The Poker Mutant will be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
The plan for the weekend was to bink the Friday night Final Table $10K GTD NLHE,then fly to LAX for the LA Poker Open $500K GTD NLHE Main Event at Commerce Casino in the morning.
We were playing short-handed for a little bit with Bourbon Bill dealing, me in seat 6, Ron in seat 2, and Tony S. in seat 8. We’re having a pleasant enough conversation and game. Then Darren sits down and starts Darrening it up.Eventually this blows up into a hand where I raise 9♥T♥, he reraises, and we go to the flop. 9♦8♥7♥. I check, he bets, I reraise, he goes all in, I call and he has 8♦7♦ but I’m still 60% to win the hand with any heart, two nines, three tens, and three jacks and three sixes (discounting the hearts of each rank). Needless to say, the turn and river are black and a queen and king. So I’m down to 3K but still have 30+ big blinds.
I manage to chip back up, doubling once through Darren when he calls my top pair with his flush draw and misses, and picking up some other chips with a couple of shoves.
But Darren is still my downfall just 80 minutes into the game. He’s Darrened off most of what was two starting stacks and shoves from middle position on my big blind. I have jacks. The small blind calls his 3400 all in, I shove my jacks, Darren shows deuces, the small blind calls with aces, and while I get a gutshot draw on the flop (QX9X8X) I’m just covered and don’t rebuy. Tomorrow’s the $10K at Portland Meadows.
Made myself a Chocolate Syrup Bourbon MIlkshake when I got home.
I’d been hoping that results from either the Chinook Winds or Wildhorse series would be posted on Hendon Mob before I had to do another update of the Leaderboard, but I’m running out of time and as everyone knows by now, Max Young won more than a quarter of a million dollars (and a fifth ring) this week at the WSOPC Choctaw Main Event.
As anyone who’s been around Portland poker for a few years knows, Max was a regular here not that long ago before he headed out of town for the big money. At least I can say I got sucked out on by greatness once or twice.
This shit here is why I’m quitting poker. Who can keep up with this guy? https://t.co/2zX6KMjhbf
By the way, that was Max’s second WSOPC Ring this month (so far), he got another one in WSOPC Lake Tahoe Event #11 NLHE (with a final table and another cash at Choctaw in-between). Before that, he hadn’t won a Main Event for almost a month!
Ryan Stoker took 5th in the WSOPC Lake Tahoe Main Event after a small cash in the preceding Event #9 NLHE Big Blind Ante.
I’ve known of Jerry Mouawad for many years, from back when my wife was a theater reviewer, because he’s one of the founders of Imago Theater here in Portland, so it was kind of funny to run into him the first time at Encore Club years ago. He’s also a pretty decent poker player, and he won the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza #12 NLHE Rebuy early this month
PokerTime fixture Jake Dahl had a string of cashes at WSOPC Lake Tahoe, with three final tables, including 4th place in Event #9 NLHE Big Blind Ante.
Back in the early days of this blog, I got it in my mind to get to EPT Prague for my 50th birthday. My thinking was that—aside from the series starting near my birthday every December—my wife is a Christmas fan, Prague is the home of Wenceslas Square and a famous holiday market, and it would be less galling to travel to a poker destination if it was someplace she actually would enjoy (Vegas is not on that list). So I spent the summer trying to get myself in the position where I could (as an umemployed freelance programmer without any work) manage to swing the kind of win I cold parlay into a European trip.
Now I’m in a sort of similar predicament. I haven’t had a four-figure profit since the summer, I hit a downswing in my Thousandaire Makers on Ignition, and the end of my poker life approaches. I gave myself an out my promise to my wife to quit poker is contingent on me not cashing for $100K before the end of the year. But I’m a working stiff, there are more holidays between now and then than I can shake a Yule log at, not to mention I gotta shake some money out for property taxes and I should probably do something special for our 30th anniversary.
So I’m looking at the events below very carefully.
This Week In Portland Poker
It’s back to normal schedules at Final Table with the $10K GTD tonight (after a couple of weeks with reduced guarantees because of events at Chinook Winds and Wildhorse). And the great $10K at Portland Meadows.
Only a Day Away
The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza IV runs through 25 November. The big event of the series is the $1,600 buyin $400K GTD Main Event starting today with another entry day tomorrow. Tonight is a $300 buyin Survivor tournament at 7pm (pays $2,500, do not leave your money on the table). There are two $400 buyin $100K GTDs next week.
