alex flores

52 Pages·2017·6.22 MB·English

STRATEGY: IT’S THE TOP-SEVEN PHRASES LOSERS UTTER AT THE POKER TABLE! 38-39
anteupmagazine.com | @anteupmagazine | facebook.com/anteupmagazine | APRIL 2018
YOUR POKER MAGAZINE TM
ANTE UP SPRING POKER CLASSIC • VEE QUIVA HOTEL & CASINO • LAVEEN, ARIZ.
ALEX
PLUS:
FLORES
CALL THE FLOOR
Supervisors get it
wrong sometimes. The Phoenix rounder wins
the first AUPT main event
in Arizona for $12K.
NORTHEAST SOUTH MIDWEST SOUTHWEST WEST

NEPA POKER OPEN WSOPC VISITS N.C. HPO COLUMBUS N. AZ. HOLD’EM CHAMP. STONES CLASSIC

OUR MISSION
Ante Up, YOUR Poker Magazine, is dedicated to everyday poker players and their poker rooms.
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Christopher Scott PUBLISHERS
Cosenza Long
Christopher Cosenza • [email protected]
Scott Long • [email protected]
ADVERTISING
Bad beats be gone
Christopher Cronin, Director of Sales • (Casinos, 480-217-2589)
Scott Long • (Partnerships, AUPT, 727-331-4335)
anteupmagazine.com/advertise • [email protected]
No one wants to hear your bad-beat story. About the only
POKER CRUISES
thing worse than hearing a bad-beat story is being on the los-
Jeanne Cosenza • [email protected] (727-742-3843)
ing end of one. Maybe you’re convinced misery truly does love
AMBASSADORS
company, but we’re here to tell you it doesn’t.
Chris Cronin • Arizona • [email protected]
Most poker players have big egos and it’s difficult admitting
Jo Kim • Atlantic City/Philadelphia/Northeast • [email protected]
defeat, especially when the odds were so heavily stacked in your
Garrett Roth • Northern California • [email protected]
favor. And since it’s happened to all players, we look for some Kittie Aleman • Southern California • [email protected]
empathy, but does it really make it any easier to swallow? “Chicago” Joe Giertuga • Chicagoland/Indiana • [email protected]
What does make it easier to take is when that bad beat quali- Janet Kenning • Colorado • [email protected]
Crash Martin • North Florida • [email protected]
fies for the jackpot. But what may seem like a good thing actu-
Sara Malowitz • Central Florida • [email protected]
ally is detrimental to poker. Let’s take the recent $1M jackpot
“Big” Dave Lemmon • South Florida • [email protected]
hit in Detroit. While it made headlines and briefly drove extra
Ken Warren • Iowa • [email protected]
traffic to that room, what it did was take $1M out of the poker Rob Solomon • Las Vegas • [email protected]
community. Philip Chow • Reno • [email protected]
There’s no chance most of that money will circulate back Capt. Ron Hope • Louisiana • [email protected]
Michael Young • Mid-Atlantic • [email protected]
into area rooms. Those involved in the bad beat will make some
John Somsky • Minnesota • [email protected]
big-ticket purchases and investments. They may play bigger
Josh Jetton • Michigan • [email protected]
games for a bit or enter a few more tournaments, but for the
Jennifer Gay • Mississippi • [email protected]
most part, a million bucks left the game, never to be recovered. Todd Lamansky • Missouri • [email protected]
Perhaps you heard about the lawsuit in the Las Vegas area Donovan Livingston • New Mexico • [email protected]
over a bad-beat jackpot that was denied because cards were ex- David Lukow • Northeast • [email protected]
Brian Bly • Ohio/W. Va./W. Pa. • [email protected]
posed prematurely. So much money was at stake, legal counsel
Robert Kelly • Oklahoma-Kansas • [email protected]
got involved. In the end, the gaming commission sided with the
“Jammin’ “ Jay Zeman • Pacific Northwest • [email protected]
players and now the property no longer offers a bad-beat jack-
Chad Holloway • Wisconsin • [email protected]
pot. It’s just another reason to avoid having bad-beat jackpots
CONTRIBUTORS
in their current state. Brent Philbin, Stephen Bloomfield and Mark Brement
These promotions act as an insurance policy, but what in- DISTRIBUTION • SUBSCRIPTIONS
surance company pays you more than you lost? It’s just bad Ante Up is free for poker rooms. Call [phone] • Individual subscriptions
are $30 per 12 issues or $5 per copy • anteupmagazine.com/magazine
business. Put a cap on the amount people can win. We are huge
POLICIES
proponents of getting promotional-fund money back to the
All material in Ante Up is copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Reproduction of
players as soon as possible. material without Ante Up’s consent is forbidden. We do not endorse services or
Make the qualifier easier to hit and pay out more often. Give products advertised, nor are we responsible for ad copy.
players back only what they lost. Call it a Bad Beat Eraser, Bad
Beat Equalizer or Bad Beat Mulligan. This way, the money is FOLLOW US
returned to the table immediately and makes the game better. facebook.com/anteupmagazine
We’ll see you at the tables. Twitter: @anteupmagazine
— Christopher Cosenza and Scott Long
4 | APRIL 2018 | anteupmagazine.com | @anteupmagazine

