The Arizona State Poker Championship returns to Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, running Aug. 10-14 with a $1,100 buy-in for 16K chips, though players get 10K more for $30 at the table before the first hand. You may buy in at the poker cage or by credit card by calling 480-850-7734.
Super-satellites for the ASPC are Aug. 5, 8 and 9 at 11:15 a.m. for $140 and Aug. 6 and 7 at 7:15 p.m.
The $500 Seniors Open is Sept. 15-17 at 10 a.m. Players get 12K chips and 5K more at the table for $20 before the first hand. Participants must be at least 50 years old by Sept. 15. Super-satellites for this event will be 11:15 a.m. on Aug. 19 and 26 and Sept. 2 and 9.
On the live side, Wacky Wednesdays will be Aug. 1, 15 and 29, running noon to midnight with hourly $250 hold’em high hands and $150 Omaha high hands.
Recent results from the Arena Poker Room include the $345 June Big Stack that saw 191 players compete for the $56K prize pool. Anthony Moffs took top honors and collected $12,755. Second and third place went to two California players, Jason Moungy and Tony Barrera, each taking home $8,522.
The $240 bounty tourney on June 9 saw Stephen Pearce pocket $3,624 for first place and Richard Homer and Lawrence Newton chop for $3K each.
James Hollinger won June 16’s $160 event for $3,400 while Jared Countess won the June 23 tourney for $3,817. He was followed by Carson Richards ($3,583) and Matt Radosevich ($3,384).
TSR’s fall point challenge began July 22 and runs through Nov. 24. The $40K tourney for qualified players is Dec. 2 at 11:15. An additional $40K will paid to leaders of the divisions.
HON-DAH CASINO RESORT: The newest Tournament of Champions winner is Chuck Bingham. Aug 19 will be the annual Tournament of Kings (men only). Also, the popular Poker Big Game Hunt returns Aug. 1 for two months. Players will have a chance to win cash with qualifying hands.
GILA RIVER WILD HORSE PASS: The tournament schedule has changed. Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. will be a
$35 event; Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. are $90; Saturdays at 11 a.m. are $125 bounty tourneys, and Sundays at 11 a.m. are $50. The Super Bonus High Hands will be Aug. 18 (1-10 p.m.) with $100 paid every half-hour.
BUCKY’S CASINO: The qualification period ended July 27 and the first 80 players that earned 100 hours of live play qualified for a $10K event Aug. 12.
Kansas
KANSAS STAR: The room’s bad-beat jackpot climbed to more than $112K at press time. The weekly tournament schedule: Tuesday night at 7 ($100); Wednesday and Friday at noon ($45), and a Sunday deepstack at 2 p.m. ($85).
HOLLYWOOD CASINO KANSAS SPEEDWAY: Featured games include $20-$40 limit Fridays; $25-$50 mix Tuesdays; $2-$5 NLHE with a rock Wednesdays; $4-$8 Omaha/8 with a half-kill Tuesdays and Fridays; and $3-$6 limit Wednesday mornings and Friday and Saturday afternoons. Be sure to call the poker room to lock up a seat in these games.
Oklahoma-Kansas
The Sooner State Senior Championship, a stop for the Senior Poker Tour, runs Aug. 9-12 at River Spirit in Tulsa. The stop will consist of eight NLHE events, including $55 mega-satellites for the two-flight, two-day, $350 main event. Non-satellite events are $130 buy-ins and will include $50-$50 bounty, juniors vs. seniors and an opening NLHE event. Typical featured games that will run during the series are $10-$20 Big O with a kill and $10-$20 Omaha/8 with a kill. The room continues to run a monthly $15K freeroll with 40 hours of live play as the qualifier.
AMERISTAR: The lineup of featured games has changed: $3-$6 limit is daily; $4-$8 H.O. is Tuesday and Thursday mid-mornings; $5-$10 Omaha/8 with a kill runs Friday evenings; $4-$8 Omaha/8 with a half-kill is Saturday; $25-$50 mixed, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons; $50-$100 mixed, Thursday afternoons; and $5-$5 pot-limit Omaha, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons. Reserved seating is available by calling the poker room. Also, $1-per-hour comps and $15 food vouchers with four hours of live play daily are offered.
HARRAH’S NORTH KANSAS CITY: The top 25 cash-game and top 25 tournament players qualify into the $10K freeroll on Sept. 15. Games are $1-$2 and $2-$5 and $1-$2 PLO. The weekly schedule of tournaments offers buy-ins for as little as $40 (All-in-or-Fold). Sunday’s re-entry bounty event is $85.
HARD ROCK CASINO: The Route 66 Poker Open ran June 20-24. The all NLHE series found Nikhil Behl, Eric Thompson, Keven Kennedy, David Meeks, Dan Castleberry, and Rick and Tonya Harlow taking down events. A three-way chop with Eric Thompson and Arlo Turner resulted in Larry Trimble earning $11,797 capturing the $366 main event.
DOWNSTREAM CASINO: The two-weekend Four States Poker Championship wrapped up July 1. Cameron Douglas earned $8K after winning the $30K guarantee main event. The weekly schedule of tournaments includes a $50 seniors event and a $120 event on Saturdays with a $3K guarantee.
