The Oaks Card Club in Emeryville, Calif., is offering two special tournaments this month. The first event, Dec. 9, is a $200 Omaha/8 tournament at 11 a.m. The second is a $1,500 no-limit hold’em tournament at 1 p.m. on Dec. 16. Oaks also has numerous jackpots in hold’em, Omaha and stud where the payouts reach $100K-plus. Call the poker room for details on all events.
THUNDER VALLEY CASINO RESORT: The Up the Ante Poker Room in Lincoln has the WPT DeepStacks Championship until Dec. 5. While there are many variations in this 13-event series, the jewel is the $2,500 main event Dec. 2 with a massive $1M guarantee. There’s also a high roller Dec. 4 for $3,500.
BAY 101: There’s a new look to the San Jose poker room, customizing the player experience by creating a contemporary design with luxurious amenities and high-end glass and wood accents around the 24-7 casino.
The poker room still offers a complete spread of hold’em, Omaha, stud and tournaments. For tournaments, there’s a $150 event Monday-Thursday at 9:30 a.m. And the property will continue to host the WPT Shooting Star event, which brings players from all over the country to attend the unique tournament series.
STONES GAMBLING HALL: A variety of weekly tournaments at the Citrus Heights cardroom includes a $50 event Monday-Friday at 10 a.m., a $150 Saturday deepstack at 11 a.m. and a $100 Sunday six-max at 11 a.m. There are also evening tournaments on Tuesday and Thursday, which have $100 buy-ins and start at 6:30.
Finally, on the last Sunday of the month, the room hosts a $300 event, which starts at 10 a.m. and has its final table broad.cast via its live-streaming station.
Pacific Northwest
TULALIP CASINO: The Marysville, Wash., poker room (36 miles north of Seattle) will have its Poker Pow Wow series Jan. 6-21, starting with a $120 event with a $10K guarantee. Jan. 7 is a $240 event with $50 bounties and a $20K guarantee.
Not into Hold’em? There will be two Omaha-only events, both $175: Omaha/8 on Jan. 8 and pot-limit Omaha on Jan. 9. For more Omaha fun, there will be a four-game mix on Jan. 11 and a two-game mix Jan. 15. The second weekend will feature a two-day $350 event with two Day 1s (Jan. 12-13) with the final day Jan. 14. This one will have a $50K guarantee. Jan. 16 is a $235 senior event with a $15K guarantee.
The $520 main event has a $100K guarantee and three Day 1s (Jan. 18-20). Survivors will return Jan. 21 for Day 2.
Tulalip is the fifth-largest poker room in the region with 12 tables, routinely spreading $1-$3 and $3-$5 NLHE and $2-$2, $5-$5 and $5-$10-$25 PLO.
ELSEWHERE: If you’re in the Seattle area, don’t overlook the non-tribal cardrooms. The newest is Red Dragon in Montlake Terrace, a Washington Gold Corp. casino.
In October, Washington Gold discontinued poker in two of its area properties (Club Hollywood in Shoreline and the Royal in Everett) to create a centrally located 15-table room to better compete with the bigger rooms in the three tribal casinos in the Seattle area.
Red Dragon offers $45 tournaments with $500 guarantees at 9 a.m. and noon. For hold’em cash players, there are $400 high hands every 30 minutes Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 3 p.m. until midnight. Don’t feel left out, Omaha players; there are $100 high hands every half-hour 3 p.m.-midnight Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Southern California
OCEAN’S 11 CASINO: Upeshka De Silva, two-time World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, topped a field of 325 players to win the WPT DeepStacks San Diego Main Event. De Silva earned his first WPT DeepStacks title and $70,675, which included a $3K package to the season-ending WPT DeepStacks Championship.
“That was a pretty nice feeling,” he said. “I busted on Day 1B for one bullet, but then I re-entered and ran it up pretty quick, and I had the lead the whole way. I ran a lot better than I played, but that’s all it takes sometimes.”
De Silva came into the final table as chipleader and he never relinquished his lead.
“It was a pretty nice situation,” he said. “There were a lot of short stacks, so I just kept raising. There was a lot of pressure at pay jumps. I didn’t have to deal with any big flips or big showdowns. I was just able to chip away at them. It worked out very conveniently.”
