Talking Stick Resort’s Arena Poker Room in Scottsdale, Ariz., continues to lead the way with numerous large buy-in events.

The $345 Big Stack on April 7 drew 181 entrants, and one of those was Hesam Alagha, who emerged victorious for a cool $9,308.

The rest of the final table and prize money looked like this: Jamael Williams, $5K; Joseph Cook, $4,300; Dylan Hortin, $4,200; Jerry Stecher, $3,897; Guido Frioli, $3,897; Jill Fabian, $3,897; John Deeb, $3,897; Ed Coyne, $3,897 and Moussa Haddad, $3,897.

The bounty tournament on April 4 ended in a six-way chop with John Hauser, Timothy Miksonsky, Aaron Valencia, Quezon Raguindin, Matthew Diethelm and Jack Talbot taking home $2,543 each.

There were a whopping 476 entries for the $160 end-of-the-month event for April. Linda Lesterson won the champion’s crown to walk away with $6,492. The other top-five finishers included Jarret McMillan, $6,100; John Han, $5,300; Justin King, $5K and Steven Johnson, $3,823.

The April 20 Getaway Classic had three events, which cost $200, almost had 500 entries (496) as Talking Stick added $20K to the prize pool to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The final 10 players chopped for $7,201 each.

Congrats to Jesus Ortega, Sergio Segura, Craig Gacom, Charles Russo, Jeremiah Dibble, Thad Lane, Fred Chavez, Kevin Van Kolen, Courtney Guinn and Shawn Sandt.

The $300 Saturday event (April 21) had an impressive 310 players for a nearly $85K prize pool. A deal among the final three players netted Randy Toogood, Michael Corson and Alan Krockey $13,399 each. Tirza Sanders took fourth for $6,340 and Christopher Schinker rounded out the top five for $5,072.

The final tourney of the weekend was a $300 buy-in with $100 bounties. David Cameron took top honors ($7,222). Schinker had another nice finish and earned $6,222 for second. Elijah Ruffin and Surya Ramjali each scored $5,222 and the fifth-place finisher Alex Abariotes earned $2,604.

Circle Aug. 10-14 on your calendars for the 14th annual Arizona State Poker Championship. It’s the state’s largest event and it’s just around the corner.

HON-DAH CASINO RESORT: Congratulations to Jock Phillips, who won the most recent Tournament of Champions.

On June 11, Hon-Dah hosts a satellite to the Arizona State Poker Championship, which will be at Talking Stick Resort.

On June 29, the annual Tag Team Tournament costs $120 as one player from each team plays hold’em, and the other plays Omaha/8.

GILA RIVER WILD HORSE PASS: Tournaments run Sundays at 3:30 p.m. with a $50 buy-in, Mondays and Thursdays at noon for $40, Tuesdays at 7:30 for $90 and Wednesdays at 7:30 for $50.

June 23 is the Super Bonus High Hand (11 a.m.-10 p.m.), awarding the top-five high hands each half-hour with $100.

New Mexico

The $235 annual Lucky Dog Deepstack at Sandia Resort and Casino ran March 18 and had 153 entries as Luc Huynh and Eric Alvarado, both from Albuquerque, chopped for $7,265 each. Huynh, a.k.a. Walking Daniel, was elated to take down the tournament despite considering himself more of an Omaha player.  

“It’s great to win some Texas Hold’em money for us Omaha players,” Huynh said after the victory.

BUFFALO THUNDER RESORT: The next $330 tournament will be June 9 at 1 p.m. The last one drew 64 players for a nearly $20K prize pool and the winner pocketed $6,144.

ISLETA CASINO: The Spring Poker Classic, which had $3K added to the prize pool, ran April 6-8, attracting 50 players. Randy Powers won the title and $6,258 from the nearly $18K prize pool.  

The $160 July Classic will be July 27-28 at 2 p.m. as $1,500 will be added to the prize pool. Players also have an opportunity to win a seat by playing in the weekly Saturday night
$50 tournament. 

INN OF THE MOUNTAIN GODS: The Test Your Might hold’em tourney is June 17. See the ad at the left for more information.

ROUTE 66 CASINO: Daily $28 tournaments with a $5 add-on run at noon, 3 and 7. The events on Monday, Wednesday and Friday pay bounties. There’s also a tournament bad-beat jackpot for all events.  

The player-of-the-year promotion focuses on performance in tourneys throughout the year at Route 66. The room dedicates about $5K to the top qualifiers and hosts a freeroll for the top 50 players. And don’t forget about Aces Cracked, which pays $50 for same-color pocket aces losing and $25 for mixed aces.

Oklahoma-Kansas

HARRAH’S NORTH KANSAS CITY: The RunGood Poker Series ran May 1-6. The $130 event drew 232 entries and resulted in five-way chop for $3,395 apiece as Bridgette Adkins won. Results of remaining events weren’t available at press time and will be reported in the next issue.

DOWNSTREAM CASINO: The RunGood Poker Series ran April 10-15 and Grant Hinkle captured the $560 main event for $28,360. Winners of other events were Frederick Roll (RG bounty); Donald Pfeifer (deepstack); Askia Ingram (pot-limit Omaha) and Chris Baumhoer (bounty).

June 21-23 and June 28-July 1 is the Four States Poker Championships. The schedule is made up of NLHE events ranging with buy-ins of $75-$340. Players will find deepstack, six-max and “straddleganza” events along with the top buy-in, two-day main event. Event guarantees total $77,500. The room’s Mega Bad Beat (quads) was $275K-plus at press time.

HARD ROCK CASINO: The World Series of Poker Circuit returned March 15-26. The $1,675 main event had 721 entries as Johnathan Poche earned the win and $216,307. It was his second ring.

Another big winner was Yordanos “Yoyo” Mebrahtu. She came out on top of field of 1,458 entries to win Event 2 for $75,454. Other winners were Charles Pettit (Seniors I); Nick Koliastasis (Event 3); Josef Tittjung (Event 4); Askia Ingram (Event 5, black-chip bounty); Shawn Sparks (Event 6); John Richards (Event 7, PLO); Kevin Eyster (Event 8, six-max); Marsha Adams (ladies); Rodney Spriggs (Event 10); Tommy Duncan (Seniors II); Shane Ogburn (Event 11) and Blair Hinkle (Event 12, high roller).  

AMERISTAR CASINO: The HPT returns July 20-30. Players can book rooms using the code AKCHPT. Book online or at 816-414-7000 to lock up $99 room rates Sunday-Thursday and $159 Friday and Saturday.   

RIVERSPIRIT CASINO: Aug. 9-12 will find the Senior Poker Tour making a stop here with the eight-event Sooner State Senior Championship. There will be $55 mega-satellites for the two-flight, two-day, $350 main event. Non-satellite events are $130 and will include a bounty event, juniors vs. seniors and a standard NLHE event to kick off things. Call for more info.

CHEROKEE CASINO WEST SILOAM SPRINGS: The annual Cherokee Poker Classic ran April 27-May 6. Randy Dozier won the first event for $2,778 and four people chopped the second with Caleb Lee being awarded the win. Remaining events will be reported in the next issue as the series still was running at press time.  

RIVERWIND CASINO: Promotions continue to be $50 high hands on Mondays, $2-$5 splash Tuesdays, $50 hot seat Wednesdays and $2-$5 hot seat Thursdays. Events include $40 rebuys Wednesday-Sunday and $115 deepstacks Sundays. Players need to remember tournaments are capped at the first 90 players.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO KANSAS SPEEDWAY: The quarterly $35K freeroll qualification period runs through June 30. Guaranteeing $10K for first, the next freeroll is July 14.

KANSAS STAR CASINO: The quarterly $10K freeroll qualification period runs through June 30. The tournament will be July 7 and 40 players are eligible to play through the accumulation of tournament points.

CHOCTAW CASINO: The CPPT ran April 5-23 as Brad Freeman overcame a field of nearly 1,100 to win the $1,100 main event for $170,984. Other winners included Shawn Rice (Congress); Mercedes Salmassian, (HORSE); James Copeland (triple-draw); Ammar Barakat (PLO); Matt Hine (NLHE).

Colorado

BLACK HAWK: The HPT returns July 11-23 at Golden Gates. … At Ameristar, a mini bad beat and high hands are coming soon. Also, four hours of play in one day qualifies you for a rate at the hotel. 

CRIPPLE CREEK: The Colorado State Poker Championship at Midnight Rose ran April 15-29. The main event went to Robert Roybal, who won $7K. Shane Murphy was runner-up ($5.3K). This year, the series added a women’s event, which drew nearly 60 entries and chopped five ways. Don’t miss the Meganormous Deepstack offered on select Sundays with 50K chips for $120. And play four hours of live action to earn a free room Monday-Thursday. 

EL PASO COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS: The seventh annual Texas Hold’em poker tournament, which has no buy-in and is a $500 freeroll, is July 16. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. and cards are in the air at 6:30. The first 70 players registered will be seated. First place pays $300, followed by $150 and $50. All three players will also get a free subscription to Ante Up. The address is El Paso County Fairgrounds, Dance Tent, 366 10th St., Calhan, Colo. Call 719-520-6996 for more info.

Meet Jacqueline Pennington

There’s a great lady who’s almost always in a poker room somewhere in New Mexico. She’s a great ambassador of the game and plays with no mercy. Her name is Jacqueline Pennington and she hails from Albuquerque.

She has played poker for 15 years, cutting her teeth in games while in the military on deployment. She started playing tournaments about years ago.

“I like hold’em and pineapple, which is more strategic because more cards are in play,” she said.

Her playing style has evolved over the years.

“I’m learning to be more patient; players that are short-stacked will push more and that’s when you need to fold because you are reacting to them,” she said.

She prefers tournaments over cash games.

“I think you have a fairer playing field with everyone starting with the same amount of chips. Cash games can be exciting, but if you run into someone with deep pockets who are always ‘buying the pot,’ you’ll lose eventually.”

Her biggest win was at WinStar in Oklahoma, where she took 11 bounties for $100 each, as well as first place. She’s also a consistent winner at her local casino, Isleta, where she regularly cashes in the weekly Saturday tournaments.

