Winnipeg’s McPhillips Station Casino

Event #1, the $550+$50 No Limit Hold’em “WINNIPEG SUN Freeze Out”* kicks off the series at noon on October 27, 2011. The event has a 330 player cap, however, re-entry (late registration) will be accepted

Players start with 10,000 in starting chips and Day 1 of the event will have 30 minute blind levels. Play for Day 1 will cease at 2:00am.

The remaining players then return for Day 2 on October 28th at 12:00pm and resume play until completion.

Earlier this year, the same format and buy-in hosted by Manitoba Lotteries drew 273 players and built a total prize-pool of $150,150.

Our own http://www.pokerforum.ca member Darryl “Wetts1012” Wettlaufer​ took home the bragging rights for first place, a trophy and a very nice watch in this event, along with $39,416.

Event #2, a $275+$25 “92 CITI FM Bounty Tournament”, will see $225 of the buy-in going to the prize-pool, $50 going to the bounty pool, with the remaining $25 the registration/administration fee.

The No Limit Hold’em has a 1:00pm start time on October 28th ( at “Stage 2”) with the maximum number of players set at 330. Re-entry (late registration) will be accepted.

This tournament starts players with 5,000 in tournament chips and 20 minute blind levels. It is a single day event and will play to completion, with the $50 bounties will be payed as players are eliminated.

The April installment of Winnipeg’s “Bounty Event” drew an impressive 434 entries with a total prize pool of $86,800 and bounty pool of $21,700. David Trozzo won the event and it’s​​ $ 22,571 top prize.

The $1,000+$100 Event #3, will begin on October 29, 2011. The “Manitoba Lotteries Poker Championship” this No Limit Texas Hold’em “Freeze Out” Tournament* is a scheduled to play out over 2 days of play, with Day 1 beginning at noon. The starting field can accommodate a maximum of 330 players, with Re-entry (late registration) accepted.

Those entering the “Main Event” will start with 15,000 in tournament chips with blind levels set at 45 minutes. Play will cease at 2:00am.

The remaining players from Day 1 of the $1,000 will return on October 30th at 1:00pm and play to completion. Blind levels increase to 60 minutes for this Day 2 of the event.

In April of 2011, the inaugural Manitoba Poker Open $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament drew 212 entries, generating a total prize pool of $212,000; Ken Hunter claimed first place for $56,162.

*Re-Entry will be accepted

The Poker Scene In Winnipeg

There are two main card rooms in the area, the host venue, McPhillips Station Casino and Club Regent Casino. In preparation of making the upcoming series a successful venture for players and to get attendance numbers building, 6 multi-table satellites with $100+$10 will be running over October, with the last being played on October 25th.

The airport, hotels and casinos are all about $15-$50 taxi rides apart, so groups of friends will easily get around for cheap with everybody pitching in.

Cash Games

The rooms are more than willing to spread as high as there is reasonable interest to go, form a minimum $1 small blinds right up to a $100 big blind maximum. Ordinarily, Omaha and Texas Hold’em are spread as Pot Limit, Fixed Limit and No Limit;giving options for all levels of players. Omaha Hi/Low is also popular at the $5/$10 Fixed Limit stakes.

Fixed Limit tables have “kill and half kill” options, but strict No Limit players have nothing to worry about; there is also plenty of $1/$2 and $2/$5 action and locals more than willing to play bigger.

Manitoba’s maximum buy-ins for Pot Limit and No Limit games bare 200 big blinds; leaving plenty of opportunity for some very deep stacked cash play as people settle in for the grind.

$1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha gives equal opportunity for players to mix things up without necessarily risking their entire rolls, while a regular $10/$20 Limit “Dealers Choice” game is said to have some potential for some juicy profits.

Travel and Accommodations

McPhillips Station Casino is about a short, fifteen minute cab ride from the airport, with several large hotels located nearby it. Reduced room rates and shuttle services to and from for guests have been arranged with several local hotels; the Radison Hotel Winnipeg Downtown, 1-204-975-6221, using the reference “Manitoba Poker Open” block of rooms for player rates, or the Canad Inns Destination Centre, Garden City by calling 1-888-332-2623 and mentioning discount code “MBPOKEROPN”.

To make it even better, the over first place finish of over $782,000 dollars came just a day before Mike’s 22nd birthday…talk about picking yourself out something nice!

McDonald fought hard for his win, battling back and taking it one hand at a time after recovering from an ugly hand on both the Day 3 and final table bubble.

Mike found himself flopping 2 pair and turning “the tight” in hand against Erik Seidel; only to find that “Cyborg” had flopped top two and made a bigger boat with the same 10 on the turn. All the chips got in the middle on the river and McDonald had a double average stack reduced to one of the shorter chip counts to begin Day 4.

