Top Gun National Championship Preview
Poster boy and national champ Jimmy Miles from Rochester, MN has qualified and will defend his title! Nearly 150 players have qualified for a shot at winning the $10,000 Poker Package which includes $2,000 cash, $5,000 worth of tournament buyins, as well as air/hotel, limo, dinner, and show tickets! Who will win?? The field is chock full of great players and former champs, including the original league champion Derek Melicher (pictured, 2005) who famously busted to Phil Ivey. Derek went on to a career in poker world which has included business management of the Heartland Poker Tour and recently America's Poker Tour. We look forward to reuniting with Derek!
Altogether there are a total of 156 qualifiers from 16 different states flying into Vegas for their shot at winning big. We expect about 100 or so players to hit the tables at 10am Vegas time on January 28th. Of those 156, 13 of them were lucky enough to get double stacked qualifying multiple ways to Nationals. However, the odds on favorite at the very beginning of the tournament will be Dave Johnson from Illinois as he is the only triple stack. Dave qualified at the IL State Championship and took down two Super TOC’s.
Regardless how the tournament turns out for Rich Mercer and Missy Elliot of Illinois it will be a rememberable trip for both. The couple has been trying hard to win a spot at Nationals for a while and both agreed that if they ever both made it they would get married. Well it happened, this promotion; both won a seat at Nationals and have plans to get married while attending. Congratulations!
Other notables in the field are former National Champion Joel Smith from MN who won the Casino Royale promotion. Brady Rodenhizer from ND was the runner up to Jimmy Miles one year ago and looks to avenge his 2nd place finish. There are a multiple players who have won throughout the years in the league winning smaller seats including WSOP events lead by Cheri Snedden from IN.
There will be other events going on while we are out there along with the National Championship which include a welcome tournament on Thursday at 10pm. On Friday there is a $65 7pm tournament we are overlaying with the longest lasting FPN player will get qualified for Saturday’s National Championship or get another stack.
Five hours after the National Championship has kicked off there is a $50 overlay tournament where along with normal cash payouts we are throwing in a seat into Sundays $125 tournament to the longest lasting FPN player. On Sunday at 11am $125 tournament the longest lasting FPN player will win a spot in Nationals for the current promotion Colossus Poker Gods. If that wasn’t enough there is one more tournament to get in before everyone flies out at 10pm as the farewell tournament.
Make sure to follow along all the details on our facebook page throughout the weekend: www.facebook.com/freepokernetwork