So, what advice does she have for newbies?

“Watch the people at your table, sit back and play your blinds until you feel comfortable. Test the waters.

“Some players will call anything so you need to weed them out. Don’t go all-in until you understand the game. Most of all, have fun.”

— Donovan Livingston

The eighth edition of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown wrapped up April 19 as the Scott Margereson got his name on the WPT Champions Cup for the first time, collecting nearly $697K.

He defeated 1,308 opponents over the course of five days, finishing off a tough final table after a lengthy three-hour heads-up struggle with Faraz Jaka, who won $454K-plus. Two-time WSOP bracelet-winner Brian Hastings finished third, while Joey Couden, Matt Stout and Jeff Fielder rounded out the TV final table.

Margereson, a well-known online U.K. player who lives in Mexico, also took home a $15K seat in the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. The field competed in the resort’s new Hard Rock Events Center and was the fifth largest in WPT history, pushing the prize pool to nearly $4.2M.

Tournament director Tony Burns was pleased with the turnout, despite direct competition from the Live Millions tournament in Barcelona.

“With the new venue, we really didn’t know what to expect, but the opening event, with its million-dollar guarantee, drew 3,030 players and the top four players took home six-figure scores. … The $1,100 WPT DeepStacks event, which we absorbed after the original was canceled by Hurricane Irma in our Immokalee facility last September, drew more than 800 players and then we slid into our main event with 1,309 entries, which surpassed last year’s main by over 100 players.”
The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open will be Aug. 2-14.

ISLE CASINO: The Full House Promotion started in May and is offered Thursday and Friday 7-10 p.m. The promotion is open-ended and may run throughout June. Up to 30 full houses are awarded each night and prizes vary with different categories. For example, in $1-$2 games, 10 winners receive $50 for any full house, 10 more can win $100 for better hands featuring 10s full through kings full, and an additional 10 can add $200 to their stack for an aces-full hand. The largest prize is $400 for an aces-full at a $5-$10 table. Players must use both hole cards to qualify.

The Pompano Beach cardroom has two big tournaments each month, one with a $200K guarantee for a $1,100 buy-in and another with a $175 buy-in featuring a $100K guarantee. Ben Lindemulder of Pompano Beach won April’s $1,100 Single Ante title over a tough final table, collecting $56K-plus. Previous Isle champs Uri Kadosh and Darryl Jace finished in the money along with former November Niner Neil Blumenfield.

May’s $175 event finished May 6 in a six-way chop, headed by Stephen Ibrahim of Ft. Myers, who collected the largest payoff of $16,170.

PBKC: High-hand mania has been a big part of the poker scene in South Florida for a long time and it can be difficult to keep up with who is giving away at a certain time and on a certain day. Palm Beach Kennel Club has upped the ante a bit by having high hands awarded three times an hour from noon to 10 p.m.: $200 at 20 minutes after, another $200 at 40 minutes and $400 at the top of each hour. Then, on Fridays and Saturdays on an identical schedule, those awards are doubled, meaning you have the possibility of winning $800 with a high hand in the last 20 minutes of each hour 10 times each day.

Central Florida

The Silks Poker Room at Tampa Bay Downs is gearing up for its popular Summer Series, welcoming the WSOP players back to town.

Beginning July 12 and culminating July 22 with the main event’s final day, this series will boast $200K-plus in guarantees, including $125K for the $400 main event. Some highlights of the series: a $50K guarantee kickoff event for $175 with Day 2 on July 15; a $160 seniors event July 17 at 1 p.m.; a charity tourney with dinner to benefit the Jesse Heikkila Foundation on July 17; a $230 bounty event with $100 knockouts July 18 at 6 p.m. and several satellites throughout the series (last chance July 19).

The will have five Day 1s (July 19 at 6, two flights at 1 and 6 p.m. on July 20 and 21). Players start with 25K units and blinds on Day 1 are 30 minutes and 40 minutes on Day 2. 

OCALA GAINESVILLE POKER: The Reddick room began its OGP League on May 10. The season runs for 12 weeks and points are awarded for all kinds of accomplishments. The $65 buy-in starts at 7 p.m. and rebuys are allowed until the end of the first break. Call 352-591-2345 for details.

HELPING OUT: Those who are familiar with the Tampa poker scene know the dealers in the area are so personable. Those who play daily find their favorites and two of those dealers are Stephanie Durczak-Behanic and Debbie Ulm. Sadly, these two fine dealers recently were diagnosed with cancer. So some local dealers from Derby Lane in St. Petersburg organized an event at TGT Poker in Tampa to help with their medical bills and other expenses. The reaction was better than expected as more than 100 entrants in the tournament raised nearly $3K.

North Florida

North Florida was home to two widely attended tournament series in late April. Here’s a look at those fine events.

BESTBET JACKSONVILLE: Benjamin Diebold, 24, collected $75,655 and the CPPT title in the $1,100 championship main event. Diebold, of Charleston, S.C., defeated runner-up Phillip Pompper ($53K) to take the title. Diebold is a PLO cash-game specialist but plans to play more tournaments as a result of this impressive win. There were 373 players entered and created a prize pool of $361,810.

The other 12 events in the series drew 1,478 entries and awarded nearly $500K.

In June, bestbetjax will host a $100K guarantee for $360 (June 22-24) with two flights Friday and two Saturday and the final on Sunday.

Also, see the ad in this issue to learn about bestbet Live, which streams live cash games at bestbet Jacksonville.

EBRO GREYHOUND PARK: Jayson Lee won the Emerald Coast Spring Classic Main Event after a four-way chop, topping a field of 362. The top four each took home $12K out of prize pool of $90,500 and played it out for the remaining $2,772 and the bracelet. In the end, Lee beat Heather Mae of Destin, Fla. Lee also won a bracelet for overall series MVP as he made three final tables out of seven events.

The other six events drew 639 entries and included an Ebro-record 242 players for Event 2, as $81,350 was awarded in all events along with bracelets for each champion.

In other tourney news, a four-flight $300 megastack runs June 6-10 and a $10K guarantee with a $120 buy-in is June 22.
Royal flush and bad-beat jackpots are in play each day at the cash tables. Find tournament and cash-game calendars at
goebro.com.

BESTBET ORANGE PARK: The April deepstack went to Paul Petraglia of Jacksonville, outlasting 200 others and taking home $5,199. Payouts went to the top 30 spots from a prize pool of $32K.
Cash-game promos this month include $300 high hands noon-midnight every Thursday.

ORANGE CITY RACING AND CARD CLUB: In addition to the Monday and Tuesday weekly tournaments, Orange City is awarding some aggressive high-hand bonuses in June, such as $500 high hands every 20 minutes Fridays noon-2 a.m., $1K half-hour high hands on selected Saturdays and a $3K high-hand champion June 2-30. See orangecitypoker.com for further info.

PENSACOLA GREYHOUND TRACK: Ned Griffis won April’s $20K championship. Griffis, a frequent winner at Pensacola, won $3,570 in a tourney that paid 15 spots. The June tournament is a $50K that begins with four Day 1 flights, June 27-30 at 1 p.m. each day. Day 2 will be July 1.

CREEK GRETNA: Scott Hermance won the April $10K for $3,933. The next $10K is June 16 at 1 p.m. Satellites are available multiple times throughout the month. A $5K, $120 buy-in is June 29 at 7. Full-house promos and high hands are in play every day at Gretna. See creekentertainment.com f or dates and times.

DAYTONA BEACH RACING AND CARD CLUB: Tournaments and high hands in cash games are incentives to play here, but don’t forget the property will be celebrating its 70th birthday with promos in July.

Louisiana

COUSHATTA CASINO: There are a ton of promos at the Kinder property, including a mini-bad-beat jackpot, splash pots, Aces Cracked, Kings Cracked and Sets Cracked. Call the poker room for days and hours of these and other promotions.

GOLDEN NUGGET LAKE CHARLES: The bad-beat jackpot was approaching $130K at press time. 

BOOMTOWN CASINO NEW ORLEANS: The bad-beat jackpot was near $130K at press time. Also, ask about Faces Cracked for $25 and splash pots.  

L’AUBERGE CASINO RESORT LAKE CHARLES: Any quads beat Monday-Friday (5 a.m.-5 p.m.) gets you $500. Straight flushes pay $100 and royals earn $200 as both hole cards must play, and ask about high-hand Fridays.

HORSESHOE BOSSIER CITY: The bad-beat jackpot was $150K at press time. Also, look for a mini-bad beat, Aces Cracked and daily high hands.

ISLE LAKE CHARLES: Wednesday is Fun Flop where if you flop an ace-high flush with the ace in your hand you win $500.

North Carolina

Dylan Wilkerson of San Francisco won his second World Series of Poker Circuit main-event ring, this time in the $1,675 tourney at Harrah’s Cherokee for $294,152.

Wilkerson’s win came after a lengthy heads-up duel against veteran pro Erick Lindgren, who put in a surprise appearance. Wilkerson began heads-up action against Lindgren with a 4-to-1 edge in chips, then watched as Lindgren dominated the early stages to take an 8-to-1 lead.

Wilkerson fought back to grab the lead and his pocket kings dealt a cooler to Lindgren’s pocket queens on the final hand. Lindgren earned $181,864 for second.

“I feel relieved,” Wilkerson said. “I had such a big lead when we started heads-up and I pretty much blew it as bad as you can. But I came back and won. So I feel pretty good. … Nothing went my way (early on against Lindgren), and I probably didn’t play very well. Those things happen and you usually don’t get the chance to come back.”
Finishing in third and fourth, respectively, were Daniel Wagner of West Seneca, N.Y., and Howard Setzer of Concord, N.H. Wagner earned $135,150 and Setzer collected $101,601.

Event 5 winner Steven Snyder, of Huntersville, N.C., earned the Casino Championship title after finishing runner-up in Event 9 and adding a third cash later.

