Tournament Reports

The $2,500 + $100 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold'em event #11 of the Mirage Poker Showdown played the final table today. Chip leader, Chris Bigler of Las Vegas, stayed the course and won the event when he went heads up with second place finisher Max Pescatori also of Las Vegas. The two pros faced each other for less than five minutes before Max went all-in with A,4 of hearts and Chris quickly called with A,Qo. The flop came J,Q,Q giving Chris a set and Max was drawing dead, no outs.

The $2,500 + $80 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event scheduled at the Mirage Poker Showdown tournament began promptly at noon with 159 players taking seats. The group played all afternoon and at the 9:00 pm dinner break 16 hopefuls remained. Two players were quickly eliminated after returning from the dinner hour dropping the number of survivors to 14. The top eighteen finishers get paid so everyone left will go away with some of the prize pool.

Over the next few issues, I shall be bringing you tales from what is fast becoming one of the most popular events in the poker calendar. With 50K in chips, a slow clock and just nine hours a day play - the $25K buy-in WPT Championship at the Bellagio is poker heaven as far as tournaments go. And as with all major events nowadays, we saw many new faces and online qualifiers.

My first table would provide two such players. It was also soon clear that these two (in seat one and two) would be the action players. But even I was surprised at the plays that they came up with.

Plenty of final table action today, Tuesday May 17, 2005. The biggest would be the $50,000 buy-in, winner take all at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas. Eleven players put up fifty big ones to sit down in the biggest buy-in poker tournament to date. All of the final table action was filmed by the Southern California Poker Tour for later broadcast on national television. Check your local TV schedules for broadcast in your area. The first entrant to pay the $50K and sit in seat #1 was local stockbroker, Bob Bright.

Poker Players, Bad Beats and a Texas Lawyer

The European Poker Tour, created by Poker Million winner John Duthie and sponsored by Pokerstars.com, has been a breakthrough for the European poker circuit, with TV coverage on digital channel Eurosport and the arrival in droves of satellite winners, Swedes and students all seeking glory, as well as the dozens of high profile sponsored European players, like The Hendon Mob, Marcel Luske and Devilfish.

A full day of tournament action at the Mirage Poker Showdown. Two final tables played to a winner. Today's scheduled event, a $2,000 + $80 buy-in Pot Limit Hold'em tournament, attracted a field of 90 players with the cards going into the air at noon. By the dinner break at 9:00 PM the field had been cut to 11 players and moments after coming back from the break there was nine remaining. The final table players agreed to continue playing the final table tonight, giving everyone a little break tomorrow, Monday.

By my keen estimation, I am the fourth best poker player in the Greater Muskegon, Michigan area. To paraphrase a friend of mine, this distinction is quite like being known as the fourth most-talented shortstop in Greenland.

But, by the measuring stick most easily interpreted yesterday, I'm number four. That's me. The final table standings from The Muskegon Poker Championship don't lie.

The $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event that began on Friday May 15, 2005, played the final table today. The winner was Preston Oade of Denver, Colorado outlasting the 307 other entrants trying to take home the Mirage Poker Showdown Event Champion's trophy and $162,037 in prize money. An additional bonus going to Preston is a $10,200 seat in the WPT Championship event scheduled to begin Monday, May 23rd.

By my keen estimation, I am the fourth best poker player in the Greater Muskegon, Michigan area. To paraphrase a friend of mine, this distinction is quite like being known as the fourth most-talented shortstop in Greenland.

But, by the measuring stick most easily interpreted yesterday, I'm number four. That's me. The final table standings from The Muskegon Poker Championship don't lie.