The tournament came down to De Silva vs. Arthur Hahn for the title, but it didn’t take long. Heads-up play took just one hand.
“It was pretty funny, the very first hand I had aces and I had been shoving on him for the past three hours,” De Silva said. “And then I limp and he goes all-in. It was nice.”
De Silva had earned $198,720 for had place at the Legends of Poker at the Bike in September 2016.
Hahn earned $47,430 for second, followed by John David ($30,500), William Santos ($22,585), Edward Guergis ($16,945), Lou.is Schaffer ($13,555), Veronica Daly ($11,275), Mateus Lessa ($9,035) and Craig Walrop ($6,770).
PALA CASINO: Alan Gomez of San Diego won the River Card Championship for $2,317 on Oct. 29, beating nearly 70 players. His three jacks topped Carlsbad’s Juan Duff, who had a pair on the final hand. Duff earned $2K, followed by Rodney Clarida of Temecula ($1,219), Danette Smith of San Clemente ($896), Mark Burry of Lakeside ($768), Dave Connell of Rancho Cucamonga ($679) and Dwayne Copeland of Fallbrook ($587).
BICYCLE CASINO: The WSOPC runs Dec. 1-12.
CHARITY EVENT: The third annual City Summit Celebrity tournament will be Jan. 7 at the Hotel Intercontinental in Los Angeles. The buy-in is $500 and re-entry is allowed through first hour. There also will be an optional $250 add-on at the first break. Proceeds will benefit Conscious Capitalism. Project Now, My Life Poker, Brilliant Futures Foundation, Fulfilled Families, Fire Life, the Child Liberation Foundation, Already Always Amazing and Feed a Billion Foundation. For more info go to CitySummit.Co.
Las Vegas
WYNN: The Signature Weekend runs through Dec. 3. If you read this in time, the highlight is a $600 tournament with a $250K guarantee that has three starting flights beginning Nov. 30. Dec. 3 is a $300 survivor tournament with a $20K guarantee. It has a payout of $2,500 for one in every 9.65 players.
A $400 senior event, which runs Nov. 29, offers a $25K guarantee, 30-minute levels and a 15K starting stack. The next dates for this senior event will be Jan. 3, Jan. 31, Feb. 28, April 4 and May 2.
The regular schedule for Wynn offers a daily noon tournament. Monday-Thursday is a $140 tourney as players get a 10K stack and 30-minute levels. On Fridays and Sundays, the buy-in is $200 and there is a $10K guarantee. The levels are 30 minutes. Players start with 10K chips and there’s an optional $100 add-on for 5K chips at the end of the fourth level.
The Saturday tournament offers a $25K guarantee for a $225 buy-in. The levels are 40 minutes and the starting stack is 10K. Unlimited $200 rebuys for 10K chips are available through the first four levels. Players must have 5K or fewer chips to rebuy. There’s also an optional $100 add-on for 5K chips during the first four levels.
Matt Affleck from Las Vegas won the $1,600 main event at the Wynn Fall Classic, earning $139K. Arizona’s Christopher Sova took home $90K for second and Keith Ferrara from Las Vegas received $60K for third. The event drew 447 players for a prize pool of $650K, easily surpassing the $500K guarantee.
SOUTH POINT: Check out the ad on Page 11 for the poker room’s Flop-A-Palooza promotion.
VENETIAN: The next Deep Stack Extravaganza runs Jan. 16-21. The featured tournament costs $250 with five starting flights. The levels are 30 minutes on Day 1 and 40 minutes on Day 2. The top 10 percent of each starting flight will be in the money, with the final 5 percent advancing to Day 2.
The room is running a daily high-hand promotion until Dec. 17. The high hand of the half-hour will win $300 between noon and midnight. The high hand of the half-hour will win $100 between 4-8 a.m. Venetian announced a series of senior events. The buy-in is $400 and the guarantee is $25K. Players start with a 15K stack and play 30-minute levels. The dates are Jan. 4, Feb. 1, March 1, April 5 and May 3.
The winner of the main event of the October DSE was David Vu from San Jose, earning $38K. Australia’s Harald Petschnig grabbed $23K for second and Marcel Vonk of the Netherlands took home $17K for third. The $340 event attracted 673 players resulting in a prize pool of $188K, exceeding the $100K guarantee.
