The 2020 World Series of Poker satellite series at Tachi Palace in Lemoore, Calif., kicks off Oct. 5 with a $225 tourney, continuing the first Saturday of every month at 11:15 a.m. until May. Players can earn a satellite entry via $50 super-satellites the last two Saturdays of every month.
STONES GAMBLING HALL: There’s a $100K guarantee Mini Main Event (Oct. 4-6) and the Western Senior Poker Series visits this month (Oct. 20). Nov. 4-10 marks the return of the Quantum $100K guarantee, featuring nine starting flights and a Day 2 direct-buy as well. The first seven flights, Nov. 4-7 at 10 a.m. or
6 p.m., are $120 flights, with 10K stacks and 10 percent of each flight advances to Day 2. The next two flights, on Nov. 8-9, are 10 a.m. for $240, 20K stacks and 20 percent of the field advances to Day 2. There’s also a Nov. 10 Day 2 direct-buy for $900, 100K chips and play out to the end of the tournament.
THUNDER VALLEY RESORT: Spend November at TVPokerRoom as the WPT DeepStacks series runs Nov. 8-25, including a $500K guarantee $1,500 main event (Nov. 23-25). The 17-day, 26-event series begins with the two-flight $100K Launch, includes a midweek $50K guarantee Dueling $125s Nov. 11-12, the $460 Monolith with a $250K guarantee Nov. 14-17, and a midweek $100K guarantee for $260 (Nov. 19-21).
TURLOCK POKER ROOM: The Semi-Annual Championship Series runs Nov. 7-17 and the Player of the Series receives one entry to every Turlock tournament for six months.
The series begins with a $125 bounty event Nov. 7 and is highlighted by the three-flight $550 main event (Nov. 14-16).
JACKSON RANCHERIA: The drawing to win an Ante Up Poker Cruise for two is Dec. 20. Players can earn tickets by hitting any flush or better while playing in a live raked game.
BAY 101: Fall Classic is Oct. 14-21.
— Dan Ross, the Northern California Ante Up Ambassador, is owner of Hold’em Media, including Hold’em Radio Podcast Network and the Hold’em Media Live tournament reporting team. He can be reached at dan@holdem.media.
Reno
HARVEYS LAKE TAHOE: The World Series of Poker Circuit runs Oct. 24-Nov. 4. Most events are $400 and the $1,700 main event begins Nov. 1 at 11 a.m. (Flight A) and Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. (Flight B).
PEPPERMILL CASINO: Jason Somerville’s Run It Up Reno series is Oct. 11-21. It starts off with a $440 mini main event with a $100K guarantee (Oct. 11, noon). Players qualify for 20 percent off room rates at the time of booking with code RUNITUP.
Pacific Northwest
MUCKLESHOOT CASINO: The Fall Classic, which runs Oct. 9-13 at the Auburn, Wash. property, has $360K in guarantees and a $130 satellite Oct. 2 at 7:15 p.m.
The $750 main event is Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. with a $140K guarantee. Players start with 25K chips and have 45-minute rounds. Other events include a $60K guarantee Oct. 9 for $300, an $80K guarantee Oct. 10 for $400 and another $80K guarantee Oct. 11 for $400.
All events begin at 10 a.m. and will allow late and re-entry until Level 6.
VENETIAN DSE: Dustin An from Mill Creek, Wash., took down the DeepStack Extravaganza’s Event 4 $400 Monster Stack for $10K after a heads-up chop.
Las Vegas
The NFL season is under way and many of the poker rooms around town have promos to encourage poker players to watch the games in their rooms. Here’s what is available.
ORLEANS: For Sunday morning and evening NFL games, seat drawings are held after every score. Field goals and two-point conversions are worth $25, touchdowns by the offense are worth $50 and TDs by the defense or special teams pay $75. Safeties are $75. There will also be a $25 splash pot after any score.
