#PNWPokerCalendar Planner for 6 April 2016

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Spoof Poker merit badge from the Boy Scout Store

Be Prepared

When will art directors figure out that most poker players don’t have five cards in their hand or that this is a horrible 2-7 Triple Draw or Big O hand?

Just a couple of months to go before the start of the Colossus. If you’re going to Vegas that weekend (or any other weekend), my tips from last year for navigating the crowds might come in handy.

Projects

Hey, poker friends. I’m always looking for projects. Paying projects are preferable, but pique my interest enough and I might just fire up the little gray cells and take them out for a spin, just to blow some of the crap out of the cylinders (there’s a metaphor that’ll be antiquated once everyone’s driving electric cars).

This past weekend, dealer, tournament director, and bad poker boy Forrest Auel recommended me to a friend of his (the Head Coach at Scrotoms R Us, according to his Facebook profile) as someone who might know the answer to a question about deep runs in the WSOP Main Event. I didn’t know the exact info off the top of my head, but I was able to figure it out pretty quickly (if by “quickly” you mean I spent a sunny Sunday afternoon hour staring at my computer screen, like I do anything else).

That info should be showing up this week in the first PokerNews article I’ve done in a number of months.

Soon to appear here is the story of a bet on the expected value of professional players in the Main Event. I think the results will be…interesting.

And for the two or three people who liked my Game That Will Live In Infamy series, if you’d really love to see the same type of hand-by-hand analysis of a PLO8 game, you’re in luck! Because it’s already part-way finished, and it’s not nearly as long, though once again, every hand down to the final heads-up confrontation is there.

Pendleton

It’s been a year since Angela Jordison whacked the first three events at the Wildhorse Spring Poker Round-Up, an achievement nearly unparalleled in poker history. Can she do it again? Can anyone? We’ll find out this weekend with the first three events. I’m not sure if I’m going to make it out there myself yet, but keeping my fingers crossed.

Deal of the Day: You Kids Get Off Of My Poker Table!

Several of the Las Vegas summer series schedules are out now that they’ve had time to adjust themselves around the WSOP schedule. The Venetian Deepstack III has been out a couple of weeks. Planet Hollywood’s Goliath series followed that. Downtown, Golden Nugget’s Grand series released several weeks ago, and this past week, the Binion’s Poker Classic schedule came out. One type of event that’ll be on all of the schedules are the incredibly popular Seniors tournaments.

How popular are they? The 2014 WSOP Seniors tournament was the largest-ever live poker tournament with a single starting day. 4,425 entries, won by pro Dan Heimiller for $627K. Seniors tend to have more disposable time and income that family guys in their 30s and 40s (or they’re desperate and hoping to hit it big so they don’t have to live off of whatever has replaced now-expensive cat food as the meat of choice for old folks in poverty). They also seem to like the prospect of not having to play poker with a bunch of snotty-nosed brats with their hoodies and their hippity-hop music. Of course, for the past couple years, the Poker Brat’s been able to enter most Seniors events, which are typically 50+ (I’m looking at you PacWest Poker Classic. 55+ is a travesty!) And it’s not going to be all that long before Kid Poker can play them, right along with Phil Laak and Gus Hansen. Maybe that’s why the WSOP added a Super Seniors event last year for players 65+ in age; there are a lot of former kids who think playing a Seniors field’s going to be a piece of melba toast.

The WSOP’s Seniors tournament (#27 on their schedule) is a $1K buy-in (another thing we seniors like is cheap stuff, and for WSOP events, this used to be as cheap as it got) on Friday, 17 June. It’s a 3-day tournament with a single entry day, starting at 10am (if you were one of the people complaining about the earlier start times for WSOP events, just wait until you’re old) on Day 1 and 11am on Days 2 and 3. Their Super Seniors tournament (#31, also $1K) starts Sunday, 19 June.

The Grand Series at the Golden Nugget has a $250 Seniors (#31) game 18 June, with a similarly-priced Super Senior (#35, 60+) tournament 20 June. The next weekend is a $360 Seniors (#45), and a multi-day Seniors Super High Roller (#48, $10K entry, starting 26 June). The afternoon before the SHR, there’s a $1.1K Mega Satellite to the big game.

Bellagio’s Seniors Summer Championship is a $2,140 entry with three days of play beginning 17 July.

At Planet Hollywood’s Goliath series, 18 June is a one-day $100K guarantee Senior tournament with a $600 entry.

Binion’s has a $240 Seniors game 22 June.

At the Venetian, there are two entry days (14 & 15 June) for their $600, $250K guarantee Seniors tournament (#29). It returns for completion on 16 June.

So, depending on your bankroll and time constraints, the week starting Tuesday, 14 June is your week for Seniors tournaments, with events at the Venetian, the Rio, the Grand, Planet Hollywood, and Bellagios, ranging in price from $250 to $2.1K. The following week are the smaller Binion’s tournament, the slightly larger Golden Nugget game, and the Nugget’s Super High Roller if you did well the week before. Plus, there’s a whole lot of other poker tournaments going on, as well.

You do have to wonder though, if it’s true that “The Old Guy Always Has It,” who’s got it when there’s nothing but old guys?

Disclaimer: My earliest Hendon Mob cash was a multi-way chop in a Seniors tournament at Caesar’s with the 2004 WSOP Seniors bracelet winner.

This Week in Portland Poker

I got nuthin’. No announced specials for the next week, as of Tuesday night. Doubtless, there will be special event announced the day or or day before they take place over the next week. There is a $35K guarantee coming up at Encore a week from Saturday. The following day is a Special Player Day Event at The Game, but they don’t have a time for it on their schedule yet. A week from Friday (at 7pm) The Game is giving away another WSOP package, to the Millionaire Maker. See the #PNWPokerCalendar for links to the schedules.

Only a Day Away

  • The Liz Flynt Spring Poker Classic continues at the Hustler Casino in Los Angeles.Event #10 this weekend is a $100K guarantee with a $335 buy-in. It’s a two-day event with both starting flights on Saturday, at 12:30pm and 5pm.
  • Deepstacks Poker Tour wraps up at Casino Yellowhead in Edmonton on Monday. The C$1.1K Main Event has starting flights at noon Thursday—Saturday, with the final table on Monday.
  • The Wildhorse Spring Poker Round-Up begins tomorrow, with an evening satellite to the Main Event at 7pm Thursday, 7 April. Event #1 is a $120 (including dealer bonus) NLHE tournament at noon on Friday, 8 April. The Main Event is the weekend of 16 & 17 April.
  • Mid-States Poker Tour’s Golden Gates also gets under way tomorrow, Blackhawk, Colorado. Event #1 is a $360 entry $100K guarantee with starting days 7—9 April and a Main Event ($200K guarantee, $1.1K entry) with three starting days the next weekend.
  • Full House Poker’s $10K Heads-Up Championship is this weekend in Eugene.
  • The WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valley series starts Saturday, with a one-day $100K ($400 entry) as its opener, capped off with a $250K guarantee, $1.1K entry event starting Tax Day.
  • If you’re going north, Muckleshoot has a $220 Monthly Special at noon on Sunday.
  • Calgary’s Deerfoot Inn has a 5-event Spring Super Stack series scheduled for 13—17 April, including a C$150K guarantee, C$1.1K event.
  • Talking Stick outside Phoenix has another Getaway Poker Classic, where you get two night’s free room if you register for all three of their tournaments (one $200 and two $300) from 15—17 April.
  • High Mountain Poker Palace in Eugene has a quarterly $230 buy-in scheduled for 16 April at noon.

Check out the #PNWPokerCalendar for more poker.