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DINE ON THE WHALES

  Wild Bill's reflections on poker, sports, and issues facing the Gulf Coast. Wild Bill is one half of GCP, Plays, Coaches, and helps run Gulf Coast Poker Tour.

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 POKER IS WAR>

 Gene D is the other half of GCP. Gene shares his outlook on the local and national poker scene. His mantra is money won is sweeter than money earned. 

THE POKER MONKEY

 Will Souther is the Poker Monkey. Take a look at his always entertaining views on the tournament poker circuit, gambling and life in general.  The founder of the Monkey Minions never sugarcoats it.

 

NO DOUBT'N NOLAN DALLA

 Nolan Dalla.com is where you find the wit and wisdom of one of the most well known poker writers in the industry.   His home blog covers a wide range of topics written with that singular Dalla conviction.  

 

LITTLE THOUGHTS

 Jonathan Little an all time top tournament poker earners, is from Pensacola and currently operates a coaching site, which includes his blogs and videos you can find it here.

 

POKER FACES IN THE CROWD

 BEN SAXTON is writing a poker book based on the Gulf Coast scene.  Here is an archive of interviews and features of poker players from all over but with a spotlight mostly on our locals.

N-SIDE POKER

 PLAYER N scribes tales of grifters, sleaze balls, and beautiful card sharks all hustling on the Coast.

PARTNERS
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MARCH 18 - 28, 2021 SCHEDULE and STRUCTURES
2020 ARCHIVE
PEARL RIVER POKER MAIN EVENT:

L-R Final Table: Jeffrey Hewitt, Gerald Stogner, Matt Higgins, Dustin Stewart, Shawn Calvit, Joe Hebert, Dan Lowery, Chris Nunnally

PokerNews has a great wrap up of the event here.  What a fantastic series! We smashed our guarantees by 3x the opening weekend and in the Main Event. Pretty soon we'll have a million dollars in total prize pools.  We set records for every event. Sounds like the Spring event will in March. Not official yet, but looking very likely. Big thank you to Neal Atkinson and Pearl River Resorts for having faith in poker and tournament poker. As always a great job by Paul Dustch and his talented crew of traveling dealers, TDs, and staff. Saw firsthand behind the scenes how hard they worked. Impressive giving the constraints at hand. They say the spring will have more tables and more dealers to accommodate the growth of the event.  Looking forward to it.

1st Christopher Nunnally Birmingham, AL $57,835 (pictured top)
2nd Matthew Higgins Chatanooga, TN $50,000 (pictured middle)
3rd Jeffery Hewitt Atlanta, GA $27,679
4th Dustin Stewart Biloxi, MS $22,646
5th Gerald Stogner Kokomo, MS $19,291
6th Daniel Lowery Ozark, AR $15,936
7th Joseph Hebert Covington, LA $12,581
8th Shawn Calvit Lafayette, LA $9,226
9th Kevin Henderson Ft. Payne, AL $5,871
10th Forrest Raleigh Lawrenceville, GA $4,697
11th Charles Johnson Jr Norcross, GA $4,697
12th Christopher Davis Tuscaloosa, AL $4,697
13th Andrew Barfield Mt. Sterling, IL $4,026
14th Jason Rogers Cordova, TN $4,026
15th John Jacob Shreveport, LA $4,026
16th Keegan Westover Ocean Springs, MS $3,355
17th Joshua Clanton Charlotte, NC $3,355
18th Matthew South Florence, AL $3,355
19th Joshua Emory Benton, LA $2,684
20th Tiffany Keathley Conway, AR $2,684 (pictured bottom last woman standing)
21st William Brock Pelham, AL $2,684
22nd Jeremy Smith Clanton, AL $2,684
23rd Koritnik Graves Gulfport, MS $2,684
24th Adam Racca Broussard, LA $2,684
25th Donnie Phan Nashville, TN $2,684
26th Daniel Doucet Lafayette, LA $2,684
27th Ronald Hubka Murfressboro, TN $2,684
28th Yousef Saleh Meridian, MS $2,013
29th Derek Normand Lake Charles, LA $2,013
30th Lane Leblanc New Iberia, LA $2,013
31st Robert Lemke Forrest City, AR $2,013
32nd David Champion Murfressboro, TN $2,013
33rd Brent Kawanna Indianapolis, IN $2,013
34th Elibert Campbell Utica, MS $2,013
35th Michael Kassem Kingsport, TN $2,013
36th James Beadnell Salineville, OH $2,013
37th Jaime Tran Duluth, GA $1,510
38th Robin Glaysher Ft Worth, TX $1,510
39th Jesse Lott Selmer, TN $1,510
40th Christoper Young Lacombe, LA $1,510
41st Walker Miskelly Tupelo, MS $1,510
42nd Logan Hoover Shreveport, LA $1,510
43rd Aaron Short McDonald, TN $1,510
44th Brandon Gill Prairieville, LA $1,510
45th Frank Miller Catersville, GA $1,510
46th Clifford Chisolm Noxapater, MS $1,308
47th Raymond Curran Ocean Springs, MS $1,308
48th Johnnie Craig Baytown, TX $1,308
49th Trace Henderson Laurel, MS $1,308
50th James Morrison Rogers, AR $1,308
51st Roger Henderson Ft Payne, AL $1,308
52nd Mark Barbay Denham Springs, LA $1,308
53rd Corey Harrison Birmingham, AL $1,308
54th David Huwe Memphis, TN $1,308
55th Donald Williamson Marietta, GA $1,174
56th Kelly Hebert McKinney, TX $1,174
57th Michael Monaghan Jackson, MS $1,174
58th Henry Gill Baton Rouge, LA $1,174
59th Lori Silvers $1,174
60th Joshua Palmer Daphne, AL $1,174
61st Robert Hankins Smyrna, TX $1,174
62nd Bonnie Weitzel Texarkana, TN $1,174
63rd James Larkin $1,174
PEARL RIVER POKER:



SENIORS EVENT

1st Stephen Greene Panama City, FL $3,260 (pictured above)
2nd Kip Jones Denham Springs, LA $3,043
3rd Keith Moran Denison, TX $2,619
4th Heath Pender Alabaster, AL $2,433
5th Michael Vernace Metairie, LA $1,432
6th Wesley Pipes Monroe, LA $1,228
7th Elaine Horvath Tuscalooosa, AL $1,023
8th Ronald Short McDonald, TN $818
9th Marsha Adams Diamond, MO $614
10th Daniel Doucet Lafayette, LA $491
11th David Champion Murfreesboro, TN $491
12th Michael Ballas Houston, TX $491
13th Chad Marsh Starkville, MS $430
14th Michael Edwards Bolton, MS $430
15th Curtis McGaha Phoenix, AZ $430
16th Kenneth Steele Tuscaloosas, AL $409
17th Donald McArthur Huntingdon, TN $409
18th Edward Basham Pike Road, AL $409

SURVIVOR

1st Michael McKinney Johnson City, TN $1,430
1st Charles Brady Norwood, LA $1,430
1st Justin Kelly Mathison, MS $1,429
1st Tracy Allen Louisville, KY $1,429
1st Joseph Carden Flomaten, AL $1,429
1st Russell Boyette Brandon, MS $1,429 (pictured)
1st Stephen Dunsford Farmington, MS $1,429
8th Rene McDaniel Tuscaloosa, AL $1,000

ROOKIES

1st Terry Collins Thorsby, AL $1,546
2nd Jason Hardin Arab, AL $1,545
3rd Brian Miles Crystal Springs, MS $1,545
4th Lorenzo Ward Huntsville, AL $684
5th Joan Crowe Coaling, AL $608
6th Nicholas Hawkins Fort Payne, AL $532
7th David Marcoullier Cumming, GA $456
8th Samuel Walker Fort Myers, FL $380
9th Emanuel Vallejo Gadsden, AL $304
PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN MAIN EVENT FLIGHT A and B CHIPS:

Keegan Westover last night bagged the second biggest stack in the tournament with 463k. Donnie Phan, Derek Normand, Forrest Raleigh, and Jaime Tran all bagged over 300k in Flight B to slide into the top ten in chips. That brings the total to 468 players for A and B.  At the end of the night, with C breaking, the total hit just over 650.  Course you can still register up to 11 am.  Our champion last Fall, Gavin Munroe, maxed late reg Sunday morning and won the event.  Thinking about it?  Why not be like Gavin and take the big chunk of this over 325k prize pool.
PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN MAIN EVENT FLIGHT A:

Charles Johnson of Atlanta (Norcross) bagged the most chips in the field. Joe Hebert of Nola (Metairie) is not far behind him. Any foreshadowing of a second Saints-Falcon's clash Sunday?

Matt Higgins, Josh "Plinko" Clanton, and Shawn Calvitt also are top ten in chips with over 200k. Andrew Barfield, Walker Miskelly, Matt South, Chester Dilday and Sley Sanchez found a bag.

Will be an interesting subplot to see if any of the players below fire again to try to put more in a bag today during the expected very large fields of B and C.

Also, don't forget the Rookies tournament has been pushed back to 7 pm.
PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN EVENT FIVE:

Brian Walsingham emerged victorious after a heads up battle with Chester Dilday.  The Georgia native won a touch over 10k for first.  Tyler Nals finsihed fourth.  See our facebook page for video of a big fold he made in the money.

Thomas Pullens just missed making another final table this series and Jessica Hudson added another cash to her week.  Also in the money, Judge Leo Boothe, Joe Hebert, Matt South, Chris Read, William Anderson, Daniel Lowery, and Curtis Picard.
1st  Brian Walsingham Carrollton, GA $10,021
2nd Chester Dilday West Monroe, LA $5,316
3rd Heath Pender McCalla, AL $3,681
4th Daniel Moskowitz Huntersville, NC $3,108
5th  Michael McKenn Blountville, TN $2,658
6th  Chad Bell Largo, FL $2,249
7th  Keegan Westover Las Vegas, NV $1,840
8th  Robin Glaysher Ft. Worth, TX $1,431
9th  Thomas Pullens Picayune, MS $1,022
10th  Jessica Hudson Farmersville, MS $777
11th  Koritnik Graves Gulfport, MS $777
12th  David Champion Murfreesboro, TN $777
13th  Eric Scribner Jeffrey, NH $654
14th  Thurmand Boothe Ferriday, LA $654
15th  Nicholas Prejean Mandeville, LA $654
16th  Joe Hebert Metairie, LA $532
17th  Matthew South Florience, AL $532
18th  George Younger Corinth, MS $532
19th William Anderson Chattanooga, TN $409
20th Daniel Lowery Ozark, AR $409
21st Curtis Picard Slidell, LA $409
22nd Nina Giles Opelika, AL $409
23rd Aaron Short McDonald, TN $409
24th Christina Read Flowery Branch, GA $409
25th Michael Buchanan Gurley, AL $409
26th Wesley Jones Ola, AR $409
27th Peyton Ellington Columbus, MS $409
PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN EVENT FOUR:

After Gladys Corbin went out the remaining five players wrapped things up with an ICM chop in the 20k Guaranteed Last Longer Event.  Greg James will get the trophy.
Event #4
 
