Nearly 60 late nite poker players abandoned their hopes of turning in early this past Saturday night and instead opted in to playing the newly featured 'Midnite Madness' Tournament held at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington PA.
The tournament was the brainchild of poker room manager Peter Lau and Princess of Poker Donna Lapia in an effort to give tournament players a venue to satisfy their late night urge to play a poker tournament. Similar events are held at major casinos across the USA, however, the Meadows tournament brings a little added flavor!
The starting stack is a very generous $12,000 with a dealer buy add on of $1500 ($5 gratuity). The blind levels, in keeping with the '12' theme of a true midnite madness, are 12 minutes long. Players can expect plenty of play for their $50 buy in especially since there are no antes throughout the tourney coupled with the generous starting stack.
With a total of 58 players and a first place prize of $835, the shuffle up and deal announcement was made at just a minute after midnite. Play moved along fairly swiftly as the players adjusted to a faster blind level. By Level 10, with blinds at 2K and 4k, the bubble broke as the remaining 10 players convened to their final table.
Action at first was quite soft as shortstacks found places to double up while the big stacks (including the final table chip leader Carl C. of Washington PA) waited patiently for their chance to KO opponents. Finally with 4 minutes remaining in Level 16 (blinds 10K - 20K) the final 4 were battling it out as the shortstack pushed his 35K all in against the BB who made the call for an additional 15K.
The shortstack tabled Ace 2 suited while the BB reluctantly turned over his 9 5 off. Dealer Micheal spread the flop of 6 3 7, burned and turned an 8 and brought down an irrelevant river 4, giving the BB a winning 7 card straight. With about 780,000 in play that Left the 3 remaining players (Carl, Chuck and Pat) to enter level 17 after nearly 3 and a half hours all with fairly even stacks.
Floor manager John, as well as several other players gathered near the final table to watch the action. Carl C, the overwhelming chip leader throughout most of the tournament raised all in with KQ of hearts on the button against the pocket 10's of Chuck in the BB. Micheal spread a board of J 2 9, giving Carl a glimpse of hope on a gut shot or over card, however the 6 and 5 on the turn and river exasperated Carl's hopes of a first place finish as Chuck scooped in the pot. Carl's third place win netted him nearly $250.
Heads up began and ended quickly on the second hand as Pat made a move against Chuck showing 10 5 off to Chucks Q 8 suited. The board ran out J 7 2 2 6, giving Chuck a Queen high win to take down the $835 prize. Pat's second place finish rewarded him with a little over $420.
The Midnite Madness tourney is an exciting tournament to play in and will be a staple every Friday and Saturday night. Registration begins at 10:00pm on Friday and Saturday evening. Buy in is $50, Hope to see you there!
Showing posts with label pennsylvania poker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pennsylvania poker. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Meadows Live Poker Tournaments Schedule Released
The Meadows Poker Room has released their schedule for live poker tournaments held every day.
More than 50 tournaments are open each month with a variety of buy ins and types.
* Dealer add-on $1000 Bonus Chips - $5
The Blind Structure for the $40 and $65 Tourneys is as follows:(Structure for the Deepstack, Sit N Go and Stud, to be announced)
Additional Information is found on the PA Poker Players website.
More than 50 tournaments are open each month with a variety of buy ins and types.
| DAY | TIME | TOURNAMENT | BUYIN+ENTRYFEE | LEVELS | CHIPS* |
| Monday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 |
| 7:30pm | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 | |
| Tuesday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 |
| 7:30pm | No Limit Hold'em | $50 + 15 | 18 min. | 5000 | |
| Wednesday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 |
| 7:30pm | No Limit Hold'em | $100 + 20 | 18 min. | 6000 | |
| Thursday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 |
| 7:30pm | No Limit Hold'emBounty Hunter | $50 + 15($10 Bounty) | 18 min. | 5000 | |
| Friday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 |
| 4:00pm | No Limit Hold'emSit n Go Frenzy | $50 + 15 and$100 + 17 | 20 min. | 2000 | |
| 7:30pm | No Limit Hold'emTurbo 55 | $40 + 10 | 10 min. | 5500 | |
| Saturday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $50 + 15 | 20 min. | 5000 |
| 3:00pm | No Limit Hold'em Deep Stack Grinder | $200 + 25($25 Bounty) | 18 min. | 10000 | |
| Sunday | 10:30am | No Limit Hold'em | $30 + 10 | 18 min. | 4000 |
| 3:00pm | 7 Card Stud | $40 + 10 | 18 min. | 3000 |
The Blind Structure for the $40 and $65 Tourneys is as follows:(Structure for the Deepstack, Sit N Go and Stud, to be announced)
| Level | Ante | Blinds (SB - BB) |
| 1 | - | 25 - 50 |
| 2 | - | 50 - 100 |
| 3 | - | 100 - 200 |
| 4 | 25 | 100 - 200 |
| 5 | 50 | 200 - 400 |
| 10 Minute Break | ||
| 6 | 100 | 400 - 800 |
| 7 | 200 | 600 - 1200 |
| 8 | 300 | 800 - 1600 |
| 9 | 300 | 1000 - 2000 |
| 10 | 500 | 1500 - 3000 |
| 10 Minute Break | ||
| 11 | 500 | 2000 - 4000 |
| 12 | 1000 | 3000 - 6000 |
| 13 | 1000 | 4000 - 8000 |
| 14 | 2000 | 6000 - 12000 |
| 10 Minute Break | ||
| 15 | 3000 | 8000 - 16000 |
| 16 | 3000 | 10000 - 20000 |
| 17 | 5000 | 15000 - 30000 |
| 18 | By | Director |
Additional Information is found on the PA Poker Players website.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Players Advantage - New Poker Player Article
Players Advantage, a column in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review published an article on new players to the poker room this past weekend. Mark Gruetze, Administrative Editor for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review interviewed me recently and wrote an informative article for new poker players entering what is now a thriving casino business in Pennsylvania.
