Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln, Ore., ran its Fall Coast Classic Sept. 16-23 and it was a big success as six of seven guarantees were met or exceeded.
Bryan Phillis of Dike, Iowa, (Event 1, $16K), Sande Slutsky of Portland (Event 4, $4K), Dan Barker of Poulsbo, Wash., (Event 6, $4K), Jason Adams of Portland (Event 8, $4K), Eunhee Chan of Sheridan, Ore., (Event 9, $2K), Colin Costantino of Portland (Event 10, $5K) and Kerry Moynahan of Portland (Event 12, $9K) were some of the winners.
But it was experienced amateur Binh Nguyen of Beavertown, Ore., who captured the $550 main event for $38K, his second biggest career cash.
Chinook Winds has seven tables and routinely spreads $1-$3 NLHE, features Omaha on Tuesdays and stud on Fridays. The room is closed Wednesdays and Thursdays.
MUCKLESHOOT CASINO: The Summer Classic, with $55K added, ran Sept. 14-18 and was so successful that a few tables needed to be added outside the room to accommodate all players.
Kevin Law of Seattle (Event 1, $5K), Iffet Erdolen (Event 2, $9K), Ed Pineda of Puyallup, Wash., (Event 3, $23K) and Patrick Ngo of Vacaville, Calif., (Event 5, $32K) were winners. Pineda, Achia Hua, Nicholas Getzen (Atlanta) and Kevin Johnson (Raritan, N.J.) chopped Event 4 for $20K each.
Ngo, who also took 10th in Event 3, lost the overall championship to Pineda, who won $6K for the honor.
Muckleshoot is 31 miles southeast of Seattle in Auburn, Wash., and is the largest poker room in the region with
31 tables. It routinely spreads $4-$8 limit and Omaha/8 games, $3-$5 NLHE (subject to the state-mandated $500 limit per bet) and occasionally a $15-$30 Omaha/8 game runs.
WILDHORSE RESORT AND CASINO: The Fall Roundup, near Pendleton, Ore., has a combined $40K added to 13 of the 16 tournaments Nov. 2-12. Buy-ins are $125 to $1,110, with a two-day $550 main event the second weekend. There also will be $230 Omaha/8 and Big O events.
Southern California
PALA CASINO: Players using their Privileges card until Dec. 8 can earn 10 bonus virtual entries for every Tier point earned. Starting at 3 p.m. Dec. 9, the 14 winners will split $92K through a series of hourly drawings from 3-8 p.m. Winners must be present and the final drawing pays $50K to one winner. Call the poker room for more info.
SAN MANUEL CASINO: On Monday nights until Dec. 25, after an NFL team scores during the game, a random table in the poker room will be drawn, with players at the table receiving $50 in chips for a field goal, $100 for a touchdown and $200 for a safety or a two-point conversion. This promotion is valid for Club Serrano members so be sure to join the club before playing.
HUSTLER CASINO: The Gardena poker room’s Liz Flynt Fall Poker Classic runs until Nov. 2. As for promotions, the first 100 players get a spot on the board after a minimum of one hour of play for every 1 p.m. Sunday NFL game. At the end of each quarter, if your square matches the game score, you will win $200. If you are the winner of the first or fourth quarter, you’ll be entered into the Big Game Board with a chance to win $10K. Call for details.
BICYCLE HOTEL AND CASINO: The WSOPC returns Dec. 1-12.
Northern California
Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights, Calif., hosts its $100K guarantee Quantum Tournament from Nov. 14-19. This will be a tiered tournament, allowing players to enter on different days for different buy-ins and stacks. Nov. 14-16, players can enter for $130 and 10K. Nov. 17-18, the buy-in will be $235 and stacks will be 20K.
Players who qualify for Day 2 receive $250 at the end of the session. Players who double-qualify receive $900 with their smaller stack removed from play.
Players also can buy into Day 2 for $900 and 100K chips.
THUNDER VALLEY CASINO RESORT: The Up the Ante Poker Room in Lincoln, Calif., held its first World Series of Poker Circuit from Sept. 14-25.