 Entrants 192 Prize Pool - $29760
1st  Gregory James Vicksburg, MS $4,347
2nd Clifford Chisolm Noxapater, MS $4,333
3rd Marsha Adams Diamond, MO $3,887
4th Brent Kawanna Indianapolis, IN $3,287
5th  Vick Ahuja Brandon, MS $2,747
6th  Gladys Corbin Sylaconga, AL $1,786
7th  Michael Tavis Anniston, AL $1,488
8th  Paul Strizhevsky Suwanee, GA $1,190
9th  Wesley Pipes Monroe, LA $893
10th  Steven Nethery Vestavit, AL $714
11th  Christian Pasnik Alabaster, AL $714
12th  RC Mills Murphysboro, IL $714
13th  Matthew South Florence, AL $625
14th  Walker Miskelly Tupelo, MS $625
15th  William Anderson Chattanooga, TN $625
16th  Jessica Hudson Farmerville, LA $595
17th  Ernest Williams Steens, MS $595
18th  Xaio He Madison, MS $595

PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN EVENT 3 RESULTS:

Joe Hebert and Preston McEwen chopped the bounty tournament.  Preston kept his bounty and Joe collected his second Gulf Coast Poker PRPO trophy.  Complete results:



 
1st  Joe Hebert Metairie, LA $2,946
2nd Preston McEwen Nashville, TN $2,946
3rd Scott Weis Belluve, Tn $1,377
4th Marsha Adams Diamond, MO $1,224
5th  Christopher Young Lacombe, LA $1,017
6th  Christopher Burns Jackson, MS $918
7th  Michael Deroche Houma, LA $765
8th  John Littch Brandon, MS $612
9th  Nicholas Hawkins Fort Payne, AL $459
10th  Joanne Cain Memphis, TN $367
11th  Austin Reilly Murfreesboro, TN $367
12th  Luke Bultema Muskegon, MI $367
13th  Raymond Herndon Murfreesboro, TN $321
14th  Thomas Franklin Gulfport, MS $321
15th  Ronald Hubka Murfreesboro, TN $321
16th  Jessica Hudson Farmerville, LA $306
17th  John Chandler Rome, GA $306
18th  Danny Miles Moundville, AL $306

EVENT 2 RESULTS:

A multi-way chop early in the a.m. capped off the evening.

 Entrants 249 Prize Pool - $72,210
1st  Paul Strizhevsky Suwanee, GA $7,000
2nd Raymond Herdon Murfreesboro, GA $7,000
3rd William Latta Medina, TN $7,000
4th Justin Kelley Mathiston, MS $7,000
5th  Chase Turner Mulga, AL $6,378
6th  Robert Lemke Forrest City, AR $6,377
7th  Clifford Chisolm Collinsville, MS $6,377
8th  Matthew South Florence, AL $6,377
9th  Preston McEwen Nashville, TN $1,805
10th  Jordan Russell Tupelo, MS $1,372
11th  Cody Pack Cartersville, GA $1,372
12th  Wendi Rohrer Jacksonville, AL $1,372
13th  Daniel Moskowitz Huntersville, NC $1,155
14th  Chad Bell Largo, FL $1,155
15th  Mathew Johnson Smyma, TN $1,155
16th  Kevin Henderson Fort Payne, AL $939
17th  Jessica Hudson Farmerville, LA $939
18th  Christina Read Flowery Branch, GA $939
19th  Christopher Trent Jacskson, TN $722
20th  Dustin Steward Biloxi, MS $722
21st  Curtis Picard Slidell, LA $722
22nd  Hugh Flower Calhoun, GA $722
23rd  Charles Beggs Vincent, AL $722
24th  Raymond McCarty Hattiesburg, MS $722
25th  Stephen Ellis Steens, MS $722
26th  Darnell Corbin Sylacauga, AL $722
27th  Dean Hoffman Cookeville, TN $361
28th  Brandon Robinson Columbus, AR $361
EVENT 1 REENTRY PAYOUTS:


Back Row:  Randolph Eason, Eric Yim, Kenny Predergrass, Michael Owens, Frank Boswell, Ha
Front Frow:  Sean Small, Thierry Quintin, Anthony Reynolds, and Thomas Pullens

1st  Anthony Reynolds Atlanta, GA $45,894
2nd Thierry Quintin Destin, FL $28,629
3rd Frank Boswell Pell City, MS $19,968
4th Kenny Prendergrass Brandon, MS $17,062
5th  Eric Yim Fairfax, VA $14,156
6th  Sean Small Douglasville, GA $11,248
7th  Michael Owens Chattanooga, TN $8,342
8th  Thomas Pullens Picayune, MS $5,813
9th  Phyllis Pettit Baton Rouge, LA $4,012
10th  William Dehart New Orleans, LA $3,488
11th  Dan Lowery Peter Pender, AR $3,488
12th  Chad Whitman Ruston, LA $3,488
13th  Kip Thomas Manchester, TN $2,966
14th  Tyson Robertson Gardendale, AL $2,966
15th  Derek Normand Lake Charles, LA $2,966
16th  Ronnie Scott Byram, MS $2,443
17th  Jeremy Letson Tupelo, MS $2,443
18th  Michael Green Baton Rouge, LA $2,443
19th  Henry Gill Baton Rouge, LA $1,774
20th  Lacey Coffey Biloxi, MS $1,774
21st  Jaime Tran Inner, GA $1,774
22nd  Austin Reilly Tampa, FL $1,774
23rd  Gavin Munroe Montgomery, AL $1,774
24th  Curtis Picard Slidell, LA $1,774
25th  Amy Pullens Braxton, MS $1,774
26th  Rebekah Crosby Covington, LA $1,774
27th  Jeff Frederick Pelham, AL $1,774
28th  Randy Gordon Metairie, LA $1,367
29th  Stephen Greene Panama City Beach, FL $1,367
30th  Paul Patterson Florence, AL $1,367
31st  Derrick Cutler Marrietta, GA $1,367
32nd  Lloyd Hoover Shreveport, LA $1,367
33rd  Russell Aulabault Manchester, TN $1,367
34th  Ruth Hall Round Rock, TX $1,367
35th  Christopher Morgan Jackson, MS $1,367
36th  Rob Lemke Forrest City, AR $1,367
37th  Jonathan Frye Mendenhall, MS $1,076
38th  Bradley Gray Tuscaloosa, AL $1,076
39th  Matt Higgins Rossville, GA $1,076
40th  Kenneth Short Centerville, OH $1,076
41st  William Dyer Trenton, GA $1,076
42nd  Jeffrey Hearn Snellville, GA $1,076
43rd  Trace Henderson Laurel, MS $1,076
44th  Samuel Bowles Theodore, AL $1,076
45th  Timothy Moore Tuscaloosa, AL $1,076
46th  Lamarcus Lewis Moundville, AL $873
47th  Dexter Burns Pinson, AL $873
48th  Judge Leo Boothe Ferriday, LA $873
49th  Andy Moon Vidalia, LA $873
50th  Phil Smith Oxford, AL $873
51st  Christopher Barger Tuscaloosa, AL $873
52nd  Joe Hebert Metairie, LA $873
53rd  Dewayne Meeks Bessemer, AL $873
54th  Danny Griffith Little Rock, AR $873
55th  Brandon Robison Blytheville, AR $757
56th  Senethia Porter Birmingham, AL $757
57th  Billy Walker Huntsville, AL $757
58th  Willis Jordon Montgomery, AL $757
59th  Larry Holmes Bessemer, AL $757
60th  David Huwe Lake Cormorant, MS $757
61st  Dennis Baker Haughton, LA $757
62nd  Marvin Lane Woodstock, AL $757
63rd  Bryan White Kennesaw, GA $757
64th  Randy Hollis Helena, AL $669
65th  Gordon Hardy Tupelo, MS $669
66th  Donna Heard Trumann, MS $669
67th  John Jacob Terxarkana, TX $669
68th  Jay Vanlandingham Vardaman, MS $669
69th  Scott Gill Ponchatoula, LA $669
70th  Preston McEwen Memphis, TN $669
71st  Donnie Phan Nashville, TN $669
72nd  Todd Tregre Baton Rouge, LA $669
73rd  Wesley Jones Dardanelle, AR $612
74th  Greg Rabalais Lafayette, LA $612
75th  Danny Calway Fagen Nashville, TN $612
76th  Francis Boquet II Houma, LA $612
77th  David Champion Murfreesboro, TN $612
78th  Daniel Bonet Stone Mountain, GA $612
79th  William Stanford Tupelo, MS $612
80th  Brent Kawanna Indianapolis, IN $612
81st  Matthew Green Cullman, AL $612
82nd  Zakery Couch Fort Oglethorpe $552
83rd  James Erby Murfreesboro, TN $552
84th  Kyle Wingourd Collierville, TN $552
85th  Matt South Florence, AL $552
86th  William Anderson Chattanooga, TN $552
87th  William Truett Hoover, AL $552
88th  LB Jackson Tuscaloosa, AL $552
89th  Charles Johnson Atlanta, GA $552
90th  Sammie Kirkwood Greenwood, MS $552
91st  Darren Ortega Denham prings, LA $552
92nd  Wyatt Boothe Ferriday, LA $552
93rd  David Lee Memphis, TN $552
94th  Scott Williams Madison, MS $552
95th  James Bendall Memphis, TN $552
96th  Huey Hulin St. Martinville, LA $552
97th  Kenneth Parker Birmingham, AL $552
98th  Cody Jones Dardanelle, AR $552
99th  Daniel Vo Atlanta, GA $552
100th  Russell Boyette Brandon, Ms $494
101st  Michael Benton Lafayette, LA $494
102nd  Charles Bartlett Marrero, LA $494
103rd  Terrence Halburnt Nashville, TN $494
104th  Craig Johnson Brandon, MS $494
105th  Steven Netherly Birmingham, AL $494
106th  Chris Brewington Dickson, MS $494
107th  Francis Boquet III Houma, LA $494
108th  Kevin Bohannon Brookwood, AL $494
109th  Matt Johnson Smyrna, TN $494
110th  Jesse Lott Selmer, TN $494
111th  Brenda Eskridge Rome, GA $494
112th  Chase Turner Birmingham, AL $494
113th  Amber Douglas Baton Rouge, LA $494
114th  Terry McGee Birmingham, AL $494
115th  Tim Burden Bremen, KY $494
116th  Jeremiah Lorenz Pearl, MS $494
117th  Chad Marsh Starkville, MS $494
118th  Duane Nelson Mobile, AL $494
119th  Tavaris Manning Atlanta, GA $494
120th  Noah Waits Villa Rica, GA $494
121st  Chase Weeks Tupelo, MS $436
122nd  Jeter Brock Birmingham, AL $436
123rd  Donnie Self Oak Grove,LA $436
124th  Dale Trosclair Slidell, LA $436
125th  Taylor Aquillard Eunice, MS $436
126th  David Taylor Magnolia, AR $436
127th  Thomas Raspberry Dora,AL $436
128th  Elbert Campbell Utica, MS $436
129th  Gabriel Daspit Parts Unknown $436
130th  Bryne Wilson Tuscaloosa, AL $436
131st  Logan Hoover Shreveport, LA $436
132nd  Lawrence Highfield Stockbridge, GA $436
133rd  Koritnik Graves C p t, MS $436
134th  Larry Little Milton, FL $436
135th  Sahib Walia Biloxi, MS $436
136th  Angela Sayers Deatsville, AL $436
137th  Rodney Jackson Chattanooga, TN $436
138th  Nickolaus Young Pearl, MS $436
139th  Paul Leggett Rock Mart, GA $436
140th  Dustin Stewart Biloxi, MS $436
141st  David McJenkin Tuscaloosa, AL $436
142nd  Yousef Saleh Meridian, MS $436
143rd  Chad Tucker Winfield, AL $436
144th  Corey Theriot Lake Charles, LA $436
145th  David Richardson Sparta, TN $436
146th  Dayson Westbrooks Winfield, AL $436
147th  Robert Heard Little Rock, AR $436
148th  Douglas Moon Rayville, LA $436
149th  Karl Chesser Woodstock, AL $436
150th  Brandon Newsome Hiram, GA $436
151st  Michael Campbell Cleveland, TN $377
152nd  Chad Chisolm Noxapater, MS $377
153rd  Christian Pasnik Tuscaloosa, AL $377
154th  Jordan Russell Pontotoc, MS $377
155th  David Snyder Lynn Haven, FL $377
156th  Mike Sullivan Fulton, MS $377
157th  Bill Carruth Dallas, GA $377
158th  Wayne Neyland Denham Springs, LA $377
159th  Carlton Strickand Chattanooga, TN $377
160th  Chris Trent Jackson, TN $377
161st  Alfred Griffin Mobile, AL $377
162nd  Phillip Holifield Quitman, MS $377
163rd  John Roberts Diamondhead, MS $377
164th  Tom Franklin Gulfport, MS $377
165th  Chester Dilday West Monroe, LA $377
166th  John Littich Brandon,MS $377
167th  Wendi Rohrer Jacksonville, AL $377
168th  Bonnie Weitzel Terxarkana, TX $377
169th  James Frye Columbia, MS $377
GULF COAST POKER PRESENTS PRPO: EVENT 1 WINNER:

Anthony Reynolds lifted the coveted Gulf Coast Poker PRPO trophy after a deal was made among the final four players.

"Stretch" Reynolds earned $31,250 for first. Quick note: there is a history of players accomplishing the double here at Pearl River--winning the re-entry and the Main Event. Chris Davis and Bryne Wilson are two players who accomplished this feat recently.

We asked Reynolds if that was on radar and he said he may have to change some travel plans to pull that off.

Perhaps the special celebrity guest in the building at Pearl River Resorts portended the win for Reynolds. Dominque Wilkins (pictured getting his Human Highlight Film on with Chris Read at a meet and greet) was maybe the only person who could see eye to eye with Reynolds in the building with both standing 6'7".

Phyllis Petit (pictured below) finished as the Last Woman Standing bubbling the 8 handed final table in 9th place.

Local player Thomas Pullens ran into a flush early at the Final Table to bust and win $5820 for 8th.

Michael Owens fell next winning $8352 for 7th. Sean Small, who already has a GCP trophy, couldn't quite get to his second losing a big flip with Ace King to win $11,262.

Eric Yim went out in 5th place after putting up a valiant fight with a short stack.  His exit came just before the deal. His seat was still warm as the discussion began in earnest.  He won $14,173.

The other top payouts ended up being: Shane Thierry $26,954, Frank Boswell $26,768 and local cash player Kenny Prendergast $26,581. A great performance by Prendergast in one of his first tournaments ever.  We asked if he'd play more and not surprisingly he said he'd be back for the Main.

Other notables that went deep but just missed the final table included: Day One chip leader Dan Lowery; Derek Normand; Gavin Munroe; and Randy Gordon. 

We will have complete payouts up later today.
BAG WOW PAYOUTS
CHIP COUNTS A,B,C,D,E
GCP'S PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN RESULTS:

Chip counts not ranked for this update. We'll have it in order after D and E.
GCP'S PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN RESULTS:

Highlights after A and B.  Dan Lowery, a huge chipleader at 559k, seems like the break from live poker hasn't hurt his ability to accumulate giant stacks.  Anthony Reynolds second with over 400k.  Danny Griffith, Andy Moon and Paul Patterson round out the top five.

We had multiple players earn the 1k bonus for bagging twice. Gavin Munroe, who also bagged a top ten stack, is joined by Donnie Phan, Derek Normand, Taylor Aguillard, and Sammie Kirkwood.  Spoiler alert from C... at least one of these players earned the additional bonus for a third bag.

Saturday is always massive for this event and we wrapped up the evening not that far from 1000 entrants.  Should be a lot of great action today and a rapidly multiplying prize pool.

Look for Flight C chips soon.



SOCIAL MEDIA SEAT WINNERS:

Congrats to Jason Carlino (pictured top)of Baton Rouge who won our first contest for the opening event at Pearl River.

Clint Bordelon pictured below at our Poker Gras event in 2018 (we will be back November 2021!!!) won our Main Event seat. He maxed out his entries by duplicating a funny gif.

Chris Read also participated and won a GCP hoodie as a runner up prize for duplicating the gif.

One more contest to go and one more Main Event seat to give out.

Go to @GCPNet (follow the account, like and rewteet the contest tweet) on Twitter to earn an entry to the drawing. Reply with answers to the queries for bonus entres.

Do the same on our Facebook page to double the entries.

This time the best answer as judged by us will also snag a bonus prize. In the event of a tie we'll use a random number generator to break it. Already got some good ones.

COVID PROTOCOL:

Lots of ya'll have asked what is planned to do to maximize the safety of all the participants.  Masks as mandated by Mississippi will be mandatory. If anybody is interested in the cleaning and sanitizing process please hit us up and we will share Pearl River Resort's policies.

It'll be nice to be a part of a live tournament series in this region again. We trust everybody will be safe and respectful of others. Just a few days out.
FULL BOUNTY LIST:

Here is the complete group of bounties for Pearl River's first Celebrity Bounty tournament.  Win a $100 for busting one of these folks.
LINKAGE:

-Fortnite improves your poker game? CalvinArye.com discussings why you shouldn't just dismiss your kid's game.
 
-Midway Poker Tour fall out continues. Cardschat.com has more details.

-Paul Pierce's top 5 poker hands on PokerGo below...



-Online Poker outage. Pokernews.com with the story.

-Missing live casinos? Best James Bond gambling scenes.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST #1 WINNERS:

 Tracking down our winner for the contest. However, we can annouce the lucky celebrity bounties have been drawn and they will be there November 13th. 

They are BJ McBrayer (pictured bottom) and Judge Leo Boothe (pictured top).  BJ is from just up the road in Tuscaloosa.  Both winners have had big scores at Pearl River in the past.  Not sure anybody rocks the GCP In The Money chain better then the Judge either.

We will reveal the other bounties in the next day or so. Some of them were also nominated. Good to know we were on the right track.

Thanks for the suggestions if we could make all the nominees bounties we would have.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST #2 INSTRUCTIONS:
Contests must go on though, our second social media contest is a little more complex, has a bigger prize but requires a bigger effort.

Go to our Facebook page, like the page, like the post, and share the post on your feed (make sure your settings are on public so we can see that you shared and give you credit for an entry).

That's one entry earned for the drawing.

Earn another by going to @GCPNet on twitter finding the tweet, liking it and retweeting it.

Want to earn 10 more entries? Want to earn another 10 entries? Since nobody has taken us up on this yet you'd have a HUGE edge in the drawing.

We are also going to do something extra for everybody that participates.

What do you have do?

Take a 5 to 10 second clip in a well lit area with a white background mimicing this gif.  Preferably HD video.

Then post it on our Twitter feed under the contest tweet... get 10 entries. Go to Facebook do the same and you'll have 20 total for one video.

You have to consent to us possibly using it in our Pearl River video. Be creative and have fun. It's relatively quick and easy to do.  Everybody that does it will get something and you will have a great chance at $600 seat too.
PEARL RIVER NOVEMBER 12 - 22 UPDATE:

Tomorrow, we will draw two names from the nominations that were submitted on Facebook and contact those players about being celebrity bounties. After we get two who are attending the event we will release the names of all the featured bounties.

That means if you don't see somebody nominated who should be... go to our FACEBOOK page and nominate. For example, we don't think anybody has nominated Hiep Doan (pictured) yet.  He'd be a good one.  While you are there read Paul Dutsch's trip report about how Pearl River Resorts is handling poker in the year of Covid.

Also, everybody who followed the directions correctly will be entered into a drawing to win a $250 seat to the opening event. We will also draw that before the end of the week.  Still (a little) time to get in.

-THEN, our next social media contest will start immediately after this one ends.  We will be giving away a Main Event Pearl River seat.

-If you played poker within the last couple of years at Pearl River, be on the look out for a flier with room discounts and a code to book your stay November 12 - 22.

We've just got ours so it should arrive any day now.

-Finally, we are posting the structures to the events today. You will find them linked off the banner ad up above. The schedule is also posted there for your convienence.  10/14/20
GCP PODCAST HOST BEN MINTZ GETS THE CALL-UP:

After going semi-viral with a video shared by Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy, Ben Mintz has a new gig. The video shows Mintz relishing an Ole Miss win vs. Kentucky.  That instigated a phone call between Portnoy and Mintz.


Portnoy obviously recognized the talent we've long known and Ben Mintz is now the newest member of Barstool sports. Thrilled for him.

So... about our podcast. To be determined.  Details to come.
HARRAHS GOES TO SIX HANDED:

That was fast. Teased it this morning and very soon actually meant tomorrow!  Yes, that's right games will now by six handed.

Great thing about 6 Handed? Bad Beat Jackpot eligible. 212k split among 6 of you. Juicy. That would be 106k to the bad beat loser, 53k to the winner and then four players get a table share splitting the other 53k evenly. That's like a million dollars each.

EDIT: Math was off. Told it's more like $13,250 a piece. Still...  yum!
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST #1:

Live tournament poker series are back in the region starting with Pearl River Resorts November 12th through the 22nd.

Want to win a BagWow seat?  Forgot what a BagWow event is?   Scroll down to video below for refresher.

Earn eligible entries to the random draw by doing ALL of the following:

Entry 1: Go to our FACEBOOK page: Like the page, share the post with that pic, and comment which local player you think should be a celebrity bounty.

Entry 2: Go to TWITTER: follow @GCPNet, like the tweet with that pic, retweet and comment which player you think should be a celebrity bounty at that event.

Pics encouraged for your nominations.

Winners will also receive a free hotel room the night of their day one play.
LINKAGE:



-Caesars Entertainment to buy William Hill. Go to CNBC.com.

-In the wake of Fedor Kruse cheating scandal, GG Poker upgrades their detection measures and catches 40 more accounts. PokerNews has the details.

-Speaking of cheats here are some of online poker's biggest ever.

-Types of poker on the Silver Screen. Go to Age of Nerd.  Irish poker sounds fun.

-Muskan Sethi trailblazing Indian female poker player profile.  Pictured above.
POLITICAL POKER:

-Lena Evans of Poker League of Nations to host fundraiser for Biden-Harris campaign.