Already a veteran of the game at barely legal to play in the USA, Mike didn’t little it get the best of him and by the time only 4 remained, it was clear that Mike was applying pressure to his opponents and looking to claim the Champions Ring. in the end he did just that, in the process bringing his career Live Tournament winnings total to now over $3,670,000.  Mike’s last major win in a televised event came on the European Poker Tour, where he has won much of his millions since turning 18.

A huge Congratulations to Mike from all of us at PokerNews and PokerForum.ca!

Canadian Pro Greg “FB T” Mueller also won the $1,500 Pro/Am earlier this week at the EPL events, scoring himself entry into the $20,000 event, but fell short of the money in this one.  None the less, “kudos” to him on his win as well! 

The 2011 World Championships of Online Poker has completed about 25% of the events on it’s schedule and the some of the names we expected to see in our “WCOOP preview & top picks” post are performing, this installment has us sorting through some well known names that have “switched teams” due to Poker’s “Black Friday”.

We have highlighted a few, noted by an “*”, as well as including a few recent highlights on Canadians that just keep crushing the felts. Those interested in who has had the “boom-switch on” this year can also checkout our previous SCOOP coverage; player names in blue are linked to some our previous reports.

The highest ranked “Canadian” player on the 2011 WCOOP leader board so far, in 21st, is “ImaLuckSac”*. He has played 12 events, earning 90 Points with cashes totaling $242,522.

*Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee is listed as playing out of the Vancouver area. as confirmed by his personal blog, Kevin is a USA player, who moved here recently to continue playing online poker. To date, McPhee has amassed over $6,000,000 in combined tournament winnings; approximately $4,191,000 online, with another about $1,870,000 on the live felts.
Kevin won the 2010 European Poker Tour €5,000 Event in Berlin, 1st place paying the equivalent over $1,300,000 CAD.

Tied for 22-27th, Chris “d0r1t0s” McClung had played in 2011 WCOOP 12 events so far, earning 85 Points for his $34,230 for cashing in 4 events (including WCOOP 2nd Chances. Chris has nearly $880,000 in online winnings, plus $102,000 in “official live cashes” according to his Hendon Mob players profile. Adding to his total;

-winner of $1,500 Poker Pro Canada Poker Classic II at Four Aces Poker Club where he came first for $71,500.

-winner of the most recent $500 DeepStack Event at PlayGround Poker Club, claiming $22,000

-“d0r1t0s” is now over the $1,000,000 in confirmed combined tournament cashes.

Here is a look results from the first 15 Events of the 2011 World Championships of Online Poker; limited to those listed as Canadian players and finishing in the top 20-25 spots. We’ll look at Events #16-#31 in our next recap.

Event #1 $215 No Limit Hold’em 6 Max, Entries: 7500

12th   “qbgoose”   $12,000.00

Event #2 $10,300 NLHE “High Roller”, Entries 200

3rd  ImaLuckSac $235,000.00
8th  SenorPokes $60,000.00
9th  kingsofcards  $40,000.00
10th NCSU2012 $35,000.00
14th Dilith $30,000.00
15th takechip $30,000.00
16th     d0r1t0s $25,000.00

Event #3 $215 No Limit Hold’em, Entries: 10107

8th pocketsmcgee $22,235.40

Event #4 $320 Pot Limit Omaha, Entries: 1697

2nd Gakn29 $61,092.00
3rd gillete $45,819.00

Event #5 $320 No Limit Hold’em, Entries: 1296

9th shaniac $2,721.60
17th UhhMee $2,721.60

Event #6, $215 NLHE Re-buy Turbo, Entries: 1589

5th *Iftarii $51,993.50
11th inheritance $8,647.34
15th kAAtZZ $6,786.52
20th Tha Giggy $4,268.94

*USA Player currently playing out of Canada, Jonathan “Iftarii” Jaffe;

-Over $1.1 Million On Stars, won the $25,000 Heads Up HighRoller WCOOP in 2009

- About 1,090,000 in Career Live Tournament winnings

Event #7, $215 Pot Limit 5 Card Draw, Entries: 516

3rd ImaLucSac $10,578.00

Event #8, $215 Triple Draw Stud, Entries: 534

4th d0r1t0s $8,010.00
12th imcastleman $1,441.80
20th QcKimo $881.10

Event #9, $1050 No Limit Hold’em Entries: 1237

3rd Pat Pezzin $117,515.00
8th Eri264 $24,740.00
10th QcKimo $11,751.50
18th G’s zee $6,803.50

Event #10, $265 Pot Limit Omaha (KO), Entries: 1271

44th rSMig Canada $788.02  (best Canadian Result)

Event #11, $320 NLHE “Ante Up”, Entries: 1467

8th Big_Nemo $8,361.90
18th PokerToronto $2,024.46

Event #12, $215 Heads Up NLHE, Entries: 2224

3rd “wywrotx”** $24,464.00
6th Love2Spl00ge $12,232.00

**Michael “wywrotx” Wywrot proved very consistent over both the FTOPS and CCOOP series, finishing in the money no less than seven times. Not much of a shock, considering his over 1.4 million dollars in online winnings to go with his 36th place finish in the 2010 WSOP Main Event worth $255, 242 and his 4th place finish for $30, 000 dollars in the 2010 $5,000 Heads Up event in Calgary.

