Casino Real is site of first Central Valley Poker Challenge
By Barbara Engler

At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, with cameras running and a feature table complete with “hole cams,” the $5,000 buy-in Central Valley Poker Challenge kicked off with 42 participants and a prize pool of $201,600.

Twelve hours later they were down to the final table and broke for the night. The next morning those nine finalists renewed the battle for the first Central Valley Poker Challenge crown.

Scott Nguyen, a local no-limit player, proved best on this day, out dueling Mike Digaetano in a heads-up battle, taking home the $76,610 first prize. Digaetano’s second place finish was worth $40,320.

The other players at the final table were Sonny Baza (third) $24,190, Juan Zapien (fourth) $17,135, Ray Piro (fifth) $12,095, Ted Bui (sixth) $8,570, Wayne Parks (seventh) $8,065, Luis Fernandez (eighth) $7,560, and Sal Iorio (ninth) $7,055.

Plans are in the works for Casino Real to air the Central Valley Poker Challenge on local TV sometime in the near future.

The Gold Rush Poker Series

While Casino Real plans to host the Central Valley Poker Challenge every year in May, the next major event in Manteca will be the Gold Rush Poker Series, coming this November. It will consist of a series of four no-limit Hold’em tournaments scheduled as follows: $200 buy-in on Nov. 8, $300 buy-in on Nov. 15, $500 buy-in on Nov. 22, and a $1,000 buy-in on Nov. 28.

As they did with the Central Valley Poker Challenge, Casino Real plans to film the $1,000 buy-in tournament of this series for broadcast on local TV.