,000

333 | Dien Le | Bellevue | 556,000

490 | Trong Danh | Bellevue | 402,000

===== AVERAGE CHIP STACK START OF DAY 4: 400,000

501 | Tyler Patterson | Everett | 393,000

521 | Brandon Cantu | Ridgefield | 382,000

539 | Scott Eskenazi | Mercer Island | 374,000

560 | Kevin Law | Mill Creek | 361,000 ** DAY 1A PNW CHIP LEADER

574 | Mans Montgomery | Boise | 351,000

619 | John Stauffer | Shoreline | 329,000

===== MEDIAN CHIP STACK START OF DAY 4: 316,000

717 | Michael Faulkner | Viola | 273,000

721 | Jeffrey Farnes | Dallas | 271,000

751 | Bradley Zusman | Gresham | 255,000

773 | Donald Schiavone | Brookings | 243,000

791 | Thomas Kornechuk | Auburn | 229,000

825 | Eric Kepper | Seattle | 211,000

830 | Jason Antonelli | Sammamish | 208,000

889 | Rittie Chuaprasert | Portland | 180,000

890 | Aaron Ogus | Redmond | 179,000

952 | James Frank | Stayton | 151,000

992 | Theodore McNeely | Myrtle Point | 130,000

1004 | Jacob Davis | Tigard | 125,000

1005 | Steven Josephson | Bothell | 125,000

1079 | Jeffrey Dewitt | Redmond | 105,100

1117 | Ryan Stoker | Spokane | 89,000

1129 | Adam Barker | Bonney Lake | 85,000

1163 | Terik Brown | Mercer Island | 74,000

1252 | Glenn Larson | Olympia | 34,000