Missouri

AMERISTAR ST. CHARLES: Greg Radosh is $99,612 richer after winning his second Heartland Poker Tour Main Event, joining a short list of players with multiple HPT titles, including Greg Raymer, Aaron Massey and HPT’s all-time leading money winner, Craig Casino. It’s the second-largest cash of his career; his biggest was two years ago when he took home $113K for winning the same HPT main event. He also dealt the same final table in 2015, which means Radosh has sat at the final table of this event three out of the past four years.

Mike Esquivel came to the final table as chipleader and had been responsible for knocking out everyone save for third-place finisher Neil Patel ($42,660). But Radosh led by six big blinds after busting Patel. He owned the heads-ups play, scooping pot after pot until he had amassed almost 80 percent of the chips.

Esquivel finally got it all-in with top pair and a backdoor flush draw, Radosh rivered a straight, sending Esquivel home with $63,666, his biggest tournament score.

One of the players Esquivel eliminated at the final was John Richards, who finished eighth for $12,560. A week later, he finished 47th out of 1,954 in the Party Poker Millions Main Event in Canada for another $13,667. Before travelling to Canada, he cashed in three events at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Fla., including fourth in the $1,650 bounty event ($9,067) and 130th in the $3,500 WPT Showdown Championship ($6,380).

Mississippi

If you avoided the desert and are looking for some cool cash promos, Biloxi is a great place for a summer vacation.

GOLDEN NUGGET: Earn $2 an hour in cash comps. If you play three consecutive hours, you’ll get a free breakfast or lunch buffet. Every day of the week there’s an Aces Cracked Splash the Pot bonus ($25 added to the next hand). Tuesday-Thursday and Friday and Saturday, any player who makes a five-card flush on the flop using both hole cards could be eligible to spin the wheel for cash.

On Wednesday, the top half of each hour one table and seat will be drawn for a chance to spin the wheel for cash. 
Daily (10 a.m.-noon), enjoy $100 an hour for the Early Bird High Hand of the Hour promotion.

If you’re playing Omaha and you start out with four wheel cards in your hand and don’t receive any portion of the pot, you get $100.

For more information, visit goldennugget.com/biloxi  or stop by the poker room for a flyer.

IP: On Tuesdays and Thursdays, if you’re dealt pocket queens and lose, you receive $100 ($150 if they are red and $200 if they are black). On Wednesdays, take advantage of the “Jacks Can’t Lose” promotion. If you get pocket jacks and win the hand, you get $75. If you lose, you get $150.

On Friday, if your aces get beat, you get $100 ($150 if they’re red and $200 if they’re black). 

On Tuesdays, the IP has an “Aces or Faces” promotion where the floor supervisor will draw a card (either aces or a face card) at the top of each hour and for that hour if you’re dealt a pocket pair of the pre-selected card and they don’t win the pot, you win $100. You’ll be paid $200 if your cards are the same color. 

All of these promotions and more have specific times and pot minimums to be eligible (usually $30). To check out the details, please visit ipbiloxi.com or stop by the poker room for additional information.

PEARL RIVER RESORT: The Choctaw, Miss., property hosts a $50K guarantee for $160 June 7-10. This event runs monthly so see the ad on Page 23 for future dates. For poker-rated hotel rooms, call 601-663-1040. S

Meet Chrissy Holubeck

Chrissy Holubeck started playing home games with friends about eight years ago. 

“About five years ago, a friend of mine had a friend visiting from New York who played poker professionally and suggested we go to Derby Lane to play their tournament,” she said. “My hopes were to watch the pro win and learn something.”

Well, Holubeck ended up winning, beating 150 players, and she was hooked immediately. She’s drawn to the competition and mind-set that you must outlast all opponents to win.

“Tournaments are much more appealing to me than cash games for this reason,” she said.

Her greatest accomplishment came in her first World Series multiday tournament. Out of a field of 2,600-plus players, she finished 34th.
And what’s Holubeck’s advice for balancing poker and life? Make a schedule and stick to it.

“Mark your calendar with the events you want to play and mark your calendar with fun stuff to do with your family and friends,” she said. “You won’t regret it and you will appreciate and enjoy your life and poker even more.”

Her advice for the average poker player would be to pay attention to your position and play it accordingly.

“Playing too many hands out of position will just cause you to lose chips more quickly,” she said. “If you play your position properly, pay attention to the other players and be patient; you will be more successful.” — Sara Malowitz

Mike Jukich wasn’t going to come play in the Horseshoe Baltimore World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event, but he changed his mind and took it down in late April, locking up $165,438, his first WSOPC ring and a seat in the Global Casino Championship.

“It was last-minute that I even decided to come,” Jukich said. “I was playing in my home game, back in Lynchburg, Va., and I got the OK to come up here and play. They were going to take action on me. They believed in me and I was pretty confident in myself.”

But it wasn’t a smooth ride for Jukich. On Day 1, he was down to 10 big blinds early. He then found some help from someone else who would make the final table, Chris Caruso.

“I want to say I got off to a good start, but I hit some bumps in the road,” Jukich said. “Then I doubled up and I doubled up again. (Caruso) doubled me up twice. We were joking that I owe it to him that I’m still around in the tournament.”

Jukich stayed out of trouble at the final table as players fell quickly Caruso went out sixth, his A-5 losing to James St. Hilaire’s A-J. Jukich didn’t eliminate anyone at the final table until the final, knocking out St. Hilaire with A-J vs. 9-10 and beat Jeremy Stein in a coinflip situation for the win.

With that, his rail came running down from the audience to congratulate him, including pro Alex Rocha, to whom Jukich attributes a lot of his success.

“He helps (my game) a lot, man,” Jukich said. “A lot of credit to him, too. He, Asher Coniff, Joe Liberta. They are like my main guys that I talk a lot of poker with. They’ve kind taken me under their wing and showed me a ton about poker. I look up to them.”

Jukich said the victory was surprisingly important to him. “They’ll think it’s kind of silly, but it did mean a lot to me to actually win one,” he said. “I like that kind of stuff, like trophies. It’s really cool, even if it’s just the sentimental value.” But it’s definitely about more than just the trophies for Jukich. He has a fiancée and a 2-year old son named Ryker. “That’s who I do this for.”

Another victory of note, Bradley Yazici topped a huge field of 1,232 to win Event 2 and $65K-plus. Yazici usually is a cash-game grinder, playing $5-$10 or $10-$25 around Baltimore. On the rail, his friends joked with him about winning the one tournament he’s played in the past eight months.

MGM NATIONAL HARBOR: The poker room will be moving in to a larger, self-contained room in a few months. It also is running some interesting big games: $60-$120 limit runs at least three days a week and a $10-$25 Big O spreads regularly. There is a $4-$8 Omaha/8 game running from time to time, but just about all Omaha games are Big O here.

DOVER DOWNS HOTEL & CASINO: Three hold’em tournaments, including one with a $25K guarantee, will be featured over the weekend of June 22-24. The tournament schedule includes: June 22, 11:15 a.m., $5K guarantee ($65, 20-minute blinds), June 23, 11:15 a.m., $25K guarantee ($200, 30-minute blinds) and June 24, 11:15 a.m., $2K guarantee ($35, 15-minute blinds).

Connecticut

FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO: The Mashantucket property hosts WSOP satellites until June 10. At 2 p.m. that day, there’s a $1,100 qualifier that allows re-entries and guarantees five seats to the $10K WSOP main event. One in 12 wins a seat plus $2K for expenses. Also, the Summer Kickoff runs June 23-July 4.

MOHEGAN SUN: The Uncasville poker room continues to host its Best-of-the-Best $10K guarantee tournament promotion. If you’re one of the top 150 players with the most tourney points then you’ll be invited to the last Tuesday of the following qualifying month for the event at 6 p.m. Call the room for details.

New York

There was plenty of competition in the $250 Spring Fling at Turning Stone in Verona, N.Y., but in the end, Robert Bourkney was the only player left.  

A resident of North Collins, N.Y., Bourkney outlasted 357 opponents to win $17,289. Marek Rozwood, who was second, got $10,946, while Joseph Pietrafesa (third) earned $7,330. The prize pool was $75,180 as Richard Bentley earned $5,112 for fourth.

Steven Knapp won the $225 deepstack bounty and Gary Fritz was second. 

RIVERS CASINO: Deborah Holmstedt topped the field to win the $570 Monster Stack in Schenectady, N.Y. She earned $39,727 from the $168,500 after beating nearly 340 players.

Gilberto Tavaras-Garcia banked $25,241 for second and Brian Ballentine (third) took away $16,446. 
Michio Cohen was fourth ($12,014) and Aidan Hite was fifth ($8,998). 

SENECA PROPERTIES: At press time, Niagara’s hold’em bad-beat jackpot was near $100K. The property also has jackpots in stud and Omaha. Seneca Salamanca also has bad-beat jackpot in hold’em, stud and Omaha. Also, every Friday and Saturday, Seneca Salamanca features the mini-bad-beat jackpot where the losing player gets $1K, the winner gets $500 and the rest of the table splits $500. Call for details. 

DEL LAGO RESORT CASINO: At press time, the bad-beat jackpot was approaching $260K. 

Atlantic City-Philadelphia

SANDS BETHLEHEM: Tournaments run every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. There’s a $400 deepstack black-chip bounty June 10 at 11:15 a.m. and a $325 deepstack June 29 at 11:15 a.m. Sands also will have a $125 PLO bounty tournament June 7 and June 21 at 7:15 p.m.

BORGATA: Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic has been playing professionally only for about 18 months. Before that, he was a criminal-justice student at the University of Washington. Given the results he’s posted over that period of time, he’s going to do well in his new profession. His nice streak culminated by taking down the Spring Poker Open main event for $246,066 and his first BPO trophy.

This event always draws big names. Among the many Borgata regulars and pros cashing were Ralph Massey (15th), Steve Dannenmann (17th), 2017 BPO champion Guo Liang Chen (19th), Ted Forrest (20th), 2017 BPO runner-up Greg Weber (25th), Matt Glantz (26th) and final-table live-stream commentator Ricky Guan (28th).