WSOPC Las Vegas started Wednesday at Planet Hollywood, with a $400 buyin $200K GTD tournament. The Main Event has starts next Saturday and Sunday.
North of Sacramento, WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valleyhas the $460 buyin $250K GTD Monolith this weekend, with the $1,500 $500K GTD Main Event starting Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.
The LA Poker Open at Commerce Casino is closing out this weekend with a $1,100 $500K GTD Main Event (Day 1 Friday and Saturday) and a $1,100 buyin Survivor paying $5,000 to 20% of the field.
The Muckleshoot CasinoBig Bounty tournament ($200 buyin) is Sunday at 10:15am. Their monthly Deepstack ($300 buyin) is next Suunday at the same time.
The Deepstacks Poker Tour Championship is in Calgary next Thursday (it ain’t Thanksgiving in Canada) at Grey Eagle. The Canadian dollar is about 76¢ US. The opening event is a C$100K GTD for C$550 buyin. The Main Event has starting days 30 November and 1 December, with a C$2,500 buyin and C$1M GTD. You can get direct flights on Air Canada from Portland for $240 (US) RT if you buy now. It’s closer than Vegas. Plus, you’re in Calgary as winter is coming.
The Wynn Signature Seriesstarts 28 November. Opening weekend has a $250K GTD $600 buyin and a $50K GTD $550 buyin $5K payout Survivor. The next weekend has a $150K GTD ($600 buyin) and $30K GTD $3K payout $300 buyin Survivor, with a number of other events between.
The WPT Five Diamond at Bellagio starts 29 November. There’s a $1,620 NLHE 6-Max on 3 December, $1,620 PLO the next day, and lots of satellites to the $10,400 Main Event starting 11 December.
The Colorado Poker Championship Winter Series runs 29 November to 19 December at Golden Gates Casino, It features 25 events including a $2K buyin High Roller. The $1,100 buyin Main Event has three starting flights on 13—15 December. Last year’s Winter Series Main Event had a prize pool of just under $300K (Max Young took 4th, natch).
The Bicycle Casino hosts the final West Coast WSOP event of the year: WSOPC Los Angeles from 1—12 December. The first week is the $250K GTD NLHE Monster Stack, with starting flights inconveniently placed two-per-day on Monday and Tuesday. Ditto for the Main Event starting days of Sunday and Monday (11 & 12 December). FU, too, WSOP.
Closer to home, in the Sacramento area, is the Stones Gambling Hall December Chill Poker Series/Run It Up Stones. Run It Up has an abbreviated version of its Reno schedule with a $600 buyin Main Event and smaller PLO/NLH Mix, NLHE Win the Button, and PLO 6-Max ($500 buyin for the last one). That’s followed by a $100K GTD Quantum event with three buyin levels ($120, $240, and $900) and a total of 10 entry points (including the high buyin direct to day 2).
Outside of Minneapolis, the Mid-States Poker Tour Season 9 Finale is technically already running, with satellites all through November already for the $1,100 buyin $500K GTD Main Event with entry days 6—8 December. Non-stop flights are running $230 RT, and with direct flights and a 3pm start time, you wouldn’t even need to leave Portland until 7am Saturday. You’d get to Minneapolis with two-and-a-half hours to cover 22 miles from the airport to Canterbury Park.
From the structure sheet for the MSPT Season 9 Finale; a tournament in Minnesota. In December. The more you know.
The last event (ever) on my calendar is the Venetian Deepstacks Extravaganza V. Which starts a whole four days after the Deepstack Showdown. There’s a $100K GTD the first weekend, and a $260K GTD Monster Stack just before the New Year ($400 buyin). There’s my fallback.
The Poker Mutant will be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Since I wasn’t able to get out to Pendleton for the Main Event at Wildhorse today, I headed over to the Portland Meadows $10K GTD NLHE, which I don’t usually get to play, because weekends are family time if I’m in town.
I entered at the start of level 4 and chipped up a bit, until I called a middle position 3x raise to 1800 and a couple calls from the small blind with QXTX. The flop was a rainbow TX7X3X, the original raiser bet 5100 into a pot of about 9000. After the callers released their hands, I jammed my stack of more than 30000—more than enough to cover the other player—in. He thought about it for a short time, then called with 2♠3♣. A QX on the turn gave me top two, then a 3X river made his trips.
