Archive for May 2004

Two Sets to Love – No Valentines

A week after Valentine/s Day, the big day at Commerce Casino finally arrived – the World Poker Tour championship event of the L.A. Poker Classic – and I was pumped. On the heels of winning a seat in the previous night/s supersatellite, I was ready.

Join the Doctor in Costa Rica!!

Many of you have never been to Costa Rica but have heard wonderful things, other have been to Costa Rica and have asked me when we’re going back.
Well I’m headed there for some poker and fun on the 21st of this month. Casino Europa at the Radisson is holding a weeks worth of small tournaments starting on the 22nd.
There will be $100.00 buy-ins and, of course the famed $10.00 multi re-buy event. Those prize pools usually got up to over $40,000.00.

Schedule of Activities

Tues., June 22 7pm $125 Tournament, one rebuy
Wed. June 23 6pm Welcome Cocktail in Card Club hosted by management
Wed., June 23 7pm $10 Tournament, unlimited rebuys
Thurs., June 24 7pm $125 Bounty Tournament, one rebuy
Fri., June 25 7pm $10 Tournament, unlimited rebuys
Sat., June 26 1pm Pot Limit and Limit Cash Games
Sun., June 27 5pm $125 Europa Card Club June Championship Yousef Massoudnia Bounty Tournament, unlimited $100 rebuys
Mon., June 28 1pm Pot Limit and Limit Cash Games
Tues., June 29 7pm $50 Tournament, 3 rebuys

All Tournaments are No Limit Texas Hold’em. Satellites to Sunday’s tournament will be run as needed. Pot Limit and Limit Cash Games are run everyday starting at 1pm. There is a special Early Bird Bonus of $25 to all players seated by 2pm during the Poker Party days.

We invite you to come to our Costa Rica Poker Party in June! Every month, the Europa Card Club will host a Costa Rica Poker Party to bring in groups of tourist players to match wits with our locals to get the best poker action. All Tournaments are No Limit Texas Hold’em. Satellites to Sunday’s tournament will be run as needed. Pot Limit and Limit Cash Games are run everyday starting at 1pm. There is a special $25 Early Bird Bonus to all players seated and playing by 2pm during the Poker Party days. On the last Sunday of every month, we have a Europa Card Club Monthly Championship Tournament.

Hotels available

Special Hotel Poker Rates
Hotel Phone RegularRates Poker Rates
Hotel Morazan 011(506)222-4622 $58 $40
Radisson Hotel 011(506)257-3257 $128 $85
Europa Hotel 011(506)222-1222 $70 $35
Royal Dutch 011(506)222-1414 $32 $25
Villa Tournon 011(506)233-6622 $65 $56
Hotel Balmoral 1(800)691-4865 $59 $50

There reason for this trip is simple.if we can prove that we want to go back to Costa Rica on a regular basis, they’ll start scheduling these tournaments again.

So even though it’s short notice.come join the doctor in Costa Rica!!!

Mega Super.Phil & Oakley & WSOP.over 1000

Yesterday we ran an unscheduled Mega Super Sat at the WSOP for seats into the main event.There was a huge crowd and we gave out 24 seats into the Main Event

This type of sat is becoming the most popular way to get into main events as evidenced by the WSOP and Bellagio championships.
Last month the $25000 dollar event at Bellagio had two of these mega supers and gave away 43 seats in the 1st one and 25 seats in the second. In fact the 1st one was so highly attended because online sites actually had tournaments that sent participants to that event.
That’s a total of 1.7 million in these sats alone.
The nights of the 19th & 20th the WSOP will run two more of these sats at 10:45 PM as part of the Late Night series.we expect well over 400 for these events and suggest if your coming down to register early.

It seems like Harrahs decided that logo’s were appearing more than they expected at the WSOP Final tables. One company had 5 players wearing gear at the Ladies event; another had models walking the aisles of the tournaments with sashes across their bodies like beauty queens. Other companies had representatives waiting to see who would make the final tables of televised events, so they could employ them for that event. Harrah’s decided to put a stop to the madness and has now prohibited these logo’s.

Phil Hellmuth made his 45th cash at yesterdays PLH event breaking the all time record of money finishes. Instead of his online affiliation hat, Phil was seen at the final table wearing a very understated O on his cap. This is from Oakely, who has an interesting deal with a few players on the tour. (details at another time). It seems that either Harrah’s didn’t realize what the O was for or that they approve of “legitimate” advertising from mainstream companies.

Last night the WSOP went over the thousand mark, ending the day with 1010 paid entries into the Main Event!

And for those of you thinking this is a young persons game you’re right and wrong!
The winner of yesterdays PLH event had the youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet and today’s Seniors event attracted over 500 players

WSOP Main Event Breaks Record

Last night as I was closing up shop at 5 AM after the Second Chance Tournament, I decided it was time to check the actual number of entries in the Main Event.
Ok we all knew we were blowing past last year’s record number, but I was curious as to what date that would occur. Well mark down May 14th as the lucky number. As of 5 AM this morning there were 839 paid entries and from what I understand a lot of the internet entries are still not in the system.

More records have been broken, but maybe none more important than three women winning open events here. The three are crafty veterans of the game and certainly have paid their dues to get into that final ring. Congrats to them all.

Women are now a growing part of our industry and I don’t just mean rail watchers. The smart women see this sport as an opportunity to make a name for themselves and have honed their game accordingly. I’m not sure what the percentage of women in the game was or what it is now, but expect that number to grow. That being said as corporate sponsors look at the industry, it becomes a much prettier picture and may attract that sponsor looking for a niche as they enter the poker world.