The two most accomplished players at this final table also happened to be Day 2 entrants. Both skipped the first eight levels of play and were heads-up for this title. There series lasted
18 days, awarding 19 trophies and more than $4.6M.

The $1M guarantee main event drew 519 entrants, covering its guarantee by paying more than $1.25M. Farid Jattin held the lead for all of Day 3 and a couple of hours into the final table before Imsirovic picked off a turn semibluff shove to double-up and claim the lead, which he held until the end.

Meet Will Failla

Ante Up recently caught up with New York pro Will Failla, who has more than $5.5M in career tournament earnings.

What have you been up to lately, in terms of poker? Since Jan. 1, up until April, I played in 19 tournaments and I cashed
16 times.

What’s your schedule like throughout the year? Are there any tournaments you regularly attend? My schedule usually consists of Barcelona, the Borgata, Montreal and the WSOP.

Do you have any thoughts on the many transitions of poker over time? As the money dried up, the fields got smaller and tougher over the years. Re-entries have taken over the tournament industry and I had to adapt. It sucks, but it was inevitable.

Which tournament means the most to you? The WSOP main event is always No. 1. ​My heart is the Borgata. It’s my home turf and I’m very successful there. — Jo Kim

Aaron Johnson of Red Wing, Minn., won the Mid-States Poker Tour regional at Grand Falls Casino in Larchwood, Iowa. He topped the $350 main event, which drew 358 entrants, and he took home a $21,268 payday. Johnson has been having a great season with a fourth and a second in other events. This put him at the top of the player-of-the-year race and helps him extend his lead.

The runner-up spot fell to local player Matthew Breck and the $17,500 consolation prize when Breck pushed all his chips in preflop with Q-6 and ran into A-8. Breck failed to hit the board and Johnson won the title.

PRAIRIE MEADOWS CASINO: The property’s final WSOP main-event satellite will be June 10 at noon. The buy-in is $200 and the top prize is a $12K package that includes entry into the most coveted event in poker and $2K for expenses. Also noteworthy: The bad-beat jackpot nearly reached $150K at press time.

DIAMOND JO CASINO: The Worth poker room’s bad-beat jackpot was on track to break $190K as Ante Up went to press.

HORSESHOE COUNCIL BLUFFS: June 11 at 6:30 p.m. and June 30 at 10 a.m. will be $85 tourneys with $20 rebuys. The cheap rebuy is sure to create exciting action in the early part of these tournaments.

RIVERSIDE CASINO: The remodeled poker room should be open by the time you’re reading this issue.

Minnesota

CANTERBURY PARK: Robbie Wazwaz of Minneapolis won the record-breaking MSPT main event in Shakopee. It drew 526 entries, which was the largest in Minnesota history for an event with a $1K-plus buy-in. Wazwaz took home $109,375 of the $508,720 prize pool, bringing his Hendon Mob career earnings to $1.26M. He entered heads-up play against Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Blake Bohn with almost an 8-to-1 lead. It didn’t take long for Wazwaz to emerge victorious and lock up his first MSPT win after nine final tables.

“My favorite tournament I’ve ever won is this one right now, best honor ever,” Wazwaz said. “Being 0-8 on the MSPT, knowing I didn’t play the ones right back then, that I wasn’t as good back then, I should’ve done better.”

He continued: “The cards I picked up were amazing, obviously I ran really hot, but I really tried hard to win this one because I couldn’t stand that I’d never won an MSPT; I just couldn’t stand it. I had to add it to my résumé. I felt it was incomplete, all the MSPT I had played without winning.”

RUNNING ACES: Wazwaz also earned $32,268 for winning the Spring Classic main event, which had a $500 buy-in, drew 264 players and generated a $115,236 prize pool. Wazwaz started Day 2 with 96,100 chips giving him the largest stack of the 75 returning players. This win combined with the MSPT win means Wazwaz swept both major events for the month of April in Minnesota.

Michigan

FIREKEEPERS CASINO: The poker room hosted the MSPT in May but still was running at press time. The results will be available in a future issue. The MSPT returns to Battle Creek in October for the Michigan State Poker Championship. On July 29 at 10 a.m., the poker room hosts its special Fifth Sunday $500 tournament. See the poker room for details.

MGM DETROIT: The poker room hosts two bounty events each week. A $220 tourney on Saturdays at 2 and a $120 event on Sundays at 2. Until June 29th, the poker room has $50 splash pots every half-hour, Monday-Friday 5 a.m.-4:30 a.m.

GREEKTOWN: The poker room is giving away $75 through drawings every half-hour on Tuesdays and Fridays. Earn an entry for every live hour played throughout the week. You must be present to win; if the prize is unclaimed, it rolls over to the next half-hour.

MOTOR CITY:  The poker room has removed the small bad-beat jackpot and has replaced it with smaller promotions. A royal flush pays a progressive jackpot and high hands run throughout the week. See the poker room for details.
At 7 p.m. on Thursdays, there’s a $100 tournament; Sundays at 1 is a $150 tournament. Both tournaments have a $5K guarantee, 20-minute levels and are limited to the first 100 players. Registration begins 90 minutes before the tournament. Motor City’s bad-beat jackpot (quads) was $750K at press time.

Chicagoland

BLUE CHIP: The bad-beat jackpot recently hit for $104K. Qualifier is (quad deuces). Food is allowed at the tables. Call the poker room for details. 

GRAND VICTORIA: The bad-beat jackpot (aces over queens) was $64K at press time and when it reaches $70K, the casino adds another $20K.

HOLLYWOOD AURORA: The $100K guarantee HCA Classic will be July 29. Players can buy-in for $700, play cash games for 15 hours or play in a Sunday qualifying tournament where the top five advance. The bad-beat jackpot was $155K (quad fives) at press time.

Ohio-Western Pennsylvania

HOLLYWOOD CASINO COLUMBUS: The Hollywood Poker Open series ran until May 6 and featured $500K in guarantees. The $550 main event has a $250K guarantee. When the dust settled, it was Curtis King of Charleston, W.Va., who took it down for $51,228.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO TOLEDO: The Great Lakes Poker Open tournament series ran May 17-28, just after press time, so look for a recap in next month’s issue.

PRESQUE ISLE DOWNS AND CASINO: The Erie, Pa., room has been making a bit of a comeback in recent weeks, drawing more poker players. A recent Friday night visit found five tables running, thanks in part to the tournament schedule. If you’re in the area and have not been to the poker room lately, it might be time to make a return visit. Tournament details and the full promotional schedule are available on the Bravo Poker app.

Wisconsin

MSPT WINNER: In early April, East Coast pro Greg Himmelbrand traveled to Milwaukee and topped a field of 635 entries to win the MSPT Potawatomi main event for $125,958 and his second title. He became the 10th player to win multiple MSPT titles.

“I heard Milwaukee was a cool city so I wanted to check it out,” he said. “The tour is run really well. I like how interactive everyone is, so I love to come out and play when I can. With the big prize pools, I’m always down.”

NEW ROOM: Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells shuttered its traditional poker room but has announced plans to open a new room with 10 electronic jackpot-blitz tables.

“We looked at a few poker systems that replicate online and actual live poker,” executive GM Casey Fitzpatrick said. “The benefits of electronic poker are less mistakes and increased play of hands. This means higher revenue without the added labor costs.”

MILWAUKEE TOURNAMENTS: Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Hotel & Casino has added new weekly tournaments. There will be an $80 re-entry every Tuesday at 6 p.m., $125 re-entry bounty every Thursday at 6 p.m. and $150 re-entry every Sunday at noon. The fourth Sunday of every month will see that buy-in increase to $300.

Meet Scott Sitron

Ninth on Wisconsin’s all-time money list with $974,690, Glendale’s Scott Sitron is a working man and married father of two who spent 2005-14 as a pro poker player.

In 2008, he nearly won a World Series of Poker bracelet when he finished runner-up in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event for a career-high $385,974. The next year, he made a deep run in the WSOP main event, finishing 32nd for $253,941. It also was in 2009 that Sitron finished as the 19th ranked player on PokerStars.

In 2011, he was back at a WSOP final table when he finished fifth out of 2,857 players in a $1,500 event for $156,090. Other highlights include 42nd in a 2012 WSOP $3K event for $15,679, fifth in a 2008 WSOPC Tunica event for $14,929 and in February he won a $150 doublestack at Minnesota’s Running Aces for $3,698.

His most recent highlight was 13th place for $6,105 in April’s MSPT Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn.

He plays poker when he can, but the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate serves as a certified support planner near the Twin Cities as an independent contractor. You can follow him on Twitter @lcallseat3. — Chad Holloway

Poker is a competition. It’s not a zero-sum game. There are winners and losers. Like any competition or completive job, preparation is essential. Playing poker for fun or profit is a fast-paced, multiple-decision-making endeavor. It’s almost nonstop gathering of information. Players who take the game seriously are as intent on observation when not in a hand as when they are playing.

The old image of a poker player eating fried foods and drinking constantly is losing favor.

First, a serious player has to be fit and have stamina. Some tournaments require 10 or more hours of concentration and patience.

Try to eat healthy; be mindful of diet; understand spikes in insulin and sugar crashes. 

Exercise, take breaks at the table, don’t confine yourself to sitting for hours without a stretch. These are issues of self-care. They also avoid burnout.

Use headphones to block out annoying players but don’t get distracted to the point where it could cost you a hand or two.

I see many people watching movies on tablets and other devices while playing. When I ask them, they say the game doesn’t need that much attention, that after they see their hole cards then know exactly how everything will play out. Sometimes they are good players. So, whatever works, but don’t fool yourself. I think some of them are fooling themselves. 

As a culture, we have fallen prey to multitasking. Something as easy and seemingly unimportant is wearing layered comfortable clothes, particularly in a tournament, can mean increasing attention and concentration. A player who thinks about comfort and how to manage it is a person who’s taking the fun-profit continuum seriously. One doesn’t have to be fanatic, but this certain is an easy idea.

After that, it gets harder and requires some effort on your part. Learn to feel confident even in defeat, but don’t get arrogant.

Be prepared to deal with setbacks: Focus; be patient and follow your strategy. Set realistic goals, use positive self-talk and use the peak-performance skills you have practiced before getting to the table.