WINSTAR WORLD: The Memorial Day River Series ran May 22-28. Large fields filled all five events. Yashwanth Vedire pocketed $24,174 for winning the $340 Monster Stack; Mashir Khan earned $7,103 for winning the $340 bounty; Khampasong Thammavongsa won the $230 turbo bounty and Frank Berry earned $31,145 after a seven-way chop of the $600 main event.
The annual River Series runs Aug. 1-Sept. 4. Two highlights from the schedule: Event 2 is a $450 Monster Stack that has a $500K guarantee and runs Aug. 23-26; the $2,500 main event guarantees $2M and has two opening rounds (Sept. 1-2) with Day 2 on Sept. 3 and the final table Sept. 4. There will be satellites, single-table and mega. Call for details.
CHOCTAW CASINO DURANT: The WPT runs through Aug. 7. Also, players in live games Monday-Thursday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. before a daily tournament begins can earn bonus chips: one hour for 300, two hours for 500 and three hours for 1K.
GRAND CASINO SHAWNEE: This enclosed poker room offers $50 high hands with rollovers and an aces-full-of-fives qualifier. The promo runs Sundays 2-10 p.m. and Wednesdays 1 a.m.-7 p.m. Check the room’s calendar for special updates.
New Mexico
INN OF THE MOUNTAIN GODS: The eighth annual $100K championship runs Aug. 20-27, with shootouts Aug. 20-23 and the main event Aug. 24-27.
SANDIA RESORT CASINO: The poker room’s Sizzling Summer High Hand Bonus runs through Aug. 26. One player will win cash each week for making a high hand by using both hole cards. See the poker room for details and payouts. Other promotions include $100 for quads in hold’em and Aces Cracked through Sept. 2.
As for tourneys, Monday hosts the $45 Sprint event at 7 p.m., Tuesday is a $75 bounty at 7 and Wednesday’s $45 event at 7 depends on the week. The first Wednesday of the month is a women’s event, followed by Omaha/8, pineapple and River Down. Thursday is another $75 bounty at 7; Friday is a $100 event at 7 with 10K chips and Sunday is a $50 tourney at noon.
BUFFALO THUNDER RESORT: Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. is the Coyote 102.5 bounty tournament, paying $102 bounties on Arica Viking and the Hoff and possibly four others. The $102 buy-in gets you 7,500 chips and 15-minute levels. Aug. 25 at 1 p.m. is the $150 Last Saturday of the Month deepstack, starting players with 15K chips and 20-minute levels.
As for promotions, the first nine players seated by 10 a.m. receive $20 in chips. Also, Sunday-Thursday (11 p.m.-2 a.m.), the poker room could give out $225 for Late Night High Hands.
ROUTE 66 CASINO: Daily $28 tournaments with a $5 add-on run at noon, 3 and 7. The events on Monday, Wednesday and Friday have bounties. There also is a tournament bad-beat jackpots.
The player-of-the-year promotion focuses on performance in tourneys throughout the year. The room dedicates about $5K to the top qualifiers and hosts a freeroll for the top 50 players.
Colorado
BLACK HAWK: Golden Gates’ Colorado Poker Championship hits Aug. 2-22. The CPC offers an enticing range of events, from deepstacks and Omaha to bounty events, seniors and women. Manager Cage Yanchumis offers Friday ($500) and Saturday ($600) high hands when not superseded by special events.
At Ameristar, play at one of the 22 tables and try to hit the descending bad-beat jackpot (quad sixes), which was $184K at press time. Earn comps while you play for high hands and mini-bad-beat jackpots. Four hours of play in one day qualifies you for a poker rate at the hotel.
CRIPPLE CREEK: The Midnight Rose offers new hours this summer and will be open 24 hours if need be. Top qualifying cash-game players Monday-Wednesday will be eligible for a one-table $1K freeroll. The Big Blind Ante League is Fridays at 4 p.m. for $125 and 25K chips. Enter the Fast & Furious Freezeout on Saturdays for $65 and get 30K chips. Also, play the Meganormous tournament on alternate Sundays, where a 50K starting stack is yours for $120. Play four hours of live action and earn a free room Monday-Thursday.
Texas
KOJAK’S POKER CLUB: The Midland room is running $60 single-table satellites for October’s Permian Basin Poker Championship.
Meet Randy Powers
If you’ve played in a major tournament in New Mexico, there’s a good chance you’ve sat at the same table as Randy Powers. He’s been playing since 2004 and he’s on quite the heater. He finished third in the Lucky Dog Deepstack at Sandia Casino for $3,717 in March. He also won the Spring Classic at Isleta Casino for $6,258 in April.
How did you get into poker? I picked up the game after watching Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels along with the poker coverage that ESPN would show. Rounders was also influential in exposing the game to me. I was instantly hooked.
Do you prefer playing cash or tournaments? I strongly prefer playing tournaments over cash games since I am a full-time attorney and don’t have the luxury of time to grind cash games. My goal has always been to win life-altering money playing a game I love and that is why tournament poker is so appealing.
Have you played against pros? Yes. I’m not as star-struck as I used to be since I have been at tables with Jason Mercier, Phil Laak, Mike Leah and Kevin Eyster to name a few. The experience helps and I feel like I can compete and make good decisions, which is the ultimate goal.
What do you attribute to your recent success? I have a lot of confidence in myself and attribute a lot of that to learning from a lot of mistakes, hard work and support from my wife, family and friends. I also try to play like my favorite player, Lex Veldhuis, when I’m faced with big decisions for big pots. — Joey Ramirez