-A bleak portrayal of daily poker tournaments in Las Vegas due to Covid-19 and trestrictions in place.

-Local poker pro Tim Burt forced to change online screen name "Trump 2024" because it's suddenly offensive.

 Cardschat News has the details.

Tim pictured at the Beau Rivage.
LIVE TOURNAMENT POKER... IS BACK!

Tired of throwing your laptops against the wall after yet another bad beat? Bored with seeing quads three times a session in your opponent's hands at showdown? Too much work to find a VPN in Checksaflopias? Are your live reads wasted on timing tells that mean nothing because your opponent is doing three things at once?

Pearl River Resorts has good news for you. This November 12th through the 22th, Pearl River will be hosting a tournament series in Philadelphia, MS.  There is talk of some impressive guarantees to go with it.

A lot of the info will be determined as we get closer in the interest of safety. Worst case six handed, maybe eight handed, maybe nine; we don't know yet.  What we do know is there will be tournament poker!

Sounds like masks will be mandatory and there will be lots of chip and room sanitizing. Tables will be spaced out in that amazing and gigantic room. Stay tuned to here for more details.
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:

HARRAHS POKER RE-OPENS:

We have the following details from the man himself, poker room mananger, Chase Haydel (pictured right).

Live poker returns to New Orleans Friday SEPTEMBER 4th, Noon !!! 

Yes, days away. That happened quickly.

Play will be five handed. Masks are mandatory.

Hours of operation:
 Sunday through Thursday Noon - Midnight.
 Friday, Saturday Noon - 2 am.

Told they will be rolling out lots of great promotions in the coming weeks.

An insider also revealed there may be no better time ever then now to earn Diamond status via Caesars Rewards.  Diamond in a day as they say.
POKER LINKAGE:

POKER ON THE ROAD:

The New York Times digs in to how the culture of poker, even online poker, now requires a suitcase during the pandemic.

POKER CLUB?

Looks very interesting. Customizable Poker clubs. Hmmmm...



LOUISIANA CONNECTION:

The Washingtonian reveals a Louisiana connection to two of the biggest online crushers ever. Great read.

ED ASNER AND FRIENDS CELEBRITY POKER NIGHT:

Details on a charity poker tournament gone virtual to raise needs for Special Needs children.

MIKE SEXTON PASSES:

To be honest we knew Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton played a huge role in growing poker as the voice of the WPT during the boom, but we had no idea the true impact and legacy he left behind.

After he passed, social media was flooded with pictures of Sexton smiling broadly with his arm around poker players of all levels and fullfilling an Ambassador of poker role like no other. Same genuine grin in every one.  Everybody had a slightly different memory but always a positive story of their time spent with him.

The outpouring of emotion at his loss is a testament to who he was and how many people he was able to touch. On a personal level, Sexton's approval of a well played hand, still resonates years later as the highest compliment received in this game for one of us at GCP.  For him to give that so warmly is just one of millions of small but meaningful gestures. 

He leaves us as an acommplished player on the felt (over 6 million in earnings), maybe the signature voice of the game, a consumate gentleman and a pro's pro.  The world is a little bit darker in his absence.
POKER NEWS LARGE AND SMALL:



SMALL SETTLEMENT:

It appears a settlement may happen in the Mike Postle cheating scandal law suit. With 88 plaintiffs it could be a bit as they all have to mull it over.  We understand a large number of them, maybe ~56, have to accept the terms for the deal to happen.

It also appears that all they are going to get is the rake back. Wonder if that will cover the attorney fees?

SHORT DECK:

With players jumping into new variations of poker during the Pandemic Short Deck or 6+ Hold'em has been played quite a bit.

PokerNews has some tips.

LITTLE PET PEEVES IN POKER:

Been a while since we've had the pleasure of experiencing many of these unpleasurable foibles of our table mates. Here's how to counter them
at CardsChat.

BIG DISAPPEARENCE OF BRAD BOOTH:

The former high stakes pro has not been seen since July 13th. Loads of stories of Yukon Brad getting indebted to other players.  He once quiped a session used to be "Up a Ferrari, down a Ferrari" and then that became up or down a dented Honda Civic. Many fear the worst for him.

LARGE HONOR FOR SEXTON:

The WPT has remained their championship trophy for Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton. More on how they honored their most notable commentator here.
THE 2010 WSOP WILL BE HELD ONLINE THIS YEAR:

This years WSOP event will be held online and massive debates have been raging about everything shady in Online poker.  "Ghosting" which they claim they can combat (we would love to hear how they will combat one player at the computer and 3 standing over the players shoulder). Another worry is multiple IP addresses being played in house and hotels. We want to point you to the link from our friends over at Pokernews.com for all the latest...and we will cut and paste some of the highlights below:

Go to Pokernews and search: Everything You Need to Know to Compete for a 2020 WSOP.com Online Bracelet

Create an Account & Verify Identity
Once you've downloaded WSOP.com, you will need to register for an account (create a username and password).

To do so, you will need to enter a telephone number with area code.
They will also need your social security number to verify your identity.

The WSOP's Danielle Barille told PokerNews: "All players go through a verification process.

"In the event a player does not pass the verification, if they are domestic, they will be required to upload a copy of their current driver's license, a current (no more than 90 days old) utility bill verifying the registered address. A copy of the patron's Social Security card may also be required."

If perchance you don't have such information, you will not be approved for a real money account and will instead need to upload further documentation for the verification process. Instructions will be emailed to you.

For international players, you will be required to upload a copy of your passport and current (no more than 90 days old) utility bill verifying your address in your registered country.

If you run into any issues during the registration process the WSOP.com support team can be reached 24/7 at 1-866-745-2385 or via email at support@wsop.com.

Geo-Location
The WSOP.com geo-location system uses your computer's Wi-Fi signal, together with other detected Wi-Fi networks (such as your cell phone), to determine your physical location.

In order to successfully geo-locate, Wi-Fi must be enabled on your device.

However, you don't actually need to be connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi, just make sure you're able to see Wi-Fi networks from your computer.

Connecting from a Hotel
One issue players frequently experience is trying to log onto WSOP.com via a shared internet IP address, such as players staying at the same house or hotel. In such cases, you may get the following error message:

"Sorry, you are not permitted to join this tournament. Another member, with an identical IP address, is already playing at this tournament."

Barille told PokerNews this shouldn't be an issue for Nevada players: "Nevada regulators have approved the whitelisting of Caesars hotel property IPs for the WSOP (Online) Bracelet Events from July 1-July 31.

"We are still waiting for approval from New Jersey regulators to approve New Jersey Caesars properties. Players attempting to play from the same physical residential address will not be able to play MTTs, SNGs, or cash games as state regulations prohibit multiple accounts playing on the same IP address.”

For other hotels, players have found a simple workaround. Instead of logging in while connected to the shared internet, instead create a hotspot using your cellphone.

Connect to the hotspot and log in via that connection.

Once connected, you can then jump onto the regular/shared internet and play with no problems. The hiccup only applies during the log-in portion.

Addressing Multi-accounting & Ghosting Concerns
When asked about player concerns regarding multi-accounting and ghosting, Barille responded: "WSOP.com is fully regulated and licensed in Nevada and New Jersey to highest international standards.

"We have a sophisticated risk and fraud model to detect fraudulent player behavior. The software detects VPN's and similar scripts. WSOP.COM has run dozens of online bracelet events without incident."

What If I Win a Bracelet?
The winner of each bracelet event will be contacted by a WSOP representative within 48 hours of the completion of the tournament.

There will be a weekly virtual bracelet ceremony and press conference, and physical WSOP gold bracelets will be mailed to your registered address on file on WSOP.com.
POKER STORIES:



ONLINE BRACELET CELEBRATIONS:

Ron McMillen, a 70 year old Iowan, played his first online tournament and won it. No big deal, right?
Considering he took a flight to Vegas to play in the WSOP online, beat over a thousand players, and won a WSOP bracelet in the six-max event... kind of a big deal. His celebration video a critical hand late in the tournament was one of the most shared early during the event.



That's great but we are partial to this celebration video:

Maybe it's because we are pretty sure we hear New Orleanian Joe Hebert giggling in the background, and 8 time ring winner Michael Lech is almost universally well liked and respected. His victory is deserving of his dance.


POLK VS. KID POKER:

The grudge match has been agreed to, with retiree Doug Polk coming out for one last fight. Only Daniel Negreanu could get him back in the ring.

The terms $200-$400 Hold'em. The battlefield... online. Vegas has Polk as a favorite. The throwdown will happen sometime after the WSOP online wraps up.

Cardplayer has some of their best tweets at one another.

LIVE POKER IN BATON ROUGE:

Friends and grinders in RedStick you now have a live poker option again. The Fifth Street Social Club opens Friday night (6/5) and will offer games and card games including Poker.  But this isn't Gulf Coast Cribbage so we'll focus on the poker.

Opened by long term Baton Rouge card fans and good people, Fifth Stree Social Club will have 3 dedicated no rake cash tables. They will spread No Limit Hold'em, Limit, and PLO all with a $12 an hour seat rental.

We recommend you make smart decisions in deciding whether to play live poker or not right now. You should take every precaution you deem to necessary to play.  For their part they will do a chip exchange and table cleanup every two hours.  Tempartures will be checked at the door, masks are encouraged and provided, and it will be 8 handed on new large tables.

Friday nights feature a 1k freeroll with $20 Rebuy and $40 Add on. Sunday 1pm $100 Deepstack freezeout.

Hours: Friday 6pm to 4am, Saturday 4pm to 4am, and Sunday noon to 9pm

$20 Daily Membership. Must be 21 and have a valid state ID.

Here's their facebook page with more info:  https://www.facebook.com/Fifth-Street-Social-Club-103096921428341/
 
LINKS:

-New Orleans convention center and Gambling Board chair forced out via a little known legislative action. Of note the senator who exercized her right to oppose a registered voter in her district from appointment is the same senator who violated a self-imposed casino ban for gambling.  Perhaps, retribution for the summons she was issued for violating her ban leaking out?  Advocate.

-Still upset about Anthony Daivs leaving NOLA?  Blame poker.

-"$300 bet?  I'd watch two monkeys (...) for $300."  Michael Jordan poker stories.  Cards Chat.

-Phil "The Heel" Mickelson cheated his brother out of his life savings in a poker game...  Okay, he was seven and it was bucket of pennies.

-Online Poker Booming.  Who'd thunk?  Marketwatch.

-Florida live poker is back.  Si gambling.

-He never said Welcome to the Jungle.  Jungleman secretly plays on rich guy's account to fleece other rich guys.  He apologizes so all should be forgiven right?  Also interesting, Deadspin is still a functioning website?

-Five Underdogs who made great runs at poker final tables.  Calvin Ayre.
POKER LINKAGE:

ZOOM HANGOUTS POKER TELLS:

Seems to be a fair amount of live/online games right now utilizing google hangouts and Zoom right now. There are some old online poker tells that still work, like bet timing, and some new crossover tells that work only on the google hangouts or zoom meeting functions. It's a bit of a combo.  Cardschat gives away some of the giveaways you are giving away right now.

BOUNTY MATH:

Greg Raymer tells you when you are underadjusting for the bounty or overadjusting for it. Short answer the deeper you get the less it means. Go to Cardplayer for all of it.