Read the article at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Also see a list of the four local casinos (The Rivers, The Meadows, Mountaineer Casino and Wheeling Island) and their offerings of poker games at Live Poker Room @ Players Advantage.
Mark Gruetze has been a recreational gambler for more than 30 years, focusing on blackjack, video poker and poker. He is administrative editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Read the article at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Also see a list of the four local casinos (The Rivers, The Meadows, Mountaineer Casino and Wheeling Island) and their offerings of poker games at Live Poker Room @ Players Advantage.
Mark Gruetze has been a recreational gambler for more than 30 years, focusing on blackjack, video poker and poker. He is administrative editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Friday, August 6, 2010
First Poker Tournament in PA Well Received
Pennsylvania's first legal poker tournament took place today at the Meadows Casino and Racetrack in Washington PA. I arrived at 9:30, just to avoid any potential rush of tournament players and was relieved to see that there were just a few signups.
Tension was a little thick as the poker room management(Peter Lau and Donna Lapia, readied the tables along with help from the well-expereinced poker dealers on staff. In addition, several 'suits' were hanging around (puportedly PGCB and Upper level Meadows management) ready to oversee what would historically be the first legal poker tournament in Pennsylvania.
I registered and took a late breakfast and coffee break in anticipation of playing in this tourney. When I returned to the Poker room at 10:28 am I was surprised to see 5 tables filling up for the tournament. What a great turnout! Especially since the tournament was not announced or advertised.
After a brief settling, the tourney got underway.
The Basics:
The buy-in is $40 with a $5 dealer add on bonus, initial chips: $4,000, add-on $1,000.
The structure was player friendly considering the amount of chips as the blind levels were 18 minutes long with starting blinds at $50 and $100.
The tables were hand dealt (the final table used the shufflemaster), however the hands per hour were above average.
42 players registered to the tourney with a payout scale going to the top 5:
1st $567.00
2nd $315.00
3rd $189.00
4th $113.00
5th $ 76.00
The Play
Most of the play at my table was soft with just a little aggression in the early blinds, I ended the first break (at level 5) with a little more than 10K in chips and the field had narrowed to 34.
Although I had played hundreds of low stakes tourneys at Wheeling Island the last few years, this first PA Poker tourney lacked the uber-aggression and complacency commonly seen at the latter. The dealers and staff were very attentive to the level-ups. Although there was problems with the tournament clock in the beginning, (frozen at one point), it was quickly reset, while play continued without missing a beat.
Dealer pushes were done quickly and extra effort was made to ensure the tournament moved along. Going into level 7 (600 and 1200, 200 ante), we were down to 18 players, I sat close to the average with 12K in chips. The final table convened during the 9th Level (1000 and 2000, 300 ante) with 10 players remaining.
The Final table was moved to a poker table with an automatic shuffler and play resumed quickly as seats were assigned. During the break the 100 chips were raced off, and play continued. We had made a deal for the bubble boy, which encouraged two shortstacks to move in and shortly thereafter we were down to the final 5.
With 3 minutes remaining in Level 10 (1500 and 3000, 500 ante), the bubble broke and 5 players remained to capture the title of the winner of the first poker tournament in PA. I lasted until 4th place (Level 11) moving all in on the button with 33 against the BB who showed A6os, flopping a 6 to end my run to be the first winner. Shortly thereafter player 3 went down and heads up play commenced at level 12 (3,000 and 6,000, ante 1000).