Event 13#, $215 PLOHi/Low, 6 Max (1r1a), Entries: 558

20th ZombiedCaked $1,562.40
22nd maxxscam $1,562.40
23rd mookstar $1,562.40

Event #14, $265 NLHE, 6 max (KO), Entries: 3,568

3rd Hustlaaaaaa $59,585.60
9th JeanGrae $7,849.60
14th AlusivPnkBny $4,638.40
16th DTrain27 $4,638.40

Event #15, $215 Razz, Entries: 799

15th jeff710 $1,470.16

So far, Canada has raked in around $1,650,000 in the first 18 events and is in first for number of cashes, with 590 in the money finishes out of 4,268 entrants. Canadians have been at 16 final tables, but are still looking to scoop that first WCOOP bracelet.

His 13th place finish was worth $80,000, which he followed up just weeks later with another $80,000 score; this time for winning a $5,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Event in Tunica. A few months later however, Chorny would become a “household” name in the poker community, winning still one of the largest pay-outs for a 10k event outside the World Series of Poker.

At the April €10,000 European Poker Tour Season 4 Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Glen out lasted 841 other players over a Main Event that spanned 6 days, collecting the title and roughly $3,200,000.

2008 would continue to be the year of “Choron”; after a 14th place five figure finish on the World Poker Tour in June, the World Champions of Online Poker held over September would see Glen once again in the poker spotlight. Chorny banked a 5th place finish in the WCOOP $10,300 Event #5, at an epic final table thar included well players Jonathan Little and Chris Moneymaker. The deep run was worth another almost $257,000 and to date, Chorny now has over $4,000,000 in combined online and live tournament winnings.

Currently, Glen is 9th on the Canadian “All Time” Live Tournament Money Lists, 1st on the Canadian All Time EPT Money list; 2nd overall on the European Poker Tour All Time Cash Winnings List.

In 2009, Glen was given his pass to play in the televised $20,000 NBC Invitational National Heads-Up Championship, where he cashed in the round of 16 with a 9th place finish. Later that year, Chorny had his latest “official major cash”; another final table finish in a $4,850 Championship No Limit Hold’em Event, this time 3rd place for more than $75,000.

Since, we haven’t seen any “big results” from Glen, but in all fairness, like many before him that have “hit the mother load”, Chorny seems pretty content to live his life first and play poker second. You’ll still see his name pop up at events around the globe and will most likely find him looking to take back the top spot for “All Time Cash” on the EPT this fall.

These days however, to those that follow the Canadian player, it appears Glen enjoys throwing a lure in the water in hopes of landing a big fish these days, at least as much as he likes hooking one on the felts.

First off, Europe has the advantage of a minimum gambling age of 18 in a fair number of the places that the EPT stops, though some are 21 or older early. Canada allows players into casinos at 18 or 19 depending on the province or territory, so the better players are ready to cut their teeth on the world circuit before they can hit the popular USA stops of the World Poker Tour or WSOP Circuit.

While we have many great series of our own, with the exception of the BCPC’s, a few WPT stops no longer in existence here and Fallsview Poker Classic, we just don’t get the bigger buy-in events or massive fields of the EPT and we certainly don’t often see $1,000,000 plus top spot pay-outs. Add to this that PokerStars is the major sponsor of the tour, giving players the option to satellite into or purchase entry using their online funds for some of the stops and it is easy to see why players would want take these “poker holidays” across the pond; seeing the world while in pursuit of some serious loot.

Most recently at the beginning of September, Simon “pokerbrat13” Charette was the last Canadian standing at EPT Barcelona, finishing 26th in the €5,000+€300 Main Event for €18,000. This was the second stop of Season 8, the tournament setting a record for Spain with 811 entries and a first place pay out of €850,000; roughly equivalent to $1,188,000 CAD.

Charette has been having an incredible year, arguably one of Canada best performers of 2011, following up 6 WSOP cashes and 5 other major tournament cashes around the globe totaling about $670,000 since January.

Over 130 Canadian players have cashed over the history of the EPT and half of the Top 50 of those make up the “house-hold” names of our current international poker contenders; players like Eric Cajelais, Marc Karam, Sorel Mizzi, Mike “SirWatts” Watson, Daniel Negreanu, Russell “rdcrsn” Carson, Peter Jetten, Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky, Matt Marafioti, Jonathan Duhamel and Owen Crowe are just a start.

Looking further back at other current Canadian poker players, several players really made a name for themselves on the EPT in particular; starting with Mike “Timex” McDonald, Xuan “xx23xx” Liu, Will Molson and Glen Chorny.

