In 2006 I played in the BC Poker Championships on a sponsor’s exemption. I had won a few tournaments at the River Rock before, and I was primed and ready to play. I lasted 2 hours, getting overly aggressive with a pair of 9s only to be faced with a pair of Qs from my opponent.

I haven’t gone back in the tournament since, mostly because I haven’t been offered another sponsor’s exemption, and I can’t find a way to rationalize the $2700 entry fee. Sure, it’s a lot less than the $10 000 entry to the Main Event at the World Series of Poker, but it’s a lot more than I’m willing to risk on a lottery.

Sure, poker is skill, but a big tournament is still a lottery - that’s why the big names havent won the WSOP Main Event in a while, and none of the pros who show up for the big events at the River Rock have won either.

That doesn’t matter, because even though the tournament is big, the cash games running at the ‘Rock for the next week will be bigger, and check out the list of pros ready to go fishing.

This year’s BC Poker Championships has an estimated prize pool of $3 million, 2616 seats, five events, and eight full days of tournament play.

Daniel Negreanu, Brad Booth, Gavin Smith, and Lacey Jones are coming to town for the BCPC Main Event.

While I’m excited to watch Negreanu make his first appearance at the tourney, it will be great to catch up with Facebook friend Brad Booth, and Twitter pal Lacey Jones.

“The caliber of BCLC’s poker tournaments has made British Columbia a hot destination for exciting poker,” said Darryl Schiewe, BCLC’s Vice President of Casino and Community Gaming. “This year’s BC Poker Championships will feature an action-packed week of Texas Hold’Em with plenty of opportunities for players to put their skills to the test.”

For the past three years, the BC Poker Championships have caught the attention of poker enthusiasts across Canada and the USA who want to compete for the provincial championship title. This year’s event spares no disappointment - it has raked in the strongest pre-event registration ever.

Here is a list of this year’s events, all held at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond:

November 16 - $275,000 No Limit Texas Hold’Em
November 17 – $275,000 Limit / No Limit Mixed Texas Hold’Em
November 18 & 19 – $550,000 No Limit Texas Hold’Em
November 20 – 23 – $1,875,000 No Limit Texas Hold’Em Main Event
November 21 – 23 - $216,000 Shootout No Limit Short Handed

It’s free to go watch any of the tournaments, it’s also free to crowd around the high limit tables and watch the pros work their magic for some big dollars. It’s a great week to be a poker fan in Vancouver.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under events, money, press release. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.