Rellie Sigua wins 2011 NorCal POY contest
By Arnold Warner

Sometimes nice guys actually do finish first. Rellie Sigua of San Bruno was recently named The Card­room’s 2011 NorCal Poker Tournament Player of the Year. Described by Lucky Chances tournament director Robert Bloom as “genuinely a nice guy,” Sigua claimed the title and trophy with a strong finish to the year.

After holding a solid second place for most of the year, and briefly taking the lead in June, Sigua reclaimed the top spot in October and never let go. He finished the contest with 7,302 points, about 20 percent more than second place, San Francisco’s Lawrence Chow (6,191).

Third place went to Moe Saquing of Daly City (5,613) and taking fourth place was 2010 champion Mark Lamb of Livermore with 5,556 points. Claiming fifth place was San Francisco’s Dun “Mike” Nguyen with 4,730 points followed in sixth by 2009 champion Gerry Davidow of Fresno with 4,262. Next came Jimmy Zeledon, San Jose (4,260); Darrell Ticehurst, Hillsborough (4,239); Tony Nguyen, San Francisco (4,057); and Dan Webster, San Francisco (3,673). click here to read the whole article!

POY Lamb defends his home turf
By Raymond T. Akers

With his reign coming to an end, 2010 NorCal Player of the Year Mark Lamb took on the field once more, this time at his “home,” Casino 580 in Livermore. On Nov. 19, 63 players each ponied up $125 for the opportunity to eliminate the champ and claim his $480 bounty.

That prize went to Liv­ermore’s Mario Schiopu, who also went on to chop the top two places with Johny Martinez of Dublin. Third place went to Robert Hancock of Napa and fourth was Gus Sherwood from Livermore.

Tournament director Rom­mel Naravel was very pleased with the turnout, which was noticeably larger than average for a Saturday afternoon event. “We have quite a few new faces here that I haven’t seen. I’d say probably at least one-third of the field,” he said. click here to read the whole article!

WHPC awards first championship belt at Rogelio's Poker Room
By Barbara Engler

With plans to hold similar events at cardrooms of all sizes around the world, the World Heavyweight Poker Championship (WHPC) awarded its first belt at Rogelio’s Poker Room of Isleton on Dec. 11.

After more than seven hours of play the title of 2011 WHPC Rogelio’s of Isleton Mini Flyweight Champion went to local resident Nathan Gardiner, who received a beautiful championship belt buckle and $2,686 in prize money. Gardiner was virtually speechless after the tournament, saying only, “This is the only place I play, so I’m real excited to win.”

Twenty-nine players came from as far away as Santa Rosa and Fresno to take a shot at the belt, but the local player’s weren’t about to give up their city’s title easily. The Cardroom’s editor, Randall Rapp, made the trip and acquitted himself nicely, coming in eighth place—just short of the money. “The tournament was extremely well run and the Garcia family made excellent hosts,” he said. “I hope this is the first of many WHPC events to come to cardrooms throughout Northern California.” click here to read the whole article!

WPT back to Bay 101 in March

The 16th Annual Bay 101 Casino Shooting Star Tournament will be held March 5 to 9 and will remain a $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour event. Bay 101 has also announced that world-renowned tournament director Matt Savage will be back to host the event once again.

Savage said, “The Bay 101 Shooting Star is my favorite stop on the tour. It is the most unique tournament in poker with $5,000 bounties, $10,000 to the Day 1A and Day1B chip leaders, six-handed play with two hour levels, and the best poker fans in the world. I am happy to be returning to my hometown of San Jose.”

Last year’s event was one of the few stops on the WPT that had enjoyed an increase in participation. The 2011 Shooting Star had 415 players, up from the 333 players that competed in 2010. click here to read the whole article!

NorCal Poker Ambassador
Always keep The Cardroom handy!
By Randall Rapp

During a recent trip to Lucky Chances Casino (more on that later), I had the pleasure of meeting up with Ted Simmen of Magalia (that’s a bit north and east of Chico and just north of Paradise for those of you, like me, who never heard of it before). Ted likes to drive California sampling the various casinos and he always keeps a copy of The Cardroom at his side to help find places he hasn’t been to yet.

That’s just what we had in mind when we invented the Northern California poker news out of thin air over five years ago. So when you’re on the road and looking for a little poker action, keep The Cardroom close at hand just like Ted. He’s our kind of guy! click here to read the whole article!

New Year's goal: become a winning player
By Bernard Harris

The hard truth is that the majority of us are not long-term winners. Of course we all win on occasion and are comforted by the memory of that awesome $500, $1,000, or $2,000 night we had many moons ago. But if we were to add up all of our winning poker dollars and subtract our buy-ins, tournament entry fees, the rake, and other poker related costs, then the vast majority of us would be in the red. So how can we join the ranks of the elite who live in the black? How can we become long-term winning players? click here to read the whole article!