Don’t come to the table after a major personal crisis. This is not the place to work out your issues. This is a place to have fun and make some money.

And, as always, keep your head in the game.

— Dr. Stephen Bloomfield is a licensed psychologist and avid poker player. Email him at editor@anteupmagazine.com.

I had an 11-hour session recently where I started out stuck and spent the rest of the session trying to claw my way back into the black. When I got close to even, I decided to play one last hand if I was dealt anything close to acceptable starting cards.

As it turns out, I played middle suited cards, rivered a flush and walked away with $203 more than I had that morning. I spent the next 20 minutes congratulating myself on my smart decision to play the final hand, and, of course, on winning. Anyone see a problem here?

I hope you do. Just about everything that happened after I decided to play that last hand was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. And I’m more than a little ashamed. I expect more from myself.

You need to be analytical. You should get into the habit of reviewing your play during the game. There will be a lot of key hands during each session that need to be looked at and dissected. Was it luck? Was it well played? Was it a combination of skill and luck? Should you have played it differently?

There will be a little time to review after each hand, but you should make a note of the important ones and spend more time analyzing them after the session.

Here’s the hard part: making objective assessments. You think it’s easy? Not according to just about any psychologist on the planet. We have a natural tendency to think only the best of ourselves and that’s what keeps us from getting to the top of our game.

For a detailed overview of why this happens, check out Annie Duke’s Thinking in Bets. She explains how “self-serving bias” causes us to think all of our wins come from superb playing and our losses are bad luck.

But that’s not reality and we need to learn to be honest with ourselves. That’s the type of introspection that we need to practice if we want to improve.

So what did I do that was so wrong? Here’s my analysis while I was driving home after the session:

• Deciding to play almost any two cards on my last hand is not good poker strategy. Why lower my standards just because it was my last hand?
• My opponent had kings and raised preflop. Knowing his style of play, I should’ve realized I had little chance of winning.
• I congratulated myself? Really? Congratulations should be reserved for skillful play, not for sucking out on your opponent.

Be analytical. Start analyzing your hands during and after your next session and make sure you’re not guilty of self-serving bias.

— Willy Neuman is a prop player at Ft. McDowell Casino in Arizona in the winter, but plays at Hollywood Casino in Aurora, Ill., most of the year. Email him at editor@anteupmagazine.com.

In 2017, more than 100K players converged on Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker and my poker gut tells me 2018 will be bigger. In my experience, getting knocked out of a tournament hurts. Often enough when we err in a cash game, we can dig in and make a comeback. In tournament play, mistakes are fatal. I have a few ideas on tournament pitfalls and how to avoid mistakes:

FATIGUE: Plan your day, get enough sleep, eat a light meal, work out the morning of an event and have a plan for the tournament that you enter. Mistakes happen when fatigue sets in.

EARLY STAGE: Players should have early, middle, late-stage and bubble-play strategies. In the early stages, keep in mind the WSOP format is much slower than at your local casino. While we want to chip up during the event, understand rounds are longer and patience will be your friend at the WSOP. Avoid trying to win the event too early.

TOO TIGHT: Your goal should be to win. Don’t just strive to make the money as 80 percent of the field will be playing to make the money and next they’ll take on the goal of winning. Your job is to exploit opponents’ tightness and pick up extra chips, especially in uncontested pots. Be a fox, not a farmer. Avoid playing too tight.

STACKS: Be painfully aware of opponents’ stacks. Always know what your stack size is in relation to the blinds. Furthermore, be aware of the average stack size throughout the event. Knowing opponents’ stacks will dictate decisions. Understand when an opponent is holding on for dear life and take advantage of situations.
During the middle and late stage of a tournament, we find ourselves with 10, 20 or 30 big blinds. Formulate a strategy for this occurrence before you play. This will make it much easier for you to make some tough decisions after you have been playing for hours. Know the stacks.

BUBBLE PLAY: When the field is close to the money, play will get tighter. This is a great time to take advantage and chip up and exploit those looking to merely cash in this situation. Pick up as many loose chips as possible.

If we avoid blunders and mistakes, chip up throughout, pay attention and most important, get a good night’s sleep, that bracelet just might have your name on it.

— Mark Brement has spent 15 years teaching and coaching all facets of poker, including at Pima CC. Email him at brementmark@gmail.com.

Poker isn’t just psychological warfare against opponents. Sometimes that battle is with yourself. It’s extremely important you realize this battle exists and learn the correct way to win on both fronts.

It’s likely you’ve experienced both extremes of this situation: being too dejected by a loss to want to go do something fun or being so elated by a win that you go out and do something stupid.

Both of these are part of the losing battle. Always remember that wins and losses are all part of a much longer, much more important game. Don’t neglect friends or hobbies because you’re upset you had a big loss and don’t go blow a bunch of your money at the strip club because you just booked your biggest win.

Similarly, don’t extend a session without a good reason. If your eight hours (or 10 or whatever you’ve chosen) are coming to an end and you’re stuck, don’t extend this session to get even.

The concept of “getting even” should pass through your mind like the desire to punch the old lady that just cut in front of seven people in line at the grocery store.

It’s a somewhat valid thought to have, but giving in to that desire will cause more harm than good, even if it feels great.
This applies to extending a session because you’re winning, too, but the line here is much harder to see. It’s extremely important to extend a session if you’re playing with the kind of bad player that you see once a year (this led to a 40-hour session for me once) but don’t just convince yourself that this situation has come up because of your run-of-the-mill donkey. Like a foodie telling you every meal they’ve had is the best of all time, that title only rarely should be used.

Finally, try to take a good look at yourself from the outside. Examine your poker hands as if you were giving advice on that hand to someone else or examine decisions you make in poker the same way.

Sometimes stepping back and “teaching” yourself can make you discover leaks you didn’t even know you had. I have the luxury writing for this poker magazine, which allows me to talk about leaks in my game from a unique perspective. Pick your battles and win them.

— Brent Philbin is a poker pro who lives in South Florida. You can reach him at Brent.Philbin@gmail.com.

Adrian Aguila was declared the winner of Event #1 of the Ante Up World Championship, an Ante Up Poker Tour series at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Aguilar of Bay Point, Calif., and Nino Klebik of Napa, Calif., earned earned $5,013 after a two-day deal where Aguilar had the chip lead in the $160 no-limit hold'em kickoff event, which drew 342 entries.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #1 - No-Limit Hold'em Kickoff
Buy-in: $160
Entries: 342
Prize pool: $44,460
Place Name City Cash POY Points
1 Adrian Aguilar Bay Point, CA $5,013 49
1 Nino Klebik Napa, CA $5,013 49
3 Mark Garaman Santa Rosa, CA $4,513 49
3 Abraham Meyers Sacramento, CA $4,513 49
3 William Grubb Vacaville, CA $4,513 49
6 Donnae Benjamin Hayward, CA $3,513 49
7 Rodney Washburn Hughson, CA $1,476 42
8 Justine Raga Sacramento, CA $1,214 35
9 DNR n/a $951 28
10 Anthony Recchia Sacramento, CA $800 23
11 Jeffrey Schwartz n/a $800 23
12 Kory Swekla Emeryville, CA $800 23
13 Ian Bey Rocklin, CA $685 20
14 Jim Rodda Loomis, CA $685 20
15 Ricardo Seguritan Roseville, CA $685 20
16 Howard Doerfling San Bruno, CA $565 17
17 Sanjay Kochhar Roseville, CA $565 17
18 Edward Miller Granite Bay, CA $565 17
19 Steven Richards Reno, NV $467 14
20 Michael Bokan Sacramento, CA $467 14
21 Karmjit Singh Oakland, CA $467 14
22 Tom Walch, Jr Fremont, CA $378 12
23 Donovan Pattee Denair, CA $378 12
24 Mariano Garcia Hayward, CA $378 12
25 Irakli Tabidze Danville, CA $329 10
26 Oliver Tse SF, CA $329 10
27 Tri Huynh Milpitas, CA $302 8
27 Robert Benedict III Folsom, CA $302 8
29 Edmund Lis Winters, CA $276 8
30 Anthony Pasqual Jacksonville, FL $276 8
31 Kenneth Fredrick Ontario, CA $276 8
32 Mitchell Newquist Chico, CA $276 8
33 Michael McGonigle Roseville, CA $276 8
34 Bienvenido Rosal Elk Grove, CA $276 8
35 Nicholas Veveiros Rohnert Park, CA $276 8
36 Charles Thavenot Scottsdale, AZ $276 8
37 Michael Husa Lincoln, CA $227 8
38 Kelly Menk Yuba City, CA $227 8
39 Barry Birdwell Marysville, CA $227 8
40 Edmund Castles Stockton, CA $227 8
41 Jerid Bernardin Woodbridge, CA $227 8
42 Tess Robinson Castro Valley, CA $227 8
43 Bryan Ridgway Roseville, CA $227 8

Thirteen players padded their bankrolls for the rest of the Ante Up World Championship by splitting the prize pool in Event #2 at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

The $125 buy-in FastCash Bankroll Builder no-limit hold'em event attracted 135 entries.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #2 - FastCash Bankroll Builder No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-in: $125
Entries: 135
Prize pool: $13,500
Place Name City Cash POY Points
1 Rommel Santos Rancho Cord., Ca $1,000 14
1 Robert Santos Vallejo, CA $1,000 14
1 Arturo Segura San Diego, CA $1,000 14
1 Brandon Steadman Rocklin, CA $1,000 14
1 Mariano Garcia Hayward, CA $1,000 14
1 John Rogers Sacramento, CA $1,000 14
1 Bryan Gore Rocklin, CA $1,000 14
1 Jeremy French N. Highlands, CA $1,000 14
1 John Hicks Citrus Hts, CA $1,000 14
1 Matthew Hillstead Tracy, CA $1,000 14
1 Hiram Epps Vacaville, CA $1,000 14
1 Jeffrey Day Berkeley, CA $1,000 14
1 Ibrahim Mohamed Sparks, NV $1,000 14
14 Jeremy Thai Elk Grove, CA $500 12

