In the roughly six-week span between Sept. 20 through Halloween, there were 45 events with an average buy-in of $119. These events had total prize pools surpassing $1.4 million, and collective guarantees of more than $1.3 million. The events were spread among series at the Bicycle Casino, Hollywood Park Casino and Hustler Casino.
Most of these tournaments were part of the Bicycle Casino’s Big Poker Oktober.
This deepstack series ran events of all buy-ins and formats. In addition to multiple satellites for the $345 main event, 10 seats were awarded via a freeroll to players who logged a certain amount of hours in cash games.
The series overall just crushed the guarantees. The $345 entry, which had a $100K guarantee, had more than 700 entries and more than doubled the guarantee with a prize pool of just more than $206K. The $45,304 for first place is unheard of for such a reasonable entry.
The all-star of this series was William Vo. He had three cashes and a final table. Barbara Enright and Toto Leonidas also had multiple cashes during the series.
Next up was the Sport of Kings at Hollywood Park. This series consisted of a regular no-limit, two deepstack rebuy, a double-stack, a bounty, an Omaha/8-stud/8, and seven unlimited rebuy events. I regularly play the daily multiple rebuy event and the action is just fantastic. I can see the appeal behind this mix of events.
The amazing thing that stands out to me for this series is Vo won Event 2 and Event 7. That makes him my October player of the month.
Wrapping things up and running the last two weeks of October was the Liz Flynt Fall Classic at Hustler Casino. It consisted of six events with buy-ins starting at $120 up to the $250 (including add-on) championship. Most events had multiple starting flights, and more than $500K guaranteed. James Sileo was the last man standing in the $250K guaranteed championship for $100K.
Taking no time to rest on the recent success, Hustler jumps right back in with its Larry Flynt Holiday Poker Classic. This 10-event series runs through Dec 17.
Many events have multiple starting flights and there’s another $650K guaranteed with buy-ins from $120 to the $250 (including add-on) championship. Check Hustler’s website for details.
The last thing worth mentioning is the World Series of Poker Circuit is coming to the Bike in January. I’ll cover this in more detail next month, but wanted everyone to know super satellites are running most nights for the $1,675 main event.
— Dave Palm is Ante Up’s Los Angeles Ambassador. Email him at LA.AnteUp@gmail.com.
Big Poker Oktober, Bike, Sept. 20-Oct. 13
Event 1 • $125 NLHE
Entries: 326 • Pool: $55,484
Phong Nguyen, $13,304
Event 2 • Quantum
Entries: 475 • Pool: $54,067
Danny Morgan, $12,727
Event 3 • $200 NLHE
Entries: 289 • Pool: $47,656
Patrick Biancone, $11,446
Event 4 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 133 • Pool: $13,386
Anthony Lee, $3,881
Event 5 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 349 • Pool: $36,666
Patrick Michael, $8,800
Event 6 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 253 • Pool: $30,676
Paul Lui, $7,376
Event 7 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 358 • Pool: $36,666
Jon Latona, $8,831
Event 8 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 223 • Pool: $27,038
Jonathan Mendel, $6,498
Event 9 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 336 • Pool: $35,909
Dave Fernandez, $8,644
Event 10 • $200 NLHE
Entries: 365 • Pool: $60,188
Nipun Java, $14,443
Event 11 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 186 • Pool: $18,973
Dezi Resneky, $5,123
Event 12 • $200 NLHE
Entries: 254 • Pool: $41,884
Lou Baclig, $10,064
Event 13 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 140 • Pool: $14,782
James McClure, $5,587
Event 14 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 309 • Pool: $32,766
Leonard Sampson, $7,866
Event 15 • $125 PLO/8
Entries: 91 • Pool: $15,423
Richard Lanning, $4,933
Event 16 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 230 • Pool: $27,887
Fabio DeFrancesco, $6,712
Event 17 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 248 • Pool: $32,708
Craig Berger, $7,823
Event 18 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 396 • Pool: $103,712
Michael Avissar, $24,912
Event 19 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 182 • Pool: $18,391
Steve Klotzsche, $5,001
Event 20 • $150 O/8
Entries: 133 • Pool: $16,126
Geb Goitom, $4,671
Event 21 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 161 • Pool: $16,179
Vartan Avakian, $4,369
Event 22 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 287 • Pool: $30,322
Barry Fieeiki, $7,277
Event 23 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 315 • Pool: $33,174
Christopher Clark, $8,009
Event 24 • $150 O/8
Entries: 112 • Pool: $13,580
John Deng, $4,010
Event 25 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 267 • Pool: $28,343
Serge Kacapovs, $6,800
Event 26 • $345 NLHE
Entries: 709 • Pool: $206,319
Akzam Tairov, $45,304
Event 27 • $75 NLHE
Entries: 116 • Pool: $11,349
Zorab Goulayan, $3,339
Sport of Kings, Hollywood Park, Oct. 11-21
Event 1 • $60 NLHE
Entries: 314 • Pool: $15,700
Adam Bush, $4,685
Event 2 • $40 NLHE
Entries: 107 • Pool: $10K
William Vo, $3,500
Event 3 • $40 NLHE
Entries: 286 • Pool: $26,539
Carlo Bernard, $7,449
Event 4 • $70 NLHE
Entries: 93 • Pool: $10K
Jaimes Mena, $3,500
Event 5 • $100 NLHE
Entries: 131 • Pool: $18,373
Miga Davaa, $6,248
Event 6 • $40 NLHE
Entries: 134 • Pool: $15K
Jin Park, $5,100
Event 7 • $ NLHE
Entries: 131 • Pool: $6,550
William Vo, $2,750
Event 8 • $40 NLHE
Entries: 64 • Pool: $6,274
Derrick Mokedi, $2,259
Event 9 • $150 O/8-S8
Entries: 53 • Pool: $6,360
Lance Brukman, $2,225
Event 10 • $40 NLHE
Entries: 57 • Pool: $5,367
Jorge Ortuzar, $1,932
Event 11 • $125 NLHE
Entries: 160 • Pool: $16K
Emil Mactal, $5,280
Event 12 • $100 NLHE
Entries: 1,124 • Pool: $179,126
Jason Bernard, $44,011
Fall Classic, Hustler Casino, Oct. 14-31
Event 1 • $120 NLHE
Entries: 955 • Pool: $153K
Matthew Salsberg, $30K
Event 2 • $180 NLHE
Entries: 37 • Pool: $5,550
Jeff Dargah, $2,250
Event 3 • $130 NLHE
Entries: 1,509 • Pool: $256K
Moshe Manzur, $58K
Event 4 • $180 NLHE
Entries: 55 • Pool: $8,250
N/A, $3,350
$150 Main Event
Entries: 2,097 • Pool: $422K
James Sileo, $100K
