Dover Downs Hotel and Casino hosts the seventh annual Delaware Poker Championship, which will have eight events, over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept. 4). The kickoff event (Aug. 30) has a $5K guarantee and the $100K main event begins Sept. 1 with the first flight.
But before the poker room’s signature series, there will be three tournaments Aug. 11-13 in a Getaway Weekend with combined guarantees of $24,500, including one for $15K.
The Getaway Weekend schedule is as follows: Aug. 11, 11:15 a.m., $7,500 guaranteed, $95 buy-in, 25-minute blinds, 30K stack; Aug. 12, 11:15 a.m., $15K guarantee, $125 buy-in, 30-minute blinds, 30K stack; Aug. 13, 11:15 a.m., $2K guarantee, $35 buy-in, 15-minute blinds, 30K stack.
Two satellites run for the $15K as one player in 10 wins a seat. The schedule is Aug. 7 and 9, 7:15 p.m., $20 buy-in, 12-minute blinds, 5K starting stack. Also, all players who are dealt in the first hand of the August satellites and tournaments receive a bonus of 500 chips. Players that register for the August tournaments more than one hour before the scheduled start receive a bonus 1K chips.
Maryland
MARYLAND LIVE: The poker room celebrates its four-year anniversary with high hands and lucky tables and seats.
Connecticut
FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO: Eugene Roemischer of Natick, Mass., pocketed $45,440 after making a deal when play reached three-handed at the $625K guarantee Summer Kickoff series’ $1,200 main event in Mashantucket, Conn.
He was followed by Thiru Sadagopan of Andover, Mass., and Anthony Harris of Cranston, R.I., who each took home $29,757. The event drew 175 players for a $194K prize pool.
Another highlight of this series was the $500 opening event, which went to Stavros Kosmidis of Fitchburg, Mass., for $52K. The tourney drew a whopping 743 entries for a $317,113 prize pool. Kevin Durgin of Scarborough, Maine, was second ($37,750) and Andy Bimonte of New York was third ($34,369).
Before the Summer Kickoff, Antonio Cristallini outlasted 224 players to take first in a $300 Memorial Day event. The win was worth $13,631. Stephan Porter got $8,610 for second and Jason Francks was third ($5,553). The prize pool was $56,091.
Soukha Kachittavong opened the series with a win in the $250 event. The Rhode Island resident picked up $25K. Edwin Centeio was second ($24,419) and Hoa Thai was third ($19,317) as 990 participants pushed the prize pool to $203,584.
The World Series of Poker Circuit visits Aug. 17-28.The schedule wasn’t completed at press time.
New York
TURNING STONE RESORT: John Huening earned $29,405 for recently winning the East Coast Poker Championships Main Event. Gregory Miller, from Corning, N.Y., was second in the $570 event, adding $18,547 to his bankroll.
Andrew Martin was third ($11,561), followed by Christopher Gardiner was ($8,166) and Joseph McKittrick ($5,910). With 207 entries, the prize pool was $103,500.
Randy Cattelane of Syracuse pocketed $9,500 after winning the series’ $250 event. Matthew Miceli got $8,317 for second and John Goepfert (third) earned $8,316.
On June 25, Matthew Hawkes won the Summer Poker Classic for $7,500. There were 281 participants to generate a $59,010 prize pool.In other news, the Jumbo Bad Beat Jackpot (aces full of kings) was at $348K at press time.
SENECA NIAGARA: The poker room is giving away $12K in high hands on Labor Day (Sept. 4, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.).
A.C.-Philadelphia
The SugarHouse Casino poker room’s third $100K guarantee SugarRush Challenge ran June 21-25 as 663 players entered the $250 event over the course of eight flights in Philadelphia.
Anthony Shurilla, who had most of the chips when it reached 12 players, took home the trophy and $16,102 after the ICM chop.
“It was the best poker I played on back-to-back days,” Shurilla said.“I flopped a set on my first hand of Day 2 to win a big pot and maintained a healthy stack the rest of the way.”
There were 153 players left for Day 2 with 20 more entrants opting to buy in for $1,100 and receiving 100K chips, slightly less than chip average.The final count of 683 entrants pushed the prize pool to $155,915.
Though the event ran at the same time as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, SugarHouse brought in 200 more entrants than its June event last year with more new faces in the field and at the final table.
The tournament, designed for locals by Matt Glantz, has been showing positive results.
“The SugarRush structure allows for a lot of play, especially with longer levels on Day 2,” Shurilla said.
HARRAH’S PHILADELPHIA: As the WSOP main event kicked off, Philadelphia players who remained behind looked ahead to winning a seat in 2018 by entering the Diamond Delight V. The $130 tournament ran July 6-16 and featured 19 Day 1s.
Some changes were made to the structure so that the option for rebuys was available for fewer levels, making it a shorter Day 1 until 10 percent of the field remained for each flight. All players who came back for Day 2 made the money automatically.
Aside from the prize pool, the final three players received a seat in the 2018 WSOP main event, a seat in the WSOP Millionaire Maker and $1K for first-, second- and third-place finishes, respectively.
They also receive one-year of Diamond Status. Results will be in a future issue.
PARX: The Big Stax series runs July 30-Aug. 22 and will be recapped in a future issue.
BORGATA: The Atlantic City poker room hosted the Deepstacks Challenge series June 12-24 and Nick Singhal of New York won the most money in the final event ($6,327) after a 10-way chop. The players ran one final hand for the trophy and Kenny Han made the nut flush for the hardware. The $400 tourney drew 159 players for a $55,650 prize pool. The series had 13 events. The Summer Open was still running at press time, so look for results in a future issue.
GOLDEN NUGGET ATLANTIC CITY: The tournament leaderboard promotion runs until Sept. 30. The point system is explained on the poker room’s website, but $2 is extracted from each tourney entry fee. The winner gets 25 percent of that promotional fun and the percentage decreases through 20 places. Players earn points for entering tourneys and in the money finishes.
Meet Jennifer Shahade
Living in Philadelphia, Jennifer Shahade is a longtime PokerStars rep.
How do you balance your time between personal life and poker? I just had a baby, so I’ve been keenly aware of balance in the past year. Rather than focusing on the negatives, such as playing less, I am so thrilled to get the chance to play especially online on PokerStarsNJ with little Fabian right there with me. I also felt I played some of my best poker preggers, since I was focused on being healthy and rested.
What would you say are the advantages and disadvantages of being an online pro? I’m not a full-time online pro since I live in Philly, but the pros of online are getting to play more hands so you can improve very quickly and also get a sense for your win-rate, changing population tendencies quickly.
And, of course, being able to stay healthy and cut down on expenses will allow you to be more aggressive with your bankroll. — Jo Kim
