To say the inauguralHCA Poker Classic at Hollywood Casino in Aurora, Ill., was just successful would be quite an understatement. With 122 entries and a $107K prize pool, it was the largest in Illinois history.
Bryce Linville took home almost $43K after a seesaw heads-up battle withSean Chapman, who won a Chicago Poker Classic turbo event this year.
This was Linville’s first major tournament win. He finished third in last year’s Tournament of Champions here.
Hollywood Aurora’s poker cruise giveaways
The Chicago-area casino has more than just its remarkable HCA Poker Classic to celebrate. The poker room will be awarding 10 Ante Up Poker Cruise balcony packages for its Dec. 11 sailing to Jamaica and Haiti in a mega-freeroll on Nov. 12. The 100 players with the most cash-game hours logged during the promotional period will earn a seat, as well as 30 players who win their way in through three monthly freerolls. Players can earn seats in each monthly freeroll (Sept. 3, Oct. 1 and Nov. 5) by logging at least 60 hours of cash-game play in the preceding month or by playing on all four Wednesday tournaments during that month. For more information, visit AnteUpCruises.Com.
HARRAH’S JOLIET: The Mega Bad Beat was $344K (quad eights) and the mini (aces full of kings) was $22K at press time.
WSOP RECAP: Illinois had another big turnout with 3,284 entries in the 74 events; Indiana had 904.Neil Patel, who works as an options trader at the Chicago Board of Trade, had Illinois’ best finish at 29th, winning almost $215K in the $10K main event of the World Series of Poker.
WSOPC: Horseshoe Southern Indiana hosts the circuit Sept. 28-Oct. 9.Horseshoe Hammond hosts Oct. 12-23.
WINDY CITY POKER CHAMPIONSHIP: Lloyd Mandel won the televised $3K main event for $16K. Craig Casino, David Gutftuend, Ben Ponzio, Joel Schauband Michael Hahn were in the field, which generated a $47K prize pool.
James Battaglia won his third WCPL points championship. Mike Ligue won the championship tournament.
Iowa
MESKWAKI CASINO: Michigan’s Carter Myers won the Mid-States Poker Tour Main Event and $115,109 during the last week of July. This was the largest event in Iowa history and beat the $300K guarantee by nearly $200K.
The final table took 99 hands, but on the final hand, Myers shoved with 10-9 and Alan Cutler called with A-K. Neither player connected until the river when a 10 sealed the win for Myers. Cutler earned $69,545. The MSPT returns in late October.
PRAIRIE MEADOWS CASINO AND HOTEL: There will be will a $200 event Sept. 10 (11 a.m.) at the Altoona poker room.
Q CASINO: The Dubuque property hosts a $330 tournament Sept. 30 at 11 a.m.
BAD-BEAT JACKPOTS: Riverside Casino’s has crossed the $130K mark and Diamond Jo Casino in Worth was at nearly $270K at press time.
In September, qualifiers will be running for the Michigan State Poker Championship, which runs Oct. 7-15 at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel poker room in Battle Creek, Mich. The last time the MSPT stopped at FireKeepers, 1K-plus players entered for a share of the $1M prize pool.
Also, the room runs a special Fifth Sunday tournament for $400 and 40K chips at 10 a.m.
On July 30, the event had 415 entries to create a prize pool of $145,250. Carl McCullough of Ida, Mich., took the title and $29,050. The next one will be Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. See the ad on this page for more details.
On Sept. 9 and Nov. 18, FireKeepers hosts a $100 women’s event at 2 p.m.
FireKeepers alternates between a $120 tournament on the first and third Sundays of the month, a $240 deepstack tournament on the second and fourth Sunday, and a $400 deepstack every fifth Sunday.
MOTOR CITY: The bad-beat jackpot (quads) was $674K at press time.
WSOP RECAP: Sterling Heights native Joshua Marvin finished 31st in the main event for $214,913.
Ohio
JACK CASINO CINCINNATI: The Jack Fall Classic tournament series continues through Sept. 4, with the $1K main event featuring a $500K guarantee. It kicks off Sept. 1 (Day 1A) and Sept. 2 (Day 1B). Bag chips on both days, and receive a $4K double-bag bonus. Satellites ($200) will run at 9:15 a.m. both days, each guaranteeing nine seats. Day 2 is Sept. 3 and the final table plays out Sept. 4. There’s a $200 turbo Sept. 3 at 2:15 p.m. with a $25K guarantee and a $65 satellite will run at 11:15 a.m. The series concludes with a pair of hold’em events Sept. 4 ($160, $10K guarantee, 11:15 a.m.), and an $80 turbo at 6:15 p.m. Look for results in a future issue.