DEADLY HOME GAME:

This was shared in our Facebook Group and it's the sad tale of some retirees getting together to play poker.  All got sick and three dead so far. Be safe out there people. This is a hidden killer preying on our most vulnerable, still.

WSOP SPECULATION:

Marvin Karlins, a poker player and pyschologist, offers his take on why a WSOP in 2020 could have similar deadly results.

IN NEED OF A WSOP BRACELET:

Feeling blue because you don't have one and probably can't win one this year?  This might make you feel better. These guys don't have one either: Christop Volgelsang, Sam Trickett, Isaac Haxton, Jason Koon, Dan Smith and Steve O'Dwyer. CardPlayer has the story of the best to never win at the WSOP.

WHAT'S MISSING AT THE POKER MASTERS?

PartyPoker's online tournament results are up on PokerNews and you know what you won't see? Americans. Lots of young international crushers but zero Americans in the latest events. What about Jason Koon? He's a canuck.

ONLINE POKER BOOM:

It took a while to get going, but Pennsylvania is now full stream ahead with online poker. One pandemic later and a boom has ensued.

New Jersey online poker, predictably, is also soaring.
CORONA VIRUS POKER LINKAGE:

EBONY PREVAILS: Ebony Kenney (pictured) prevailed in a massive ACR charity poker tournament to raise money for Feeding America.It was her and two celebrities Andy Milonakis and Kevin Pollak at the end. She won first, Pollak second, and Milonakis third. 65 players bought in and the event featured huge stars like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tom Brady, Adam Sandler, Tobey Maguire, John Krasinski, Jason Bateman, Cheryl Hines and John Hamm. More then $1.2 million went to the charity with 10k from each player going to help people in need.

MURRAH MULLS OVER CORNONA: Davy Murrah, and many others, think person Corona virus was spreading on the Gulf Coast poker scene as early as January. Davy returned to his blog to post his thoughts here.

MORE ABOUT MOLLY'S GAME: Need a book to read? This one sounds like a winner. Houston Curtis' book Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist gives some more background on the famous L.A. game chronicled in the movie Molly's Game. Pretty riveting story about a poker cheat who teamed up with Toby Maguire to kick the game off. NY Post.

CASINOS ASK FOR HANDOUTS: Despite a recent filing by the Stones casino in the Postle cheating case where it suggest casinos have no duty to protect their customers, casinos think the government has a duty to protect them. With so many friends of ours in the industry and the hope that the money goes to payroll we are rooting for it to happen but still rings a little hollow.  A little bit like the Cruise Industry dodging US taxes by being based in other countries but still asking Americans to bail them out.
RESULTS:

GALFOND ABSCONDS WITH CHALLENGE VICTORY:

After 25,000 hands, where mid-way he publically considered quiting the challenge and paid fines to delay the restart, Phil Galfond has bested VeniVidi1993 in the most epic online Heads-Up challenge ever.

Despite the slightest big of controversy over whether kneeling the football to close out the game (folding everything) was in the spirit of the event Galfond prevailed. Phil won a pivitol late hand (see tweet below:  apparently he needed the river as his opponent held a Full House) which would give him the room later to fold away the last 73 hands and end up 7 big blinds at the completion of the challenge. For those following the action closely they knew over the last day, even before the late hand, it could have gone either way. VeniVidi1993 had multiple close chances to win one more pot to close it out and fold to a victory himself, but couldn't quite get over the hump.


The terms of the bet meant Galfond won a 100k (Euros) side bet by being ahead 1,472 (Euros) as the challenge completed. Galfond created the challenge to bring attention to his site Run It Once Poker and that's just what the final day did with over 23,000 viewers on Twitch watching it play out.

Why was it SO epic? Even with the late swings that could have resolved the bet either way in the 100-200 PLO match, Galfond began the challenge losing almost every session and found himself down nearly a million Euros. He took a several week break (not the decade long break Durrr has taken v. Jungleman) and paid out thousands in penalties. Many people were outspoken critics of Galfond, including Luke Schwartz who said the game had past him by.  Then he came back to his computer, and then he slowly and steadily climbed back into contention.

His first lead did not come until almost 90% of the challenge had finished. The two battled back and fourth culminating in the 39th and final session Sunday. With the end in sight both players wanted to extend a lead just far enough to fold to a victory. After a short break late in the day, with Galfond down 30k, and VeniVidi1993 only needing to win 6k more to wrap it up, Farrah Galfond tweeted it was almost over.

Who says sports drama has disappeared during the quarantine? Galfond hit the aggression just as VeniVidi started to play passive to protect his lead. Then the decisive hand above: a cooler that would prove to cost the anonymous player almost everything.

Galfond plans six more challenges with five of them being PLO vs. Brandon Adams, Bill Perkins and his Thirst Lounge streamers, Chance Kornuth, Dan Cates and "Action Freak." Luke Schwartz in a 1k 2k 8-Game challenge with a sidebet and Hand requirement TBD will wrap it up.
COVID 19 AND POKER:

PRAYERS FOR RON HELD:

Our thoughts are with the family of one of the classiest guys to ever sit at the felt. Ron Held won his first  WSOP-C ring in 2019 and at the time we couldn't have been happier for a lover of the game. Well known in New Orleans and Metaire in the bar games and weekly tournaments Ron always wore a smile. Personally, he's long been one of the biggest supporters/readers of our site and always wished the best for us. He read the updates so he could always congratulate all the tournament grinders he knew when they'd come home from a score. One of the players that made poker in the south a real community. We will cherish a couple of car rides we shared to tournament venues and think fondly of his always gracious and generous chops for friends at the end of tournaments. You never like losing a pot but somehow with Ron it just felt different. Always happy to see him succeed even at your own expense. He's just that kind of guy. So we were very sad to receive this text this am:

"Ron "Coach" Held has been in the hospital battling Covit 19 for about 10 days now with bilateral pneumonia. He was on ventilator for the last 8 or 9 days but took a turn for the worst this morning and had a massive non-operable brain bleed probably due to lack of oxygen. The family just made the decision to remove the ventilator. Please pass the news on to the group and ask for their prayers. God Bless and keep your family safe."

We are told he will come off the ventilator today. Our deepest sympathies and condolences to his family.

OTHER LOCALS WITH IT:

Unfortunately, we know of too many other Gulf Coast players and dealers who have come down with this, though most seem to be recovering. A few are battling hard right now and our thoughts are of course with them. One player shared his thoughts and experiences battling Covid19 anonymously with us and we posted them on Wild Bill's DINE ON THE WHALES blog.  A lot of good tips if you or a family member have it or if think you might have it on how to protect yourself and your family.

This is a brutal illness and sadly we'll likely lose more friends from the felt in the coming days and weeks. We urge everybody to make smart choices and opt to take actions that will protect our most vulnerable.

WSOP-C NOLA POSTPONED:

In the last couple of days the WSOP officially postponed the May circuit event at Harrahs NOLA.  We will keep everybody updated when things are finalized if and when it changes status.
PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN CANCELS AMID COVID 19 ISSUE:

UNHEARD OF SANITATION OF CHIPS AND TABLES:

In case you have been living in a "bubble"...well...hopefully you all are living in a bubble with social distancing...the Pearl River Poker Open has been cancelled amid the Covid-19 breakout. You can read the letter here at the link but everyone who won a main event seat in a satellite will be paid out in cash. All Gulfcoastpoker.net online promotions will be carried forward into the next event. We want to also thank Neal/Paul/Heather and crew for running the first few events under intense sterilization...Tables/Chips Sterilized...table distancing...etc

Read official Letter HERE:

As an added bonus until we can fade the sickness...here are 2 recordings done with Ben Mintz (Click on Ben's name to get to his twitter page) who will be MCing the Gulfcoastpoker Podcast in 2020...with Site Co-Owner "Wild" Bill Phillips and friend of GCP Chris "Loose Canan" Canan (pic) recorded at Frozen Piroque's in Bossier City during the Holiday 400 Poker series in December

Click for Wild Bill recording link

Click for Loose Canan recording link                           

We urge everyone...Social Distancing...Hunker Down...please wash your hands as much as possible...and continue to bath in hand sanitizer as much as you can ...be safe out there!!!
PEARL RIVER RESULTS:

COWAN WINS 150K OPENER:

Todd Cowan, already 4k richer from accomplishing the triple bag bonus, made a heads up deal with Mike Monaghan in the 150k Guarantee re-entry. As we understand it, eight players chopped for 9k each, leaving a little over 10k to play for and that was split between the two. Cowan had the chiplead and gets credit for first place.  With his bonus added to the total he won a little over 18k.

Mike "Golden" Mo(O)naghan (who seems to win everything at Pearl River nickname inspired by Ben Mintz comment on facebook) added to his many trips to cage with another great score.  Roughly 14k to Mike after an even chop. Two of the good guys in poker, great to see for both of them. We tend to say "good guy in poker a lot with these updates, but it's true we are lucky in our region as there are a lot of good people to pull for--who are also pretty good at poker.

Looks like Mike parlayed his brand new GCP hoodie to his deep run. No surprise as per usual that schwag ran hot. DM us on Facebook if you'd like one ($50 for L or below and $55 for XL or bigger).  You'll notice they paid out thousands in an overlay.  Monday has a 20K Guarantee that they are also honoring it's a $350 buy-in Deep Stack.  Final results will be posted below as soon as we get them.





PEARL RIVER:

FLIGHT D OF 150K BAGWOW! RESULTS:

After Flight D, we had 213 more entrants with 24 players bagging. Todd Cowan and Trace Henderson being the first to find three bags.  Stephen Greene and Huey Hulin won a bonus for a double bag. Also, the free dinner buffet looks like it went over well.  Still looks like there will be a big overlay but people are firing.  Getting that bonus bag money.

Terrance Evans, Birmingham, AL, Table 16 Seat 7; 328k
James McCauley, n/a; 283k
Walker Miskelly, Tupelo, MS Table 15 Seat 2; 213k
Clint Carney, Philadelphia, MS Table 22 Seat 8; 209k
Michael Talley, Tuscaoloosa, AL Table 19 Seat 7; 188k
Bryan Clark, Pensacola, FL Table 22 Seat 4; 178k
Joseph Carden, Flomaton, AL Table 22 Seat 3; 173k
Matt South, Florence, AL Table 18 Seat 7; 165k
Danny Miles, Tuscaloosa, AL Table 19 Seat 9; 142k
Lee Watson, Douglasville, GA Table 22 Seat 4; 127k
Jacob Perkins, Tuscaloosa, AL Table 17 Seat 1; 116k
Benny Morgan, Pell City, AL Table 22 Seat 1; 107k
Todd White, Stone Mountain, GA Table 22 Seat 7; 96k
Noah Waits, Douglasville, GA Table 16 Seat 1; 94k
Daniel Bonet, Stone Mountain, GA Table 19 Seat 8; 80k
Trace Henderson, Gulfport, MS Table 15 Seat 9; 53k**
Jonathan Hemmingway, Dacula, GA Table 18 Seat 9: 47k
Stephen Greene, Panama City, FL Table 18 Seat 8; 41k*
Todd Cowan, Covington, LA, Table 22 Seat 2; 44k**
Sean Small, n/a; 34k
Corey Harrison, NOLA; 33k
Ronnie Hope, Central, LA Table 22 Seat 3; 32k
Stanley Williams, Carrollton, GA Table 22 Seat 9; 32k
Huey Hulin, St. Martinville, LA Table 17 Seat 7; 27k*
Colin Land, Chattanooga, TN Table 18 Seat 4; 26k
PEARL RIVER:

FLIGHT C OF 150K BAGWOW! FORMAT RESULTS:

Chris Canan is flight C's chipleader and second only to Damon Tucker overall.  The last flight yesterday provided no new double or triple baggers from Flight C. Fourteen bagged with a shot of adding bonus prizes and a bigger bag on Saturday.

