2010 AZ State Championship Preview -- with predictions from Desert Swami



The 6th annual Arizona State championship promises to be the biggest and best tournament the valley of the donks has ever seen. Not only is the event being held in a real brick-and-mortar casino instead of an oversized tent this year, the $1,075 buy-in, four-day event will have three starting days (Aug 13-15), with optional re-entry for those who bust out on days 1a or 1b.

This format and 20k starting chips will ensure that the action is fast and furious and pump up the prize pool to a record-setting amount.
If that’s not sweet enough, Casino Arizona will be splashing another $100k into the pot once the 900th entry is sold -- that’s a whopping million dollars up for grabs! The champion will be crowned on Aug. 16, when all the qualifiers come back to battle for the ring and trophy…not to mention the $312,500 estimated first-place cash. Don’t worry, second and third place will also get trophies, and $156k and $75k respectively.

So how do you get in? Good question. Swami recommends that if you’re already a millionaire, you just plop down the dime on Day 1 and repeat the process on Days 1a and 1b if you bust out. But worry not, you small-timers have plenty of other ways to get in action:

Single table satellites -- Sign up at the main poker board at CAZ and once 10 pipedreamers are sitting down with $110 on the table, the cards will be in the air. Last donkey standing gets his or her $1,050 entry paid, but you still have to pay your $25 dealer appreciation for an extra 5k in tourney chips. If you don’t have the $25, Desert Swami will put it up for you in exchange for 5% of your action.

Backer -- If all else fails, you don’t want to play on your rent money, or you’re a degenerate gamboler like the Swami, this is the option for you. You simply convince a friend, family member or sucker from the casino that you play better than the average monkey, and buying you in the tournament would be a great investment! You get whatever percent of the winnings your backer deems fair (usually between 30-50%) and he/she gets the rest.

Now if you can’t find a way to get into the tournament you can still get in action. How? By trying to pick the winner. The only thing better than gamboling is gambling on gamboling! Desert Swami has looked into his crystal ball to give you some help picking the winner.
Tom Schneider: 120-1 to win, $1.69 million tourney winnings -- Don’t be fooled by Tommy’s nice-guy demeanor. The 2007 WSOP player of the year is there to take your chips. With two bracelets, two WPT final tables, and a deep run in the ‘09 Main Event, Schneider has more experience than just about anyone in the building. And don’t get hustled into playing Chinese poker with him on dinner break. Swami made that mistake before and even though Tom picked up the check, it was one of Swami’s most expensive meals!
Ryan Hughes: 50-1 to win, $1.44 million tourney winnings -- With two WSOP bracelets, nine career titles and a third-place finish in the ‘07 state championship, Hughes is Swami’s #1 pick this year. Hughes plays a lot of hands and forces his opponents to make tough decisions all day. The re-entry format will benefit his style more than anyone as he’s known to amass a huge stack or spew out early. If Hughes makes the final table he may be a favorite over the field -- this guy closes like the pre-scandal Tiger Woods. It’s sick.
David Gee: 100-1 to win, $390K tourney winnings -- The first Arizona state poker champion will definitely be a favorite this year, especially with three bullets at his disposal. Although David is only about 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds soaking wet, he’s a relentlessly aggressive high-stakes pro who strikes fear in the hearts of all mortals who sit down at his table. If you call him with less than the nuts you are in deep trouble -- unless he mutters “you got it” and fires his cards into the muck.
Mike Wattel: 110-1 to win, $1.75 million tourney winnings -- Despite a much less insane playing style than Swami’s other picks, Wattel has made more money playing poker in Arizona than just about anybody, and is coming off an impressive run at this year’s WSOP. Mike gave fellow high stakes pro Todd Lundwall quite the sweat as Wattel took second†in the $1500 2-7 single draw NL event, then placed fifth in event #56, $2500 NL. Lundwall stood to lose some $15k if Mike won a bracelet this summer.
Anthony Reategui: 75-1, $1.33 million tourney winnings -- With a WSOP bracelet among his five career titles, Reategui is one of Swami’s frontrunners and happens to be good friends with Ryan Hughes. If both of these guys get a hold of some chips, the tourney might end a lot sooner than expected. But if they’re out early, head to the top section for an extra juicy 75-150 mix game!
Adam White a.k.a “Whitey”: 90-1 to win, $530K tourney winnings -- A master of deception, Whitey can normally be found ordering shots and sipping a beer while getting excessive action in the 5-10 game at CAZ. But don’t be fooled by his maniacal facade, this kid can flat-out play. Fresh off a disappointing ninth-place finish in WSOP event #47, Whitey is hungry for redemption and will definitely be firing three barrels if necessary.
“Ship It”: 9000-1, -- This mystery man or woman, who goes on the board as “ship-it,” has virtually no chance of “shipping” the state championship according to Desert Swami’s crystal ball. Swami surmises that this kid is not a day older than 22, wears a sideways baseball cap, and has never read a page of a poker book. He started playing poker after he stumbled into the casino drunk on his 21st birthday and heard some douche say ship it after they won a pot, and decided to give himself a nickname.
Sleepers and longshots; Jesse McGinty 175-1, Hooman Nikzad 130-1, Tad Jurgens 112-1, JJ 2300-1, Greg Wynn 175-1, Robert Goldfarb 150-1, Slowroll Mike 800-1, Rosa 350-1, Pat Poels 200-1, Andreas Foulias (2007 champion) 250-1, Liquor store Sam 1800-1, Jeff Oakes 200-1, Michael “Shoes” Gambony 250-1, Danny Noam 750-1, Gus 169-1, Chris Amaral 105-1, John Saer 165-1, Amigo 1500-1, Gary Ivey 600-1, Colin Moshman 199-1, King Kelly 200-1, New Jersey Bob 400-1, Chicago Bob 1300-1, Cigar Jim 2200-1, Fu “Grasshopper” Wong 150-1, Brian “Luke” Saltus 120-1, Todd Lundwall 121-1, Trung Canidate 220-1, Cornell Canidate 195-1, Presidente 4000-1.