Lasting less than 10 minutes, the two players got it all in when the button limped and the BB shoved all in, getting a quick call from his opponent. The tabled hands were (Button) AA, (BB) 4 6os. The flop came down 3 4 4, enough of a sweat for the AA as a turn came down blank and the river Ace giving the champion aces full.
The tourney ended around 2:45pm, with congratulatory handshakes for both players as Peter Lau escorted the entrants to the cage.
Personally, this is one of the better tourneys I have played in recent years as the relaxing and serene atmosphere along with the cordial nature of the poker room and players made it an enjoyable experience overall.
Now that we have that first cash out of the way, let's get onto the big tourneys!
Starting next week, the Meadows will announce their full schedule and it will be posted on the Pennsylavania Poker Players blog at http://pennsylvaniapokerplayers.info
Tension was a little thick as the poker room management(Peter Lau and Donna Lapia, readied the tables along with help from the well-expereinced poker dealers on staff. In addition, several 'suits' were hanging around (puportedly PGCB and Upper level Meadows management) ready to oversee what would historically be the first legal poker tournament in Pennsylvania.
I registered and took a late breakfast and coffee break in anticipation of playing in this tourney. When I returned to the Poker room at 10:28 am I was surprised to see 5 tables filling up for the tournament. What a great turnout! Especially since the tournament was not announced or advertised.
After a brief settling, the tourney got underway.
The Basics:
The buy-in is $40 with a $5 dealer add on bonus, initial chips: $4,000, add-on $1,000.
The structure was player friendly considering the amount of chips as the blind levels were 18 minutes long with starting blinds at $50 and $100.
The tables were hand dealt (the final table used the shufflemaster), however the hands per hour were above average.
42 players registered to the tourney with a payout scale going to the top 5:
1st $567.00
2nd $315.00
3rd $189.00
4th $113.00
5th $ 76.00
The Play
Most of the play at my table was soft with just a little aggression in the early blinds, I ended the first break (at level 5) with a little more than 10K in chips and the field had narrowed to 34.
Although I had played hundreds of low stakes tourneys at Wheeling Island the last few years, this first PA Poker tourney lacked the uber-aggression and complacency commonly seen at the latter. The dealers and staff were very attentive to the level-ups. Although there was problems with the tournament clock in the beginning, (frozen at one point), it was quickly reset, while play continued without missing a beat.
Dealer pushes were done quickly and extra effort was made to ensure the tournament moved along. Going into level 7 (600 and 1200, 200 ante), we were down to 18 players, I sat close to the average with 12K in chips. The final table convened during the 9th Level (1000 and 2000, 300 ante) with 10 players remaining.
The Final table was moved to a poker table with an automatic shuffler and play resumed quickly as seats were assigned. During the break the 100 chips were raced off, and play continued. We had made a deal for the bubble boy, which encouraged two shortstacks to move in and shortly thereafter we were down to the final 5.
With 3 minutes remaining in Level 10 (1500 and 3000, 500 ante), the bubble broke and 5 players remained to capture the title of the winner of the first poker tournament in PA. I lasted until 4th place (Level 11) moving all in on the button with 33 against the BB who showed A6os, flopping a 6 to end my run to be the first winner. Shortly thereafter player 3 went down and heads up play commenced at level 12 (3,000 and 6,000, ante 1000).
Lasting less than 10 minutes, the two players got it all in when the button limped and the BB shoved all in, getting a quick call from his opponent. The tabled hands were (Button) AA, (BB) 4 6os. The flop came down 3 4 4, enough of a sweat for the AA as a turn came down blank and the river Ace giving the champion aces full.
The tourney ended around 2:45pm, with congratulatory handshakes for both players as Peter Lau escorted the entrants to the cage.
Personally, this is one of the better tourneys I have played in recent years as the relaxing and serene atmosphere along with the cordial nature of the poker room and players made it an enjoyable experience overall.
Now that we have that first cash out of the way, let's get onto the big tourneys!
Starting next week, the Meadows will announce their full schedule and it will be posted on the Pennsylavania Poker Players blog at http://pennsylvaniapokerplayers.info
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Poker Tournaments Coming to The Meadows Casino
Inside information from sources close to the Meadows Casino & Racetrack have informed me that by the middle of August 2010, The Meadows will offer No Limit Texas Holdem Poker tournaments!
What a great opportunity for all the poker players in this area as the poker tournaments will be the best in the tri-state region according to the lineup of types of tournaments and given the fact that there are a large amount of tournament players in this area.