Salas Alam won Event #3 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Alam of Hayward, Calif., earned $3,573 in the $160 buy-in no-limit hold'em ChangeUp event, which drew 110 entries. When the field got to 24 players, each six-handed table played a shootout, with winners advancing to a four-player heads-up bracket.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #3 - No-Limit Hold'em ChangeUp
Buy-in: $160
Entries: 110
Prize Pool: $14,300
Place Name City Cash POY Points
1 Salas Alam Hayward, CA $3,573 100
2 Arturo Segura San Diego, CA $3,003 80
3 Robert Lew Sacramento, CA $1,216 60
4 Caleb Levesque Macdoel, CA $1,216 60
5 Steven Kujubu Sacramento, CA $644 34
6 Elmer Fulgencio SF, CA $644 34
7 Paul Tran Sacramento, CA $644 34
8 Noah Wiseman Concord, CA $644 34
9 San Vong Elk Grove, CA $393 18
10 Ryan Russell Benicia, CA $393 18
11 Jorge Lopez Ukiah, CA $393 18
12 Cesar Silva Santa Rosa, CA $393 18
13 Barry Raymos Fairfield, CA $286 14
14 Lana Chan San Leandro, CA $286 14
15 Joseph McMahon Roseville, CA $286 14
16 Albert Sanchez Penryn, CA $286 14

James Jeff has won Event #4 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Jeff of Fresno, Calif., earned $2,586 in the $160 buy-in Winner Take All event with $100 bounties, which attracted 135 entries.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #4 - No-Limit Hold'em Winner Take All with $100 bounties
Buy-in: $160
Entries: 135
Prize pool: $4,035
Place Name City Cash
1 James Jeff Fresno, CA $2,586
2 Alexander Smith Yakima, WA $852
3 Nader Haddad Auburn, CA $612

Terry Klinefelter has won Event #5 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Klinefelter of Turlock, Calif., earned $1,224 after a deal in the $125 buy-in no-limit hold'em Escalator event, which drew 70 entries.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event page.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #5 - No-Limit Hold'em Escalator
Buy-in: $125
Entries: 70
Prize pool: $7,000
Place Name City Cash POY Points
1 Terry Klinefelter $1,224 25
2 Joseph Dalonzo Turlock, CA $1,117 25
3 Michael Cerezo Elk Grove, CA $1,088 25
4 Jacob Urman Lincoln, CA $890 25
5 Craig Ricci Martinez, CA $844 25
6 Ronald Mossbarger Chico, CA $752 25
7 Jack Eads Yuba City, CA $315 20
8 Jake Dupray Carmichael, CA $280 17
9 Jose Esparza Lodi, CA $245 14
10 Robert Jerez Newcastle, CA $245 0

Allan Fernando has won Event #6 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Fernando of Elk Grove, Calif., earned $2,379 after a multi-way deal in the $160 buy-in no-limit hold'em Ante Up NorCal Classic preview event, which drew 141 entries.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #6 - No-Limit Hold'em Ante Up NorCal Classic Preview
Buy-in: $160
Entries: 141
Prize pool: $17,765
Place Name City Payout Points
1 Allan Fernando Elk Grove, CA $2,379 55
2 Steve Nevius Reno, NV $3,049 55
3 Terry Klinefelter Roseville, CA $2,952 55
4 Loan Truong Sacramento, CA $2,438 55
5 Suzanne White Gilroy, CA $1,105 45
6 Matthew Boddorf Weimar, CA $840 35
7 Sesar Camacho Sacramento, CA $659 30
8 Brian Watson Lodi, CA $535 25
9 Jack Schubert Rocklin, CA $446 20
10 Jeff Sardella Auburn, CA $446 20
11 Rodney Herndon Vacaville, CA $386 20
12 Joseph Dalonzo Turlock, CA $386 20
13 Jason Stoddard Concord, CA $345 17
14 Jake Rosenstiel Andreson, CA $345 17
15 James Miesen Sacramento, CA $320 17
16 Andrew Duffy Grass Valley, CA $320 17
17 Jake Dupray Carmichael, CA $307 14
18 Billy Wilson Rohnert Park, CA $307 14
19 Chivak Chhim Weed, CA $250 0

Jon Wallace leads the 15 players who advanced from Day 1A of Event #7 of the Ante Up World Championship.

Wallace of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., advances with 348,000 in chips in the $160 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed Catapult. Four more starting flights are on tap.

Here are the 15 advancers with chipcounts:

Jon Wallace S. Lake Tahoe, CA 348,000
Michael Haas Lodi, CA 285,000
Ron Piorier Natomas, CA 174,000
Andrew Martin Oakley, CA 164,000
Joseph Arent Roseville, CA 155,000
Patricia Dellow Davis, CA 153,000
Jon Baker Cotati, CA 140,000
Rickey Gleason Carmichael, CA 127,000
Meinrado Cruz San Ramon, CA 126,000
Kelly Menk yuba City, CA 97,000
Fernando Mora Roseville, CA 96,000
Brandon Sano Chico, CA 90,000
Charles Thanenot Scottsdale, AZ 86,000
Jeff Smith Modesto, CA 85,000
Tom Lewis Chico, CA 82,000

Matthew Coloma leads the 16 players who advanced from Day 1B of Event #7 of the Ante Up World Championship.

Coloma advances with 362,000 in chips in the $160 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed Catapult. Fifteen players advanced from Day 1A, Day 1C was on Wednesday and the final two starting flights will be today.

Here are the 16 advancers with chipcounts:

Matthew Coloma n/a 362,000
Francis Nguyen Rancho Cord., CA 290,000
Andres Ronero Yuba City, CA 262,000
Wilson Sam Milpitas, CA 238,000
Reid Roy W. Sacramento,CA 213,000
Lafaya Mitchell Sacramento, CA 198,000
Zachary Scoggins Citrus Hts, CA 196,000
Teng Vang Sacramento, CA 169,000
Soumitra Nagar San Jose, CA 122,000
Dominic Oaxaca Loid, CA 95,000
Bo Umphrey Port Arthur, TX 89,000
Anton Dimagiba Sacramento, CA 78,000
Jess Garcia n/a 36,000
Evelyn Iraheta Walnut Creek, CA 30,000
Jerry Gonzalez Yuba City, CA 25,000
Joe Bergh Granite Bay, CA 18,000

Eighty-two players return at 6 p.m. today to finish Event #7 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

The $160 buy-in no-limit hold'em Catapult drew 1,018 entries over five starting flights for a $132,340 prize pool with $23,200 slated for the champion.

Chivak Chhim of Weed, Calif., is the chipleader with 397,000 when play resumes in Level 16 with blinds of 1,000/4,000/8,000.

Tbl Seat Name City Chips
9 9 Chivak Chhim Weed, CA 397,000
1 3 Matthew Coloma n/a 362,000
6 8 Jon Wallace S. Lake Tahoe, CA 348,000
6 2 Phillip Phongsaiphonh Roseville, CA 292,000
2 1 Craig Buchmiller Lakeport, CA 291,000
5 5 Francis Nguyen Rancho Cord., CA 290,000
5 4 Michael Haas Lodi, CA 285,000
7 9 Dylan Moon Sacramento, CA 278,000
2 3 Chris Wardner San Jose, CA 267,000
2 5 Andres Ronero Yuba City, CA 262,000
2 4 Daniel Evans Chico, CA 251,000
5 7 Jimmy Diep Sacramento, CA 249,000
8 5 Wilson Sam Milpitas, CA 238,000
3 3 Randall Blankenship Marysville, CA 224,000
7 7 Tom Venz Grass Valley, CA 220,000
7 4 Mark Cooley Elk Grove, CA 216,000
9 7 Wilton Alejandro Roseville, CA 214,000
8 6 Kyle Beeler Santa Rosa, CA 214,000
2 7 Reid Roy W. Sacramento,CA 213,000
8 9 Joe Walker Grass Valley, CA 213,000
9 8 Nick Colvin Vacaville, CA 212,000
5 6 Lafaya Mitchell Sacramento, CA 198,000
3 5 Zachary Scoggins Citrus Hts, CA 196,000
8 7 Tipu Alam W. Sacramento, CA 185,000
6 9 Peter Xiong Sacramento, CA 185,000
7 5 Daniel Canavan Yuba City, CA 183,000
10 1 Henrieto Acain Stockton, CA 177,000
5 2 Ron Piorier Natomas, CA 174,000
5 9 Teng Vang Sacramento, CA 169,000
4 2 Dal Bains Yuba City, CA 167,000
4 4 Andrew Martin Oakley, CA 164,000
2 2 Robert Benedict Folsom, CA 159,000
10 9 Cole Escovedo Fresno, CA 159,000
2 8 Darren Bortmas Roseville, CA 158,000
2 6 Joseph Arent Roseville, CA 155,000
6 5 Patricia Dellow Davis, CA 153,000
4 3 Phuc Nguyen Davis, CA 153,000
7 8 Joseph Mussat San Jose, CA 151,000
10 6 Deake Lyndall Kelseyville, CA 150,000
1 9 Jack Eads Yuba City, CA 146,000
5 1 Jon Baker Cotati, CA 140,000
1 8 Ryan Raymond Colfax, CA 134,000
6 4 n/a Luu Sacramento, CA 133,000
9 6 Julio Cruz W. Sacramento, CA 132,000
1 4 Michael Walker Auburn, CA 128,000
3 2 Rickey Gleason Carmichael, CA 127,000
9 1 Meinrado Cruz San Ramon, CA 126,000
8 1 Mark Romena Elk Grove, CA 124,000
10 7 Soumitra Nagar San Jose, CA 122,000
3 1 Wing Tung Martinez, CA 119,000
3 4 Tim Klemin Chico, CA 113,000
4 6 Bryan Ridgway Roseville, CA 112,000
3 7 Ronald Quinones Stockton, CA 112,000
8 3 Matan Sharon Williams, OR 107,000
4 1 Sharon Sanchez Penryn, CA 105,000
10 8 Arturo Lopez Ukiah, CA 105,000
7 3 Kelly Menk Yuba City, CA 97,000
4 8 Fernando Mora Roseville, CA 96,000
10 5 Nick Kolich Livermore, CA 95,000
6 6 Dominic Oaxaca Loid, CA 95,000
3 8 Brandon Sano Chico, CA 90,000
8 8 Westley Cornelison Fresno, CA 89,000
7 2 Bo Umphrey Port Arthur, TX 89,000
3 9 Charles Thanenot Scottsdale, AZ 86,000
5 8 Jeff Smith Modesto, CA 85,000
1 6 Charisse Case Sacramento, CA 83,000
9 3 Danny Lucero W. Sacramento, CA 82,000
1 1 Tom Lewis Chico, CA 82,000
4 7 Justin Ecker Stockton, CA 80,000
6 3 Anton Dimagiba Sacramento, CA 78,000
10 3 Anthony O'Grodnick Lodi, CA 77,000
4 5 Justin Hendrickson Sacramento, CA 75,000
6 7 Nevid Gosili Sacramento, CA 56,000
1 2 Seth Norris Jackson, CA 56,000
8 2 Rick Catalano Fair Oaks, CA 51,000
2 9 Jess Garcia n/a 36,000
9 5 Evelyn Iraheta Walnut Creek, CA 30,000
7 6 Jerry Gonzalez Yuba City, CA 25,000
9 2 Scott Dedoes Roseville, CA 24,000
1 5 Jeremy French Antelope, CA 22,000
9 4 Joe Bergh Granite Bay, CA 18,000
10 4 Matt Moss Lincoln, CA 8,000

