Coast To Coast

The Coast to Coast Poker Championship event at the River Rock Casino just outside of Vancouver ended up as a huge success, especially for the locals.  Out of the field of 302 players for the $3k buyin event, the top 30 made the money and all but two out of that 30 were from Canada.

Keith Wintermans took the top prize of $224,100 with Patrick McCaw finishing 2nd ($139,525), Tyler Hamada taking 3rd ($86,675), and Chris Chang ending up 4th ($71,875).

Tyler Patterson was the only non-Canadian in the top 15, finishing 5th for $56,655. 

While the locals took full advantage of a tournament in their back yard, the biggest name to make the money was Kyle Wilson who finished 9th for $21,140.

The series of tournaments was hosted by Gavin Smith and Brad Booth and the excitement around the tournaments was impressive.  Everyone around the River Rock seemed excited to have the World Poker Tour event in town along with some well known poker pros.

A somewhat impromptu taping of a USA vs. Canada sit and go tournament came together with Joe Sebok, Antonio Esfandiari, Kenna James and Lee Markholt representing the States while Jody Trainer, Gavin Smith, Brad Booth, and Davidson Matthew took to the felt for team Canada. 

In what can only be termed a thrashing the Canadians were eliminated in positions 5 through 8 while team USA took the top 4 spots with Kenna James defeating Antonio Esfandiari for the victory.  In fairness to the Canadians the event was a very short structured tournament that came down to a lot of all in preflop situations in which our above the border friends did not fare so well.

Team PokerRoad didn’t fare much better in the Coast to Coast main event than the Canadians did in the USA vs. Canada tournament.  Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith were both eliminated well short of the money on day 2, Court Harrington was sent to the sidelines early on day 1, and Bryan Devonshire’s hot streak hit a glitch when he was eliminated with around 90 players left.

The setting for the tournament was excellent.  The tournament area was spacious, completely separated from the rest of the casino, and even had balcony seating up above for spectators.  The tournament staff put together and excellent structure for the tournament and did a great job of running things.  Everyone involved seems to hope the River Rock stop becomes a staple on the poker circuit.

Next up for PokerRoad: None other than the World Series of Poker.  See you at the Rio!

Event Recap by Court Harrington