California Poker -- Pala Casino Hosts Winter Poker OpenMichael Mizrachi and Mike Matusow Competed in the High Stakes Cash Game and the $25,000 Guaranteed Main Event Attracted 115 Players Today |
|
The poker room at Pala Casino has been hosting the Winter Poker Open tournament series this past week in the resort’s event center and there were some poker professionals on hand in addition to hundreds of players. The AAA four-diamond rated property is located northeast of San Diego and it was crowded this President’s Day weekend as the casino celebrated its 10-year anniversary and hosted its third major poker tournament.
Poker players who participated in the tournament series and cash games this month also earned entries into the Leap to Riches $100,000 cash giveaway running to celebrate the casino’s anniversary on Feb. 23. “We are starting to become one with the casino so when they have a big drawing for the 10th anniversary we are a part of that and we get crossover play from the casino into our poker room,” said poker room manager George Arsenis.
One year ago Pala Casino hosted the inaugural Winter Pala Poker Open and the special guest host was Annie Duke. The Summer Pala Poker Open was hosted by Mike Matusow this past August. This time around there were two poker professionals on hand during the event. Matusow returned to Pala Casino to take part in a high-stakes cash game on Saturday, February 19, and he was joined at the table by Michael Mizrachi. The table featured $10-$25 no-limit hold’em with a minimum buy-in of $1,000 and a maximum of $10,000. “I think we gave players from our poker room a taste of high-limit play,” said Arsenis.
In addition to the high-stakes cash game, Mizrachi and Matusow taught a power poker course for DeepStacks Live on Friday, Feb. 18. Players were given the opportunity to win a seat in the poker training course by playing in $30 no-limit hold’em tournaments daily at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. throughout February in the Pala poker room. “The classes are instrumental for the players to educate themselves how to play in order to last longer in tournaments. When they watch TV they see the edited version and they think they have to move all-in all of the time so the class teaches them money management and pot selection and position. It’s the fourth class we have hosted here and it has been very instrumental to help our players learn,” said Arsenis.
Today, the focus shifted to the $350 no-limit hold’em main event, which is the 12th and final event of the tournament series. There were 115 players who entered the deep-stack structure event, and the total prize pool topped the $25,000 guarantee, with $34,500 up for grabs.
The main event played at a steady pace thanks to the blind structure and a little after 1 a.m. the tournament field still stood at 17 players. Those final 17 players decided to chop up the prize pool and each of them took home $2,029 in prize money. The top five in chips at that time were as follows:
1: David Chandler — 375,000
2: John Towers — 302,000
3: Scott Murrie — 275,000
4: Judy Hughes — 255,000
5: Ralston Roff — 235,000
“We wanted to give players a chance to play in a tournament that they could afford that was like some of the larger tournaments like the World Poker Tour. With a small buy-in they could still be patient with a lot of chips and a better structure. This way they can play the game and not get rushed with the blinds,” said Arsenis of the main event.
Future plans for the poker room include the opening of a high-limit poker room pending gaming approval, which is set to coincide with the next Summer Pala Poker Open at the casino in August. “We are looking at hosting $50-$100 limit hold’em along with a mixed games, pot-limit Omaha, and a no-limit hold’em game. That should create a good mix for players,” said Arsenis of their plans for the upcoming high-limit action.
There are also a number of cash giveaways that will take place in the coming weeks in the Pala poker room. Player’s can earn entries by playing in live cash games and tournaments in the poker room and there will be cash drawings for $3,300 on March 26, April 2, and April 9. In the near future the Pala poker room will host a number of March Madness tournaments. Here is a schedule for those tournaments:
Mar. 12: $125 no-limit hold’em ($10,000 guaranteed prize pool)
Mar. 17: $55 no-limit hold’em ($5,000 guaranteed prize pool)
Mar. 19: $125 no-limit hold’em ($10,000 guaranteed prize pool)
Pala Winter Open Preliminary Event Winners:
Event No. 1 ($50 no-limit hold’em): Greg Heslip — $540
Event No. 2 ($125 no-limit hold’em): Rod Clarida — $1,880
Event No. 3 ($100 ladies LIPS tour no-limit hold’em): Elizabeth Medina — $1,614
Event No. 4 ($50 no-limit hold’em): Farid Karimi — $841
Event No. 5 ($50 turbo no-limit hold’em): Jerry Wilson — $300
Event No. 6 ($50 no-limit hold’em): Howard Mazer — $600
Event No. 7 ($100 seniors no-limit hold’em): Phil Denadel — $500
Event No. 8 ($100 six-handed no-limit hold’em): Joseph King — $634
Event No. 9 ($50 no-limit hold’em): Nick Spiteri — $700
Event No. 10 ($50 limit hold’em): Doug Takeuchi — $312
Event No. 11 ($50 no-limit hold’em): Scott Dazey — $500
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
