Back in 2004 San Jose's Antonio Esfandiari burst onto the big-name poker scene when he won the Los Angeles Poker Classic and $1,399,135 during the World Poker Tour's second season. Since then, he has become one of the most familiar faces in poker.

Born in Tehran, Iran in December of 1978, his family moved to San Jose and started over when he was only nine years old. "It was very hard to get out of Iran and my father had to sacrifice everything in order to move us to America," he said. "He gave up everything for us. They wouldn't let him take any of his money out. He did very well back in Iran and then he had to give it all up to give us a better life."

He certainly is glad about the move. Not even mentioning the successes he's had he stated, "I could be in Iran fighting some war or I don't know what I'd be doing."

Northern California was once again well represented at the Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) which took place at the Commerce Casino from Jan. 17 to Feb. 29. Many cashed, but three came home with the hardware and first place prize money.

The first to take down a title was David Forster of Alameda. He won Event #32, $340 Knockout Bounty No Limit Hold'em on Feb. 17. There were 531 entries creating a prize pool of $98,235 along with another $53,100 in bounties. Forster's first place was good for $21,750 along with another $1,100 in bounties, plus the trophy and watch.

Forster was the chip leader when they got to heads-up play and he and his opponent agreed on a chop of $21,750/$18,655 and then competed for the hardware and title.

After a highly successful event last year, DeepStacks is returning to the Turlock Poker Room for another training opportunity and a chance to play in a tournament with big-name pros.

On May 4 a team from DeepStacks including Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Karina Jett, and Tristan Wade will be on hand to help you bring your game to the next level. The DeepStacks Live Power Poker Course focuses on all aspects of play, from cash to tournament play, beginner to veteran, all aimed at radically improving your poker game. The course begins at noon and costs $500.

"I was there for last year's course and I think I can speak for everyone there when I say that it was very educational and well worth the cost of a ticket," said The Cardroom's editor, Randall Rapp. "I'm looking forward to coming back again and working with The Grinder and the rest of the DeepStacks crew."

The New Year always brings some new action to The Cardroom's Player of the Year contest and so far 2012 has not been an exception. So far we've added the Napa Valley Casino in American Canyon and The Palace Poker Casino in Hayward. I'm making it my personal mission to see if we can't get things started at the Turlock Poker Room, as they have a full slate of regular tournaments and are a natural fit for the contest. Hopefully, we'll bring in a couple more and really get things firing on all cylinders.

Turlock Poker Room 
Turlock

Mrs. A and I made our first stop at the Turlock Poker Room for their Friday night tournament. We started out having a great conversation with owner Joe Fernandez, whose reputation for friendliness and hospitality is well deserved.

Ask a hundred pros to list the top three most important aspects of poker and bankroll management (BRM) will make the list every time. Why is BRM so important? Simply put, if you are a breakeven or winning player and follow proper bankroll management, you will never go broke. This statement is not conjecture, hyperbole, or opinion but cold, hard, mathematical fact.

When most players think bankroll management they think "bankroll." A bankroll is the money a player has allocated to play poker. If said player has $2,600 squirreled away for poker, then his bankroll is $2,600. If he has an initial poker roll of $1,400 and diverts $300 per week from his paycheck to poker, then his bankroll is $2,600 per month (adjusted as a function of his roll and paycheck). Most players compare their bankroll, in this case $2,600, to the game they wish to play. If said player wishes to play $2/5 no-limit and the minimum buy-in is $200, then he will often think his bankroll is sufficient. After all, he can buy into the game several times over. Surely, this is proper bankroll management?

Trying to bring 65,000 poker players together is no easy task. I have learned over the years that the only way to round up a readership that size is to find the poker trail and follow it. While not necessarily visible to the naked eye, it exists as surely as a black hole.

Like a black hole, the trail has a way of sucking you in. Most people probably think it begins and ends with the casinos. They would be dead wrong. The real trail begins with the places in between. My job is to follow this trail religiously and sprinkle a few poker papers along the way.

There's a hotel in Vacaville that stands out in particular when it comes to poker friendly. America's Best Value Inn is located where Highway 80 meets the Interstate 505 cutoff. I call this place the "casino crossroads" because along this multi-headed travel corridor lies a smorgasbord of casinos.

Theoretically, you could leave the hotel at 9:00 o'clock in the morning and have breakfast at the Napa Valley Casino in American Canyon, followed by lunch at The California Grand in Pacheco. Then you could go right back up Highway 80 to Sacramento's own Capitol Casino for an afternoon snack. From there you could easily have dinner at the Lucky Derby in Citrus Heights before ending your evening at either Thunder Valley in Lincoln or Towers Casino up in Grass Valley.