Colorado Poker, Part 2

Last column's review of Colorado poker covered the Gilpin Poker Room. This issue begins with The Lodge Casino, owned by the same company that owns the Gilpin. The Lodge has no tournaments; only live cash play with $2-$5 blind and $5-$5 blind hold 'em.

Their big draw is a bad-beat jackpot that currently stands at about $500,000. The rules for winning are simple. A player must have quads beaten by higher quads with both players holding pairs in their hand, quads with a pair in hand beaten by a straight flush, or a straight flush beaten by a higher one. A qualifying straight flush must use both hole cards. The losing hand gets 40 percent of the jackpot, the winning hand receives 30 percent, and the remaining players at the table split the other 30 percent of the pie. Oh, yes, to qualify, there must be $30 in the pot at the end of the hand.

It's this last rule that has caused a lot of excitement. The first time it occurred was when two friends just checked down their quads and failed to get the requisite $30 in the pot. Oops, they lost $280,000 between them and their tablemates lost another $120,000. Five days later, another "oops" occurred when the player with the winning straight flush went all in for $10 against the losing quads, making a pot of only $24, which did not qualify for the jackpot. It was a total of $ 430,000 down the drain. Both times irate tablemates, who stood to make $15,000 apiece, got involved in a yelling match with the errant players, who had to be escorted from the building by security guards for their own safety.

Blame it on the altitude.

The Golden Gates Casino is teaming with the Heartland Poker Tour to offer a tournament with a projected $750,000 overall payout. Qualifiers costing $340 to enter will be held throughout September, with the televised main event's final table on October 5. There is no direct buy-in to the main event. Players must win a qualifier to play.

Golden Gates also offers its own tournaments every day at noon, 3 p.m., and 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with buy-ins ranging from $40 to $80. The Friday noon tournament is a deep-stack event with players receiving $40,000 in chips for an $80 buy-in and an $80 re-buy. Sunday noon brings forth another deep-stack tourney, and players receive $15,000 in chips for a $100 buy-in. The Sunday 7 p.m. tourney will cost you $100 to enter and you'll receive $3,500 in chips. All tournaments use 20 minute rounds, except the early Sunday tourney, which features 30 minute rounds. No re-buys are allowed, except for the Friday noon event.

Live cash games are offered with blinds of $2-$5, and dual blinds of $5 each. Finally, the casino offers a monthly $25,000 free roll for players who log 50 hours of play.

The Ameristar Casino offers cash games similar to the other casinos, as well as a ladies only tournament each Thursday at 7 p.m. for a $55 buy-in.

The Colorado Central Station Casino offers daily tournaments Monday-Friday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. for a $60 buy-in. Players get $3,000 in chips at the earlier tourney and $5,000 at the later tournament. On Saturday at 2 p.m. a $50 buy-in tournament with a $50 re-buy is offered, while on Sunday at 2 p.m. a $100 buy-in tournament with two $100 re-buys is offered. Cash games are available as well.

Since January the casinos have been non-smoking by law. So come on up and enjoy the fresh mountain air inside and outside.

Mike Eikenberry got his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia, where he played varsity tennis and basketball. Founder of one of the leading national tennis camps, Mike is an avid amateur who has played both tournaments and live games for over 25 years. He can be reached at theeiks@comcast.net