McDonald was already very well known on the online poker scene prior to massacring the events across the pound, but being the first 18 year old player at the time to score over a $1,000,000 in a tournament certainly didn’t hurt when it came to the “poker spotlight.” Mike would continue to be successful in the EPT events after the huge score in Season 4, with a total of 3 final tables over 5 cashes that raked him in about $2,130,000. His performance to date still has him ranked 8th over all on the tournament leader board and 15th overall for money won and 3rd on the list of Canadians.

Glen Chorny, also from Waterloo Ontario, currently sits 2nd overall for money won on the European Poker Tour, (1st for Canada), having taken over $3,150,000 to the bank over 2 cashes. The bulk of his haul came from winning the Monte Carlo Grand Final back in Season 4, however, Chorny still sits in the Top 10 of the Canadian All Time Money List, which encompasses cashes from all major tournaments from around the globe.

Montreal’s Will Molson has had 4 final table appearances out of 6 cashes on the EPT, totaling about $1,775,000 CAD. If there ever was an event “made” for a particular player, the PCA $25,000 “High Roller” is definitely Will’s game. After finishing 2nd in both 2009 and 2010, Molson sealed the deal in 2011, claiming first and the over $1,070,000 this past January. Will is 4th overall on the Canadian “All Time” EPT Money list.

Toronto player Xuan Liu has had the respect of her poker peers for more than a few years now, but her 3rd place finish out of a field of 987 players at San Remo in May of 2011 certainly helped convince the rest of the poker world of what the many already knew; girl has got some game! The roughly $533,000 finish added to her previous tournament successes puts her into the Top 60 of the “All Time Tournament Winnings” Canadian list and 27th on the “Women’s All Time Money List”, which includes all the poker playing ladies around the world. Liu is ranked tenth overall for money won by a Canadian player on the EPT circuit.

With Season 8 EPT stops Tallinn (Estonia) and Barcelona (Spain) now wrapped up, the tour heads next to London from September 30th to October 6th. Following that series, San Remo (Italy), Loutraki (Greece), Prague (Czech Republic), PCA Bahamas and Deauville (France) make up the balance of this seasons stops, taking the travel and poker action into February of 2012.

Casino Regina’s Harvest Poker Classic

200-400 players in any event offered is never a surprise, with these tournaments often selling out.

Even with a competing scheduled very close in neighboring Winnipeg this past spring, The Station Classic built a combined prize-pool total of over $525,000. Over the Harvest Classic series prior to that, despite winter rearing its ugly head, with poor weather causing some difficulty with flights and travel for the opening days, results show that at players from at least five provinces where in attendance, coming from British Columbia all the way across the country to Ontario. The first event, a $600 No Limit Hold’em had an impressive 281 entries, while the $1000+100 No Limit Hold’em had one of the largest fields of comparable single day $1,000 tournaments held on Canadian soil over 2010; with a total of 217 entrants. The total prize-pools swelled to $588,550, exceeding the pre-series estimates by almost twenty percent.

Always changing things up, the venue often changes the buy-ins from series to series, looking for the perfect fit for players. This particular event series seems to have zoned in on the most popular buy-in ranges from across that country that have seen the biggest prize pools that players find worth competing for.

The action starts on Tuesday, November 8th at 7:00PM, with their “Single Table Satellite Extravaganza”.
Play will continue until 4:00AM, giving players an economical shot at entries to any of the events offered over the series. Traditionally, past events have also offered those that have paid entry in full to any one of the major events, an invite to the “Satellite Social Supper” held from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. The evening gives players a chance to mingle and catch up in the dining room, before they go to war on the felts.

Wednesday, November 9th, is a $550+50 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry Event), with 6000 starting chips, 30 minute blinds and 210 maximum players. Every preceding event held in the past few years at this buy-in level has exceeded this player cap, so get your seats if you want to play! Re-entry will be allowed the first four levels, if there are available seats and the game begins at noon.

Thursday the 10th, beginning at noon, the stakes bump up to $720+80 and the starting stacks to 8000. Also set for a field cap of 210 players, blinds remain at 30 minutes, with re-entries for the first four levels.

Friday the 11th plays host to the Main Event, a $1000+100 No Limit Hold’em, with 10,000 starting chips and 30 minute blind levels. Up to 240 players will be seated at the noon starting time, plus re-entries for the first 4 levels.

Saturday, November 12th is the last event of the series, bringing the buy-in back down to $630+70. Players start with 7000 chips and are given 30 minute blind levels, with a 12:00PM start time. The field cap is set at 240 players; as with the other events, according to seating availability, re-entry will be allowed for the first 4 levels.

Events at Casino Regina are single day and played to completion, so plan on playing hard and battling well into the next day.

All players beginning the tournaments late or re-entering will have one set off blinds “penalized” from their stack for each level that has been completed. Those players on waiting or “alternate” lists will be seated before those seeking re-entry.

Also unique and available are the “Extreme Satellites”, popular with those who have a little gamble or are a “little tipsy”. Every player who buys a spot at the table gets one hand, dealt face up. Don’t get too comfortable in your recently purchased satellite chair in these however; the best hand gets the seat and its over!