Saturday will need to be a big day as at this point we are looking at almost 90k in overlay. Think some folks misunderstood our social media post yesterday where we projected similar going into C. To be clear, we are not projecting an over 90k overlay--we are looking at an over 90k overlay right now with two more flights to play. That said an overlay, a huge one, is very much in play.

Chris Canan, New Orleans, LA 225k  Table 16 Seat 2
Thomas Williams, Madison, MS 208k  Table 19 Seat 5
Keith Gamble, Greensboro, AL 170k Table 19 Seat 4
Justin Kelley, Mathison, MS 158k  Table 17 Seat 5
Cody Stanford, Tupelo, MS 144k  Table 21 Seat 4
Justin Saulters, Florence, MS 134k  Table 16 Seat 5
Nick Young, Pearl, MS 124k  Table 22 Seat 8
Huey Hulin St. Martinville, LA 112k  Table 19 Seat 6
Brian Henry, Pearl, MS 95k  Table 15 Seat 5
Russell Boyette, Brandon, MS 96k  Table 21 Seat 6
Robert Donald, Brandon, MS 61k Table 17 Seat 8
Dexter Burns, Pinson, AL 48k  Table 21 Seat 3
Thomas Pullens, Picayune, MS 42k  Table 15 Seat 8
Stephen Greene, Panama City, FL 24k  Table 16 Seat 8

Also, we missed Paul Leggett of Rockmart, GA who bagged 154k, Table 19 Seat 2, in Flight B yesterday.
RUNGOOD TUNICA RECAP:



Little late with this recap, doing prep for our own event in Pearl River, but wanted congrats to some of the better players in the region for their recent run good. First off, Cody Stanford had himself a week to remember winning the points championship in style. He won 41k for first place in the Main Event after beating his bud Walker Miskelly heads-up. Walker won 26k for second.

Also, at the final Table Chase Turner (who finished second to legend Chris Moneymaker in an earlier event) who managed to win 30k for fifth. How did fifth win more than second?  They set aside money to first and did ICM deal five handed. Out just before the deal Jacob Corda who won 9.8k.

Earlier in the week John Holley won a deepstack event for 12k and Cody won the PLO event for 6k. Richard Hughes and Blake Jones won the other two events. RunGood also announced they have postponed their Horseshoe Bossier event.
WASH YOUR HANDS:

Poker players we've seen you grossly skip out the bathroom with out hand washing. Worst of all most you who do... probably don't do it right.  Scrub those fingertips (the "Turkish Twist" surgeons use) and your thumbs.  Here's a video on how to do it right.
PEARL RIVER:

FLIGHT B OF 150k BAGWOW! FORMAT RESULTS:

After two flights of action five players are eligible for the double bag bonus.  Brandon Robinson, Todd Cowan, Chester Dilday, Prissy Giroir and Trace Henderson all added another bag of chips.  Three players; Brandon, Chester, and Prissy increased their best bag.

We have a new overall chipleader as Damon Tucker bagged 233k for the flight.  Vernell Hoskins bagged 211k tying him with Flight A's chipleader Matt Silva.

As Saturday nears there is still the potential for almost 100k in overlay.

Chip counts:

Damon Tucker, Forest, MS 233k  Table 19 Seat 3
Vernell Hoksins, Jackson, MS 211k  Table 22 Seat 2
JW Carter, Jackson, MS 172k  Table 17 Seat 6
Jerry Stumbo, Ocean Springs, MS 150k  Table 21 Seat 2
Gavin Munroe, Montgomery, AL 110k Table 22 Seat 5
Chester Dilday, West Monroe, LA 105k*  Table 17 Seat 4
Brandon Robinson, Blytheville, AR 103k* Table 16 Seat 3
Robert Donald, Brandon, MS 90k  Table 15 Seat 1
Prissy Giroir, Lafayette, LA 83k*  Table 15 Seat 4
Trace Henderson, Gulfport, MS 63k Table 22 Seat 1
Angela Sayers, Deatsville, AL 60k  Table 21 Seat 5
Colin Land, Chattanooga, TN 59k  Table 19 Seat 1
Todd Cowan, Covington, LA 57k  Table 16 Seat 4
PEARL RIVER:

FLIGHT A OF 150k BAGWOW! RESULTS:

Every player that bagged last night is one step closer to reaping the benefits of the BagWow! format in the 5 flight opener.  Bag Twice earn an extra 1k cash or $850 Main Event seat plus $350 Monster seat ($1200 in buyins), bag thrice earn another 3k cash. We are on pace for a substantial overlay.

Chipleader is Matt Silva from Charlotte, NC who is the only player above 200k. Both Prissy and Jerry Giroir found bags too.

Don't forget free breakfast and dinner buffets today and tomorrow. Lots of hand sanitizer, washing of rails and sterilization of felt every break. Not to mention ample space in between tables.

Matt Silva, Charlotte, NC 211k  Table 21 Seat 1
Todd Cowan, Covington, LA 196k  Table 22 Seat 6
Trace Henderson, Gulfport, MS 187k Table 17 Seat 3
Ronnie Scott, Byram, MS 145k  Table 16 Seat 6
Chester Dilday, West Monroe, LA 103k  Table 17 Seat 1
Alton Peterson, Canton, MS 96k Table 16 Seat 1
Brandon Robinson, Blytheville, AR 88k  Table 22 Seat 9
Prissy Giroir, Lafayette, LA 59k  Table 21 Seat 7
Jerry Giroir, Lafayatte, LA 45k  Table 15 Seat 3
Curtis Picard, Slidell, LA 40k  Table 15 Seat 7
PEARL RIVER STARTS THIS WEEK:

So too starts, our much ballyhooed (whatever that means) podcast.  Our first guest Neal Atkinson gives the skinny on all the good stuff happening at Pearl River Resorts during the tournament.  It includes $340,000 in guarantees, two $150,000 guarantees (with a near $20k overlay on the Main Event last year), and tournaments everyday from March 12th through the 22nd.

Listen here to episode one and huge thanks to Ben Mintz, Louisiana sports radio legend for partnering up to host this podcast.

Epidsode One:  Neal Atkinson

If you've listened you'll know Neal pulled out all of the stops including free buffets, with a tournament receipt, on the weekends for breakfast AND dinner in the tournament area.  You want March Madness? You might not find a better room to watch. The new tournament Poker Salon will be lined with giant screen TVs with all the action, and of course they have in game betting with their Sportsbook App. We got a chance to test the room, the app and the set-up during their Super Bowl party and it's going to be pretty sweet.

As for fun things to do in Pearl River: don't forget Tuesday night is Music night with TD extradonaire Paul Dutsch. Dealers and players will be getting on the mic at the local steak house.  Also, bring your clubs their Dancing Rabbit golf course has been called the Augusta you can actually play and will have a lot of open tee times during this week.  It's quite possibly the perfect spring getaway.
THE BIG ONE! AND LINKAGE:

FREE $850AGE:

Alright today commences the BIG ONE, as Pearl River Resorts is giving away one $850 Main Event seat to a loyal GCP reader. This one is a little different than our standard contests. The winner will be the player that correctly guesses the number of entrants in the $150k Guarantee opener.  If multiple people guess the correct number we will randomly draw from only them to determine a winner. If nobody gets its exact... this is important... we will randomly draw from all eligible entries. Closet does not win!

To earn an entry go to our FACEBOOK Page, Find the Big One post which goes up shortly, like our page, like the post, and share the post (make sure your settings are on public so we can see you shared it). To earn a second entry AND this is the important one guess the total number of players in the comments for this year's BagWow opening event.

Also, earn a third entry by following our TWITTER account, liking and retweeting the Big One tweet. Earn a fourth entry by guessing there too. That means you can guess a total TWICE and in the event of a random draw, if nobody guesses, it exactly have up to four entries.  *Some of you took advantage of the bonus entry we offered last week to have five total.

Okay... what to guess? Some hints: There is a $150k Guarantee and FIVE flights. If you bag twice they give you an extra 1k. If you bag... thrice... another 3k for a total of 4k in bonuses.  Last Spring there were 826 entrants with Duane Fontenot and Judge Leo Boothe chopping it for over 23k each. The opener this past fall had 844 players and David Haynes won 27k for first.

FREE FOODAGE:

This event will also have free buffets (for a tournament receipt holder) in the morning and the evening both weekends. The Buffet is in the new super spacious tournament poker salon.

SILVER SCREENAGE:

Also, in the tournament poker salon will be wall to wall giant screens for all your sports needs (Pearl River has ahandy betting app for all your sports betting needs). Maybe one day those screens will also feature a movie being filmed locally. Not too long ago we reported on an upcoming movie the Card Counter. Turns out it's filming on the coast at the IP right now. Lots of regional players flocked over to the casino to be extras in the movie.

Think they get $100 a day, perhaps some background camera time, and a chance to play with the stars. One undercover player sent us this pic from a cash game with Oscar Isaacs. Willem Defoe and Tiffany Hadish are also stars. Here's WLOX piece on the story:

SUPER SLEEPAGE:

There's a lot that goes into being a successful poker player. Diet, exercize, and sleeping right are three aspects perhaps overlooked by many. Getting good Zs might be the most important. Calvin Arye has a decent article on how to get the best night's rest.
CONDOLENCES:

It is with a heavy heart we have to report this, as our thoughts at GCP, and in the local poker community, are with one of our founders Gene D whose mother Caroline Dudek passed suddenly last weekend at 75.

We are keeping in our prayers the Dudek family including her husband, five children, twelve grandchildren and one great grand child. Services are Friday in Houma, LA.
MARDI GRAS SERIES:

We got all the results from the Horsehoe Bossier City's Mardi Gras series.

MAIN EVENT:

Out of 306 entrants in the Main, 37 players made the money splitting up the $91,800 prize pool. Seven at the final table chopped it up for $9803 each including: Michael Faterkowsi; James Misenheimer, Gabriel Daspit, Roy Henry; Jeremy Read; Matthew Carpenter and Andrew Dosser. Zachary Moody, Brian Hemphill and Eric Raus also made the final table. Familiar names Chester Dilday, Shawn Calvit, Seth Foster, Lonny Weitzel, Greg Rabalais, and Adam Racca made the money.

LADIES EVENT:

After a chop Cammie Allen took most of the money with $2200. The WPA event had 82 Ladies compete. Jennifer Palmer got the second biggest piece $1200. Seven players got $943 each including: Jariya Watkins; Kristi Roberrts; Lanell Dykes; Erin Cox; Morgan Urbansky; Leslie Urbansky and Carolyn Taylor. Laura Curry cashed but did not make the chop.

