The Commerce Casino’s L.A. Poker Open always is one of the premiere events on the West Coast, and now Scott Stewart of Lakewood has a premiere title. Stewart bested pro Chris Moorman of England to earn the main-event crown and $97,800, plus a $10K seat to the upcoming L.A. Poker Classic.
They eventually agreed to a deal that added $10K to second place and about an hour later, Moorman three-bet shoved his big blind with 7-7 only to be shown K-K. Moorman pocketed $85,510 as the event attracted a field of 345 players for a $517,500 prize pool.
Stewart’s lifetime winnings are $458,042. He also took down the Commerce Poker Series Main Event in September.
Other results from the series: Jonathan Ingalls from San Diego won Event 2 ($1,100 NLHE) for $13,050; Luis Concha from Downey took down Event 3 ($570 HORSE) for $10,725; Lena Evans of Beverly Hills grabbed Event 4 ($570 NLHE) for $6,480, and Larry Kantor of Tarzana captured Event 5 ($570 O8/S8) for $4,390.
Sean Hee Yu from Los Angeles was the victor in Event 6, which was a $560 hold’em tourney called “8 Hours Times Up Bounty.”This event was played for eight hours and prizes were determined by chip equity at the end.There were 54 entries for a prize pool of $27K.
Haik Kyurumyan of Los Angeles won Event 7 ($350 triple stack), which 213 players for a $63,900 prize pool. He earned $14K. The L.A. Poker Classic runs Jan. 13-March 2.
PALA CASINO: Daniel Borges’ flush beat Seymour Ogeare’s straight to earn the championship of the Quantum Reload tournament on Nov. 20 Borges of Los Angeles won $5,024 and Ogeare of Moreno Valley got $2,825 for second.There were 137 players who vied for the $20,730 prize pool in this five-day event.
Rounding out the top 10 were Lena Evans, Rancho Santa Fe ($2,190), Gregory Sanchez, Rowland Heights ($1,710), Hector Alvarez, Anaheim ($1,340),Thomas Woodard, Newport Beach, ($1,045), James Ladere, Riverside ($795), Kevin Pound, Ventura ($580), Tony Walters, Fallbrook ($400) and Terry Barnett, Temecula ($400). Kathryn Bourquin was a double-qualifier and won $450.
Reno
ELDORADO RESORT CASINO: Players get $2 comps for every hour played and a $10 bonus for starting the game on weekdays. The two games being spread daily are $3-$6 limit and $1-$2 NLHE. There are $50 high hands every two hours on weekdays.
PEPPERMILL RESORT SPA CASINO: Play during Monday night football and the room serves a mini-buffet for its players at 5 p.m. The high-limit room continues to draw a nice crowd when it spreads $5-$10 NLHE and $20-$40 limit on the weekends.
The Hold’em Quadzilla promotion continues to be most popular. Receive $75 for making quads and $300 if you make quads again within 24 hours, but you must be holding a pocket pair to qualify.
GRAND SIERRA RESORT CASINO: The poker room recently began a $5K guarantee with a $100 buy-in.It starts at 11 a.m. on the first Sunday of the month and has $100 rebuys through Level 3. Players start with 5K chips.
ATLANTIS CASINO RESORT: The WPT DeepStacks series runs March 16-27, including a $200K main event ($1,100 buy-in).
NUGGET CASINO RESORT: The poker room continues to spread its main $3-$6 limit game with a full kill. It starts at 11 a.m. daily. Regulars say this game has the most action in town.
NorCal
Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln hosts Poker Night in America this month with certain events televised on CBS Sports Network. The series will feature a $25-$50 NLHE televised cash game Jan. 28-29 with satellites running Jan. 14-29 with $5K buy-ins for the winners.
There also will be a series of 12 tournaments Jan. 19-29. The series kicks off with the Monolith $250K guarantee with a $425 buy-in and four starting flights Jan. 19-21.
On Jan. 22, there’s a $250 multitable qualifier for the main event (1 p.m.) and a $10K bounty event with $50 bounties ($155 buy-in, 7 p.m.).
The two events on Jan. 23 are a $10K ($125, 5 p.m.) and a $10K six-max ($155, 5 p.m.). Jan. 24 features the only HORSE event of the series ($155, 11 a.m.) and a $20K guarantee NLHE event ($235, 5 p.m.).
There will be a $10K guarantee Escalator ($155, 11 a.m.) and a $15K guarantee Omaha/8 ($235, 5 p.m.) on Jan. 25. The Main Event Preview $20K guarantee is Jan. 26 ($340, 11 a.m.), followed by multitable qualifiers for the main event on Jan. 26 ($250, 5 p.m.) and Jan. 27 ($250, 5 p.m.).
The $250K guarantee main event will have two starting days (Jan. 27-28) with a $1,100 buy-in. Day 2 will be Jan. 29 with the final table Jan. 30.