Over past event series, winners of all events have also been awarded Champion Rings and all players with paid entry into have been invited to a great complimentary dinner each evening, along with receiving a gift commemorating the events; hats, shirts, travel clocks and card markers are all examples of previously issued sovineers.

With $30,000,000 in guaranteed prize-pools, the events are sure to attract many of Canada’s top players. Even if buy-ins of $109 to $10,300 are out of players price range, satellites start at as low as $1. Besides competing in the events, the WCOOP presents even the recreational player a chance to watch some of the world’s best players in “un-edited” action, providing an opportunity to see how today’s most successful players navigate their way through large fields and tough situations.

Canada is home to some of the top winning online players on the planet and there are a few names to watch over September;

Vancouver’s Ami “UhhMee’ Barer has dominated many of online poker’s major tournament series, particularly No Limit Hold-em events. Also from the West Coast, EPT winner Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky and Josh “Mammola” Mammon, Campbell “Big_Nemo” are NLHE specialists who frequently top the “majors” leader boards, while Chris “Maxxscam” Back and Ashkan “Dreathen” Razavi can be expected to do big things in both Omaha and No Limit Hold’em events.

Edmonton’s player Ryan “macker21″ McClean is ranked in the top 10 online players in the province and quite close to the top 100 in the country. Ryan chopped the Sunday warm-up a few years back for over $100,000 and is just shy of the $1,000,000 online Multi Table Tournaments winnings mark going into this year’s WCOOP.

Moose Jaw Saskatchewan’s David “raisetherags” Arnold appears to be amongst the best in the area, according to the PocketFives.com sortable rankings, while Manitoba’s Clayton “slammedfire” Mozdzen can be expected to do well in almost any mixed event. Also from Winnipeg, Zennawi “zenni11” Petros will also be a top contender, with him and Clayton currently occupying the regions top two rankings.

Ontario can easily fill a page of it’s own with top competitors, but we are going to start with a few of our own http://www.pokerforum.ca members; Jacob “Vekked” Meyer is currently ranked 8th in Canada on the PoketFives.com sliding leader boards and recently crossed the $1,000,000 mark in MTT winnings. Darryl “Wetts1012” Wettlaufer took home a title and trophy over the COOPs, having to defeat well known player Owen “Ocrowe” Crowe in heads up play to do so. Steve “betrthanphil” Tripp already has an FTOPS jersey in the closet (that came with over $193,000 for the 1st place finish in 2010) and recently chopped the Sunday Million for better $75,000.

Of course, “rolling stone”, Russell “rdcrsn” Carson has won more money playing online tournaments than most players on the planet and Ontario player Sebastian “p0cket00” Sikorski is currently ranked by P5s as #1 on the planet, so it’s safe to say that both will be making some bank in September. Also look for Sorel “zangbezan” Mizzi, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah and Mike “SirWatts” Watson to do some damage over the WCOOPs.

Montreal’s Chris “d0r1t0s” McClung has been crushing the felts over 2010/2011, with a multitude of 5 or 6 figure cashes on both the live and virtual felts. With momentum and his A-game on his side, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him adding a World Cup of Online Poker bracelet to his collection of championship trinkets in September.

Lastly, when it comes to the east coast and Maritimes, though there are plenty with game, one name is always staple; Nova Scotia’s Owen “Ocrowe” Crowe. Crowe crushed the Canadian Championships of Online Poker, topping the leader-board with multiple final tables and his own title trophy.  Crowe is hot off a 100k+ Sunday Warm-Up win; it’s pretty much a given that in between live circuit stops and during any down time, he will be crushing dreams and reading souls on PokerStars.com

For more information on the WCOOP, including the full schedule visit our post here:

http://www.pokernews.ca/news/2011/07/pokerstars-com-guarantees-30-million-in-2011-wcoop/

To learn more about some of the top Canadian Players listed in this article, check out our profile pages by clicking on the highlighted text.

The Cascades Poker Classic has two events planned, with a series estimated prize-pool of *$150,000.

Event #1 is $450+$50 Shoot-out, to be held on September 10th, with two (2) players from each 10 handed table moving on to a freeze-out format and playing to completion. The starting field will be capped at 100 players; ten full tables of ten players per table. Players start with 5,000 in Tournament chips and blind levels will be 20 minutes long

Event #2 on Saturday, September 11th is a $1000+$100 No Limit Hold’em Freeze-out, with 10,000 chip start stacks and 40 minute blind levels. This event has a 120 player field cap.

Both events begin at noon on their scheduled day. On September 9th from 5:00PM-9:00PM, pro player Vanessa Rousso will be running a Big Slick Poker “Boot Camp”, for those interested in improving or freshening up on their game.