CONTENTS
Northeast West
Mohegan Sun Pocono The LAPC ends with Dennis Blieden
hosts its annual NEPA earning the $1M top prize. 16-20
Poker Open on April 8.
Plus, Foxwoods wraps up Southwest
its Winter Freeze. 28-30
Bucky’s Casino hosts the Northern Arizona Texas
Hold’em Championship this month. Plus, Mike
Englert wins the latest HPT in Colorado. 8-14
South
Kammar Andries won
the first World Series
of Poker Circuit Main
Event at Seminole
Ante Up Poker Tour
Coconut Creek in
The AUPT made its first stop in Arizona, en- South Florida. Now,
joying a successful weekend at the Vee Quiva the WSPOC heads to
Hotel & Casino in late March. 8-9 North Carolina this
month. 22-26
Midwest Strategy
Steve Houle leads a host Senior strategy columnist On The Button
of players taking down Brent Philbin tells you about The publishers of Ante Up reflect on the poker
titles in the region. Plus, the top-seven phrases uttered news of the day, discuss the issues affecting
the HPO kicks off in by losing poker players. Also, poker players and break down poker hands and
Columbus, Ohio. 32-35 stop saying results-oriented. 38-39 situations on their weekly pokercast. 50

T ANTE UP POKER TOUR, VEE QUIVA HOTEL & CASINO
P A BUDDING VICTORY
U
AAlex Flores of Phoenix captures the first AUPT event in Arizona, earning $12K and a bit of history.
What an Arizona debut for the Ante Up Poker Tour and
Gila River Hotels & Casinos — Vee Quiva! The Laveen
property saw 348 hopefuls show up March 22-24 for the in-
augural Ante Up Spring Poker Clas-
sic, competing for the winner’s share
of the $50K guaranteed prize pool.
And that winner was Alex Flores,
who won $12K, a custom AUPT
VEE QUIVA
champion’s jacket, a sweet trophy and
a seat at the upcoming main event of
the Ante UpCMYK ::: :111 10090W0 0 CMYK::: :842 o4454 rCMYKl::: :764 8442d4 CMYK::: :010C 00 0 hampionship at Thunder Valley Resort
Casino in California.
After it was over, Flores was nearly poetic with his feelings.
“This was amazing,” the Phoenix resident said. “I feel like
I finally made a mark in the poker world. I stand by the motto
that if you don’t fight for what you want, don’t cry for what
you lost.”
Ante Up Arizona Ambassador Chris Cronin, who was runner-
up in the event and pocketed $10K, said Flores earned this
title. Alex Flores poses
“Alex was definitely the most aggressive player at the final with the trophy.
table and a very deserving champion,” Cronin said.
Four Day 1 flights in the $300 event produced 123 players Up was the perfect fit,” he said. “I feel it was a super successful
for the final day; halfway through the third level that number event. We set out to have the largest tournament payout that
was trimmed to 60. One hand of note: On the money bubble, Gila River has ever had, and we accomplished that goal. This
Cronin called an all-in with pocket sixes and faced K-K. The tournament will continue to grow and offer even more to our
flop brought sets for both players and the case six landed on the players as we move forward. I would like to thank everyone
river to put the remaining 40 players in the money. from our dealers, floor staff, marketing department and players
Once the final table was seven-handed, the players chopped that came from out of town as well as our faithful regulars.”
as James Pausch, Dustin Panoff and Matthew Seitz each pocketed Gila River Hotels & Casinos — Vee Quiva is one of three
$9K-plus for third-fifth, Lance Foster and Jose Gonzales-Remigio casinos in the Gila River Hotels & Casinos enterprises, owned
got $8K-plus for sixth and seventh, respectively. Kevin Nguyen and operated by the Gila River Indian Community. Its casino
was eighth ($2,610), Theodore Benner was ninth ($1,523) and features a 14-table poker room, 24 table games, more than 950
Kevin Bobzien was 10th ($1,088). slot machines and a 500-seat bingo hall. The resort offers 90
Poker room manager John “Zach” Lansing was ecstatic with the luxurious hotel rooms, outdoor pool with poolside suites, event
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zin AUPT event that created an $87K prize pool. “I wanted to do center, four bars and lounges and six restaurants, including a
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mag something big here at Vee Quiva, and partnering with Ante Ditka’s Restaurant from the legendary Bears coach. S
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ANTE UP POKER TOUR, VEE QUIVA HOTEL & CASINO ANTE UP POKER TOUR, VEE QUIVA HOTEL & CASINO A