The big winner of the series was Nick Pupillo from Addison, Ill., who won the $1,675 main event for an outstanding $170K. This was Pupillo’s second WSOPC ring; his other win came in 2015. He has $1.3M-plus in career earnings.
Up next for Thunder Valley is the WPT DeepStacks series, which sports a $1M guarantee for its main event. The series runs Nov. 24-Dec. 5.
LUCKY CHANCES: In Colma, Calif., the Gold Rush Series runs Nov. 12-20 with six NLHE events. The first is Nov. 12 for $600 with $40K guaranteed for first. On Nov. 13, the $350 event with $20K guaranteed for first. The third event, Nov. 14, is a $200 turbo with $10K guaranteed for first. On Nov. 15, the $350 tourney pays at least $20K for first. There will be a $300 bounty event Nov. 16 where $15K is guaranteed for first. The final event will be Nov. 17-18 with a buy-in of $1,080 and a guaranteed first-place prize of $100K.
BLUE LAKE CASINO: The Fall Classic runs Nov. 18-19 with signups beginning Nov. 1. The $240 buy-in gets you 20K chips for this two-day event that begins at 2 p.m. Special hotel rates are $85.
Reno
HARVEYS LAKE TAHOE: The WSOP Circuit still was running at press time, so here are the events you still have time to enter: Nov. 1, $365 Monster Stack; Nov. 2, $580 NLHE; Nov. 3-4, two starting flights for $1,675 main event; Nov. 4, $365 NLHE, and Nov. 5 includes a $135 women’s event and a $365 double-stack turbo.
SILVER LEGACY: Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. is a freeroll with registration starting at 5. Call the poker room for details.
ATLANTIS CASINO: There’s a new $30 daily tournament at 11 a.m. Players start with 3K chips and there’s an optional $5 dealer add-on for 1K more. You also can get another 1K for being registered and seated by 11 a.m.
Las Vegas
MGM is making a big push to bring back limit and spread-limit to its room by introducing many promos specific to $2-$4, $3-$6 and $4-$8 limit games as well as the $2-$6 spread-limit game. All of these games have a $40 minimum buy-in.
Promos include: 60 for $40: The first 20 players who buy in to a limit game for $40 or more between 9-11 a.m. and play at least two hours receive $20.
Free $50: On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, all players who log a minimum of six hours of limit receive $50. Players may qualify twice a day.
Aces Cracked: Lose with red aces between noon and 2 p.m. and receive $500. Lose with black aces between 4-6 p.m. and receive $500.
Paid parking: Play six hours of limit in a day and receive $12 toward parking.
Kings of the Hill: Hit quads in order (from aces to kings) and receive progressive jackpot that starts at $200. Each week $2,600 is added to the prize pool, spread out over the quads that have not been hit yet. This promo runs daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Cash back: The top 10 players with the most hours in limit games during the month receive cash back, first place is $1K and the minimum prize is $200.
Players receive $2 per hour in comps while playing limit or spread-limit.
Additionally, all limit games are eligible for the room’s other promotions.
ARIA: The $240 tournaments at 11 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays feature the Big Blind Ante format, which was introduced in its high-roller events. The big blind posts an ante for the table, allowing the dealer to get out more hands each level.
“It leads to a higher percentage of hands dealt, which is a better product and value for the players,” tournament director Paul Campbell said. “The response has been overwhelmingly favorable to the point where players are requesting it implemented in all Aria poker tournaments.
Once more poker players experience the benefits of this structure, we believe there will be a push to make this (or something similar) industry standard.”
The purple jacket for winning Aria’s Poker Masters series in September went to Germany’s Steffen Sontheimer, who won two of the five events and final-tabled two others. He won the final $100K event and took home $2.73M. New York’s Bryn Kenney finished second in the series and earned $1.08M while Germany’s Fedor Holz claimed $1.05M for third.