The Edgewater Casino 2nd annual West Coast Poker Championship will consistent of 6 Events ranging from $180-$1650 in buy-ins that include a Ladies, Mixed PLH/PLO, Limit, Super Sat and multiple start day No Limit Hold’em Main Event. The series combined prize-pool estimates are set at *$800,000. For complete details, see our previous write-up here:

http://www.pokernews.ca/news/2011/08/west-coast-poker-championships/

The 2011 British Columbia Poker Championships, considered by many to be Canada’s largest annual event series for attendance and prize-pools, has now added a $5,000 “High Roller” No Limit Hold’em to their line up and will consist of a total of 4 events this year as follows:

October 23rd and 24th: “Satellite days” for the scheduled events beginning on the 25th.

October 25th to 28th: Event #1 will be a $500+$50 No Limit Hold’em Bounty Event. Players start with 7500 chips and blind levels will be 30 minutes.

Day 1a,1b & 1c begin each day at noon and will play 14 levels before combining at 12:00pm on Day 2, Oct 28th for the final day. Each start day can accommodate 176 players + alternates, to create an estimated prize-pool of *$237,600.

October 30th & 31st: Event #2 will be an $1,100 No Limit Hold-em Event. Starting stacks will be 10,000 in tournament chips, with 40 minute levels. Up to 550 players + alternates will be accepted for the event, generating an estimated prize-pool of *$550,000. Day 1 will play until the end of level 11, then continue on level 12 to completion for Day 2.

November 2nd to 5th: Event #3 is the $2700+$300 No Limit Hold’em Main Event. Players begin with 15,000 in starting chips, blind levels are 60 minutes long.  550 players + alternates will be able to participate, generating an estimated prize-pool of *$1,485,000. Play begins at noon each day, with Day 1 playing until the end of level 7. Day 2 plays to the end of level 14, Day 3 until the end of level 21, with those remaining returning to play to completion on Day 4.

November 7th to 9th: Event #4 is the new $4600+$400 No Limit Hold-em “High Roller” Tournament. The event has enough space for 176 players + alternates, with the potential for an estimated prize-pool of *$809,600. Entrants start with 20,000 in tournament chips and blind levels are one hour long each. Play begins at noon each day, with Day 1 playing to the end of level 9. Day 2 plays to the end of level 18 and then to completion on Day 3.

In recent previous years, the series has seen combined prize-pools swell to anywhere between the $2,000,000-$2,500,000 mark; with out the new addition of the $5,000 tournament that could see this year’s BCPC series hit some record setting numbers over the $3,000,000 mark.

Typically, fields of 400-650 entrants are the norm for each of the events, with the $550 and $1100 often selling out before the day of the event; those serious about attending will want to plan ahead.

With this years series not scheduled over US Thanksgiving (as it was in 2010) and players in the south shut-out of much online poker, also expect a better than average showing of American players; the series is already quite popular with those from nearby Washington and other areas of the USA.

Super Satellites have already started running, with noon $225 buy-ins scheduled every Saturday in August for seats into the $3,000 Main Event, Sunday noon $120′s for the $1,100 and Tuesday 7:00 PM “Super Sats” with a $370 buy-in for the $5,000.

Single Table Satellites begin October 1st with the following options:

$120 buy-in for 1 entry for every 10 players into the $1,100 event, $230 buy-in awards 2 seats for every 10 player SNG.

$320 buy-in will award 1 seat for every 10 players I to the $3,000 event; $625 will award 2 winners per Sit N’ Go satellite.

$520 buy-in will award 1 winner per 10 player single table an entry into the $5,000 event; 2 winners will be given seats at the $1,020 buy-in single table sats.

*All estimated prize pools are based on sold-out events. In cases of sold-out events that accept alternates, prize-pools could exceed the estimates.

BCPC prize-pools will have 2% deducted for staff gratuity.

No stranger to world class poker as a supporter and home casino to 2010 “November Nine” and 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Matthew Jarvis, the Edgewater Casino knows what it takes when it comes to playing, or hosting, top notch tournament poker. Jarvis will be back on home turf for the series, mixing it up in the cash games, playing in the events and celebrating his recent victory.

The 2011 2nd Annual West Coast Poker Championship takes place from September 24 – October 2, 2011.

On Saturday, September 24th, things get started at 12:00pm, with Event #1 a $300+$30 No Limit Hold’em.
Players start with 5,000 tournament chips and blind levels will be 30 minutes long. The entry field has 200 player cap, generating an estimated prize-pool of *$60,000 in the event of a sell-out.

Sunday, September 25th, is one for the woman of poker, as Event #2 is $275+$25 Ladies Event.
Starting stacks will be 7,000 and blind levels 30 minutes. There is room for 200 ladies, generating a possible prize-pool of *$55,000, should the tournament fill all it’s seats.

Satellites to the Ladies Event are being offered at a buy-in of $30+$5, with a 50 player maximum field, running every Sunday @ 7pm on the following dates:
August 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and September 4th, 11th and 18th.

Event #3, a $180+$20 Limit Hold’em Event, gets underway at noon on Monday, September 26th. Players will begin with starting stacks of 5,000, with blind levels of 30 minutes. This is a 200 player max event, with an estimated prize-pool of *$36,000 based on a sell-out.