Randall Blakenship has won Event #7 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Blakenship of Marysville, Calif., earned $16,000 in the $160 buy-in no-limit hold'em Catapult, which had five starting flights that drew 1,018 entries.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #7 - No-Limit Hold'em Catapult
Buy-in: 160
Entries: 1,018
Prize pool: $132,340
Name City Payout POY Points
1 Randall Blankenship Marysville, CA $16,000 40
2 Phuc Nguyen Davis, CA $7,756 40
2 Daniel Canavan Yuba City, CA $7,756 40
2 Ron Piorier Natomas, CA $7,756 40
2 Julio Cruz W. Sacramento, CA $7,756 40
2 Jess Garcia n/a $7,756 40
2 Mark Romena Elk Grove, CA $7,756 40
2 Ryan Raymond Colfax, CA $7,756 40
2 Jon Baker Cotati, CA $7,756 40
10 Cole Escovedo Fresno, CA $1,800 32
11 Mark Cooley Elk Grove, CA $1,800 32
12 Dominic Oaxaca Lodi, CA $1,800 32
13 Jon Wallace S. Lake Tahoe, CA $1,530 29
14 Meinrado Cruz San Ramon, CA $1,530 29
15 Francis Nguyen Rancho Cord., CA $1,530 29
16 Jack Eads Yuba City, CA $1,270 26
17 Daniel Evans Chico, CA $1,270 26
18 n/a Luu Sacramento, CA $1,270 26
19 Tipu Alam W. Sacramento, CA $1,045 23
20 Sharon Sanchez Penryn, CA $1,045 23
21 Craig Buchmiller Lakeport, CA $1,045 23
22 Andres Romero Yuba City, CA $885 20
23 Chivak Chhim Weed, CA $885 20
24 Fernando Mora Roseville, CA $885 20
25 Westley Cornelison Fresno, CA $725 17
26 Justin Ecker Stockton, CA $725 17
27 Reid Roy W. Sacramento,CA $725 17
28 Scott Dedoes Roseville, CA $625 14
29 Patricia Dellow Davis, CA $625 14
30 Michael Walker Auburn, CA $625 14
31 Nicholas Colvin Vacaville, CA $625 14
32 Wilton Alejandro Roseville, CA $625 14
33 Thomas Venz Grass Valley, CA $625 14
34 Robert Benedict Folsom, CA $625 14
35 Deake Lyndall Kelseyville, CA $625 14
36 Bo Umphrey Port Arthur, TX $625 14
37 Teng Vang Sacramento, CA $550 14
38 Matthew Coloma n/a $550 14
39 Daniel Lucero W. Sacramento, CA $550 14
40 Jimmy Diep Sacramento, CA $550 14
41 Charisse Case Sacramento, CA $550 14
42 Nicholas Kolich Livermore, CA $550 14
43 Zachary Scoggins Citrus Hts, CA $550 14
44 Lafaya Mitchell Sacramento, CA $550 14
45 Kelly Menk Yuba City, CA $550 14
46 Peter Xiong Sacramento, CA $500 12
47 Michael Haas Lodi, CA $500 12
48 Bryan Ridgway Roseville, CA $500 12
49 Dylan Moon Sacramento, CA $500 12
50 Matan Sharon Williams, OR $500 12
51 Andrew Martin Oakley, CA $500 12
52 Evelyn Iraheta Walnut Creek, CA $500 12
53 Wing Tung Martinez, CA $500 12
54 Wilson Sam Milpitas, CA $500 12
55 Soumitra Nagar San Jose, CA $450 12
56 Brandon Sano Chico, CA $450 12
57 Matthew Moss Lincoln, CA $450 12
58 Charles Thavenot Scottsdale, AZ $450 12
59 Darren Bortmas Roseville, CA $450 12
60 Henrieto Acain Stockton, CA $450 12
61 Joseph Mussat San Jose, CA $450 12
62 Jeffrey Smith Modesto, CA $450 12
63 Joseph Arent Roseville, CA $450 12
64 Christopher Wardner San Jose, CA $400 10
65 Kyle Beeler Santa Rosa, CA $400 10
66 Joseph Walker Grass Valley, CA $400 10
67 Dalvinder Bains Yuba City, CA $400 10
68 Jeremy French Antelope, CA $400 10
69 Richard Catalano Fair Oaks, CA $400 10
70 Joseph Bergh Granite Bay, CA $400 10
71 Ronald Quinones Stockton, CA $400 10
72 Arturo Lopez Ukiah, CA $375 10
73 Phillip Phongsaiphonh Roseville, CA $375 10
74 Anton Dimagiba Sacramento, CA $350 10
75 Navid Gosili Sacramento, CA $350 10
76 Timothy Klemin Chico, CA $350 10
77 Rickey Gleason Carmichael, CA $350 10
78 Seth Norris Jackson, CA $350 10
79 Anthony O'Grodnick Lodi, CA $350 10
80 Gerardo Gonzalez Yuba City, CA $350 10
81 Thomas Lewis Chico, CA $350 10
82 Justin Hendrickson Sacramento, CA $350 10
83 Monte Gilley Live Oak, CA $300 6
84 Travis Outlaw Reno, NV $300 6
85 Jared Saenz Birmingham, AL $300 6
86 Ryan Reilley Carmichael, CA $300 6
87 Tarik Sims Elk Grove, CA $300 6
88 Guy Boring Ione, CA $300 6
89 Lauren Koch Kihei, HI $300 6
90 Phia Xiong Sacramento, CA $300 6
91 Fred Anthony Oroville, CA $300 6
92 Nathan Patterson Roseville, CA $300 6
93 Michael Sargent Marysville, CA $300 6
94 Dylan Moon Rancho Cord., CA $300 6
95 Juan Valadez Antioch, CA $300 6
96 Ronald Festejo Vacaville, CA $300 6
97 Anthony Nguyen Sacramento, CA $300 6
98 Saad Aljoher Sacramento, CA $300 6
99 Joshua Woodhouse Antioch, CA $300 6
100 Rose Erhart Sutter Crk, CA $300 6
101 Thomas Phillips Monterey, CA $300 6
102 Richard McLain Modesto, CA $300 6
103 Brandon Steadman Rocklin, CA $300 6

Brain Favro leads the field heading into Day 2 of Event #14 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Favro of Danville, Calif., has 680,000 in chips, tops among the 89 returning players from a field of 873. (Brett Murray advanced two stacks and was paid out a $800 min-cash for the smallest one). Play resumes at 11 a.m. with 13:28 left in Level 16 (1,000/3,000/6,000).

First prize in the $460 buy-in event will be $62,450.