For the Monday and Thursday night games, the promo is Escalating High Hands of the Quarter. The best three hands of each quarter are awarded prizes: $100 for first, $50 for second and $25 for third.
An additional $25 is added to each prize for every field goal, TD or safety scored during the quarter. There are separate jackpots for hold’em and Omaha, same prize amounts for each game.
WESTGATE: Football squares run for three games Sunday as well as the Monday and Thursday night games. Players need a flush or better to earn a square and the payout is $50 for each quarter. There’s a high hand of the quarter worth $50.
SAM’S TOWN: There are football squares for the Sunday morning game, as well as the Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games. The payout is $50 for each quarter. A flush or better is needed for a square.
STRATOSPHERE: For three games Sunday, and the Monday and Thursday night games, the high hand of each quarter wins $50.
MGM: The promo revolves around high hands and leads to a $25K invitational in January. On gamedays, the best hand of each 15-minute period will receive a cash prize, the size of which depends on how many cash games the room has going at the time.
If it’s seven or fewer, it’s $50; if it’s eight of more, the prize is $100. The best hand of each gameday earns an entry into the Invitational. The promo runs Mondays and Thursdays 4-midnight and Sundays 9-9 p.m. The promo will run during the playoffs, times to be determined.
The Invitational will be Jan. 26. Every qualifying player who registers for it will receive $200 and the winner of the tournament, which will be using a shootout format, gets $5K.
MANDALAY BAY: During the Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games, between 5-9, high hands hit are worth an extra $100. High hands start at jacks full or better. The regular payouts for high hands are $500 for royals, $300 for straight flushes, $100 for quads and $50 for jacks full or better, so the $100 bonus is on top of that.
SOUTH POINT: During NFL games, a random player in a cash game will be selected for a cash prize after every score. It’s $50 for a field goal, $100 for a TD and $200 for a safety.
The promo runs during the Sunday morning, afternoon and evening games, as well as the Monday and Thursday night games.
Additionally, for the Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games, a player will be selected at the beginning and the end of each game and will choose a prize.
These winners will receive a football square for the Super Bowl, where the payout will be $2,500 for each quarter and $5K for the final score.
MIRAGE: High hand of the quarter is paid for three Sunday games as well as the Monday and Thursday night games. The first quarter pays $75, second quarter is $125, third quarter is $150, fourth quarter is $200 and overtime is $100.
When the Raiders are playing, there will be splash pots every time they score: $50 for a TD, $25 for a field goal and $100 for a safety.
PLANET HOLLYWOOD: The new promotion is super jackpots. Every day, for a different eight-hour period, high hands get the super-jackpot payout. Royal flushes pay $5K between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Straight flushes pay $2K between noon and 8 p.m. Quads pay $500 between 4 a.m. and noon. The rest of the day, royals are worth $500, straight flushes are $200 and quads pay $100.
Additionally, there’s a royal-flush room-share bonus, which runs 24-7.
Any time a player gets a royal, every active player in a live game receives a payout, the amount depends on how long it’s been since a royal was last dealt in the room. It’s a sliding scale that starts at $25 and increases a maximum of $500 if it’s been at least 15 days since the room has seen a royal.
VENETIAN: The $225K Lucky Shot series and drawing runs Oct. 21-27. It’s a combination of a tournament series and promotional drawing. Each tournament has a fixed prize pool, regardless of the number of entrants. On the last day of the series, a drawing will be pay cash.
Players earn one drawing ticket for every $250 in tournament entries they make. On Oct. 27, the first 21 tickets drawn will pay $2K. The last ticket drawn will be the grand-prize winner and that player will receive $10K.
The main tournament is a $250 event with six starting flights beginning Oct. 21.
Players start with a 25K stack and play 30-minute levels on Day 1, 40-minute levels on Day 2. The prize pool will be $150K. A maximum of 81 places will be paid.
