#PNWPokerCalendar Planner for December 16

Only a couple of more poker weeks left in 2015! Action’s winding down for the holidays most everywhere (with a few exceptions) but the PNW Poker Calendar is here to help you make your plans for the upcoming year.

 Deal of the Day: Talking Stick Staycation Weekend

Now, I know that Talking Stick, outside of Phoenix, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but coming up at the end of January, they have a three-day series of mid-level buy-in events ($200, $300, and $300) as part of their 2016 Staycation Weekend Poker Tournament. The tournaments run January 29-31, they only have a combined expected prize pool of about $130K, but if you play all three, you get two nights free lodging at the resort.

The tournaments start at 11:15am, but there are still some early flights available; I saw round-trip prices for an 8:40am arrival in Phoenix—including a rental car—for $260, which is less than the price of the rooms. The prize pools and the deal may not make it enough to make it +EV from a financial perspective, but if we’ve had 20″ of rain in Portland by the end of December and traffic’s at a standstill because of all of the slides and sinkholes, maybe a golf trip to Arizona at the end of January might be just your kind of thing.

Staycation deals go on sale this Saturday. Call 480-850-7734 for details.

This Week in Portland Poker

  • Thursday night at 8pm at Encore Club is a $1K Ladies Freeroll. $40 to re-buy, $20 to add-on at the first break. Next Saturday (the day after Christmas, aka the first day of Kwanzaa, or Boxing Day to those of you from more recent remnants of the British Empire) is a $35K guarantee ($200 buy-in and re-entry, $80 add-on).
  • Saturday at 2pm, at The Game, is another of their $10K guaranteed to first place events (The Big Shot). $100 buy-in and re-entry, with a $100 add-on. 80 players max.
  • Final Table‘s new 9pm $10 buy-in All-In-Or-Fold tournament started up Monday. Today will be a double guarantee ($2K, $20 buy-in/re-buy/add-on) at 11am and a triple guarantee ($4.5K, $40 buy-in/re-entry, $20 add-on) at 7pm.
  • At 7:15pm tonight, Portland Players Club runs a $1K guarantee Big O tournament, with $20 buy-in and live re-buys, and a $30 add-on. Friday at the same time is double the guarantee, with a $40 buy-in/re-buy and $30 add-on. Saturday is a 12:15pm NLHE Freeroll, with $10 live re-buys and a $20 add-on.

Only a Day Away

  • The only tournament series running in the Western States that I’m aware of is the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio; Steve Chanthabouasy was playing Day 2 of the Main Event as I was compiling this info yesterday (and as I was still writing, I read his post about losing a race to Brian Rast). There are still a couple of side events if you are in or can get to Vegas over the weekend. Tomorrow is a $5.2K entry tournament at 2pm. Saturday at 2pm is a $1,090 Turbo tournament. And, of course, there’s Friday’s $100K entry High Roller at 1pm.
  • If you can brave the Siskiyous, The Ashland Social Club (in Ashland, natch) has its Holiday Poker Tournament Saturday at noon. $150 buy-in, $10 dealer appreciation, and it comes with prizes and bounties for knocking out staff members. Seating is limited, call 541-944-6490 for info.
  • Aria has a $25K entry High Roller Sunday at 2pm.
  • The Venetian New Year’s Extravaganza starts up on Christmas Day and runs through January 10. It features two $150K guarantee events, along with a $100K event. The Venetian has posted the schedule for the first of next year’s Deepstack Extravaganzas, as well. It begins at the end of January.
  • Planet Hollywood is the site of the PHamous Poker Weekend a week from Saturday (the afore-mentioned Boxing Day). It runs through the 30th, and features an inaugural $200K guarantee with a $565 entry.

Check out the Pacific Northwest Tournament Calendar for more poker.