Trung Canidate? The ex-UA running back?

Mark

Yes, TC is a reg in the 20/40-60/120 games

Swami made a typo...Colin Moshman is supposed to be Colin Halsted...
Add-on -- Anthony Arvidson 16-1

can i take odds on me winning it?

Hrm I never recognized him, but I definitely know who he is now that you said so. (standard lol racist all black people look the same to white people I guess) He was one of my favs from back in my UofA days. I guess he can come in second to me then in the state championship

Mark

Lol at Anthony Ardvinson, his dog Jack has a better shot at winning it then he does...

I'm playing Friday.

If you tell me who you are, I'll ask Swami what your odds are.

Pretty sad that I recognize 80% of that list and haven't played high limit in almost 2 years.

Anybody know how many seats are sold?

The Swami wanted me to add some picks when he heard I posted his article on 2+2:

Ben Tang 105-1, Brian Tate 144-1, Brandon Deems 130-1, Pope 899-1, Spread Limit Mark (Swami only uses PC nicknames) 155-1, Facebook Shane 195-1, Thomas 340-1, Kyle Miasu 127-1

I called earlier today and they told me 250/200/100 Fri/Sat/Sun

Mark

LOL problem is there are like 4 Marks that play semi regularly so if you don't call me gay Mark then it gets confusing...

Mark

So no 100K added if they don't get to 900? I'm not playing anyway but am curious.

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I haven't seen Ben Tang in at least a year but he's always a contender.

pope's got to be better than 899-1. Not by much, but better.

Me too and I haven't been in the room since they opened the new room...

If anyone wants to bet on me at those odds, I will happily take all action against.

It's essentially a $32,500k overlay, as your real tournament entry fee is $1,075. ($1M-($1,075*900)).

Also, the overlay (if there is one) comes out of the "promotional fund" which is where all those extra $1 drops have been going.

I've posted that many times. I assume you are doing it just to get a rant from howard.

Maybe we are mad as hell and we aren't going to take this anymore.

I wish I had planned my post so wisely.

I was just commenting; and didn't so much realize that it had been said repeatedly

hopefully a nice juicy field

Latest Lines:

Allen "The Chainsaw" Kessler 99.54-1, Steven Doebler 199-1, Ben Landowski 151-1, Kevin O' Donnell 120-1, Aaron O' Rourke -- 132-1 (poker), 12-1 (karaoke), Dennis Watterman 104-1

I wanna get in this thing so bad, but don't have the scratch to play in it. Going to go by in the early afternoon tomorrow to play in the 3/5 game and maybe take some money off some steamers after they've been knocked out.

I heard 255 runners for today.

Structure was abominable. Any question you ask the floor is responded with "thats how we do it here".

Still playing all 3 day 1s because they will probably hit the guarantee, and the players are really inexperienced.

The levels are short and they skip every other level, although the antes are only 10% of the bb as it gets deeper.