The final table will be televised live on CBS Sports and will be sure to attract a lot of attention from players around the region. For those who don’t make the final table, there will be two events on Jan. 29, a $20K guarantee Action 8 event ($250, 1 p.m.) and bounty tourney ($100, 7 p.m.).
GRATON RESORT & CASINO: The Rohnert Park property has some great promotions going on in its poker room. The Early Bird Special runs Monday-Friday (9-10 a.m.) where players receive $100 for $80 buy-ins.
Also, during the week there are Aces Cracked (midnight-8 a.m.) and high hands (10-10 p.m.). There are Hot Seat Drawings on Sundays, where the poker room can pay $650 per hour (1-10 p.m.).
Though Graton is a relatively new room, it has established itself as quality and reputable poker establishment.
Pacific Northwest
TULALIP CASINO: The poker room, which is the fifth-largest poker room in the region with 12 tables and is 36 miles north of Seattle in Marysville, Wash., will have its Poker Pow Wow on Jan. 14-29, starting with a $120 event with a $10K guarantee. Not big enough?Jan. 15 will feature a $345 event with a $20K guarantee.
Not into hold’em?There will be three $175 Omaha events: Omaha/8 (Jan.16), PLO (Jan. 17) and PLO/8 (Jan. 23).For even more mixed-game fun, HORSE will be Jan. 19. The second weekend will feature a two-day $330 warmup for the main event with two Day 1s (Jan. 20-21) with the final on Jan. 22.This one will have a $50K guarantee.
There will be a $235 seniors event Jan. 24.
The $500 main event sports a $100K guarantee and will have three Day 1s: Jan. 26-28. Survivors will return Jan. 29.
WILDHORSE RESORT AND CASINO: The Fall Round Up series ran Nov. 3-13 and had $40K added to the overall prize pools.
Here are the winners:Dana Golden from Shoreline, Wash., (Event 1, $18K); Greg Traudt from Nampa, Idaho, (Event 2, $20K); Lanny Knopf from Milton Freewater, Ore., (Event 3, $10K); Jordan Rich from Portland (Event 4, $10K); Roger Renken from Milton, Wash., (Event 5, $6K).
More winners: Stephen Bokor from Astoria, Ore., (Event 6, $4K); Thomas Mortimer from Anatone, Wash., (Event 7, $14K); Dominick Conti from Ketchum, Idaho, (Event 8, $21K); Patrick O’Connor from Careywood, Idaho, (Event 9, $14K); Maxwell Young from Seaside, Ore., (Event 10, $29K); Gary Shockey from Redmond, Ore., (Event 11, $45K) and Jonathan Carey from Eagle Point, Ore. (Event 12, $5K).
CLUB HOLLYWOOD CASINO: If you’re in the Seattle area, don’t overlook the non-tribal cardrooms.If you’re into Omaha high hands, Club Hollywood Casino in Shoreline, Wash., (11 miles north of Seattle) is paying $250 to the best Omaha hand every two hours from 11 p.m. to close Mondays-Saturdays (quad 10s to qualify in Omaha).The best hold’em hand pays $300 each hour from 3-10 p.m. on Mondays.
Club Hollywood is a 15-table cardroom with four tables featuring $2-$12 spread-limit hold’em and spreads a $2-$40 game on demand, usually Friday and Saturday nights.
RIVER ROCK AND HARD ROCK: Bad-beat jackpots are the lottery tickets of poker, a small chance of a huge payday. Interested? Head to British Columbia to the River Rock or Hard Rock casinos to try to catch a piece of their humongous super bad-beat jackpot (quad eights beaten) both casinos are adding to nearly $700K at press time.
River Rock is a 10-table room in Richmond, B.C., featuring $3-$6 limit and $1-$3 and $3-$5 blinds, all hold’em.Not surprisingly, no one at the River Rock wants to play any tournaments until the jackpot is hit so they have suspended their tournament schedule.
The Hard Rock is a five-table room in Vancouver with more emphasis on NLHE and PLO, though fewer PLO games are running with that hold’em jackpot being so huge.
Each year, Wildhorse Resort and Casino runs three Round Up poker series.
Las Vegas
The MGM Grand poker room continues to come up with popular and creative promotions.The latest one is called Progressive Picture Pyramid.
Every week, starting Wednesdays at 1 p.m., players who make a full house of jacks, queens or kings full (with a pocket pair) will win progressively more money as the pyramid fills.
The first nine made during the period are worth $100, the next eight are worth $200, etc.
The last one made, to complete the pyramid, is worth $1K. Once a particular full house is made (e.g, kings full of deuces), it’s no longer eligible for the promotion for the rest of the period.
If the pyramid doesn’t fill up in the week, the value of the unfilled spaces is increased by the amount of the original prize level.So, if the final full house doesn’t hit for two weeks, during the third week it will be worth $3K.
Another promo is the Progressive Power Hour. High hands of quads of better are worth a progressive jackpot if they’re made during a specific hour, which varies for each high hand. Thus, four aces or a royal flush must be made between 1-2 p.m. or 1-2 a.m.
