#PNWPokerCal Planner for 27 September 2017

https://twitter.com/PACWESTclassic/status/912360065599913985

#BitterAtTheBeach

This year’s Fall Coast Classic is in the books, we’ve got full results archived, and they’re even up on Hendon Mob already, thanks to quick work by the staff (though I did have to get them to do a correction on Main Event Winner Jimmy Nguyen, after they initially assigned it to a guy from England with $300 in lifetime earnings).

I didn’t manage to make it to the money, but I did bag chips for only the second time in the couple dozen multi-day events I’ve played (both times in fall series events at Chinook and yes, I’m that bad). Doubly pleased to be bagging and outlasting my two-and-a-half hour performance last fall at Chinook.

Obligatory Angela Jordison photo.

I was at the back of the room on table 38, and we didn’t get five players to start until about ten minutes into the first level. There were a couple of aggressive players at the table , then Steve Myers sat down in seat 5 and the game was on. One hand in the first level where I raised from early position to 300, Steve 4-bet to 5300. I lost that hand. We saw a 240bb pot in the first level, with Steve losing a big chunk of the chips he’d gained, but he came back. Eventually, though, I picked up some chips (doubling up against one of the ago players) and managed to outlast Steve and several others until the table broke after dinner.

By 9pm on Day 1, I was up to 150K, even though getting aces twice in an orbit didn’t pay off for much. I went into the day planning to write down hands, but I must be getting slow, because I quickly discovered it didn’t seem practical (to be fair to myself, taking notes in the early stage of the game before the table was full was part of the problem).

By the time we wrapped up a little after midnight (12 50-minute levels plus breaks) I had 198K, which put me in the top 20% of the returning field of 154 (from 300 entries).

My seat draw for Day 2 was decent. I was the biggest stack at the table. Henry Fields—who’d been on my right most of Day 1—was on my right again, and Kerry Yoon was on my left with a smaller but respectable stack.

Kerry got to work right away, knocking out one of the short stacks with [ax jx] v [ax qx]. I doubled up another short stack—Khanista Griffin—before calling her button all in with [kx kx] for a third of my stack from the big blind with [9d td] (Kerry turned to me and said “How do you make that call?”). Patrick, between us in the smalll blind, was all in as well, but I flopped a flush and knocked them both out. That put me up to 273K.

One table broke almost immediately at the start of the day, and more the 40 players were gone in the first hour level. We picked up several new players, including Max Young, who came to the table with what looked like 300K and sat on my right. So I was sandwiched between Max and Kerry, who by this time had more than tripled the 101K he’d started with for Day 2,

I had a fairly significant setback twenty minutes into level 14 (the second level of Day 2) when I called an early position raise to 16K with [kc jc], flopped top pair, check-raised 40K after a 16K bet on a [kx 5x 7x] flop, then felt I sort of had to call the 72K all-in (against [kx qx]. Like I said, bad player. That ate up about half my stack and I texted my friends that I was down to 112K at 12:25pm.

Then came the end, in what was one of the craziest hands of poker I’ve ever been involved in.

I had exactly 110K, at the 3K/6K/500 level. We were going up to 4K/8K/500 in about half an hour, by which time I’ll be down to just about 90K. I get [9d 9h] in UTG1. Max is UTG and he folds. I shove with only a couple of other stacks covering me behind.

Kerry, on my left, is one of them, with what I estimated was more than three times my own count. He makes the call, which is probably a bad sign, I was thinking. Behind him, the guy I lost half my stack to folds. Toma Barber, who made the final table the only other time I bagged chips (min-cash for me, that time) is all in with a very short stack. Then River Rich, who I played with a lot in the old Encore Club days and who’s doubled up to about 200K since he got to the table, takes a minute before he shoves over the top. There’s nearly 400K in the pot now, the button and blinds fold, and Kerry has to make the decision about whether to put another 70-80K in, which he eventually does. My nines are up against Kerry’s [as kd], [kc ks] for Toma, and [ad ah] for Rich. The last king bangs out on the flop: [kh qh th], giving Toma the chance to quadruple his stack. The turn [2d] didn’t change anything, but the [jh] gave me a king-high straight flush. Unfortunately, Rich made a royal flush with the ace of hearts, so I was only second-best with the penultimate poker hand.

Despite an overlay in the opening event (up against the Muckleshoot and WSOPC Thunder Valley Main Events, gotta watch those calendars, people!) it seemed like folks were having a good time, folks were giving the staff kudos, and dates for the winter series have been announced already (14—25 February, up against the WSOPC event in Last Vegas at the Rio, of course).

They’re Baaaack…

Willamette Week reported Tuesday that the Oregon Lottery is still being used as a wedge to try to peel off poker from the offerings at Portland Meadows. That was followed by stories by Mo Nuwarrah at PokerNews and Brian Pempus at CardPlayer.

Guys, if you need photos of actual poker being played Portland, let me know!

More Poker Time

Pacific Northwest Poker Leaderboard

Results from the Chinook and Muckleshoot series haven’t been integrated into the state-wide rankings at Hendon Mob yet, but I can tell you that four of the nine final table finishers in the Chinook Main Event made their first recorded cash last weekend, and for a couple of others, it was the biggest cash by far. But we’ll get to that next week.

