North Dakota Championship Notes
This weekend will be the 15th overall North Dakota championship, to be held at the Westside Sports Bar in Mandan. Five lucky players from North Dakota will represent the Dakota Poker League/Free Poker Network in this years World Series of Poker.
Attention! Friends, family, and spectators are welcome to play in freeroll side tournaments while the main tournament is in full swing, featuring a $400 cash freeroll starting at 5:00 open to anyone (21+).
Last weekend at the Minnesota
championship we had two players (Greg
Anderson and Jeremy Heller)
trying to become the first Free Poker Network league players to win a second major poker tournament buy-in to the World Series of Poker...Both players came up
short but Brent
Kragness (pictured right with pro players at the '08 Bay 101) will have a chance this weekend. Not only would he become the first Free Poker
Network player ever to win two championship events, but he would be doing it
back to back. Brent took 6th
place at the Gold Rush championship winning himself a $3,000 package to play at
the Bay 101 Shooting Star event in San Jose in March.
We also have quite a few “bubble boys” (players who came excruciatingly close to winning a major prize in previous contests).
Art Ziemann qualified from the Westside Sports Bar and making his fourth championship tournament. Two years ago Art took 2nd place; runner up to Jim Nelson for a seat into the WSOP main event.
{sidebar id=1}Scott
Thompson has qualified, making this his sixth championship tournament from South
Gate in Grand Forks. He was the bubble boy in last year's WSOP
promotion.
Scott Eckert (Old Broadway, The Bowler, The Hub) is back again, making his sixth championship tournament. Scott is the odds-on favorite to win given his track record in the past year. Scott won a HPT seat in 2006 and went on to win the Deadwood event last fall for $64,000. He took second place in last summer's 10K event to win $1,500.
Another solid player, Ron Olson (The Hub, Fargo) also has seen a lot of success in the league and has come close in championship events. This will be his
sixth championship tournament, he finished 12th place in the Gold Rush championship. He also finished in the top 10 of the Last Chance WSOP promotion back in 2006.
Other notable players include Mingo Koepplin (Seib’s) making his fifth championship with a final table experience at the Blast at the Bellagio championship and placing 13th overall in the points in the Dakotas.
Rick Stine (Speedway Event Center) was the overall points leader in North Dakota in this contest. This is also his 6th championship event.
Andy Van Dorpe (Hagge's & Harwood Legion) ran up huge points (3rd & 5th overall) on his way to qualifying.
The two players with the most experience making their seventh championship event are Duane Dumdai (Hagge’s, Mapleton) and Calvin Mosbrucker (Silver Dollar, Mandan). Duane is ranked 19th overall in the Dakota’s. In 2007 Calvin won one of 20 seats at the HPT summer promo and in 2006 WSOP promo made the final table taking 6th place.
There are 48 players with previous Dakota Poker League/Free Poker Network championship experience that are looking to get their seat in the upcoming World Series of Poker! There are 68 people who will be making their first championship hoping to bat 100 percent. Included in the 68 people is Mason Whitmore (Old 10 Saloon) husband to last years winner Joyce Whitmore, who is looking to keep it in the family.
Good luck everyone!!!