Limit Satellites will be offered as 50 player max, with a buy-in of $20+$5, each Monday @ 7pm. Those interested should head on down to the Edgewater Casino on any of the following dates: August 15th, 22nd, 29th, September 5th, 12th and 19th.

Tuesday, September 27th “mixes” things up with the $500+$50 buy-in Event #4. This Mixed Pot Limit Omaha/No Limit Hold’em tournament was previously offered as a previously Mixed PLO/PLH, but the improved format of mixed Omaha and Hold’em will allow pokers more diverse player a chance to show off their skills, while competing for a share of a *$100,000 prize pool (based on a sell out of 200 entries).
Players start with 10,000 tournament chips and generous 45 minute blind levels.

Mixed PLO/ NLH Satellites will be a $55+$5 buy-in, with a 50 player cap and held every Tuesday at 7pm. Upcoming dates include: August 16th, 23rd, 30th, September 6th, 13th, and 20th.

Wednesday, September 28th will play host to Event #5, “WCPC SUPER SATELLITE”, with a noon start time and $165+$15 buy-in. This will be the final Satellite before the Main Event, awarding one (1) entry into the $1,500+$150 Main Event for every ten (10) players registered.

WCPC Main Event Satellites are running now, with a $180 Buy in ($165+$15) and a 50 player maximum. The satellites run every Wednesday @ 7pm, with the next ones on August 17th, 24th and 31st,then in September on the 7th, 14th and 21st.

As well, the satellites will run every Saturday @ 12:15pm, with an 80 player field cap, on August 20th, 27th and September: 3rd, 10th and 17th.

Single table satellites will run 24/7 based on interest, with (1) for every (10) players to receive a WCPC entry valued at $1,650.

The most anticipated and “can’t miss” tournament of series will begin on Thursday, Sept 29th. The *Three Day Main Event will see it’s Day 1A start at 12:00pm. This No Limit Hold’em is a $1,650 Buy in ($1,500 plus $150), with deep 20,000 starting stacks and when combined with 1 hour blind levels, is sure to offer players extreme value in the form of tons of available play. Each Day 1 can accommodate a 200 player maximum, however, if eliminated from Day 1A, players will be allowed to re-buy into Day 1B on Friday, September 30th.

All players remaining after play concludes on both Day 1A & 1B, will return to the tables at noon on Saturday, October 1st for Day 2 of the Main Event, which will then play down to the Final Table.

The West Coast Poker Championship Final Table will then play out and determine it’s 2011 Main Event Champion beginning at 2pm on Sunday, October 2nd. Based on a sell-out of 400 players, the estimated prize pool for Event #6 could hit as high as *$600,000!

Be sure to mark your calendars or register early so you don’t miss out on some of the best variety of tournaments and prize-pools offered on the Canadian poker scene today!

Daily Cash games at the Edgewater Casino Poker Room include: No Limit: $1/2, $2/5, $5-10

Fixed Limit: $2/4, $4/8, $4/8 Kill, $6/12, $20/40

Pot Limit Omaha: $5/$5

Please Note: All satellites will be held in the poker room with the exception of the Super Satellite that will be held during the week long series.

*Prize pool based on all events being sold out. 3% will be held back for gratuities.

The Advisory Notice, found below, states “The Commission’s decision to suspend the Four Aces was based on a number of operational and management concerns, each of which have been clearly conveyed to the licensee.”

The big question is, given the current operational and management concerns of Full Tilt Poker, just what would it take to prompt such a “harsh” decision???

Web searches find that dating back to mid May, new investment into the club have been sought by New Deal Capital Inc. “a boutique investment banking group which assists public and private companies in sourcing capital”. Still other threads and discussions that are readily available point to the room having changed hands at least once this year and its hours of operation cut drastically; operating only Thursday to Saturday. It seems the last operators may have prompted the actions taken by the KGC.

Regardless, Playground Poker Club has had a bit of a strangle-hold in the area since launching in late December of 2010, so it remains to be seen if someone can come in and get this place back on it’s feet.
If you’re a player in the Montreal area, perhaps you can fill in the blanks and enlighten our readers and members, by posting here or in our forums.

In the meantime….

ADVISORY NOTICE

For immediate release:

FOUR ACES POKER ROOM LICENCE SUSPENDED

(MOHAWK TERRITORY OF KAHNAWAKE – July 19, 2011) –

At its weekly meeting on July 13, 2011, the Commission issued to Four Aces Poker Room (“Four Aces”), located at Plaza 138, a Notice of Immediate Suspension. The suspension of Four Aces’ Poker Room License was effective on July 14, 2011.

As a result of this suspension, Four Aces is not permitted to operate unless and until its Poker Room License is reinstated.

The Commission has also issued to Four Aces a Show Cause Notice giving Four Aces thirty (30) days to show cause as to why its Poker Room License should not be revoked.
The Commission’s decision to suspend the Four Aces was based on a number of operational and management concerns, each of which have been clearly conveyed to the licensee.