It was a good week for Bend’s Seth Davies, who played in the $100K buyin Poker Masters tournament at the Aria. He took 4th place. You can watch the action on PokerGo. Or rather, you can if you can get it to load for you. (They’re running $300/$600 PLO this week on Poker After Dark, by the way.

This Week In Portland Poker

Usual schedules this week in Portland.

Only a Day Away

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 20 September 2017

https://twitter.com/pacwestclassic/status/909961715785203714

Chinook Winds Fall Coast Classic

The series is already half over! Thursday at noon is the ever-popular Event #10 $20K GTD Big O (played in the proper pot liimit format, not that limit crap, that’s no way to play Big O), and the Event #15 $150K GTD NLHE Main Event starts Saturday, with satellites in different formats Thursday and Friday evenings at 6pm (not really enough time to get down from Portland after work, guys), and a turbo satellite on Saturday morning at 10am.

Winners photos for the 6-Max and Seniors event were posted on Twitter (see above and here), but more posts might get more retweets (hint, hint).

I spent the weekend at Cape Disappointment for my wife’s birthday, so I didn’t get to play the 6-Max, but I did pick up a new t-shirt (from Friends of the Columbia River Gateway) for playing poker.

Calendar Changes

If you look at the next couple of weeks of the #PNWPokerCal Calendar, you’ll see a lot more stuff. That’s not because there are a lot more series, but I’ve started adding specific events. I’m going to try adding in as many events as possible for series in the Northwest, tournament with guarantees of more than $200K (or non-guarantee main events for larger series) and non-NLHE tournaments.

Additionally, I’m adding addresses and Google Map links for events, so if you’re unsure where a venue is, you can checkit out fast. Let me know if you think things are getting too cluttered (but try the buttons above the calendar first to filter by geographic regions first!)

Poker Time

The first three episodes of Poker Time hit the “air” this week, with Jonathan Levy and Grant Denison bringing their skills to bear on completely new content rather than broadcasts from the WSOP, WPT, or EPT. Featuring local poker names like Baptiste Chavalliez, Robert Brewer, and Jake Dahl, it’s a look into how some successful players approach a 5/5 cash game. More than two-and-a-half hours of poker in the three episodes. Watch Jake suck out on Baptiste in real time!

My Ears Are Burning (Like a Phoenix)

An article in the online journal Gaming Today quoted Ron Teston—who’s trying to open a social gaming club in Phoenix (between Ashland and Medford)—as saying “Social-gaming operations in Portland and California charge participants $15 per hour to play poker…” Ehhhh, no.

The publication tweeted that they were disabling the article while they looked into it (meanwhile David Long corrected my correction by pointing out it was “up to” $15/day, since only the larger venues charge that much) but it’s still up without any correction.

Racing Chips

If you haven’t shoved The Chip Race, the Irish poker podcast from David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney (with news from the execrable Ian Simpson) you’re missing out on—as people say the Irish say the craik. A lot of the show content is Euro-ccentric and sort of just makes you wish you were bumming around Ireland and the United Kingdom playing poker live and on any of the myriad legal online sites (Unibet sponsors the show) but it’s full of good stories and advice. The most recent episode features Jennifer Tilly (who will also be on Poker Night in America this Friday).

Anyway, last week Dara quoted an old comment by Barny Boatman—one of the famous Hendon Mob—which I retweeted. Then I got credit for “resurrecting” it from Thinking Poker podcaster Andrew Brokosand Ryan Laplante retweeted Brokos’s comment. I replied that it wasn’t me, and just to continue to give credit where credit is due, it was The Chip Race.

Dollars4Dustin

Back in April, Dustin Brandon Ferreira was crossing a street in Medford when he was hit by a truck. According to a story by KTVL-TV, Ferreira is a founder of the Rogue Valley Scorpions, a wheelchair basketball team in Southern Oregon. His bones were already brittle from osteogenesis imperfecta, and twenty-seven bones were broken in the accident. He’s in the process of trying to raise $20K for a new wheelchair and handicap-accessible van, and one of his fundraisers (in addition to a GoFundMe site) is a poker tournament at Medford’s Southern Oregon Poker Club. Coming up October 9th.

Pacific Northwest Poker Leaderboard

No significant winners posted to Hendon Mob this week, but here are the Muckleshoot Summer Poker Classic Main Event results:

And a little action from the event:

This Week In Portland Poker

Usual schedules this week in Portland. Friday night’s usual $10K GTD at Final Table will be a $5K GTD this week because of the festivities at Chinook Winds.

Room 52, Where Are You?

A new addition to the social gaming scene in Portland, Room 52 opened this week inside Midpoint Cafe, at SE 52nd & Powell. They’ll be running 0.50/1 shootouts. Text 971-517-9230 for seat availability.

Only a Day Away

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 13 September 2017

Chinook Winds Fall Coast Classic

It’s upon us! Oregon’s other big-time poker series, down at the beach, starts this weekend with a $75K GTD NLHE 6-Max, with two starting days (saturday and Sunday) and reentry through level 6 (40 minute levels) both days. Total cost is $340 ($300 entry + $30 fee + $10 dealer appreciation).