Inaugural $50K Ante Up Spring Poker Classic U
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poker room manager John “Zach” Lansing and | A
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shift manager Jeff Edwards were integral, along RIL
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with Karen Phillips, Michael Clark, James Burrell, 0
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Jason Stull, Chris MacKinder and Gary Phillips, in | 9
making this AUPT event run smoothly.
BUCKY’S N. AZ. CHAMPIONSHIP IS APRIL 29
T
S
The annual Northern Arizona Texas Hold’em Champion-
Meet Bill Martin
E ship at Bucky’s Casino in Prescott, Ariz., is April 29.
Preliminary rounds are on each Sunday in April (1, 8, 15, Bill Martin has spent the past 22 years
W 22) at 2 p.m. The $125 preliminary rounds will get you 10K dealing poker at at Hon-Dah Casino
chips. Resort in the White Mountains of Ari-
An optional $20 dealer gratuity will get you another 2K zona. He started as a part-time dealer.
chips and two hours of live play beforehand earns you another “There were several nights in the early
H
3K. The top 10 from each round advance to the championship years that I came to deal at the casino after
April 29. working all day and left the casino in the morning just in
T WILD HORSE PASS: There are a couple of changes to the time to go back to work. I really love dealing poker.”
tournament lineup. Monday and Thursday at noon will be He has been married for 40 years and has two sons.
U $2K guarantees for $40. Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. will be a $2,500 When he’s not working or spending time with the family,
guarantee for $90. Wednesday at 7:30 and Sunday at 3:30 will he enjoys all of the things mountain life offers: golfing, fish-
be $50 events. ing and playing poker.
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The Rolling Cash Fever promo will have drawings every “Hon-Dah poker room is a great place to play poker
hour and the Super Bonus High Hand will be April 28. with friendly, great players. If you’ve played here more
S On April 8 at 11 a.m., there is a $10K guarantee women’s than once or twice everyone will be calling you by your
tournament. Call for details. first name. Of course, the summer months are the busy
HARRAH’S AK-CHIN: Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. an $80 buy-in season at Hon-Dah, but weather is always amazing in dif-
and $10 dealer add-on gets you 10K chips to play for a seat ferent ways. It’s a great place to get away from the city and
to any $1K WSOP event in Las Vegas this summer and $200. just relax.”
Sundays at 5:30 p.m., $110 plus $10 gets you 10K chips to play Martin’s biggest thrill happened in 2004 when he took a
for a $1,500 seat plus $250. vacation for a month and traveled to Tunica, Miss., to deal
May 19 will host two $350 qualifiers (10 a.m., 3 p.m.) with the World Poker Open.
the finale at 7:30. You’ll start with 15K chips and the winner “Dealing to the pros and meeting some amazing players
receives a $10K entry to the WSOP main event plus $500. was a tremendous experience.”
TALKING STICK RESORT: April 1-July 22 is the qualifying period He’s looking forward to retirement within the next
for the Summer Points Challenge at Talking Stick Resort. Play- 10 years and when that happens, Hon-Dah won’t lose an
ers who make the final table at least twice during this time will employee, it’ll gain another friendly player. — Chris Cronin
qualify for a $40K tournament July 29. In addition, the top 15
in each division qualify for $40K in prize money. Meanwhile,
chop deals at the final table, Michael Berman and Amir Doroudian
the Winter Point Challenge tournament is April 8.
split the title and each gained $26,310.
April 20-22 is the next Getaway Classic, with three tourna-
The February End of the Month champion was Le Tieu, who
ments. Players who purchase all three will qualify for a free
added $5,100 to his bankroll.
two-night stay at the resort April 20-21, based on availabili-
ty. A whopping $20K will be added to the April 20 tournament
to celebrate the property’s 20th anniversary.
January’s End of the Month tourney saw a final-table chop,
including a three-way deal between Steven Vigdor, James Arre-
e dondo and William Shearer for $4,500 apiece. February’s $345
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a The Arena Poker Room at Talking Stick Resort
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