During the Christmas break, I ventured to the west side of Iowa to visit the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs for its Holiday Poker Classic, which featured two no-limit hold’em tournaments (a $235 buy-in and the $560 main event).
Kyle Schroeder, pictured, won the main event, beating 172 runners to take home $22,656. Michael Vanier won the $235 warm-up event, which had 221 entrants, earning him $10,716.
If you haven’t visited the Horseshoe in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area, I recommend a visit. This is a nice room with lots of great action. While I was there, I saw $1-$2 and $2-$5 NLHE, $3-$6 and $10-$20 limit hold’em, $6-$12 Omaha/8 and we even got a $1-$2 pot-limit Omaha going for a little while.
A recent change to the buy-in limits seems to have re-energized the $2-$5 NLHE game at the Horseshoe from what the players told me. The rule: You can buy-in for 75 percent of the big stack at the table. This puts a good deal more money in play.
Poker room manager Andrew Brock and his staff are proactive and always doing what they can to be sure everyone has a great time in this 18-table room, which is isolated enough so you don’t hear the slot machines (as with most poker rooms). The bathroom is close and there’s a cage in the poker room and a deli across the hall with great food for your convenience.
— Ken Warren is Ante Up’s Iowa Ambassador. You can email him at anteupken@gmail.com.