TABLE SEAT NAME CITY CHIPS
2 3 Brian Favro Danville, CA 680,000
7 5 Paul McCaffrey San Ramon, CA 570,500
5 9 Joshua Prager Yuba City, CA 512,000
9 7 Xai Vang Eureka, CA 488,000
6 8 Jasthi Kumar San Ramon, CA 470,500
6 5 Ryan Reilley Roseville, CA 458,500
5 1 Andy Collins, Chico, CA 458,000
4 4 Ed Miller Granite Bay, CA 455,000
1 9 JJ Velador Oroville, CA 454,000
2 2 Ricardo Seguritan Roseville, CA 347,000
7 6 Josh Moua Merced, CA 345,500
1 7 Wirote Praiphetsak San Rafael, CA 340,000
7 7 Bohao Zhu Sacramento, CA 338,500
3 3 William Chao Elk Grove, CA 337,500
3 2 Shane Pierson Roseville, CA 320,500
7 4 Randy Gil Roseville, CA 309,000
1 4 Rutherford Hayes SF, CA 308,500
9 2 Michael Loncar Folsom, CA 307,500
4 5 Marcos Stokes Livermore, CA 304,000
10 9 Mark Sanchez Walnut Creek, CA 295,000
6 4 Joe Kenney Santa Rosa, cA 258,500
8 9 Brett Murray Santa Rosa, CA 249,500
4 7 Steve Kujubu Sacramento, CA 245,000
8 2 David Larson San Jose, CA 241,500
10 6 Jack Tan Hercules, CA 234,000
6 3 Robert Brown Roseville, CA 221,000
3 1 David Triggs Milpitas, CA 214,500
9 1 Marcus Abadi San Jose, CA 212,000
9 5 Chet Sickle Stockton, CA 210,000
8 8 Jauheni Rusin SF, CA 207,500
4 9 Francis Nuyen Rancho Cord., CA 198,500
6 9 Jeff Wakamiya SAcramento, CA 192,500
2 4 Vuong Tran Elk Grove, CA 189,000
5 3 Mitch Gamble Roseville, CA 187,500
8 6 Paul Brown n/a 186,000
9 6 Mike Harvey SF, CA 185,000
1 2 David Taylor Santa Clara, CA 173,000
8 7 Chance Gir Santa Cruz, CA 170,000
6 6 Menh Chiu Stockton, CA 169,500
2 7 Darryl Okamoto Roseville, CA 164,500
8 5 Michael Capener San Mateo, CA 163,000
8 4 Jorge Trejo Damian Ukiah, CA 162,000
1 8 Peter Dirkson SF, CA 161,000
7 3 Teng Vang Sacramento, CA 156,000
6 1 Mimi Luu San Jose, CA 154,000
4 6 Rommel Santos Sacramento, CA 153,500
9 4 Devin Lagorio Stockton, CA 153,000
10 2 Cheryl Svensen Tracy, CA 152,500
3 7 Justin Mackey Newark, CA 152,000
9 3 Tony Bracy W. Sac, CA 147,000
1 5 Henry Gurnick Pleasanton, CA 143,000
8 3 Bruno Nunes Mtn View, CA 139,500
10 4 William Blankenship Roseville, CA 139,000
5 5 Ryan Tan Sacramento, CA 137,000
9 8 Karen Baker n/a 132,500
2 6 Jeff Lennon Fresno, CA 128,000
5 7 Mason Rosenberg Reno, NV 127,500
10 5 Terry Klinefelter Roseville, CA 121,000
1 6 David DaSilva Aptos, CA 119,500
10 7 Hop Lay n/a 119,000
2 5 Aaron McCormack Sacramento, CA 119,000
1 1 Micah Schulte San Jose, CA 117,000
9 9 James Jeff Sacramento, CA 115,000
6 2 Valerie Hanley Reno, NV 113,500
4 3 Won Joe Song Sacramento, CA 103,000
7 8 Howard Chen Sacramento, CA 103,000
7 9 Arim Lehavot SF, CA 101,000
4 1 Kevin Pham Merced, CA 98,000
3 5 James Smith Vallejo, CA 96,500
3 9 Steven Richards n/a 95,500
10 8 Al Sanchez Penryn, CA 92,500
5 8 Arturo Segura San Diego, CA 91,500
10 3 Fernando Arciniega San Jose, CA 88,500
6 7 Matthew Berto San Ramon, CA 86,000
2 8 Adam Duong San Jose, CA 86,000
8 1 Lawrence Kern Disco Bay, CA 85,500
5 4 Stephen Godfrey San Jose, CA 82,000
5 6 Mike Nienhouse Merced, CA 77,000
7 1 Toko Luu San Jose, CA 76,500
2 1 Rick Drury Carmichael, CA 74,000
10 1 Samedy Kuoch Sacramento, CA 63,500
2 9 Ben Barad SF, CA 60,500
7 2 Amy Rennert Tiburon, CA 60,000
3 4 Sameet Lal Fremont, CA 59,000
4 2 Peter Thao n/a 54,000
5 2 Ali Darroudi Berkeley, CA 52,000
1 3 James Sythanarutt Elk Grove, CA 50,000
4 8 Julio Cruz W. Sac., CA 48,000
3 8 Thomas Reiner Rocklin, CA 17,000

Brett Murray has won Event #14 of the Ante Up World Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif.

Murray of Santa Rosa, Calif., earned $54,407 and a seat in the Ante Up World Championship Main Event in the multi-flight $460 buy-in no-limit hold'em Monolith event, which drew 873 entries. Murray had advanced through two flights, and cashed out his smaller stack for $800.

For more information on this Ante Up Poker Tour series, which runs through July 29, please visit our event webpage.

ANTE UP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunder Valley Casino Resort - Lincoln, Calif.
EVENT #14 - No-Limit Hold'em Monolith
Buy-in: $460
Entries: 873
Prize pool: $349,200
NAME CITY CASH POY PTS
1 Brett Murray Santa Rosa, CA $54,407 105
2 Paul McCaffrey San Ramon, CA $40,550 105
3 Toko Luu San Jose, CA $37,993 105
4 Stephen Kujubu Sacramento, CA $18,750 91
5 Shane Pierson Roseville, CA $15,600 77
6 Stephen Godfrey San Jose, CA $12,600 63
7 Michael Loncar Folsom, CA $10,400 54
8 Brian Favro Danville, CA $8,300 45
9 Jeff Lennon Fresno, CA $6,300 36
10 Michael Capener San Mateo, CA $5,100 29
11 Edward Miller Granite Bay, CA $5,100 29
12 William Blankenship Roseville, CA $5,100 29
13 Xai Vang Eureka, CA $4,000 26
14 Steven Richards n/a $4,000 26
15 Chance Gir Santa Cruz, CA $4,000 26
16 Ryan Rielley Roseville, CA $3,300 23
17 James Jeff Sacramento, CA $3,300 23
18 Jeffrey Wakamiya Sacramento, CA $3,300 23
19 Rutherford Hayes SF, CA $2,750 20
20 Marcos Stokes Livermore, CA $2,750 20
21 David Taylor Santa Clara, CA $2,750 20
22 Randy Gil Roseville, CA $2,300 17
23 Francis Nguyen Rancho Cord., CA $2,300 17
24 Shoua Moua Merced, CA $2,300 17
25 Darryl Okamoto Roseville, CA $1,940 14
26 Mitchell Gamble Roseville, CA $1,940 14
27 Bohao Zhu Sacramento, CA $1,940 14
28 Paul Brown n/a $1,620 12
29 David Taylor Santa Clara, CA $1,620 12
30 Joseph Kenney Santa Rosa, cA $1,620 12
31 Wirote Praiphetsak San Rafael, CA $1,620 12
32 Marcus Abadi San Jose, CA $1,620 12
33 Kevin Pham Merced, CA $1,620 12
34 Teng Vang Sacramento, CA $1,620 12
35 Yauhoni Rusin SF, CA $1,620 12
36 Cheryl Svensen Tracy, CA $1,620 12
37 Kim Baker n/a $1,420 12
38 Vuong Tran Elk Grove, CA $1,420 12
39 Mimi Luu San Jose, CA $1,420 12
40 Benjamin Barad SF, CA $1,420 12
41 Mason Rosenberg Reno, NV $1,420 12
42 Ricardo Seguritan Roseville, CA $1,420 12
43 Tony Bracy W. Sac, CA $1,420 12
44 Micah Schulte San Jose, CA $1,420 12
45 Rommel Santos Sacramento, CA $1,420 12
46 Thomas Reiner Rocklin, CA $1,270 10
47 Mark Sanchez Walnut Creek, CA $1,270 10
48 Jasthi Kumar San Ramon, CA $1,270 10
49 Bruno Nunes Mtn View, CA $1,270 10
50 William Chao Elk Grove, CA $1,270 10
51 James Smith Vallejo, CA $1,270 10
52 Howard Chen Sacramento, CA $1,270 10
53 David Larson San Jose, CA $1,270 10
54 Robert Brown Roseville, CA $1,270 10
55 Joshua Prager Yuba City, CA $1,140 10
56 David Triggs Milpitas, CA $1,140 10
57 Peter Dirksen SF, CA $1,140 10
58 Julian Velador Oroville, CA $1,140 10
59 Adam Duong San Jose, CA $1,140 10
60 Lawrence Kern Discovery Bay, CA $1,140 10
61 David DiSalvo Aptos, CA $1,140 10
62 Chet Sickle Stockton, CA $1,140 10
63 Menh Chiu Stockton, CA $1,140 10
64 Ryan Tan Sacramento, CA $1,020 8
65 Justin Mackey Newark, CA $1,020 8
66 Henry Gurnick Pleasanton, CA $1,020 8
67 Fernando Arciniega San Jose, CA $1,020 8
68 Amy Rennert Tiburon, CA $1,020 8
69 Valerie Hanley Reno, NV $1,020 8
70 Jorge Trejo Ukiah, CA $1,020 8
71 Terry Klinefelter Roseville, CA $1,020 8
72 Sameet Lal Fremont, CA $1,020 8
73 Michael Harvey SF, CA $900 8
74 Won Song Sacramento, CA $900 8
75 Jack Tan Hercules, CA $900 8
76 Amir Lehavot SF, CA $900 8
77 Michael Nienhouse Merced, CA $900 8
78 Matthew Berto San Ramon, CA $900 8
79 Albert Sanchez Penryn, CA $900 8
80 Aaron McCormack Sacramento, CA $900 8
81 Ali Darroudi Berkeley, CA $900 8
82 Richard Drury Carmichael, CA $800 6
83 Xiong Thao n/a $800 6
84 Arturo Segura San Diego, CA $800 6
85 James Suthanyarutt Elk Grove, CA $800 6
86 Devin Lagorio Stockton, CA $800 6
87 Hop Lay n/a $800 6
88 Samedy Kuoch Sacramento, CA $800 6
89 Julio Cruz W. Sac., CA $800 6
90 Brett Murray Santa Rosa, CA $800 6
91 Michael St Andrew Sacramento, CA $700 6
91 Joseph Mussat San Jose, CA $700 6
91 Salas Alam Hayward, CA $700 6
91 Dustin Youngdahl Antelope, CA $700 6
91 Daniel Evans Chico, CA $700 6
91 Jeffrey Alvarez Antelope, CA $700 6
91 Craig Buchmiller Lakeport, CA $700 6
91 Zheng Yu n/a $700 6
91 Kyle Fowler Meadow Vista, CA $700 6
91 Thomas Case Clovis, CA $700 6
91 Meinrado Cruz San Ramon, CA $700 6
91 Joselito Mendez Hayward, CA $700 6
91 Ken Shofner Danville, CA $700 6
91 Bruce Chang San Ramon, CA $700 6
91 Charles Danh Stockton, CA $700 6
91 Tracy Oto Sacramento, CA $700 6
91 Kent Jensen Brentwood, CA $700 6
91 Jordan Henegar Chico, CA $700 6