The Wildhorse Resort and Casino 2005 Spring Poker Roundup

Once again, the Wildhorse Resort and Casino hosted the premier poker tournament in the Pacific Northwest. The resort is owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, located near Pendleton, Oregon.



This tournament was the biggest one yet, with nearly $1 million in prize money. No other tournament in the Pacific Northwest comes close. Tam Nguyen of Salem, Oregon, ran off with the best all-around player award by winning two of the no-limit hold'em events and coming in sixth in the Omaha eight-or-better event. It was a very well-deserved award for such a fine performance. It was only last year that I was fortunate to win the best all-around player award at this very same tournament.



I was given a $2,500 satellite entry into the World Poker Tour's first $1 million super satellite in 2004. I like to think I helped make poker history there when I broke the player who came in 43rd. The other 42 of us won our $25,000 seats.

A partial roundup of players included (left to right) Karina Jett, Chip Jett, Vince Burgio, Tom McEvoy, Marsha Waggoner, Chuck Thompson, Howard "Tahoe" Andrew, and Clonie Gowan.

The tournament was made possible by Vern McKay, the table games director at the Wildhorse. Vern helps plan this event with Roland Waters, the tournament director, and does many things behind the scenes to make it successful. They make a very good team with their other capable staff members. This is a fun tournament, and could be that way only with genuinely nice people who work well together. Billie Robbins helps in so many ways that I can't even describe all of her duties – and she always has a smile on her face. Lori Averett takes hundreds of photos for the players, and relies on their generosity to take care of expenses. Deirdre Olney is a shift boss, and she helps Roland run the tournament. Jeremy Madden is proving himself to be a very capable assistant, and Mike Howland quietly does his job of moving players to new tables and helping out whenever necessary. It's tough to get into the buffet past Mike without a ticket. The good news is, the Wildhorse is very generous in giving out those tickets. Mike just makes sure that tournament players get to eat first. I would also like to mention Mike Guillaume. He did everything from work the floor to deal the tournament, and helped seat players in side games. When he had a partial day off, he played in one of the events. He lasted a long time but went out short of the money – and then immediately went back to work; what a great attitude.



This tournament is one of the best bargains around for the players. The entry fee is only $10 per event – and that includes the $500 championship event. There are satellites every day that have no entry fee; who can top that? The rake in the side games is $3 maximum, no matter how big the game. The side action featured the usual low-limit games, as well as plenty of $10-$20, $15-$30, and $20-$40 games, plus $2-$5 blinds no-limit hold'em games. There was a big pot-limit game most of the time, also.

It was nice to see many old friends there, such as fellow hosts Vince Burgio, Marsha Waggoner, and Clonie Gowan. Old friends, even grumpy ones like Howard "Tahoe" Andrew, were fun to have around. Chuck Thompson and his lovely wife, Bobbie, took several of us to a beautiful restaurant in downtown Pendleton that features all sorts of wild game.



Even my old friend Rod Peate showed up. Rod was the second-place finisher when I won the World Series of Poker championship about 100 years ago. Rod recently moved back to Portland, Oregon.

I felt a little jealous because most of my friends and fellow hosts had at least one final-table finish at the Wildhorse. The best I could do was win my table in one of the shootouts and go out far short of the final table. Another player who has done very well lately is Mike "Shoes" Gambony. Mike finished fourth in the Omaha eight-or-better event and second in one of the no-limit hold'em events. Mike also reached a final table recently at the Harrah's tournament at the Rio in Las Vegas.



On a more personal note, I won the Professional Poker Tour event held in March at Bay 101 in San Jose. That tournament will eventually be shown on television, so watch your TV listings. The most unique thing about the final table there was that it featured some of the more veteran players as opposed to the young guns who are currently doing so well on the tournament circuit.



Marsha Waggoner made the final table with a short stack and nearly won the event. She played fantastic poker the entire way, and I beat her mainly because I caught better cards than she did when we got heads up.



Alfredo "Toto" Leonidas had the chip lead at the final table, but lost a series of hands to Marsha and me, and had to settle for third.



My friend and roommate at the tournament was Casey Kastle. Casey made a good run at it for a while, but wound up fourth.



Backgammon champ and longtime friend Paul Magriel finished fifth, and Hoyt Corkins, a truly great player, never got untracked and finished sixth.



My friend Peter Costa was the bubble boy, finishing seventh.



The previous month at Commerce Casino, I came in 11th in the PPT event and was determined not to miss the final table and the money this time. ♠