For the third time in four years, Southern California’s hottest rivalry comes together for charity. The Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks and San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino partnered for the fourth annual Rivalry No-Limit Hold’em Charity Poker Tournament that took place Feb. 20.
This is the third time the Kings and Ducks have faced off in the tournament, which supports the Kings Care Foundation and the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, and raised more than $14K for each organization.
The Kings included Luc Robitaille, Sean O’Donnell, Jim Fox, Daryl Evans, Ian Turnbull, Gary Edwards, Kyle Calder, Brad Norton and Jason Doig. Longtime Kings trainer Pete Demers played, too. Their broadcast team got into the action as well: Carrlyn Bathe, Bob Miller, Nick Nickson and Patrick O’Neal.
The Anaheim Ducks included Nick Bonino, Fredrick Anderson, Paul Mara, Jason Marshall and Guy Hebert. Ducks CEO Tim Ryan and broadcaster Kent French also played. Both team mascots were on hand for the festivities.
San Manuel is in Highland, Calif., a short drive from Big Bear and Palm Springs. The poker room is large, fully enclosed and non-smoking. There are 60 tables to accommodate any poker game with interest.
The main games that are played on any given day are $2-$4, $3-$6 and $4-$8 limit hold’em with a kill, $2-$5, $5-$5 no-limit and $3-$6 Omaha with a full kill.
They have food service for the players at the tables. Cell phones are not allowed at the tables, but the room does have complimentary Wi-Fi.
They also run monthly Play In/Not Buy In tournaments. Players earn stamps on a card for hands in any live game. Most months these are a $33K prize pool, though a few times each year it bumps up to a $100K prize pool.
Qualifying hands are 10s full or better in hold’em and queens full or better in Omaha. The next $100K tournament is May 1. The qualifying period is usually the month before.
BARONA: Barona Freeplay Online Poker (baronaonlinepoker.com), the only freeplay online poker site in California where players can win real prizes, is running its third annual Main Event Mania series.
It allows poker players from all over California to play online for entries into the $10K WSOP main event. The tournaments began March 2 and culminates in a final online event on May 17. Players who make it through will play in the Main Event Mania Finals for more than $50,000 in entries, including three $10,000 main-event seats.
— Email Kittie Aleman at anteupkittie@gmail.com.