HOLLYWOOD CASINO TOLEDO: The Hollywood Poker Challenge runs through Sept. 4. Results will be in a future issue. In the mean time, the cash-game action has been running hot and heavy, thanks to a $6-$12 fixed-limit OE game (Omaha-Omaha/8) with a kill. This featured game runs on Mondays at 4:15 p.m., and Thursdays at 5:15 Poker room manager Elliott Schecter said this game has been drawing a good number of players from a wide geographic area.
In addition, the room has been running various high-hand promotions every day of the week and comps are $2 per hour. Details are on the room’s website.
JACK CASINO CLEVELAND: The $100K Pigskin & Poker promotion begins Sept. 7 and runs through Dec. 31. Cash-game and tournament players will earn drawing tickets by making big hands (aces full or better) from noon until midnight. Each Sunday during the promotion, one ticket will be drawn every hour from noon until 8 p.m., with each winner receiving $500.
On the final Sunday (New Year’s Eve), prizes will range from $500 to $10K.
Minnesota
Saad Ghanem of Burnsville, Minn., took home $33K after chopping first place in the Anniversary Tournament Series Main Event at Running Aces Casino in Columbus, Minn. Chris Doffing, Willfred Sweetman and Brent Kallman chopped for second, third and fourth, respectively. This is Ghanem’s second-largest career cash with nearly $300K in earnings. The $280 event drew 879 entrants for a $191,831 prize pool.
POKER IS FUN: Mike “Schneids” Schneider, the second Minnesota Poker Hall of Fame inductee, is launching the Poker is Fun Tour. The tour is designed to cater to the recreational player and to bring the fun back to poker.
“Over the last several years, I’ve seen many things change about poker,” he said. “Some of them good, many of them not. One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is a paradigm shift in who poker tournaments are catered toward. The last several years, the environment around casinos is one that has gotten more cut-throat, serious, time-demanding, and frankly, a lot less fun.”
Some of the differences in this tour include: 1 percent of the prize pool will be donated to charity; most events will be one-day events; every event pays 15 percent of the field, allows two re-entries and will feature some type of “wrinkle” to the game.
The first event, Sept. 9-10 at Canterbury Park, features a “Winners Shown” wrinkle. To win the pot, a player must first show their cards.
WSOP RECAP: Minnesotans earned $1.9M at the World Series spread over 198 cashes in 48 events. Also of note, Christian Pham finished 19th ($263K) in the main event and Chris Wallace was 32nd ($215K).
Wisconsin
WSOP RECAP: Stephen Buell of Green Bay finished as the last Wisconsin player standing in $10K main event. He finished 367th out of 7,221 players for $31,170. Other Wisconsin players to cash were David Mowery (783rd, $17,243), Byron Ziebell (805th. $17,243) and William Gibbons (994th, $15K).
All told, 792 players from Wisconsin participated in the series, making it the 23rd represented state ahead of Tennessee (715).
Of those, 47 participated in the main event, only one of which was a woman.
VENETIAN TITLE: A day after busting the WSOP main, MSPT Season 7 Potawatomi champ Travis Lauson nearly 600 players to win the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza’s Event 91 ($600 NLHE) for $58,176.
CONDOLENCES: On June 19, Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells regular Mary Ellen Hampton, 78, died. Hampton topped a field of 213 players to win the Canterbury Park 2010 Fall Poker Classic’s women’s event for $3,056.
Meet Shane Waubanascum
When he’s not playing poker at other casinos with friends or helping local children in the Milwaukee community through substitute teaching, Shane Waubanascum can be found being a floor supervisor at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino’s poker room. Waubanascum has worked in poker for eight years, putting himself through college at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
How did you come to work in poker? I was looking for a job after I graduated high school and was interested in exploring poker. I applied online, went through the on boarding process and then started my poker career here at Potawatomi; the rest is history. When I first started out at the casino, I was a chiprunner for one year, a dealer for over five years and a floor person for just under two years.
What do you like most about working in poker? I very much enjoy spending time with my co-workers. Over the years, we’ve become really good friends and spend time together outside of the workplace. — Chad Holloway
