3-barrels of an American flavour with the news that four of California’s largest casinos are set to unite for an annual Southern California Poker Championships; Scott Pilgrim star in talks to join Molly’s Game cast; and Delaware records best July iGaming results ever.
California’s Hawaiian Gardens Casino, Bicycle Hotel & Casino, Hustler Casino and the Commerce Hotel & Casino are all giants of live poker action in their own right, but what would happen if they pooled resources?
We are about to find out.
Thanks to the inquisitive mind of The Bike’s Casino Poker Manager, Eveliene Dullaart, all four poker rooms will combine to create the annual live tournament poker extravaganza: The Southern California Poker Championships.
It will be a humdinger of a tournament with 64 Day 1 starting flights spread across the four casinos, eventually merging from Day 4 onwards at The Bike Dec 14-15. The location of the final will rotate on an annual basis.
The action kicks off at The Gardens Sep 18-27, The Bike takes over Oct 1-10, The Hustler gets the baton Oct 21-30 before Commerce finishes the early action Nov 5-14.
The event carries a $350 buy-in, but you will be lucky to part with just that in an event containing 64 starting flights. Players can re-enter once per starting flight, and can enter as many starting flights as their wallet can muster. The event is also Quantum Reload so players can avoid the 64 starting flight irritants by buying directly into Day 2 for $4,500 where they start with an average starting stack of 210,000 (70bb).
The casinos have slapped a $3m guarantee on the event and promise the winner a minimum $500,000 and a brand new Mercedes. Player’s who qualify for Day 2 on multiple occasions will be subject to a special cash bonus, which varies from casino to casino. The final 6% of Day 1 will earn a minimum of $800 and entry into Day 2.
The event will also feature the Action Clock by Protection Poker when the action boils down to the final four tables.
Three of the four casinos (minus the Hustler) are part of the PokerStars Coalition – Californians For Responsible iPoker and one wonders how big this event can be with the backing of online satellites from the largest online poker room in the world.
This story first broke on cardplayer.com.
Scott Pilgrim Star to Feature in Molly’s Game
We are heading to Delaware in a jiffy, but before we take that detour there is one more California poker story to take care off.
Poker will soon visit Tinseltown when Aaron Sorkin and his crew try to turn the memoir Molly’s Game into the next big poker movie. Jessica Chastain is set to star in the lead role with recent Star Trek baddie Idris Elba also involved.
The latest big name to be attached to the script is Scott Pilgrim star Michael Cera. It seems highly likely that he will take on one of the roles that could have been the real-life Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Tobey Maguire.
All three of those stars played in the controversial High Stakes cash game, and Cera is in talks to play a character going by the name of Player X, who incidentally is a celebrity high-stakes cash game player.
Delaware Six Month iGaming Revenue Ascent Comes to a Halt
For a moment there, the iGaming industry in Delaware was like a runaway train after June’s figures hit a six-month consecutive increase and a record fourth month.
That run ended in July, but the numbers were still good enough to make July 2016 the best July month in the state’s short iGaming history. The trends remain the same with Delaware Park & Dover Downs responsible for most of the revenue with video lottery games at the forefront of money spent.
Here are the numbers.
Delaware Total
Table Games – $85,513.09
Video Lottery – $160,878.27
Poker – $33,745.73
Total – $281,137.09
Delaware Park
Table Games – $57,826.50
Video Lottery – $55,000.94
Poker – $17,151.85
Total – $129,979.29
Dover Downs
Table Games – $18,722.50
Video Lottery – $81,246.37
Poker – $14,429.24
Total – $114,398.11
Harrington
Table Games – $14,304.00
Video Lottery – $43,364.66
Poker – $2,164.64
Total – $59,833.30
Here is the granular detail, but if you click on it, there is something very wrong with your social life.