I was down to 5400 after that hand, and three players limped in before me on the button. It was the last hand before the break and the start of 400/800 with 800 big blind ante. I jammed QX7X and hoped for the best. The only player who called was the first limper—sitting next to the player who’d just taken most of my chips—and he had 2X3X. The board ran out a 6-high straight for him with a 5X filling a gap on the river. I stood up to leave, but the player next to me pointed out what everyone—including myself—had missed, which was that I had a straight to the 7.
After break, and a table move, I chipped up to more than 30K, but as I was sliding back down below the starting stack of 25K, I tried to squeeze from the big blind over an opening button raise, only to run my J♠7♠ into a pair of aces.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Only poker today was the Final Table $5K GTD NLHE, with a reduced guarantee because of tomorrow’s Wildhorse Poker Round Up Main Event—which I sadly will not be attending, despite it being the last major tournament within a few hours’ drive before the end of the year—but I lost a very big hand not long after the add-on break, and was out in time to drop by Fred Meyer to buy a the fixings for a Chocolate Syrup Bourbon Milkshake.
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The Poker Mutant will be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Dropped into the Wednesday Final Table $1K GTD NLHE Bounty just as the last level before break was about to start. Saigon Vic gulped up two bounties in the first two hands I was there, then I got one after a seemingly-discombobulated player sat down in one of the vacant seats, limped his AXKX in a multi-way pot, then shoved on a JX7X9X flop when I’d called from the button with 7♥5♥. Nothing else went my way, though and I busted shoving A♥7♥ with 15bb from the cutoff into the button’s nines. The K♣K♠Q♣ flop gave me some outs, but it was over.
As the day draws to a close, I got in another Ignition Casino $4K GTD NLHE Turbo. Made the money then open-shoved 8bb with K♥J♥, and got called by two players, including the big stack with 11bb and 8♠8♣, and another player with K♠T♠. The big stack flopped a full house and I min-cashed, before another player with half a big bind got knocked out.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the third installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Played an Ignition $4K GTD NLHE 6-Max and ran into kicker problems.
Three $2 NLHE Jackpot Sit-n-Gos, the last of which was a $10 payout and I won that one.
Flopped a set of fives in a multiway pot in the nightly $4K NLHE Turbo and was the fourth all in. Biggest stack with a flush draw made it on the river and knocked the other three of us out.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring from poker—not unlike Fedor Holz or Vanessa Selbst—on 1 January. This is the second installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Got in a morning Igniton Poker $2 NLHE Jackpot Sit-n-Go and binked another 5x payout. Got nines in on a queen-high board and managed to get beat by a player with QXJX, but I turned the tables when he made a loose call, I doubled up twice, knocked him out, then took the win.
Ran two more $2 Jackpots after dinner. In the first ($4 payout), the other two players got into it in the first two hands, and we lost the first player on hand three. I was behind in chips on the last hand with T♣9♥ and called a raise, turned top pair, then shoved but lost to 2♠9♦ as he’d flopped the deuce..
Jumped into another one right away and it was another $10 payout. I got lucky with A♣A♥ on the second hand against a pair of sizes, then ground the other player down in 10 more hands.
Did another couple while watching Chris Wallace laugh his creepy Penguin laugh on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Lost one. Won one.
Late-regged an Ignition $500 GTD O8 Turbo just before the first break, folded until I won one hand, got moved to another table, hit two pair then folded on the river with a counterfeited low and an obvious bet from a player who hit trips, and went out a little later 60th of 79.
Lost three more jackpot Sit-N-Gos, including a $10 payout. Busted out of that on the first hand calling against jacks with an ace, then got HU in another and had him on the run until he doubled up with ace-king against my ace-queen.
Last one of the night I was up 2:1 then back to even after getting KXQX in against queens with both a king and queen on the flop, then having my double-up thwarted when my turned trips lost to a flush on the river.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring from poker—not unlike Fedor Holz or Vanessa Selbst—on 1 January. This is the first installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Got a cash bonus from Ignition Casino and played one of their $2 Jackpot Sit-n-Gos on a break at work. Got the 5x multiplier that paid $10 to the winner of the three-person tournament, and I knocked out the first player, but I got unlucky in a 70/30 situation during heads up and didn’t get the prize.