The Commission will post further updates as this matter develops.

About Kahnawake
The Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake is a sovereign jurisdiction located just outside Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established in 1996 and has been continuously licensing and regulating online gaming since July, 1999.
For more information about the Commission, go to: www.gamingcommission.ca.
To contact the Commission, email: info@gamingcommission.ca

Rheum defeated Eric Seidel heads top to claim the win, the two facing off at the end of a long, stacked 6 handed final table on Day 4 of the event. Seidel collects $604,330 and further widens the gap between him and the rest of the poker world on the all time money lists; now over 6 million in live tournament winnings for 2011 alone and approaching $17,000,000 in All Time Live Tournament winnings.

To put those numbers into perspective, Seidel’s first 8 months of 2011 are roughly equivalent to the 3rd place career earnings of Gavin Smith on the Canadian Players All Time Money List and roughly 40th on the all time lists. We may have thought the Sorel Mizzi heater of 2010 was epic, but we are certainly left in awe with Seidel’s run this year.

Huck Seed claimed the 6th spot for $107,980, while Gavin Smith was next to go out in 5th place; the finish worth $154,260. Hasan Habib grabbed $237,560 after his elimination in 4th, while Erik Seidel would send PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier to the rail in 3rd, to collect a still a hefty pay-day of $360,970. Mercier is having a great year none the less; with this EPL score, he now sits at $1,183,770 for 2011 alone and is closing in on the $7,000,000 in live tournament winnings mark.

Victory Poker and Who’s Your Daddy CEO Dan Fleyshman also had a notable performance, qualifying for his temporary “league card” in the $1,500 Pro/Am, then parlaying his $20,000 seat for a 7th place finish into over $43,000 for a 15th place cash in a talent packed starting field.

Now that the poker world has had a chance to watch the first “performance” of the league in action, the discussion and dissection of whether this will be the next big thing in poker has begun. The vast majority, including our top pros who participated in the events, seem quite satisfied by the Matt Savage designed structures and turn-outs, while some nay-sayers believe that the extravagance attached to the overhead, hype and television production will eventually catch up with it. Daniel Negreanu wrote his latest blog on the topic, though it is no secret in the poker community that “Kid Poker” and league Commissioner Annie Duke haven’t seen eye to eye in the past. Several other poker articles and authors have also approached the subject, but the bottom line is that most of the players qualified to play and those interested in the Pro/Am events simply don’t care about the “business model”; challenging fields that result in deserved bragging rights and $1,000,000 top prizes are good enough for the thumbs up.

While the topic of wether or not today’s fans will recognize and appreciate seeing final tables packed full of young players who made the “big time” via success on the internet felts has also been the subject of debate, it maybe time for the “old school” to embrace and accept the next generation.

Online poker has been around for more than a decade and many of those entering or playing the game passionately today are more than familiar with it’s “stars”. Besides that, those that have qualified have done so based only on live tournament play, validating that they have every bit as much skill as those that began in “back room” card games.

While legends like Doyle, Chan and Hellmuth will always be fan favorites, in every competitive spectator game, the greats eventually have to make room for the new kid on the block. Professional hockey is still viewed by millions long after Gretzky retired and even when Tiger Woods is away on injury, they still hold successful “major” events.

Lastly, the “rule-book” and Codes of Conduct for the Epic Poker League are currently being widely discussed. A Standards and Conduct Committee has been established, with Canada’s own Mike “Timex” McDonald filling a seat. While it may take some time to get used to what is trying to be achieved, many will also agree it is a necessary step in the right direction in today’s current poker scene. With cheating scandals, inappropriate comments and behavior by players and the current turmoil in the online industry making headlines more often than tournaments and their results these days, it is definitely time somebody tries to help rebuild the games image and integrity. “Professional” needs some minimum standards attached.

In particular, rules #41,#42 and #43, all of which center around “Deals, Trading and Backing” are causing those in charge to be bombarded with questions. #41 does not allow players to make any deals (redistribution) of money at the Final Table, with the penalty of suspension if such actions come to light. #42 specifies that “Trades or Swaps” between players may not exceed 10%, that trades may not be agreed upon at the same table and finally that any swaps made between players who reach the money must be “registered” with the Tournament Director, with the same criteria for “Backing”, outlined in rule #43. Also, under #43, no player is allowed to have a smaller interest in himself or herself than any other player in the tournament.

While this may seem a bit over the top, weeding out “collusion” and “soft play” certainly seems to be the motive. It seems logical that Tournament Directors will be able to rule and monitor far more justly,  if all the “cards” are on the table when difficult situations arise.

What are your thoughts on these rules?  The “official” documents, along with other current issues, like the EPL “Logo and Patch” Policy can be found here: http://ow.ly/1vHMrn

Please leave your thoughts here, or start your own discussion at www.pokerforum.ca