#PNWPokerCalendar Planner for December 23

GoFundMe for Portland Dealer Kim Poff and Her Kids

Kim Poff has been a bright spot of the Portland poker club scene for the past several years. She’s brought a smile and light to the dealer box the whole time I’ve known her. I hadn’t seen her around for a couple of months and assumed that I just hadn’t been in the right place, but news got out last week that she had a stroke in September and is in physical therapy to help her recovery. Jim Rostel set up a GoFundMe page for Kim and her children, to help them out at Christmas. Not asking for much and don’t worry about it being too close to Christmas. Any little bit will help.

poff

The Bike

Portland players Jacque Lavadour and Allen Oh both cashed in the WSOP Circuit Main Event at The Bicycle Casino in LA last week. Gerald Huynh got into the money in the second Monster Stack tournament there. Eugene’s Jeanne Savage made the final table for fifth place in the first Monster Stack, her second WSOP cash and her second WSOPC final table this year. The next WSOPC series west of the Rockies is at Bally’s in Las Vegas at the end of February.

WSOP 2016 Dates Announced

Like you hadn’t heard. May 31 through July 18th. Main Event July 9-18. Colossus starting days June 2-4. Seniors event starts June 17th.

 Deal of the Day: WPT California Swing Kickoff

If you’re driving south to LA at the beginning of the year for the WPTDeepstacks series at Hustler Casino, you might take a couple of days to hang out north of Sacramento at Thunder Valley Casino for the WPT California Swing Kickoff.

The California Swing consists of three WPT Main Tour events: LAPC at the Commerce at the end of February, the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose in early March, and WPT Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley a week later. (The Main Events of each series are $10K, $7.5K, and $3.5K, respectively.)

Over the first three days of the new year, Thunder Valley will be running three tournaments (and numerous satellites).

  • January 1: $25K guarantee welcome event ($150 buy-in).
  • January 2: $100K guarantee with a $400 buy-in.
  • January 3: WPT Rolling Thunder Mega Satellite with 20 $3.5K Main Event seats guaranteed ($400 buy-in).

Yes, you’ll have to put up with more than two months of delayed gratification if you get one of the satellite seats (the first entry day  for Rolling Thunder isn’t until March 12) but it’ll be like having the Golden Ticket in your pocket, knowing you’ll be heading back down to Lincoln for the big game in the spring.

Thunder Valley is about a 10-hour drive from Portland, depending on conditions. Get your year off to a good start!

This Week in Portland Poker

  • Encore Club’s (and Portland’s) last big event of the year is the day after Christmas: a $35K guarantee with $200 buy-in (and re-entry) and a $80 add-on. They’re closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
  • Aces Full is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. They’ll ring in the New Year with a $1K guarantee at noon on January 2.
  • The Game is closing Christmas Day and at 10pm New Year’s Eve.
  • Portland Players Club is holding a $20 buy-in $1K guarantee at noon on Saturday.
  • Late Addition: Final Table is putting on double guarantees at 11am ($2K, $20 buy-in) on Christmas Eve and 7pm ($4K, $50 buy-in) on Saturday.

Only a Day Away

Check out the Pacific Northwest Tournament Calendar for more poker.