Friday night’s tournament at Final Table was a $10K instead of $20K because of the Wildhorse series, but it had a good turnout. I did well despite not having much in the way of premium hands. My best pair was tens (I did make quads) but I busted a table short of the money, after flopping an open-ended straight draw in a multiway call of a short stack all-in. I made my straight on the river, but Casey Ring hit top pair on 7X4X4X, and bet enough to put me all in to call. The 7X turn knocked me out.
The last couple days of the Chinook Winds Fall Coast Classic were extra-disappointing, mostly because I didn’t cash, but also because it was the last trip I have planned before I hang up my card caps.
Event #14 $100K GTD NLHE 6-Max got off to a bad start, as I flopped a set of queens early but got caught by a turned Broadway. Another pair of queens went bad and I was down nearly 20K from the 500K starting stack in the second 50-minute level. I managed to claw my way back to starting stack, but the decision to play back against an aggressor who was consistently attacking my blinds cost me my tournament when I called from the big blind with 3X5X, flopped bottom two pair, re-raised his continuation, then led out on the turn. With almost half my stack in good, the river paired the wrong card on the board and my two pair was counterfeit. I shoved, and he eventually called with an over pair, knocking me out.
Player went all in for 6K. Big stack calls. I bet 20K from BB w KK. K was exposed in deal. Big stack eventually folds. Shortie has TT. Board runs out AQJ9x. “Third kings of the day!”#FallCoastClassicPokerTournament@ChinookWinds Final Event $200K GTD NLHE
The next day’s Final Event $200K GTD NLHE went better at first. In addition to three pairs of kings in just over four hours, a late registrant sat on my right picked up kings in the small blind when I had aces in the big blind, and ended up all in for a full starting stack preflop. By dinner break, the end of registration, and the addon, I had more than three times the starting stack.
A gentleman named Don (think the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse from Raising Arizona if he’d retired and gone to live in Palm Springs) held sway over the table, with a couple of Portland regs chipping away at my stack until I was down to about average over the next ninety minutes. Then—like a dream—it was all gone in a hand where I put 60bb in with top-top on the turn against an over-pair shove. Busted by a pair of nines two days in a row. A bit bittersweet, because Chinook Winds has been where I’ve had the most recorded cashes, and I’m not going to be playing there again in the foreseeable future.
Tonight is the first event: the one-and-only super satellite for Saturday’s High Roller in Pendleton. No commentary here, just a link to the schedule and structures.
#PNWPokerLeaderboard
Results from Chinook haven’t posted yet, so news for PNW players is a little slim, but Mercer Island’s David Oppenheim picked up a couple nice scores in the past few weeks, with 3rd place finishes in the Muckleshoot Fall Classic Event #5and at Run It Up Reno Mini Main Event. They’re his two largest recorded cashes, by a significant margin.
Oregon’s Landon Moore grabbed 15th in the Venetian $500K GTD Championship in mid-October, an event headlined by Steve Sung and Joseph Cheong. It’s Moore’s second recorded cash.
James Romero cashed 7th in another big tournament, the 113-entry WSOP Europe Event #8 1M NLHE High Roller.
The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza IV runs through 25 November (Thanksgiving is the 22nd this year). The big event of the series is the $1,600 buyin $400K GTD Main Event starting 16 November.
Just west of Edmonton, Alberta, River CreeKing of the Felt Deepstack Championship resort starts Saturday, with seven events including PLO, NLHE/PLO/Crazy Pineapple/Limit Omaha Mix, and 2 “Limited” Holdem events! Their C$1,100 Main Event gets you 125,000 chips!
The 20th Annual Lucky Chances Casino Gold Rushstarts next Friday south of San Francisco, with 3 events, guaranteeing $50K, $20K, and $100K to the first-place finisher of each.
North of Sacramento, WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valleyalso gets under way a week from Friday, with 20 events, including small-guarantee HORSE< PLO, and O8 tournaments, and three tentpole NLHE events of $100K, $250K, and $500K guaranteed.
Two weeks from Friday, the WSOPC Las Vegas opens at Planet Hollywood, with a $400 buyin $200K GTD tournament. 1,700 The Main Event starts 24 November (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and features a $500K guarantee.