First up, The Daily tournaments will be modest buy-ins at $40 and $65 featured in the morning and one in the evening. These tourneys will offer 4000 - 6000 in tournament chips with a player friendly and generous blind structure.
Weekly Big Buy-in poker tournaments are scheduled on Wednesday evening Bounty Hunter and a Saturday Deepstack with 12,000 in chips!
Midnight Madness is sure to be the most fun poker tournament of all! The Midnite Madness will offer $12,000 in chips, 12 minute blinds and you guessed it, starts at Midnite every Friday and Saturday night.
In addition to all this action, The Meadows poker room is also offering a Sit n Go Frenzy every friday with non stop sit n go tables open as shorthanded (6-max) and full 9 player tables. A quick way to build your bankroll for the cash games.
For full details, check out the upcoming announcement on the official Pennsylvania Poker Players website
What a great opportunity for all the poker players in this area as the poker tournaments will be the best in the tri-state region according to the lineup of types of tournaments and given the fact that there are a large amount of tournament players in this area.
First up, The Daily tournaments will be modest buy-ins at $40 and $65 featured in the morning and one in the evening. These tourneys will offer 4000 - 6000 in tournament chips with a player friendly and generous blind structure.
Weekly Big Buy-in poker tournaments are scheduled on Wednesday evening Bounty Hunter and a Saturday Deepstack with 12,000 in chips!
Midnight Madness is sure to be the most fun poker tournament of all! The Midnite Madness will offer $12,000 in chips, 12 minute blinds and you guessed it, starts at Midnite every Friday and Saturday night.
In addition to all this action, The Meadows poker room is also offering a Sit n Go Frenzy every friday with non stop sit n go tables open as shorthanded (6-max) and full 9 player tables. A quick way to build your bankroll for the cash games.
For full details, check out the upcoming announcement on the official Pennsylvania Poker Players website
Monday, May 10, 2010
Pennsylvania Poker Players Celebrate!
Now that the Pennsylvania legislature has finally allowed Pensylvanians to play Poker (and other table games) in our local slots casinos, we can dispense with traveling 50 or more miles to casinos in our neighboring states!
It was only a matter of time, and now that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) is beginning to approve licenses for the 9 established casinos in the Commonwealth, PA residents can now enjoy playing the game of poker closer to home.
As of this writing, the following casinos have received approval from the PGCB to begin offering table games:
The Meadows (Washington, PA)
Presque Isle (Erie, PA)
Hollywood Casino (Penn National Race Course)
Mount Airy Casino Resort (Mount Pocono, PA)
Sands Resort (Bethlehem, PA)
Of course, my casino of choice will be the Meadows as it is only a few miles from my home! I have played at Wheeling Island for the last two years and will not miss the drive (about 40 minutes each way).
The Meadows will offer poker players a large amount of opportunities and a varied selection of games, including some of the best tournaments in the tri-state area!
The poker room manager, Peter Lau, is formerly the Poker room manager of Wheeling Island as well as having more than 20 years experience at other casinos such as Foxwoods.
The Meadows will offer WSOP satellites as well as some very exciting tournament and poker cash games. Although nothing is set in stone at this point, the Meadows anticipates opening their poker room in the early part of July, 2010.
If you would like to receive notice when the Poker Room opens, as well as information on any PA poker casino, click the PennsylvaniaPokerPlayers.com website and join the newsletter!
Good Luck and hope to see you at the tables!
It was only a matter of time, and now that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) is beginning to approve licenses for the 9 established casinos in the Commonwealth, PA residents can now enjoy playing the game of poker closer to home.
As of this writing, the following casinos have received approval from the PGCB to begin offering table games:
The Meadows (Washington, PA)
Presque Isle (Erie, PA)
Hollywood Casino (Penn National Race Course)
Mount Airy Casino Resort (Mount Pocono, PA)
Sands Resort (Bethlehem, PA)
Of course, my casino of choice will be the Meadows as it is only a few miles from my home! I have played at Wheeling Island for the last two years and will not miss the drive (about 40 minutes each way).
The Meadows will offer poker players a large amount of opportunities and a varied selection of games, including some of the best tournaments in the tri-state area!
The poker room manager, Peter Lau, is formerly the Poker room manager of Wheeling Island as well as having more than 20 years experience at other casinos such as Foxwoods.
The Meadows will offer WSOP satellites as well as some very exciting tournament and poker cash games. Although nothing is set in stone at this point, the Meadows anticipates opening their poker room in the early part of July, 2010.
If you would like to receive notice when the Poker Room opens, as well as information on any PA poker casino, click the PennsylvaniaPokerPlayers.com website and join the newsletter!
Good Luck and hope to see you at the tables!
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