Card Rooms

by Haley Hintze

DELAWARE APPROVES  ONLINE POKER AMID  GAMBLING EXPANSION

 A broad-based expansion of gambling opportunities  was signed into law by Delaware Governor Jack Markell one day after  Delaware’s state Senate passed a House bill authorizing several forms  of online gambling, including online poker. Online casino games and  NFL parlay betting were also included in the bill, which will call for  residents to purchase deposit vouchers from authorized state sales  agents once various online network pieces are up and running.

THREE MONTHS FOR BLACK FRIDAY’S  THREE MONTHS FOR BLACK FRIDAY’S  CAMPOS CAMPOS

by A. C. Clark
Plenty of poker is available in and around the Northwest. With Lucky Chance’s Battle of the Bay in the books, the best jackpots in the Bay Area are still Lucky Chance’s daily tournaments: $10k first place guarantee no-limit hold’em on Sundays, $3500 first place guarantees on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and $6k on Tuesdays through the month of July. Another California attraction is Bay 101, and their Bay 101 Open in August for eight consecutive days, the 20th- 27th.

The World Poker Tour is coming to the wildly popular Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA, and the main event will be televised. I say “popular” because there are as many as 1000 players entering this poker room (managed with precision, by Ari Mizrachi) on a daily basis! The WPT’s on-air talent: Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and Kimberly Lansing, will be giving viewers hand-by-hand action updates from the final table. Be a part of this high-stakes poker event by playing August 10-15th. The main event has a $3,500 buy in, including a re-entry on Day 1B. Other events include: Satellite’s, Double Green Chip Bounty, Purple Chip Bounty, NL hold’em Deep Stack’s with re-entry’s, Limit Omaha, you name it. This WPT event at Parx Casino will be one of the biggest and best of this tour. Parx Poker is one of the top 5 highest revenue-generating rooms in the entire country.

By Haley Hintze

 BALLY TECHNOLOGIES, IGT RECEIVE NEVADA ONLINE-POKER APPROVAL

 Nevada’s first licensees connected to the state’s upcoming intrastate online-poker offerings were issued in late June to in-state slot machine manufacturers, Bally Technologies, and International Game Technology (IGT). Both Bally and IGT have positioned themselves to provide infrastructure for online sites, and will partner with existing brick-and-mortar casinos. Bally has already inked a deal with the Golden Nugget, and ShuffleMaster, while IGT previously acquired the Euro-facing Entraction Network, giving the company a ready-made poker platform.

 PINNACLE ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES HPT IN EPIC POKER BANKRUPTCY AUCTION

by Debbie Burkhead

Hustler makes it “all about the players.” Weekly guaranteed tournaments are now offered six days a week. Sundays at 3 pm check out the $10,000 guaranteed event with a $150 buy-in. Players start with 7,000 in chips, and one $100 rebuy is offered for an additional 8,000 in chips. Weekday events all have a 7 pm start time and a $5,000 guarantee. Players receive points in all weekly events toward the “Player of the Week” title for a chance at $1,000 -$2,500. Any 1st place win will get you 1,000 points, 2nd will receive 700, 3rd gets 500, 4th receives 400, and 5th -10th will earn 300 points. Presenting Hustler’s Firecracker Freeroll! Qualifying period runs through July 4 and players earn additional chips for additional hours played. Players can earn double hours by playing on July 4. This event has a $25,000 guaranteed prize pool and the winner will receive $10,000. The tournament is scheduled for 12 pm on Saturday, July 7.

by Barbara Rogers

Think you can take him? Now is your chance to play heads up poker with former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, Jerome “the Bus” Bettis. Give it a try! You can flatten his tires on Saturday, July 28th at Rivers Poker Room in Pittsburgh (next to Heinz field). If “The Bus” beats you, he gets $360 for his charity. If you beat him, you win a $360 entry into the charity event. You must play in a live cash game, with winners chosen at random (in a drawing). This is pending PGCB approval. Mike Chapman, the man in charge, is expecting a large turn out for this event.

 Congratulations to Timothy Worley, of Ridgely, Maryland. Timothy won a seat in the Poker Player of The Year Tournament, to be held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas on July 4th. The Crown Royal poker room at Dover Downs, managed by Pete McGuire, provided the opportunity. Bring the trophy back East, Tim.

by Debbie Burkhead

The Trop Appoints Eldon Brown Cardroom Manager! Eldon has 24 years experience in the poker industry dating back to 1988. His career began in California at the Bike, he spent the early 90’s at the Commerce and then in 1995 he moved over to Hollywood Park. Eldon moved to Las Vegas in 2000 to take the position of tournament director/cardroom manager at Station’s Fiesta Henderson. In 2004 he accepted the position of tournament director/ shift manager at the Palms and on March 20, 2012 he landed on the Strip as cardroom manager of the New Tropicana. Eldon has made great strides in making the poker room more player friendly.

by Debbie Burkhead

 Joe’s journey into the poker industry spans three jurisdictions, Connecticut, Florida and Nevada. He began his career at Foxwoods in 1999 as a dealer and quickly advanced to supervisor. He left Connecticut in 2004 for sunny Florida and spent two years dealing and working as a floorman. In 2006 he moved to Las Vegas and opened the Venetian poker room as a supervisor and in no time was promoted to shift manager. Joe’s passion for the game gained him the respect of his superiors and on February 15, 2012 took over the Wynn poker room. Joe has restructured the daily tournaments to be more player-friendly and has equipped every poker table with outlets to accommodate player’s electronic devices. The staff is excited about the new direction in which the poker room is heading and they have embraced Joe’s arrival.

by Andy Clark

All right, readers—I started this column in January, and since then have visited a number of casinos, resorts, and card rooms. Many of you have contacted me via email and asked my advice where to play in the Pacific Northwest. Well, here are my top picks for places to stay, visit, eat, enjoy, and play poker in and around my region: Northern Quest, Wildhorse, Tulalip, Snoqualmie, and Suquamish Clearwater, in no particular order. I pushed my luck at all five establishments and was nothing less than impressed with everything they had to offer.

by Barbara Rogers

 The Northeast is such a happening place, it’s practically bursting at the seams. Even with a new issue of Poker Player coming out every two weeks to keep you up to date on poker news, it’s still difficult to keep up. But I’m doing it! Ohio is poised and ready to take its rightful place in the gaming world, with the brand new Horseshoe Casino Cleveland—whose opening will be followed closely with that of three other new full service casinos. Located in the historic building that once housed Higbee’s department store and which appeared in the classic holiday film, A Christmas Story, Caesar’s Horseshoe Casino will offer a world of excitement to patrons, and you won’t even worry that you’ll “shoot your eye out.”