TREASURE ISLAND: There are three daily tournaments; all have $77 buy-ins and feature 20-minute levels with 15K starting stacks, and offer a $500 guarantee. The 12:30 p.m. offers a $10 dealer add-on for 10K chips. The 6 p.m. and the 10 p.m. have a $5 dealer add-on for 5K. The tourneys have a progressive bad-beat jackpot (quads) that starts at $1K and increases weekly.
The main cash game is $1-$3 NLHE with a $100-$500 min-max buy-in. The room sometimes spread a $3-$6 limit with a $30 minimum and no max.
Promotions include a Get Paid to Play program. Players get $50 for playing 10 hours a week and can earn $599 for 60 hours. Those who have participated in the Get Paid to Play program can refer new players to the room and get paid $25 if that person plays 20 hours in the first week ($150 for 60 hours). The new player can get a one-time bonus of $50 (or a free tournament entry) for 30 hours of play or $100 for 60 hours. There’s also a tournament referral program. Players bringing in new tournament players receive free tourney entries.
The Weekly Tournament Leaderboard competition pays the player who cashes the most money in tournaments $500. Also, players receive $2 an hour in comps.
WESTGATE: The six-table room, the newest in town, has added a number of promotions: Aces Cracked pays $50; high-hand bonuses pay $50 for quads, $100 for straight flushes and $150 for royals. The daily high-hand promo pays $50 four times a day (3, 6, 9 p.m. and midnight). Monday through Friday, the first 10 players to start the first game of the day receive $20. There’s a weekly loyalty bonus for the three players with the most hours of live play between Monday 10 a.m. and Friday 10 p.m. First place gets $200, second place gets $100 and third place gets $50.
Players earn $2 an hour in comps Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The rest of the time it’s $1. The main game is $1-$2 NLHE with a $50-$200 min-max.
The room hasn’t settled on a regular tournament schedule, but it has been running $40 tournaments at 11 a.m. and $60 tournaments at 6 p.m.
BINION’S: The new 1 p.m. Saturday tournament is $150 with 30-minute levels. The starting stack is 20K.
Sunday through Friday at 1 p.m., and every evening at 6 p.m., the buy-in is $60 for 20-minute levels and a 10K stack. There are unlimited 10K optional add-ons available for $20 any time a player’s stack drops is less than 10K. There’s an optional $20 add-on available at the first break (at the end of the fourth level) for 10K chips.
— Check out Rob Solomon’s blog at robvegaspoker.blogspot.com.
Reno
CAL NEVA: Every year, the poker room sends a player to the $10K World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. Players qualify by playing in the daily $10 tournaments. Where else can you become a millionaire for only $10? The daily tournaments start at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Call the poker room for de.tails at (775) 785-3203.
GRAND SIERRA: Receive a free tourney entry with two hours of live play. Entry is valid for $25 tourneys Sunday-Thursday at 11 a.m. or 6:30 p.m. The vouchers must be printed at the kiosk.
SILVER LEGACY: A $40 bounty runs daily at 10 a.m. and a $45 deepstack with bounties runs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 6.
CARSON VALLEY: The poker room has four tables, five TV screens, adjustable chairs and complimentary beverages, including self-serve draft beer. It’s open Monday-Saturday at noon and Sunday at 9 a.m.
Meet Gerry Boone
Gerry Boone manages the Suncoast poker room in Las Vegas.
How did you get started in poker? My father and grandfather were avid poker players. They would let me sit in on
their home games when I was young. They mostly played lowball. My dad made me memorize, “Roses are red; violets are blue; don’t draw to an eight and don’t draw two.” I have been at the Sun- coast for almost six years and in my current position for three.
Why should people play at Suncoast? We offer the lowest rake and best high-hand promotion. It’s $3 max on all games and progressive high hands start at $50 for quads and $100 for straight flushes and royals. You don’t have to op them. We’re the only place in town that offers low-limit stud/8. Players earn $1.25 per hour in comp dollars. We’re giving away $16K-plus in football promotions this season. We have excellent restaurants, great air quality, big screen TVs, new carpet and friendly dealers.
What do you do in your free time? I enjoy spending time with my four beautiful granddaughters. — Rob Solomon
