Quick Turnaround

Not a lot up top this week since the chock full late post on the weekend. I did want to mention that the $20K at Portland Meadows last weekend nearly doubled the guarantee (damn you, Sunday special tournaments!) with almost 300 entries.

Photo via Portland Meadows post on the NW Poker Facebook group

The Christmas Present: WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic

If you (or someone you love) have always wanted to play a multi-day tournament with a good structure in a fancy environment, you might consider taking a flier on one of the nearly two-dozen events at this year’s (no longer Doyle Brunson) World Poker Tour Five Diamond at the Bellagio, starting the day after Thanksgiving and running through 10 December.

Sure, several of the events have buyins of $5K and $10K (though there are satellites into those) and there’s a $50K, but there are seven open non-satellite side events at $1,090 or $1,600, plus a seniors tournament at each of those buyins. The side events include PLO, a NLHE 6-Max, and a NLHE Shot Clock tournament, as well as a Turbo at the end of the series. There’s even a $560 buyin event.

More importantly, these tournaments don’t have particularly large fields. Last year’s $1,090 PLO tournament got just 135 players, and even the NLHE events only had a couple hundred players each. Aside from the $560 tournament (which got just over 300 entries last year), the biggest field was 233, which paid 27 places and $53,000 for first place.

You stand to make a little more for your cash in one of these fields due to their smaller size, and you’re paying less rake, so the buyin to prize pool ratio is better.

Live a little.

This Week in Portland Poker

You people are killing me! There’s nothing I love more than a freezeout tournament (except for a Survivor tournament). It’s one of the purest forms of tournament poker and I rue the day when someone added “re” in front of “buy.” But Sunday is one of those family days for a lot of us, so I’m going to be missing this one. No need for you to if you don’t love your family. This Sunday’s $15K Freezeout at Portland Meadows will be the last big event in town before the Wildhorse series in Pendleton starts.

Next week is the regularly-scheduled First Friday $20K at Final Table, which technically is after the start of WIldhorse, but it’s just conflicting with the first day. Last change to spin things up before the series.

Only a Day Away

• LATE ADDITION! I somehow managed to let Run It Up Reno slip off my calendar, but its Main Event is this weekend, with $600 entry days Friday and Saturday to their $100K guarantee. Plus $125 O8/Stud 8, PLO/NLHE, and 8-Game (all 6-Max) running through Sunday, along with more. Nothing scarier than a Reno Halloween!
• This weekend at the Hustler Casino is their Day 2 and Day 3 of the  SoCal Poker Classic. Sunday is the first of four days (two flights per day) of a $200K guarantee with a $240 buyin that’s the Main Event of the Classic
• At the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza this weekend, there’s a $600 buyin NLHE bounty event (2 days, starting Friday and Saturday), and a PLO/PLO8 $9K guaranteeon Sunday evening. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are starting days for a $400 buyin $150K guarantee.
• The World Series of Poker Circuit at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe has three entries days to their first big event on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Monday is the $365 6-Max, Wednesday is the Monster Stack. The Main Event starts next Friday. The Tahoe stop is one of the best for ring-hunters; last year their Main Event got fewer than 500 entries compared to the 1,300 that were in the Main at the Horshow Casino in Indiana this week.
• HPT St. Louis is under way, with its  opening $100K guarantee ($350 buyin). The Main Event starts next Friday.
• The Rio Final Table Festival starts tomorrow with a mic of has $500 and $300 NLHE events, and a $1,100 satellite into the 2-day $10,000 main event on Monday (Halloween). Several other satellites to both the Main and smaller events that are running through the weekend.
• 30 October at Muckleshoot Casino is the Fifth Sunday special, a $330 buyin with $3K added to the prize pool. Game starts at noon.
• An hour earlier on 30 October (11am) is also the Tulalip Casino LSOM tournament. It’s $345 with the dealer toke, and has $5K added to the prize pool.
• The Mid-States Poker Tour wanders west to Golden Gates Poker Parlour in Blackhawk, Colorado. Satellites start Halloween, but a $360 buyin $100K guarantee starts Thursday, 3 November, with the $1,100 buyin $200K guarantee Main Event (though I hate seeing asterisks after that number when I can’t find what it’s for) kicking off 10 November.
• The Wildhorse Fall Poker Round-Up also begins 3 November. Individual tournaments are listed on the calendar.
• The final leg of the SoCal Poker Championships is at Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Open. The first event is 4 November, followed by eight days of starting flights for the $350 buyin $3M guarantee SCPC. The LAPC Main Event has $100K guaranteed for first place with a $1,650 buyin.
• The HPT moves across Missouri to Kansas City on 10 November art the Ameristar Casino. Seven events, with three entry days for the $1,650 Main Event.

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