BOUNTY:

Jason Schoot won first place for over 2k in the 114 player $160 Bounty event. Also in the money: Lonny Weitzel (pictured); Laurence Dilday; Wesley Pipes; and Chester Dilday.

180 EVENT:

Nolan Timon took home $8150 of the $32,480 prize pool. He survived a field of 232 players to get there. In that good money: Ronald Paledict (2nd $5156), Seth Foster (3rd $3542), Thomas Skeeles (4th $2619), Herman Johnson (5th $1968), Wesley Pipes (6th $1502), and Chester Wilson (7th $1162). Also cashing: Gary Burks, Laurence Dilday, Lonny Weitzel, and Jeff Kester.
WINNERS KEEP WINNING:

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST:
Congrats to Victor Holcombe (pictured right) who may run better in our contests then anyone won the first Social Media contest for Pearl River (March 12th through the 22nd) we ran on Facebook and Twitter.

Course it helps to follow directions and always enter!  Victor you may remember parlayed a free seat he won in a previous contest into our Poker Gras Main Event. He played the Bag the Schwag flight won some Maker's Mark schwag for knocking out a player, and then final tabled the Main Event.

He runs good.

The people that didn't quite win this time but were drawn in case Victor can't make it? Two other previous winners: Paul Groseclose (backup #1) and Hugo Eduardo (backup #2) who have both won seats to Pearl River previously.

We will be starting our next contest tomorrow on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.   Not to mention, we currently have one that will run all the way up to the Pearl River Main Event where you earn extra entries for each Pearl River satellite receipt you post.

Please make sure you follow the directions to insure you entry is eligible for the random drawing AND make your settings on your SHARE public so we can see you entered.

MARDI GRAS WIN:

Chris Read, a former Louisiana native, came back to take in some parades.  After hearing of the satellite at Harrahs she figured why not take a break and play some poker.  She had an eventful weekend, weathered some run bad with some big pairs getting cracked, and then pulled out a victory in the Road to Vegas Satty.

Also, getting a big share of the loot: locals Pat McNamara and My Nguyen. Congrats to all three!

They are running these at High Noon the last Sunday of every month until the Main Event. March 29th is the next one and they'll start running sit 'n goes soon!
LINKAGE:

ANY PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY:

Generally, any time poker is portrayed in a good light, like this piece by the SFGate about a guy on a bachelor party who hopped into a tournament and made a deep run while in Vegas--it's a net positive for poker.  Now, you have to hold your nose and ignore all the mistakes in reporting the action... but at heart the writer gets the tale right.  So what, if he calls it a 500k minimum payout (probably a 500k guarantee) and calls his 25k starting stack a 25k buy-in.  Nonetheless, a fun tale and interesting ICM dilemma the rookie didn't even know to think about at the end.

TWITTER WARRIORS:

Calvin Aryre.com ranked the top seven twitter follows and eh... Some of these top seven actually post and are good follows, but a couple of them, while big names, rarely do. We are going to ask our Facebook Group the best follows on Twitter and see if we can get some better results.  Our Facebook group?  Yes, we have a private Facebook group with content provided by readers that's neither on this page or on our Facebook page.  Yes it's confusing there is both a Facebook Page (you likely follow) and group you've yet to join.  Don Dove and Justin Bracy are the MVPs for all the linkage and stories they put up there.  Btw, Don would be on my shortlist of Twitter follows. If you want more poker content join that group right... now!

CORONA VIRUS:

Bloomberg.com suggests that the markets can weather even an epic pandemic, or rather, endemic Covid-19. What's this got to do with Poker? Some of our favorite twitter follows who are smart Poker Players/enthusiasts (Bill Perkins) are tweeting a lot about Corona Virus possibilities.
SATELLITE DELIGHT:

PEARL RIVER DOMINANCE:

We have word from Pearl River that Singh Chawla (pictured right) has already won two main event seats for the 150k Guarantee.  Well done, sir.

He's definitley taking advantage of a great deal. We can't say for sure that the third iteration had an overlay but the first two Sunday satellites with two seats guaranteed had small ones.  They are running these every Sunday up to our event their March 12th. 

It's definitely worth the drive to Pearl River but you better be prepared to beat Singh as he's looking to make it three in a row Sunday.

10K TO WSOP:

Also Sunday, at Harrahs NOLA is a $600 buy-in satellite paying the winners 10k cash. You can use it for a WSOP Main Event seat or for a summer bankroll or for a used car. It's sweet green cash.

Event starts at noon. If you want to get in and out fairly easily and duck the parade traffic we recommend the secret route behind the convention center. Google map it.

Expecting a good crowd for this event. 

Want to get in on the cheap? 

Saturday after the $200 11 am event closes registration around ~12:20 they will be running $140 sit 'n goes (two winners of $600 cash) to parlay your way into Sunday.  The Saturday event has had prize pools over 10k since they bumped it up to $200.  Well worth it.

Sunday they'll start sit 'n goes at 10 to 10:30 am.
RESULTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTY:

DONEY DEVOURS DC:

At the MGM National Harbor resort, during the East Coast Poker tour, Joel Doney took down a $400 buy-in 193 person field, that surpassed the 50k guarantee.

Joel, a Harrahs NOLA reg,  won over 16k for first.

This is Joel's first Hendon Mob eligible victory. He also cashed in the opener as he finished 77th in the 1812 entrant 500k guarantee field. Joel also final tabled a third event which has yet to post.  Congrats bud!

WSOP-C:

With tournaments everywhere these days the WSOP-C as it often does has two events going concurrently.

At the Rio in Las Vegas, former Gulf Coaster Kristen Deardorff cashed 7th in Event #2 for just under 3k on the $400 Buy-in.  Congrats to Kristen.  Meanwhile in Florida even more Gulf Coasters found the cashier's cage...

HIGH ROLLER:

AJ Kelsall of Tampa, FL finished runner up in the $2200 buy-in event at the Seminole Hard rock in Tampa. Eric Salazar (3rd 38k), Hamid Izadi (8th 8.8k), and John Dollinger also cashed.

PLO 8:

Philip Hui of San Antonio fell to David Prociak of Florida in heads up action. Prociak won over 51k and Hui over 31k. TK Miles finished fifth for 11.6k. Leif Force, Allen Kessler, Cord Garcia, Blake Barousse, and Dee Banks all cashed.

MONSTER:

Joe Hebert of Metairie finished 9th in the $400 buy-in. He won a little over 6.8k. Charles Johnson of Norcross, GA, Nate Bandy of TN, Bradly Gagola of Tallahassee, Robbier Beck of Houston, and Chris Read of Sugar Hill, GA, cashed.


MONTHLY WSOP 10K SATELLITE:

Last Sunday of Every Month:
Next one is February 23rd,
High Noon, $600, 20k ss
NEWS BITS:

POKER ALLIANCE:

As mentioned last week previewing the new season of survivor many players shared a poker connection. Little did we know how much that would play a role in the first episode. Chad Holloway has a great write-up of the storylines over at PokerNews and the full episode of Poker Night in America where the alledged alliance was formed.

Want to make a bet on this season? MSN has an article on the current odds with Yul Kwon the organizer of the anti-poker alliance as the favorite.

TEXANS AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANANS:

We aren't saying there is a 50k Guarantee multi-flight tournament headed your way the last weekend of March... but we also aren't saying there isn't.  Possibly a BagWow! format.  BagWow you ask? Go here.

COMPLETE WSOP SCHEDULE:

Recently read there will now be two player of the year awards. One for everything and one for everything $1500 and under. Price points vary from $500 to a $250k high roller but most events seem to be $1500 and under. The next tier of events is 10k and includes an online tournament for the first time at that price point.
Complete schedule here.

STAY SAFE, STAY DRY:

As Pearl River surges higher with rainfall our thoughts our with our friends in central Mississippi and any who are facing flooing conditions. 
POKER NEWS:



SURVIVAL

Boston Rob (should we call him Pensacola Rob now... he's been a staple on the gulf coast for quite a while now) and one or two other poker playing aficionados return for a clash of champions (including Tyson Apostle behind him in the pic above). The parallels to tournament poker with the set-up of Survivor's reality game show are many.

It mimics the capriousness of elimination, the randomness and uneven distribution of assets (cards to idols/other players folly etc), skill of interpretating partial infomation, people reading, boldness to make a move or a bluff, rewards the patience of players who time their all or nothing moves, and punishes those who don't. Not to mention all the money is up top with a $2 million prize this year to first. These are some of the best to ever play, and this season should showcase some great game play and bluffs in buffs. Go here for more on getting the right cast.

VARIANCE IS A B.....:

Phil Galfond is down almost a million Euros in his Galfond challenge. Venividi1993 has pounded him over 15 sessions and Phil is pondering quiting the challenge.



As Phil pointed out later on twitter in heads up PLO even a bad player would win at a higher rate during a normal distribution of cards. He credits his opponent for playing well but run-bad has to be an element of the distortion of results. That or whoever wrote the program for his site left a backdoor in and Phil's getting superused. (No evidence of that other then him getting pummeled). For more go here.

SATTYS-FACTION:

Couple of ongoing events represent a great chance to get in on the cheap and parlay a small entry fee into something YUGE!

-Harrahs NOLA next $600 10k to the winner event is Sunday, Febuary 22rd at High Noon. 10k bundles to the winners?  Their's your WSOP Main Event seat right there.  Also, single table sit n' goes to get into the event $140 a player (two seats to winners) will be starting today.

-A couple of social media contests are active on our FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages. Like, share, comment to win seats into the $150k Guarantee at Pearl River. Pay attention to the bonus for the new one which runs up to the event. Take a picture of your receipt for any of the Sunday satellites at Pearl River (schedule two posts below) to earn an extra entry to the drawing. Those sunday events have been a small overlay on the first two iterations.
VIRAL POKER LINKAGE:

Corona Virus on your mind? It's not here yet, but if you are thinking ahead... PokerNews has a piece on how to play live poker and minimize your risk of catching the virus: Here.

What about the WSOP 2020? They've issued a statement also at PokerNews.

Macau, the biggest gaming center in the world is shut-down. When the casinos close you should pay attention. On the heels of the Asian Poker League's cancellations, Triton Poker is also cancelling a tournament because of the Novel Corona Virus in South Korea.

The Norovirus outbreak at L'Auberge Lake Charles (thanks to Larry Douglas and Don Dove for the heads up) is a warning to players to take appropriate measures including hand cleaning with hot water to dodge the winter viruses.

Supposedly, Chinese in crisis like storing money on the old cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. The bull market Bitcoin is enjoying is evidence that theory is either true, or enough people buy into it, that you might want to pick up some more crypto.

What to do if you get quarantined?

Don't forget you can also use Bitcoin to play online poker.

What else, watch a movie?  There's one being made taglined as "The World Series of Poker meets Abu Ghraib," that will star Tiffany Haddis, Willem Dafoe and Oscar Isaac. Nothing viral about this one although curiously, the working title is "The Card Counter," which isn't very Poker-y and a lot more BlackJack-y. Vanity Fair has the story here:

More about the plot here which involves the protagonist, William Tell (Isaac), deciding to win the World Series of Poker to help with his other cause.

