#PNWPokerCal Planner for 29 November 2017

Alex Goulder at the 2013 WSOP (via Sky Poker)

GTO

If you’ve been looking to step up your NLHE game, you’ve probably heard of the latest software advances for studying game theory optimal play, particularly PioSOLVER. Before you plunk down $1K+ for the package, though, you might want to learn a little more about what GTO means and how the software works. PlasticElephant on the 2+2 forums posted a YouTube video from Alex Goulder in a News, Views, and Gossip thread the other day that’s helpful in learning about the subject. Watch the video and read the comments for extra enlightenment.

PNW Players Swarm WSOPC Las Vegas Main Event Final Table

845 players ponied up the $1,675 to play the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Planet Hollywood a little over a week ago to play for the $1.27M prize pool, and only 6 of the 90 players who made the money were from the Pacific Northwest, but three of them made the unofficial final table, with Bellingham’s Harjinder “Sunny” Gandham placing 10th, Danny Elmore of Sherwood coming in 8th, and Vancouver, Washington’s Ali Imsirovic making it all the way to 4th place. It was the second WSOP cash for Elmore and Gandham (and Imsirovic’s 4th), with all cashes for the three players coming this year.

4th: Ali Imsirovic (photo via WSOP.com)

8th: Danny Elmore (photo via WSOP.com)

10th: “Sunny” Gandham (photo via WSOP.com)

My Time Is Coming

A bit of a downswing week for me, with six bricks in the Ignition Casino Thousandaire Maker. The last couple were particularly brutal, when I flopped bottom set on my sixth hand and ran into top set Sunday night, then sat through an hour of crappy hands only to get [ks js] in the small blind just before the break, have everyone fold to me, and jam my 12bb into the big blinds’s [as ac].

pokermutant
Starting off @PDXmeadowspoker $30K w Baptiste, star of @2PokerGuys #PokerTime and @WSOPC LA Main Event ringbearer
Nov 25, 2017 at 12:22 PM
pokermutant
And now Jake “Sheep Shirt” Dahl is on my right twitter.com/pokermutant/st…
Nov 25, 2017 at 12:39 PM

Saturday’s Portland Meadows $30K GTD went about the same for me. I slowly slid downhill until just after the first break, busted, re-entered, then two hands after I get re-seated, I make a play with [ax 8x] from the small blind, flop top two pair, get most of my chips in on the turn, and put the rest of them in on the river only to have [jx jx] call me down to river a set. At least nobody can accuse me of slowplaying that one.

I played a number of Ignition Jackpot Sit-and-Gos, won a couple of the 5x payout $15 entry games, crushed a couple of PLO and PLO8 tournaments until I didn’t. 46 tournaments (32 Jackspot SnGs, they only last about 10 minutes, tops) and four online cash sessions. Would have been more, but Thanksgiving, you know?

New Hand History Style

I’ve been meaning to update my codes for entering hand histories for a while. There are surprisingly few options for typing cards into the WordPress content management system used by nearly everyone on the Internet (event the WSOP uses a customized version), but there are only a few freely-available tools out there and most of them haven’t been updated in years. The one I’ve been using is Cards poker, developed by the French player Hesiode, but the last update is more than four years old, an eternity in both poker and internet terms. So I finally got around to modifying Hesiode’s code, replacing the bitmap images with text and icons that should make everything cleaner and easier to read.

Late Breaking

Down at the WPTDeepstacks Championship at Thunder Valley last night, Angela Jordison got heads-up in the $10K GTD Omaha Hi-Low tournament.

https://twitter.com/angelajordison/status/935760462175711232

The Visitor

Prolific poker author Lee Davy writes this week in an otherwise unrelated piece on cryptocurrency and airlines for CalvinAyre.com that “I’m stuck in the world’s smallest queue waiting to check in for a flight from Burbank to Portland.” He has his 13-month0old daughter with him (likely not a poker trip), and another article posted the same day mentions he had his first Thanksgiving dinner in the US last week. So…Portland relatives?