Four sevens or a seven-high straight flush must be made between 7-8 p.m. or 7-8 a.m.Each hour starts at $200 and increases $50 per day until hit.
There’s also an early morning high hand of the hour running Monday-Friday from 5-10 a.m.The minimum hand is a full house and it pays $100.If no hand qualifies in a particular hour, the $100 carries over to the next hour.
The main cash game is $1-$2 no-limit hold’em and there are always multiple games running. The minimum buy-in is $100 with a $300 maximum.There’s also a $2-$5 game with a $200-$500 min-max.
All MGM tournaments have guarantees. There are two $70 tournaments daily (11 a.m. and 7 p.m.). Players get 15K chips and levels start at 15 minutes and increase to 20 at Level 10.The morning tournament has a $2K guarantee and it’s $1K in the evening.
Turbo tournaments for $50 run daily at 2 p.m. and Sunday-Thursday at 10 p.m. The levels are 10 minutes and the starting stack is 10K. The guarantee is $500.
VENETIAN: The main event at Deep Stack IV in late November came down to two Las Vegans: Justin Young and Ryan Welch.Young claimed the trophy and a prize of $121K as Welch went home with $103K. Nearly 440 players bought in to the $1,600 event, creating a prize pool of $633K, easily surpassing the $400K guarantee.
There’s plenty of great tournament action ahead at the Venetian.The New Year’s Extravaganza runs through Jan. 8.A $250 SuperStack with four starting flights starts Jan. 4 and has a $150K guarantee.
The January Weekend Extravaganza runs Jan. 18-22 and offers $118K in guarantees.The highlight is a $150 SuperStack beginning with its first of four starting flights on Jan. 18. The prize pool is guaranteed at $60K.
Deep Stack Extravaganza I runs Jan. 30-Feb. 27 and has more than $2.5M in guarantees. It includes the Mid-States Poker Tour’s $1,100 event that has two starting flights Feb. 2 and offers a $300K guarantee.
A new offering is an $800, eight-max with a $250K guarantee.The first of its three starting days is Feb. 9. The series offers several Omaha events, all with $400 buy-ins. The first is a PLO bounty on Feb. 9, followed by Omaha/8 on Feb. 13 and PLO-PLO/8 on Feb. 25.All Omaha tournaments have $15K guarantees.
A $400 seniors event runs Feb. 11-12 with a $30K guarantee.
The $1,600 main event starts the first of its three starting flights Feb. 20 and has a $750K guarantee.
On the cash side, the Venetian is taking a $1 promo drop and offering a bad-beat jackpot, which starts at $50K and increases daily.The minimum qualifying losing hand started at quad 10s and decreases every two weeks.
Through the end of January, the room has a high-hand promotion that runs Monday-Thursday (10 a.m.-8 p.m.) The highest hand every 15 minutes gets $150.
HARRAH’S: The mid-Strip room is giving away seats to the next WSOP Colossus, a $565 value.Each week, the top-nine players with the most hours between 6 a.m. and noon will compete in a single-table tournament, with the first- and second-place finishers getting a Colossus entry.Winners can opt for $500 instead.
The room offers two freerolls a week, with only five hours in half a week needed to qualify, but players can double their starting stack (from 2K to 4K) by playing two more hours during the qualifying period. The top-10 finishers in each freeroll get $200.
High-hand bonuses are offered for cash games and tournaments.It’s $50 for quads, $100 for straight flushes and $300 for royals. The main cash game is $1-$2 NLHE ($100-$300 min-max).There’s also a $2-$3 game ($200-$500).
All tournaments have guarantee and run at 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., It’s a $65 buy-in for 5K chips and 20-minute levels. There’s an optional $5 add-on for 2,500 chips. The guarantee is $500.
On Friday and Saturday nights, the regular 7 p.m. is replaced by a $25 bounty tournament.The buy-in is $100, the starting stack is 10K, the levels are 20 minutes and the guarantee is $1K.
— Check out Rob Solomon’s blog at robvegaspoker.blogspot.com.
Meet Michelle Grimwood
A registered nurse by trade, Michelle Grimwood has been playing poker semi-professionally for eight years.
How did you get started in poker? I started with play money on PokerStarswhenI was in nursing school. There’s not alot to do up in Maine.
When did you move to Vegas and from where? I moved here five years ago. I am from the East-South, but travel nursing around the country I ended up staying inSan Antonio for a couple of years. After my first unplanned trip to Vegas, playing my first live cash games (my first session here I ended up playing 32 hours); I was in love.
What is your greatest highlight in poker? Playing online at WSOP, three tournaments a day and four on Sunday, I was around an 80 percentcash rate. That was an exciting and unbelievable number.
What are your poker goals? To be the first woman to win the (WSOP) main event. While my original reasons for that may have been a bit more selfish, now I’d like to use that platform and exposure to raise awareness for two incurable diseases that are very close to me so that more awareness and money can be raised to help find a cure. — Rob Solomon