Let's, here's some great news and some awesome entertainment for locked-ins.  New High Stakes Poker coming to PokerGo.
AROUND THE COAST:

Pearl River announces their two seat guarantee Main Event Satellites starting Super Bowl Sunday for their 150k Guarantee Main Event.
Last fall most (all?) of their satties had an overlay and the Main Event had a ~$20k overlay. Hard to beat free money. 


Go to the thread on our FACEBOOK page for the structure and more info.

It's a busy calendar locally even without a series until March (Pearl River's Poker Open 12th through 22nd).

The Beau Rivage features their Monthly 50k Guarantees and Little Monsters.

Harrahs, NOLA, has started their Monthly 10k Satellite with a $600 Buy-in and 20k Starting Stack.  Also, they've bumped up their Saturday Tournament to a 12k starting stack and $200 buy-in featuring much bigger prize pools.  It's grown every week since making the change.

Horseshoe Bossier City is doing a Mardi Gras tournament series coming up soon as well as their regular weekly events.
MORE WSOP-TUNICA

Thanks for the heads up from one of our readers and sorry for the miss when we first relayed this result. Nice hit in Event 4 for Broussard, Louisiana's Adam Racca who pocketed over 10k for his second place finish. Well done Adam.

EVENT 5: This six handed event went to Bryan Salerno of Little Rock. He won overr 18k beating Todd Osborne heads up. Also cashing: Edward Chevallier of Many, LA; Mike Sanders; Kip Jones of Denham Springs, LA; and Josh Palmer.

EVENT 6: Tim Burt just missed another ring in yet another non NLHE event as he placed second to Grant Hart of Conway, AR in PLO. Hart won 11k for first and Tim a hair under 7k for second. Damjan Radanov won 4.7k for third. Also cashing Jamie Kizer; JP Kolb, and John Holley.

EVENT 7: Walker Miskelly, pictured after winning the King of last Spring's Pearl River Event, won his first ring in Event 7's Monster Stack. More satisfying, likely, was the $43k payday. Another Pearl River Regular Thuy Djedos of Brand, MS won over 6k for 7th place.

Justin Gates continue his torrid streak cashing going out one spot ahead of Kip Jones, and two in front of Birmingham's Chase Turner. Also cashing: Matthew South; Hamid Izadi; Cody Stanford; JP Kolb; Austin Reilly; Steve McClusky; James Taylor; Josh Williams; Trent Bennett; and John Gilbert.

EVENT 8: The $600 Hold'em event won by Sam Washburn of Arkansas for over 28k featured a final table of Matthew South (4th 9k) and Blake Barousse (8th 3k). Holiday Hold'em Main Event winner Rex Smith finished 11th. Jeremy Eyer, Chris Lane and Rodney Boswell also cashed.

EVENT 9: Tim Burt (6th $2400) and Austin Reilly ($1.4k) final tabled the $250 one day event. Stephen Nusrallah, Mack Ham, Mike Sanders and Krishna Kota also cashed.

EVENT 10: Main Event end of Day(s) 1. Chris Miller with over 500k bagged the biggest stack. 79 out of the 491 total will restart today. Stephan Nusrallah not too far behind with 387k. Johnny Landreth, Ben Thomas, TK Miles, Sean Small and Greg Jennings in the top 20 with over 300k each.

Walker Miskelly bagged 269k joined by Yousef Saleh, Warren Sheaves, Chris Davis and Kyle Cartwright in the over 200k club. Marshall White, Blake Barousse, Mack Ham, Blake Whittington, Hamid Izadi and BJ McBrayer all bagged over 100k. Chad Chisolm, Tood Osborne, Cody Stanford, Tim Burt, Jacob Corda, and Matt Higgins also return.
WSOP-C TUNICA UPDATES:

GCP AWARD WINNERS KEEP WINNING:

Blake Whittington a GCP Award winner for being the most consistent tournament player in the region won another ring in Event #2. He bested Andrew Brinkley heads up for just under 20k. The 28 year old has won six total rings and three at Tunica.  He finally received his trophy after some missed connections and promptly won again.

Matt South of Florence, AL (8th) and Sean Small (6th) also made the final table. Philip Walsh cashed the event continuing his recent hot streak.

Michael Lech, the Arkansas pro, won his eighth ring in the re-entry event for a 53k score. Lech received nominations for the GCP Awards as well. Michael Monaghan of Jackson finished 10th for a little over 4k. Others in the money include: Joe Hebert of Metaire (17th); Byron Tipton (20th); Chris Lane (23rd); JW Carter; Cody Stanford; Rusell Boyette; Ray Curran; Tim Burt; Justin Donato; and Michael Pelt.

OTHER NOTABLES IN TUNICA:

EVENT 1: Matt South just missed another final table along with David Lee of Memphis in Event One finishing 12th and 13th. Also cashing that event: Teresa Lammie; Denise Pratt; and Donnie Phan.

SENIORS: Barry Schultz and Jo Caine cashed in the 403 entry 80k prize pool.

EVENT 4: Yousef Saleh (GCP Player of the Year), 7th, and Justin Gates, 8th (Baton Rouge), made the final table of the $400 one day event.

Here's the schedule for the remainder of the event.
HARRAHS NOLA TOURNEY TWEAKS:

For those who have missed it, Harrahs New Orleans has changed their Saturday tournament to a $200 buy-in. This tweak ups the prize pool and lowering the juice percentage wise. This past weekend three players chopped for $1900 a piece not bad for a few hours work. They also made sure to increase the starting stack to 12k.

Also, they have announced a monthly $600 Sunday tournament. It will essentially be the last Sunday of the month in the run up to the World Series of Poker Main Event. In February it's the second to last because of Mardi Gras. Every time $10k (after taxes) is reached in the prize pool they will award the cash equivalent of a WSOP Main Event seat.

First one takes place Sunday, January 26th at High Noon. Right now they are running sit n goes awarding two winners the $600 buy-in to the Sunday event. More of those to come.
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST CONTINUES:

Our opening social media seat giveaway is still going on! if you want a shot at a Pearl River $150k Guarantee opener seat: like, share, and comment to get an entry on our FACEBOOK page. Do the same via  @GCPNet on TWITTER in the to double your chances at winning.

Pearl River starts March 12th and runs through the 22nd. Schedule on the post on Facebook. Last fall there was a near 20k overlay in the Main Event. And credit to Pearl River they want to grow the event, so the first thing they did was lock in another double 150k guarantee series.  You want a piece of that free money?  Go ahead and book your rooms now.
BEAU WRAP UP:

JOE HEBERT DOMINATES SERIES:

Congratulations to our man Joe. The Metairie player had a week to remember after getting the lion's share in the chop (74k) of the high roller. Hebert split it up with Corey Harrison, Dee Banks, and Josh Palmer who each earned over 40k.

Mike Horchoff (pictured) returned from out west to bag as Day one chipleader and won over 13k for seventh place. Rarely is there a high stakes final table at the Beau without Moe Moeini and this was no different with the local winning $7700 for ninth. Another regular at their cashier is Jeremy Gaubert of Baton Rouge who won $6367 for 10th. Also cashing for that amount: David Williams of Hoover, AL and Don Rolfe of Ocean Springs in 11th and 12th respectively.

Big Phil Treaudo of NOLA won ~ $5700 for fifteenth. Ray McIntosh of Slidell earned almost $4700 for sixteenth.

Others in the money included: Philip Walsh, Luther Tran, Johnny Landreth, Justin Allen, Steven Rash, Ed Sebesta, and Randy Kennedy.

Joe won or chopped for the most in three events last week. In the $300 8 Max event he earned $8607. Also cashing Terry Moore, Curtis Terry, Kyle Barnette and Don Rolfe. Scroll (way) down for details on Joe's 12k win in Event #2.

LITTLE MONSTERS:

Al Dapkus fo Georgia won the smaller of the two Little Monster events (#15) for $4700. Matt Sirchia of Pensacola, FL (2nd $4371), Rebekah Crosby of Covington, LA (3rd $3888), Justin Gates (Baton Rouge), Piyush Mittal (pictured to the left) and Kyle Barnett of NOLA made the final table.

Justin Gates also chopped the larger of the Little Monsters (event 13). He split it three ways with Robert Beck of Slidell and Nick Langsford of Kenner. Each earned just under $6900. In on the chop for just a little less (5k) Jason Durson of Gulfport (5k) and Marvin Durden of Atlanta.

Others in the money included: Simon Philip; Mark Ryan; Louis Lee; Huey Hulin; Guy Turner; and John Dubard.
NOLA/METAIRE PLAYERS DOMINATE BEAU:

Joe Hebert's hat trick (see above and below) along with Corey Harrison's deep run in the high rollers were only the tip of the iceberg.  Add in Metaire's Nick Langsford chop in the bigger Little Monster (see above) and it was a week of dominance.  Here's more:

GAMBLE CLOSE:

Doug Gamble earned almost $1800 for second place in the final $300 event of the series. Well done Doug.

GORDON GETS IT:

Randy Gordon (pictured) of Metairie won $4800 and bested a final table that included fellow NOLA reg Peace Marvel (2nd for $2800), Bryne Wilson (3rd $2800), William Anderson of Madison, MS (4th); James Sharp of Slidell, LA; and Randy Marker of Ocean Springs. Pensacola's Rachel Tullier and Brandon Valera also cashed.

CRESSEND WINS IT:

Another Metairie/NOLA based player took down a Beau event tournament. John Cressend of Metaire, LA split it evenly with James Payne of Carrier, MS each earning over $8300. Owen Bradley of NOLA, Vincent Phan of Folsom, LA, Reese Vines of Pensacola and Justin Kelly of Mathiston, MS all made the final table. ALso in the money Felton Breaux of New Iberia and George McDonald of Ocean Springs.

SALEH WINS AGAIN!:

NOLA can't quite claim Mississippi's Joe Saleh but he's been on an arguably even bigger tear since coming to town during Poker Gras to pick up his 2019 GCP Player of the Year trophy.  Joe Saleh won the Monster Stack earning over 23k in a chop with Trey Walton of Georgia (22k), Terry Moore of Mobile (21k) and Joel Watts of Ocean Springs (17k). Also cashing; Ben Thomas; Mark Berrigan (Tallahassee); Gavin Munroe; Joel Doney; Bryne Wilson; Greg Radais (Lafayette); Kai Landry; Steve Bierman; Trace Henderson; Curtis Terry and Matt South.
BOSSIER CITY FRIENDS:

Stephen Green of Panama City, and also the Horseshoe Bossier TD, chopped 6 ways in the Seniors event for 10k. Always nice to see a good guy in the winner's circle. Bobby Moore of Pearl River, MS got the biggest share with $14.5k. Also earning 10k Mark Ryan and Deric Williams of Louisiana. Others in the money included: Ron Franco; Alton Bullock; Judge Leo Boothe; James Payne; Felix Lagasse and Richard Roach.

Also, Congrats to Chris Mays (pictured second from the left) who cashed a couple of times in Choctaw. Chris chopped one of our Holiday Hold'em events in Bossier in December.

 

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