Hellmuth, Keikoan are Bay 101 finalists

By Arnold Warner

In March a galaxy of poker’s elite made their annual pilgrimage to San Jose for the Bay 101 Casino’s Shooting Star Tournament on the World Poker Tour. As always, this unique event featured $5,000 bounties on 50 of the pros as well as $10,000 bonuses for the chip leaders at the end of Days 1a and 1b.

This tournament also features a non-standard blind structure, with 60-minute levels on the two Day 1s, 90-minute levels on Day 2, and 120-minute levels on Day 3 (at the end of which they have reached the six players who will make up the final table). Days 1 and 2 are played with the standard nine players per table, but beginning on Day 3 play is short-handed, with only six players per table. click here to read the whole article!

Players win huge jackpot at The 101
By Barbara Engler

You may have heard the loud roar from The 101 Casino in Petaluma all the way to Fresno when their Progressive Jackpot was hit on March 25 to the tune of $215,500. “One of our slogans has long been ‘Everyday is a Payday’ and that day it definitely was. It was a fun, exciting day,” said gaming manager Michael Stan.

They were playing $4/8 with a half kill when Marin County’s Kevin Kehs, sitting on a short stack, looked down at 5h-6h. His recycling and debris business had suffered from several months of rain and he was looking at some tough decisions come April 1. That day he said, “I’m not going to worry about my problems. I’m just going to have fun. I took 60 bucks in and I said I’m just going to do with it what I can.”. click here to read the whole article!

Poker Ambassador
Don't play poker like a gremlin
By Randall Rapp

It used to be there were things you could count on. Fortunately, there are still a few out there, like having candles on your birthday cake, politicians wasting money like they get it for free, and celebrities turning up on Internet videos in compromising positions.

Unfortunately, some of the things your Ambassador used to count on when playing poker tournaments are now about as reliable as your brother-in-law’s 1975 AMC Gremlin. Here are three of them that come to mind (if you have more, email them to me at randy@thecardroom-norcal.com). click here to read the whole article!

Kamikaze Corner
To limp or not to limp: Part II
By Davin Anderson

In the Jan./Feb. issue I covered when to limp and not to limp with most of the mediocre and speculative hands. This time I will be covering mostly premium hands and some special situations and strategies for limping and not limping.

Suited ace-rag

Suited ace-rag really means any two cards that contain an ace and any suited card that is not a face card. These hands are the most common hands that I will limp with because of their multi-way pot potential. By not raising you invite people with inferior hands in the same suit to play. Hopefully, if you flop a flush draw, you will have one or more players drawing to inferior flushes (which would be considered dead money). If you make a nut flush you will have at least one other player with an inferior flush. click here to read the whole article!

The Cardroom's POY champ goes on road
By Raymond T. Akers

The Cardroom’s 2010 Player of the Year Contest is off to a rollicking start, with tons of points going to lots of players and coming from several different casinos throughout Northern California.

The big news in the POY contest is The Cardroom’s plan to take our current champion, Fresno’s Gerry Davidow, out on the road; hopefully to a casino near you! click here to read the whole article!

Poker with a Twist

Honest John Baudine & His Poker-Smart Dog, Clancy
By Big Jim Williams

Readers may recall, “Honest John Bou­dine’s Glass Eye,” a recent story in The Card­room, Northern California’s Poker News. Long before HJ lost his eye, he traveled with Clancy, a big “yeller” dog.

Honest John trotted the Old West by first class mule, his long legs dangled and swayed beneath his four-legged transportation like broken pendulums in a grandfather clock. He rode rim-rod straight on that white critter with the dignity of a prince heading for his coronation, or a dethroned king heading for execution. He stared straight ahead looking for the next saloon offering 5-cent beer, free eats and poker players. HJ was a professional gambler. click here to read the whole article!