The Southeast Iowa Poker Classic has been announced by Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington. This will run Nov. 3-10. There will be six no-limit hold’em events running Nov. 8-10 with qualifier tournaments running the first part of the week.
This room is also spreading regular 50-cent/$1 NLHE cash games with $20 max buy-in. This is somewhat unique and is a great opportunity for newer players to take the cash-game plunge. See catfishbendcasino.com for more details.
HORSESHOE: Andrew Brock, poker room manager at the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, announced all no-limit games will play nine-handed. Also, the max rake will be reduced to $5. This is good news to players in Iowa. The room is hosting some unusual tournaments every Monday night at 7.
These rotate with the first Monday being Omaha/8, second Monday is pot-limit Omaha, third is H.O.R.S.E., and the fourth is PLO/8.
The buy-ins are $100 for each of these tournaments. In months with five Mondays, that fifth event is something special, but the game varies. It could be a bounty tournament, or maybe crazy pineapple or something even more exciting, so check with the poker room.
The Horseshoe also was in the news recently when a story broke that $1,500 in bogus chips were discovered in play on one cash-game table. These chips were taken out of play and all players that had these bogus chips were fully compensated by the Horseshoe because they were earned through no fault of their own. Navy Vice Admiral Tim Giardina, who was the second in command at U.S. Strategic Command, has been demoted and reassigned to Washington, D.C., but will not face criminal charges. The military continues to investigate the case.
GRAND FALLS: In the northwest corner of Iowa you’ll find one of the newer casinos rising out of the cornfields like the players in Field of Dreams, the Grand Falls Casino Resort. Todd Slager runs the poker room there and is excited about the second annual Fall Poker Series, which will run Nov. 22-25. There will be three big NLHE events with a $100 bounty event kicking it off on Nov. 22, followed by a $200 event on Nov. 23 and a $500 main event on the 24th.
RIVERSIDE: On the other side of the state, Riverside Casino and Resort will hold its Cold Turkey Showdown. This is a $500 buy-in and runs Nov. 29-Dec. 1. There are $60 qualifying tournaments running every Sunday if you would like to earn your way in cheaply. This has been a popular tournament in the past and is sure to be once again.
I have enjoyed playing with everyone I have met in the Iowa poker rooms and I hope to see many of you again. If you’d like to know where I might turn up next, because I am always an easy mark, please follow me on Twitter @Ken_Warren.
— Email Ken Warren at anteupken@gmail.com.
