Daniel Wagner outlasted 308 players to win the Superstacks Hold’em Series Main Event at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y. For the victory, Wagner of West Seneca earned $29,853.The showing capped an impressive year for Wagner, who had two wins and 15 cashes. He was 11th in the $1,100 event of the 2016 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic ($11,625).
Chris Meyers was second at Turning Stone ($28,396), while Kladji Lika earned $15,218 for third.
Allison Schultz of New York was fourth ($10,738), followed by Fred Bartlett ($8,034).
The prize pool for the $570 main event was $154,500.
SENECA NIAGARA RESORT & CASINO: The Western New York Poker Challenge runs March 31-April 9. Stay tuned for more information as it is made available.
FALLSVIEW CASINO RESORT: The World Poker Tour’s Fallsview Poker Classic is Feb. 17-24 at the Niagara Falls, Ontario, venue. More than $4.4M will be awarded. The series features two preliminary tourneys, a $1,500 shootout, and the $5K main event.
FOXWOODS CASINO RESORT: Seunghwan Lee grabbed the top spot in a three-way chop of the $1,650 Mega Stack Challenge Championship in Ledyard, Conn., good for $53,351. JeWook Oh and Steven Berkowitz also each earned $53K in the chop.Kyle Carey took home $25,841 for fourth. The prize pool was $323,010.
But the biggest event of the series turned out to be the $600 tournament. Michael Dobbs got past Jayaram Kovoor to win the title. Dobbs made $97,845 while Kovoor pocketed $62,497.Darrell Blodgett was third ($45,117), followed by Anthony Lanteri ($31,546), Stephen Lapoint ($22,022) and Vito Masi ($17,261).
With an impressive 1,158 entries, the prize pool was a whopping $595,328.
Mid-Atlantic
DOVER DOWNS HOTEL AND CASINO: This month’s Getaway Weekend will run Feb. 10-12 with prize-pool guarantees every day.
On Feb. 10 at 11:15 a.m. is a $10K guarantee for $115, giving you 25-minute blinds and a 30K stack.
Later that day (7:15) is a $1,500 guarantee for $35 (20-minute blinds, 30K stack).
There’s a $25K guarantee Feb. 11 (11:15 a.m.) for $200 with 30-minute blinds and 30K chips. Later, at 7:15 is another $1,500 guarantee for $35 (15-minute blinds, 30K stack).
The final event is Feb. 12 at 11:15 a.m. with a $2K guarantee ($35, 20-minute blinds, 15K chips).
For cash-game players, Dover Downs has a new player-rewards promotion. In addition to the $1-per-hour comp, you will earn $2 per hour for the first 29 hours and $10 per hour for every hour after 30. See the poker room for details.
CHARITY POKER: All In Enterprises has its annual World Series of DC Charity Poker series with a lead-up event Feb. 4 and the main event Feb. 12. Go to allinenterprises.org for details.
MARYLAND LIVE: Cash players who play 50-plus hours per week will be awarded $500. See the poker room for details.
Atlantic City/Philadelphia
The Charity Series of Poker kicked off 2017 at the Borgata during the Winter Poker Open in January. The $220 turbo brought high profile players who had come for the BPO’s main event. Each buy-in sent$100 to Support the Kid, a volunteer-based children’s cancer charity.
CSOP has been running strong for three years in three regions: Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Fla., and the Borgata in Atlantic City. The charity group has made $160K geared toward numerous organizations, including Three Square Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and Community Food Bank of New Jersey.
“While it’s amazing to be able to play a game I love for a living and have so much freedom,” said pro and CSOP founder Matt Stout.“I ended up feeling like I wasn’t contributing anything productive to society.”
Mike Frazin and Matt Savage quickly joined the initiative as CSOP board members.
“I created the CSOP as a way to not only raise money and awareness for causes I believe in, but to give other poker players an easy and accessible way to give back and make a real impact on someone else’s life,” Stout said. “It’s also a great reminder that we can have a ton of fun doing it and that helping the less fortunate doesn’t have to be a chore.”
The 10th CSOP event is tentatively scheduled for July.More info can be found at charityseriesofpoker.org.
Look for results of the BPO in our next issue.
TEN: Atlantic City’s Revel is scheduled to reopen soon and will be renamed Ten. The venue was recovered from bankruptcy in 2014 by Glenn Straub, who purchased the location for $90M.
Straub recently recruited executive staff members from the Taj Mahal after its closing, one of whom will be running the poker room.Ten is looking forward to its opening and possibly forming a partnership with tournament organizations.
HARRAH’S PHILADELPHIA: The Chester property ran its third $100K guarantee ($120 buy-in) in December.
There were 18 starting flights that played down to 10 percent of the field.Players who made Day 2 cashed for the minimum while hoping to win a seat to this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.
The winner was Andrea Salamone, who earned $22,642 and the coveted seat. The last four players standing were upgraded of Diamond status on their Total Rewards account.
The event drew 1,279 players.“It’s great value,” said Eric Suarez, who finished second for $13,982.“It gives people who would normally never play a bigger buy-in tournament a chance to not only win a substantial amount of money, but also a chance to fulfill a dream of playing in the WSOP main.”
Meet Esther Taylor-Brady
How would you describe your first year of representing Parx as Poker Ambassador? It’s been great and I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity. I’ve been able to travel to a lot of tournament stops and represent Parx Poker Room and our Parx Big Stax series. I’m excited for our partnership with WPT DeepStacks in February for more record-breaking numbers.
You made several deep runs at the World Series. How did your summer turn out? My summer was amazing; I was really lucky and I took shots in some bigger tournaments because I felt I had the momentum on my side.
I really just tried to enjoy the ride and be in the moment. I’ve played tournaments for a while now and I know that so many things have to go right to make it to these final tables. I was just really grateful for the opportunities and made sure to learn from mistakes made for next summer.
What is the future layout for your poker career? I still have many goals I’m working toward. The greatest part of poker to me is there is no cap to how good you can be. Therefore, you’re always learning, trying new things, failing, picking yourself back up and trying again.
I’ll continue to play tournaments when I can, but most important, represent Parx Poker Room to the best of my ability. — Jo-Kim