The evening events include two $125 superstack tournaments with a $4K fixed prize pool, a $200 bounty tournament with a $9K prize pool and a $125 bounty tournament with a $6K prize pool.
— Check out Rob Solomon’s blog at robvegaspoker.blogspot.com.
Southern California
David Para won the $50K guarantee Sweetwater Showdown at Jamul Casino’s poker room near San Diego.
Four players chopped with Para, who took home $10,797 as chipleader, getting his name added to the winners wall. This was a $550 event and following Para was Daniel Lujano ($8,849), John Hernandez ($7,685) and Luis Pedro ($7,444).
Events coming up include a $2.5K freeroll Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. for players who qualified the preceding month or who elect to buy in for $75. Also, the Helix Tournament is Oct. 12 at 4 p.m. for $100.
For information on promotions and tournaments, go to JamulCasino.com.
HUSTLER CASINO: Revah Eyal took down the $500K guarantee at the Grand Slam of Poker series near L.A., earning a cool $73,422.
The prize pool grew to $627,178 with 1,551 Day 1 entries at $375 and 57 Day 2 entries at $2,700.
Rounding out the top five Joe Lerman, $63,509; Dastan Myothein, $58,763; Jordan Cristos, $45,800, and Alex Yang, $35,634.
The $100K guarantee went to Garrett Ross for $17,745. This $175 event drew 1,090 players for a $141,916 prize pool. Ross was followed by Eduardo Rodriguez ($17,666), Nika Futterman ($11,930), Man Ly ($6,775) and Braulio Chavez ($5,175.
The next event at the Hustler Casino is the Liz Flynt Fall Poker Classic (Oct. 18-Nov. 3) and will have $650K in guarantees. For more information, go to HustlerCasino.com.
PECHANGA CASINO: The Temecula poker room is hosting $75K guarantees Oct. 26 and Nov. 23 at 10 a.m. for $350. There is a three-hour re-entry period.
As for promotions, players can earn drawing tickets during the early Monday night NFL game for 14 drawings of $100 each.
Grave Hot Seats are every Monday through Friday from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. Each hour, one person seated at a live game will be selected to win $50. … Players who play for one hour between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. receive a free meal.
Nov. 1-16, players can earn entries for the Holiday Cash Drawings each hour in lives games.
Each hour on Nov. 15 from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., one player will be drawn to win $1K. If the winner is not present, two people will be drawn to win $500 each. Nov. 16, the $1K-per-hour winning runs goes 2-8 p.m.
BICYCLE CASINO: Big Poker Oktober runs until Oct. 29. After that, it’s the California State Ladies Championship (Nov. 1-2).
Nov. 1 is a warm-up at 7 pm for $130 (10K stack, 20-minute levels), while the $240 main event is the next day at 11 a.m. (20K stack, 5K optional add-on, 30-minute levels).
For more information and structures, visit lipstour.com.
Meet Blake Yu
Blake Yu is a Los Angeles poker pro who began his playing career online.
Tell us about your poker history. I started playing poker in 2006 on PokerStars, mainly SNGs and small tournaments. Then hired a heads-up cash game pro to coach me cash games, mostly six-handed cash online. I played that to make ends meet while I was in college. When Black Friday hit, I moved to L.A. to play live full time, though now, I still grind online from time to time. I’ve always been a cash player and my focus has been improving ever year as a player through preparation for opponents, studying the game from a theoretical standpoint as well as taking care of my mind and body.
How do you maintain your A game? I maintain my game by talking strategy with my contemporaries away from the table and using solvers to pick out what I want to implement vs. my most common opponents.
Do you play in any other regions? Mainly just Vegas for the World Series and in the Bay Area. I love playing in the L.A. area because it’s convenient for me, having lived here a long time.
I used to play most of my live poker in San Diego when I was in school, but the game isn’t great there anymore. I believe San Diego has the toughest players at the professional level besides L.A. and Macau. — Jo Kim
