Connecticut
John Quirk made a quick splash. A resident of Warwick, R.I., Quirk outlasted more than 1,900 players to win Event 1, a $600 no-limit tourney at the Foxwoods Poker Classic in Mashantucket, Conn. The victory earned $124,376.
With 1,912 entrants, the field was the largest in the history of Foxwoods Casino.
Fred Paradis was second in Event 1, earning $100K. The cash was the 56th for Paradis, who increased his career winnings to more than $526K.
Giuseppe Ruvolo pocketed $100K for third, while Luca Pignatiello, who was fourth, collected $47,182.
Event 11 saw Dave Harting outduel Mark Dickstein to take top honors in the $1,650 tourney. For the win, Harting, from Ft. Myers, Fla., walked away with $41,069. The cash was the third of his career.
A New Yorker, Dickstein earned $36,700, which increased his career winnings to $674,473. He has 32 cashes, including 10 at the World Series of Poker.
New Hampshire’s Dan Chalifour was third, good for $30K.
There were 542 participants in the $400 Event 14, won by Djony Centeio. The win was the first for Centeio, also from Rhode Island, who has made three final tables.
Eric Siegel was second ($17,500). He has 71 cashes, including four in 2015. The 21-event FPC ran March 14-30. The WSOPC runs May 13-24 (see ad Page 5) while the Mega Stack Challenge runs until May 4 (see ad in our May issue).
MOHEGAN SUN: Andrew Badecker was the sole survivor in the $1,100 main event of the Spring Showdown, good for $35,469.
From Vernon, Conn., Badecker has 44 cashes (10 at the WSOP) and total winnings of more than $1.6 million.
David Kluchman walked away with $24,835 for second, followed by Peter Campo ($15,978).
The cash was the 18th for Kluchman, a resident of Lexington, Mass. Campo has 55 cashes, including a pair in 2015. He’s won more than $418K.
Matthew Wantman got $11,832 for finishing fourth. Seven of his 32 cashes have come this year. There were 142 entrants in the main event, bringing the prize pool to $137,740.
Philadelphia/Atlantic City
SUGARHOUSE: Philadelphia’s SugarHouse Casino hosted its first Poker Night in America on April 26-28. The show has made appearances throughout casinos in the Northeast region, including Maryland Live, Pittsburgh Rivers Casino and Turning Stone in New York.
The three-day stop featured high-stakes cash games with prominent pros such as Phil Hellmuth, all-time WSOP bracelet-leader.
Highlights of the game will be aired during Season 3 on CBS Sports Network. “We’re thrilled Poker Night in America chose SugarHouse to host its first visit to Philadelphia,” SugarHouse GM Wendy Hamilton said. “Philly loves a winner and we look forward to making some new ones.”
In conjunction with the weekly hit television show, the poker room launched its first major poker tournament event, the $100K guarantee Spring Showdown on April 23-27. Results from these events will be recapped in a future issue.
BORGATA: The property’s first Poker Players Series was introduced March 13-27. The three-tournament series was designed to benefit regular players with a bigger starting stack and longer levels. No re-entry or best stack forward was allowed for the events, with the exception of double play on Day 1s. Similar to Parx’s Big Stax, each event was scheduled weekly with buy-ins at $500, $1K and $1,500.
Vince Ciarrocchi won the $1,500 event for $22,115.
PARX: Its next Big Stax series is running until May 18. The buy-ins for this event will be $300, $500 and $1,500 with starting stacks at 30K, 40K and 50K, respectively. The series is expected to gather a prize pool of $2M.
Delaware
DOVER DOWNS HOTEL AND CASINO: The Crown Royal Poker Room in Delaware hosts the Masters Series until May 3. On May 23, there will be a $15K guarantee with a $125 buy-in, followed by a $5K guarantee May 24 for $50.
DELAWARE PARK: The $100K Memorial Mega Stack series runs May 22-25. May 23 is the $550 buy-in $50K guarantee, which is Event 2 and begins at 11 a.m. with 40K chips. Call the poker room at 302-355-1050 for more details.
Maryland
MARYLAND LIVE: Running through May 3, there is a $75K guarantee multiflight event for $65.
CHARITY EVENTS: Quite a few tournaments have been announced at various venues around D.C., including May 3, May 17 and June 6. There will be deep starting stacks (20K), a slow schedule and a one-time add-on available at the lunch break (30K). The buy-in is $180 (in advance) with the prize pool around $20K-$40K, depending on turnout. For more details, visit allinenterprises.org.
West Virginia
The Hollywood Poker Open runs April 30-May 10 at Hollywood Casino Charles Town in West Virginia with more than 30 events.
Poker celebrity Chris Moneymaker will be on hand and you can win a seat into the $500K guarantee HPO Championship at the M Resort in Las Vegas on June 26-28.
Winners of designated featured events will receive a tournament trophy and the player with the most points earned from the 11 featured events will receive a special trophy and a seat in the HPO Championship.
Meet Jay Centeno
Jay Centeno is a poker room supervisor at Harrington Raceway in Delaware. A 39-year-old resident of Greensboro, Md., Centeno has worked at Harrington since 2012, starting as a dealer. He has been playing poker since 2000 and his favorite game is HORSE.
With the recent expansion of poker in the region, how do you compete for your share of the poker players? Promotions, great customer service, knowledgeable and friendly staff, proficient dealers and good food.
What makes your poker room different? We feature a wide variety of games from Texas Hold’em, to Omaha and stud. The main games you can find here are $1-$2 NLHE and $2-$5 pot-limit Omaha. You can find six daily tournaments throughout the week, including a NLO-Omaha/8 round of each tournament, a bounty tournament and a rebuy tournament. We have a wide variety of players so the competition is a good balance of skill levels. — Michael Young
