North Dakota Championship Has Surprise Winner
The North Dakota region held its championship event at Westside Bar & Grill in Mandan, ND over Easter weekend with 178 players in attendance. The top 11 players qualified for a seat in the Sin City Showdown national final with the top 5 players earning the bonus of airfare and hotel accommodations to Las Vegas. One additional lucky player qualified unexpectedly - Sheryl Yocom from Minot - when she scratched off 4-of-a-kind in the new "Scratch Poker" game.
Jeff Miller and Jeff Schulz were the big winners in the Nebraska Poker League championship over the weekend, both of whom have previously won World Series of Poker seats through the league (2008 and 2007 respectively)...
For the first time ever the South Dakota Championship was taking place in Tyndall, SD at the Sportsmen's Rendezvous. The field was quite extensive and the players were getting after it early and often. Charlie Lawrence from the Only One was off to a commanding lead early as he knocked out the first player within 20 minutes of the tournament start. Mark Elmer from Jackson's Golf Club was the unfortunate victim when he held top two pair only to run into Charlie's trips.
The Eastern and Western Colorado Championships were held this past weekend in Delta and Denver respectively. In Delta, Joe Stack (pictured middle left) reigned supreme by beating former champion Darby Rolph (pictured left, right side) who won the invitation to the National Championship in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 2nd for his second place accomplishment. For Joe's championship he has won himself the travel package which includes money for airfare and hotel accommodations.