The week is jam-packed with satellites to the Main Event, plus a $25K GTD Seniors tournament (changed to 50+ now that I meet the former, higher, restriction) on Tuesday, $10K GTD Limit Omaha Hi-Lo on Wednesday (you’d think that game would be seniors-only!), a Boss Bounty tournament Wednesday night with $200 bounties paid by the casino, and $20K GTD Big O on Thursday, along with cash games and more. Check out the PDF with the schedule and structures.

In a twist this series, the $150K GTD NLHE Main Event is no reentry. Once and done. Day 1 (of 2) is 23 September, entry is $575 ($500 entry + $50 fee + $25 dealer appreciation), and there’s a $200 addon after level 6. Total chip buy is 40K + 30K.

I’m hoping to make it down for more than just the Main Event; see you all there!

Pacific Northwest Poker Leaderboard

The new name on the leaderboard this week is Brian Keller from Sammamish, who dropped into the $800 buyin 8-Max at the Venetian in Las Vegas (along with another 284 entries) and came out in third place for an impressive first Hendon Mob cash.

Gary Swaney of Olympia has been posting results for a decade, but hit his biggest cash in a different Venetian event, the $400 SuperStack, which drew 129 entries. No official reports, but it appears Swaney took second in a heads-up deal.

Happy Birthday, Kevmath!

For anyone in the poker industry—and particularly anyone who spends time poring over tournament schedulesKevin Mathers aka @Kevmath stands tall (really, he’s well over six feet). His birthday was Monday. He’s the backbone of poker Twitter (his tenth anniversary is coming up next May), and by then he should be well over 100K tweets (he’s only 3400 off that mark). He turned an obsession with poker and a near-encyclopedic knowledge of players and past results (plus what must be phenomenally fast thumbs) into a hobby, then a profession, to the point that he’s been the official social media presence for the WSOP the past two years.

This Week In Portland Poker

Usual schedules this week in Portland.

Only a Day Away

  • The  Muckleshoot Summer Classic kicks off today with a $2K Added NLHE Shootour at noon and a Limit Omaha Hi-Lo tournament at 6pm. Their $20K Added Main Event ($750 entry, presumably with extra dealer addon) starts Sunday.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!

#PNWPokerCal Planner for 06 September 2017

My Eyes Are Burning, Too

This is going to be a short write-up today. It was predicted as a week of 100° temperatures here in Portland, I don’t have an air conditioner set up in my office any more, and the only reason it’s not as hot as the predictions is that the sky is full of smoke and ash because some idiot teenagers were flipping fireworks off the side of a trail in the Columbia River Gorge Saturday, so now there’s a fire of least 10,000 acres in size. I hadn’t moved up the Willamette Valley to Portland at the time of the Mt. St. Helens eruption, and the ashfall this time is far less, but seriously, this really sucks. I’m not the outdoorsman I know a lot of you folks are, but my father and his sister have been hiking on both sides of the Columbia between Portland and Hood River a couple of times a week for years during the summers (including an impromptu overnight when a hike on Ruckle Ridge lasted longer than expected). The Gorge isn’t going to be the same for the rest of my life.

Who’s Got the Button?

Curious about the Labor Day Win the Button at Stones Gambling Hall? You can watch the final table on Twitch.

Pacific Northwest Poker Leaderboard

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Jeffrey Farnes from Salem got his first Hendon Mob cash at Thunder Valley in the Main Event of the Ante Up World Championship. It didn’t take him long to notch a big #2, taking second place in the WPTDeepstacks Reno Main Event.

Everett’s Artem Markov  is the other big winner for the week, in the 1,180-player HPT Monster Stack side event in East Chicago, where he negotiated a heads-up deal for substantial second place. It’s Artem’s third (and by far largest) recorded cash.

This Week In Portland Poker

If the weather’s too hot for you, maybe you’d like a Freezeout Saturday at Portland Meadows?

Only a Day Away

  • The final Wednesday night Muckleshoot Summer Classic Satellite is tonight at 7pm. One out of ten players ($125 buyin) gets a choice between two packages of seats in the series. There are $225 Mega Satellites for all five events in the Classic Sunday, Sunday at noon, and at 7pm on Monday and Tuesday. The Classic starts a week from today, with a $2K added NLHE Shootout at noon ($250 buyin). There’s a Limit Omaha Hi-Lo tournament ($200 buyin) at 7pm. The September calendar is finally available.
  • The second week of the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza 3.5 is beginning. The first big event just squeaked past the $200K guarantee by a couple thousand dollars (about 3 $800 buyins). This weekend is a $125K GTD tournament with three starting flights and $250 buyin. You can get updates and info at the poker room blog.
  • There are 2 $570 flights each on Friday and Saturday at the Commerce Poker Series for a $300K GTD, with lots of satellites for their $1M GTD Main Event and a $350 buyin PLO game Sunday at 4pm. You can follow action on Twitter @LAPC and  @TheJustinHammer.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!