SOUTH POINT: The room is adding progressive guarantees to its tournaments. The 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. $75 tournaments feature a $900 guarantee. For each day the guarantee is met, the guarantee increases by $50. If the guarantee is not met, the next day the guarantee reverts to $900. The $100 6 p.m. Wednesday tourney starts with a $3K guarantee that increases $100 each time the guarantee is met, and resets to $3K after it misses. The $100 6 p.m. Sunday event starts with a $5K guarantee and increases $100 each time it hits.
STRATOSPHERE: The football promo is for three games on Sunday, plus Monday and Thursday night games. The high hand each quarter wins $50.
ORLEANS: For Sunday, Monday and Thursday night football games, as well as the Sunday morning game, seat drawings are held after every score.
Field goals are worth $50, touchdowns by the offense are worth $100 and touchdowns by the defense or special teams are $150. Safeties are worth $150. The table of the drawing winner also gets a $50 splash pot.
For the Monday and Thursday night games, drawings are every 15 minutes for two hours before and two hours after the game to select a random table for a $25 splash pot.
MIRAGE: Random seat drawings are four times per game during Monday, Thursday, Sunday night football games and Sunday morning and afternoon games. The first drawing is $50, second is $75, third is $125 and fourth is $150. The player to the left and to the right to the winner also receives a cash prize.
BELLAGIO: The Five Diamond World Poker Classic is Nov. 24-Dec. 10. The $11,400 main event, which has six playing days, starts Dec. 5. There are four $25K high rollers throughout the series. A $1,100 seniors tournament is Nov. 27, followed by a $1,100 tag-team event Nov. 28.
PLANET HOLLYWOOD: The WSOP Circuit visits Nov. 9-20. The $1,675 main event begins Nov. 16 and has a $1M guarantee. The $2,200 high roller is Nov. 19.
VENETIAN: The next Deep Stack Extravaganza runs Dec. 4-11. A $3,500 event with a $500K guarantee begins Dec. 8.
New Year’s Extravaganza runs Dec. 21-Jan. 7. The biggest event is a $400 Monster Stack with a $250K guarantee. The first of its three starting flights is Dec. 27.The starting stack is 30K and the levels start at 30 minutes and then go to 40 minutes on Day 2.
The main event for DSE 3.5 completed in September with Melvin Wiener of Los Angeles taking home $52K for first. Karel Kratochvil from the Czech Republic earned $32K for second and Oluwashola Akindele from Las Vegas received $23K for third.The event had 188 players and a prize pool of $200K with the Venetian adding $16,700 to meet the guarantee.
SANTA FE STATION: A new weekly $50 Omaha/8 tourney runs Thursdays at 10 a.m.Players start with 6K chips and there’s a single $40 rebuy for 4K chips. The levels are 20 minutes.
— Check out Rob Solomon’s blog atrobvegaspoker.blogspot.com.
Meet Amanda “Mandy” Mercado
Amanda Mercado works as a floor person and dealer at the Silver Legacy poker room. She provides exceptional customer service and mingles superbly with poker players. However, after poker her attention turns to her children. Her goal is to keep them happy and healthy. She said they’re the pocket aces of her life.
How did you get into the poker industry? I broke into the casino business when I was 21. My first job was in the pit dealing table games at the Pioneer Hotel and Gambling Hall in Laughlin, Nev. They had one poker table in the pit and all the dealers rotated around it. When I moved to Reno in 2006, I went strictly to poker. My parents were in the gaming industry so I used that connection to land my first job in Reno.
What do you enjoy about the Silver Legacy poker room? The room is absolutely stunning. It’s the only place that I’ve ever worked at where I truly enjoy the presence of all my co-workers. We have a chance to make this the go-to poker room in Reno.
Who is your favorite poker player? My boyfriend, whom I refer to as my husband. I love watching him play. He’s incredible at being able to follow the stories that players are trying to tell and finding the flaws in the tale. I’ve never seen so many hero calls be right. I have nothing but respect for his game.
What is your most memorable poker experience? I’ve only dealt one bad-beat jackpot and I yelled so loudly it made people jump. The hands were aces full of jacks beaten by quad jacks. — Philip Chow
