WCPC 2010 - BCPC 2010 - Vancouver Poker Blog - Vancouver Freerolls - Vancouver Casinos

Not without controversy, here are your BC Poker Championship 2009 Event winners:

Event #1 – $500+$50 No Limit Hold’em

1st Place: Daniel Martel from Spruce Grove, Alberta
$51,842
2nd: Michael McWhirter from Vancouver, BC
$32,683
3rd: Sean SkarboNorth Vancouver, BC
$20,286

Event #2 – $1,000+$100 No Limit Hold’em

1st: Ryan Comely from Edmonton, Alberta
$130,654
2nd: Johua Philipchalk from Langley, BC
$83,678
3rd: Rick Hebert from Delta, BC
$52,796

Main Event – $2500+$200 No Limit Hold’em

1st: Sophon Sek from New Westminster, BC
$364,364
2nd: Roberto D’Amato from Burnaby, BC
$233,359
3rd: Kyriakos Nicolaou from Vancouver, BC
$147,236

First off, congratulations to all who cashed, it was good to see a significant amount of local players in the top 3 in each event.

And now for the controversy: Sophon Sek, the first place winner of this year’s BCPC Main Event was arrested for manslaughter in connection with the Surrey Six shootings of 2007. He was arrested two days after winning when he went back to the River Rock Casino to claim his prize. The money is currently being held by the Great Canadian Gaming at the request of the RCMP.

So the big controversy here of course, is who gets the money?

There is a lot of talk about who should get the money, but very little talk about who will get the money. My opinion it that he is going to get to keep it.

Why?

Well for starters, he is the legitimate winner. The RCMP have also stated that they were only withholding the money to prevent him from leaving the country before he was arrested.

Here’s the (ace) kicker though: What connection to the Surrey Six shootings have to the Sophon winning the BCPC? The answer is, at this point, none. (At least until proven otherwise)

It’s my opinion that these facts make it pretty clear that he will get to keep his winnings, convicted or not. Whether or not he should or should not from a moral perspective is unfortunately irrelevant. We can only take heart in the likelihood that this money will only be going to legal fees, and that he won’t personally see it for a long time, if convicted of course.

Anyways, if anyone would like to leave any comments with their opinion, please feel free.

Until next time, best of luck to you,
~Addict

Hi again,

While researching different inexpensive ways of winning myself into the BC Poker Championship, I came across a freeroll tournament coming up which has some potential. LuckyAcePoker.com is running an online freeroll and has invited players from Vancouver to attend. My contact with the company assures me that they are doing everything they can to cater to us Vancouverrites.

I’ve received this message from my friend at LuckyAcePoker.com regarding the freeroll:
LuckyAcePoker.com is happy to present this freeroll tournament to our loyal clients. We are even happier to be able to make this available to Canadian poker players in Vancouver. It should be an exciting event and we look very forward to giving away the guaranteed $5000 prize poll.

What a classy guy I can assure you I’m less that entheusiastic about giving away my money at poker tourneys.
Full details for this online freeroll are available here:
http://www.pokervancouver.com/5000-freeroll-for-poker-players-from-vancouver/

Cheers and good luck,
~Addict

Note, results from the BCPC can be found here:
http://www.pokervancouver.com/2009/11/bc-poker-championship-2009-results/
 
 
 

Hey all,

I’ve just gotten back from playing the High Noon Holdem tournament at the River Rock Poker Room. I did alright, placed 4th taking in about $160 or so, but the real news from the River Rock came from talking to the front desk at the Poker Room.

First off, the River Rock is offering a new game – 5/5 No Limit Holdem. From what I was told, this game has become so popular it has essentially replaced 2/5. Anyone looking to play can expect to be buying in for a minimum of $500. Best of luck to you who have the bankroll and the cohonas to play it.

Secondly, and more importantly, as it turns out the British Columbia Poker Championship 2009 is confirmed and set to go down November 17th through to November 22nd. This date will likely be announced officially over the next week or so. To further confirm things, I checked the online booking rates on the River Rock’s website. Currently dates from the 17th-22nd of November are listed as “N/A” for their price, so I’d say this rumoured date is pretty solid.

Like last year they will be offering satellites (which I will be participating in) both in the casino and online on Pokerstars.

I don’t have any info on structure, however it’s likely going to be the same as last year, which received rave reviews from pretty much everyone who played in it. Also, for those of you who don’t remember, Daniel Negraneu took this one down last year, so there’s a good chance he’ll be making an appearance as well.

I’m already looking forward to being busted out by him

Anyways, I’m off to practice more tournament poker on stars. I’ll post the full details of the 2009 BCPC when they become available. Until then best of luck.

EDIT: Details have been confirmed by 604 Poker as well – check it out here.

Cheers
~Addict