Scott Carolan of Farmington, Minn., won the main event of the Minnesota State Poker Championships (March 28-30) at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn. Play was three-handed for almost two hours before Brett Patterson busted in third. It took another 90 minutes before Troy Graphenteen finished in second, securing the $54,728 first-place prize for Carolan. The $1,100 tournament drew 217 entries and generated a $210,490 prize pool, which is an increase of 16 percent over last year. This was Carolan’s largest cash and will add considerably to his previous Hendon Mob lifetime earnings of $3,232.
POKER JOKER GEAR AT WSOP: Poker Joker Gear is concept created almost accidently by Marc “Poker Joker” Powers. He started the Poker Joker persona about a year ago in an attempt to gain some of respect at the tables. This led to Team Poker Joker, which is a group player that promotes poker with a positive attitude and the slogan “Grin and win.” The team logo is used on a full line of poker apparel and is a common sighting in Minnesota poker rooms. Now the rest of the poker world will have a chance to own these items when they are sold at this summer’s World Series.
— Email John at john.somsky@gmail.com.
