The Northern Quest Casino hosted the largest tournament in Spokane, Wash.-area history as players vied for a prize pool of $210,000, which included $50,000 added. Dale Gilliam of Spokane, on the first hand of heads-up play, spiked a queen on the river to beat the small pocket pair of Taylor Henry of Spokane. It put 11 million chips in front of Gilliam and left Henry with 400K. The next hand was an all-in push and Gilliam’s hand held up for the $50K first-place prize and the championship.
ANGEL GALA: Good news from the Angel of the Winds Casino poker room. Its three-year anniversary gala is planned with prizes and TV giveaways for March 31. Yes this is the April issue of Ante Up, but we think we got it out in time for you to go. Get a full house and win a ticket for the anniversary drawing. Also, try the new Saturday night 6:30 NLHE tournament, a $90 buy-in with a $10 entry fee.
TWO BAD BEATS IN ONE: The Snoqualmie Casino near Seattle had its bad-beat jackpot hit recently, and while the amount won was modest, it was how it happened that is most interesting as it came in a $2-$5 NLHE game.
One player’s quad aces beat another’s quad queens. Not too special, right? There’s a twist. They got it all-in preflop and the flop was Q-Q-A, which was good enough to qualify for the bad beat, but another ace on the river reversed their fates, giving the aces the winning hand, but now the smaller portion of the jackpot. Talk about a bad beat on a bad beat!
— Dr. Barton Gratt is the Ante Up Ambassador for the Pacific Northwest. Email him at anteupbarton@gmail.com and you can read more from him at pokerstoriesandmore.com.
