Cash King National Qualifiers for Illinois
Nice turnout of 101 out of 115 qualifiers for the Illinois State Championship recently held at Chuck's Cafe in Darien. Brook & Jason from home office attended the event and brought a nice bonus prize consisting of a pair of Chicago Bears vs LA Rams tickets. Sue & Vyto Liskunas won the tickets in a drawing. The tournament played fast and at the end there were 25 qualifiers left standing: Phil Heintz, Mike Mejia, Alex Aguirre, Adam Lender, John Aduana, Brett Zimmerma, Chris Z, Russell Holder, Stefan Carlos, Melissa Block, Maksimilian D, Joe Foster, Bill Allivato, Jack Smith, Wesley Streblo, Kadey Easton, Julie Stahler, Wendy Adamczyk D'Andrea, Jeffrey Heraud, Earl Robb, Mark Wright. The final four players earned State Champ designation along with a championship Trophy, $300 travel voucher, and the coveted MAIN EVENT seat in Nationals: Richard Korel, Bonnie Bona, Lynda Hansell, and Craig Ashley. The tournament got over just in time for the nasty winter storm that dumped about 6-12 inches of heavy snow making the trip home a little interesting! Congrats to all qualifiers, the Illinois chapter of the league will have a lot of players representing at nationals!
Garry Merrinette of Illinois outlasted Joel Smith of Minnesota and the rest of the championship field of 117 to "take the throne" in the Game of Cards national championship tournament held at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. For his accomplishment, Garry won the grand prize, a coveted $10,000 main event seat and a chance to win millions. Garry earned his spot in the championship by winning the Tournament of Champions at Muggs 'N Manor in Addison, IL, a league which draws about 35 players every Wednesday night.
We are only days away from possibly crowning a new NATIONAL CHAMPION! The reason why we can't say we will be crowning a new National Champion is because Rob Maier (MN)(pictured) will be in the field. In FPN history we have never had a two time National Champion, however Rob will have the opportunity to not only become the first person to win it twice, but also do it back to back. He’s not the only one that has the opportunity though as former National Champions Joel Smith (MN) and Debbie Boltena (SD) will also be in the field. 
Reigning National Champion Rob Maier has put one of his poker buy-ins he won in the FPN Rounders Nat'l Championship to good use, by making the final table of the recent MSPT Canterbury Park (Shakopee, MN) event. Rob missed out on the first place prize of $109,000 but his final table showing paid $7,631. There were a total of 526 entrants. Rob was knocked out when his A-K went up against the all time MN all time money leader with over $2.7M in career earnings Blake Bohn's 10-10.