Pacific Northwest Poker Leaderboard

Other than the final tablists at the WSOP Circuit, how did other PNW players do this week? Well, Dan martin from Klamath Falls cashed three times at the RUNGOOD Poker Series in Tulsa, including 1st place in the $100K GTD $675 Main Event. Washington’s Rafael Reis got to 5th at the Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open’s $250K GTD Event #6Seth Davies made it into the money down in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, with a 55th place in the partyPoker Millions $5M GTD Main Event. And Dan Barker from Poulsbo notched a first-place finish at a Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza IV $25K GTD Rebuy, for his largest-ever recorded cash; he took down a similar event this summer at the Venetian.

Max Young was profiled in an article Tuesday at PokerNews, along with a couple of other up-and-comers.

Session 3 Episode 4

 

This Week In Portland Poker

Final Table has a $50K GTD NLHE tournament Saturday at noon. $160 entry with a $160 live rebuy, and $80 addon. Pre-registration started Monday.

Omaha shootouts are becoming more popular at venues like Rialto and Claudia’s, which is a good thing for those of us who pine for the old Portland Players Club mixed games. I haven’t had the chance to check them out myself, but I hear Friday and Saturdays are the times. I heard from David Long on Saturday that Claudia’s 7pm tournaments are switching over to Omaha as of next Monday, so check with them.

Only a Day Away

  • The WPTDeepstack Championship is running at Thunder Valley. Thursday is the last entry day for the $560 $100K GTD Action 8 tournament; Saturday and Sunday are entrys for the $1M GTD $2,500 buyin Championship.

  • This weekend at the WPT Five Diamond at Bellagio in Las Vegas will hopefully be a bit calmer after Tuesday’s poker cage robbery (the guy didn’t even wait for the big money to get into town). There are $25K buyin High Roller events Thursday and Friday, and satellites to the Five Diamond all weekend ($10,400 entry). Day 1 is Tuesday.
  • The Aria Fall Poker Classic runs thoroughSunday, with a $250 buyin Turbo event Thursday, and $400 buyin tournaments Friday through Sunday.
  • The Wynn Signature Weekend starts today with a $25K GTD Seniors tournament, followed by three days of entry into a $600 $250K GTD tournament (Thursday through Saturday, with Day 2 on Sunday) and a $2.5K Survivor game on Sunday at noon for the save ($300 entry).
  • Back in Missouri, it’s HPT St. Charles, with a $100K GTD event starting Thursday (three entry days), a $500 entry Seniors Championship next week (7 December, Pearl Harbor Day), and the $2,500 entry HPT Championship Open starting 8 December. Last year’s Championship (held at Thunder Valley) had a $500K GTD prize pool of more than $900K. This year there’s no guarantee. One-way flight that Friday to St. Louis International (just a few miles from the casino) is about $220.
  • The last West Coast WSOP Circuit stop is at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. It gets under way on Friday with a NLHE Bounty Ring event, then there’s a $300K GTD $365-entry Ring tournament the first weekend of December. The Main Event ($1,675) starts 9 December.
  • The Ontario Poker Room Veterans Fundraiser is Saturday.
  • Sunday at 2pm at Eugene’s Beach Poker Club is their $135 buyin Monthly Big Tournament. 30-minute levels and a catered lunch. Call early and register for bonus chips.
  • Monday is the beginning of the Venetian December Extravaganza. The first event is a $400 buyin $40K GTD, and Tuesday is the first entry days for a $600 $150K GTD tournament. The $3,500 Card Player Poker Tour $500K GTD starts next Friday.
  • The Medford Poker Room Holiday Tournament is 8 December.
  • The Muckleshoot Tournament of Champions will be held Sunday, 17 December at noon. It’s $400 for any open seats if you have not otherwise qualified.

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