OMAHA 8 OR BETTER

Wednesday January 2 will be the first Omaha tournament for the New Year.  Buy-in is $75 with 5,000 in chips to start.  Tournament begins at 7:00PM.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

$30,000 GUARANTEED JANUARY 5

Don't forget players, January 5th will be the first Saturday of the month and with that comes a $30,000 guaranteed tournament.  The Buy-in is $300 with 10,000 starting chips and begins at 11:00AM.  A Mega Satellite will be held Friday January 4th at 5:00PM with a $60 Buy-in and 4,000 starting chips with 15 minute blinds.

2013 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Players don't forget to check out the new tournament schedule beginning in January!  We will now be offering Omaha every Wednesday, a Monday Night Re-Buy tournament, and the Second Sunday Deepstack will now be every Friday at 5:00PM.  Additionally, the first Saturday of the month will now be a $300 buy-in, $30,000 guarantee with satellites the morning and evening before (The Friday night Deepstack will be replaced by a $60 Mega Satellite the evening before the first Saturday $30,000 guarantee.)

Ante Up thanks Thunder Valley!

On behalf of everyone at Ante Up Magazine, we want to send a heartfelt thank-you to Ben Erwin, John Rochfort and all the floor staff and dealers at Thunder Valley Casino Resort for making the inaugural Ante Up Poker Tour event such a smashing success!

I enjoyed my time playing during the event and talking to players, and we're very much looking forward to returning next November for the next Ante Up NorCal Classic!

We'd also like to encourage all of Thunder Valley's players to tour with us in 2013. The next AUPT stop is a short flight away in Las Vegas on Jan. 25 at Red Rock Casino Resort Spa, with satellites beginning Jan. 21. For more information on this event, please visit Ante Up's Red Rock Casino Resort Spa's webpage.

Our Ante Up Poker Tour World Championship event will begin in late July at the luxurious, all-inclusive Hard Rock Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, with deeply discounted hotel rates for Ante Up guests that include all meals, alcohol and activities. For more information on this event, please visit Ante Up's Ante Up Poker Tour World Championship webpage.

And we'll host up to 10 more events in 2013. Find out the other scheduled tour dates, and keep abreast of new dates, by visiting AnteUpPokerTour.Com.

- Scott Long, Ante Up publisher

Ante Up Player of the Year points updated for all Ante Up NorCal Classic events

Ante Up has updated its Player of the Year points database with Events #7-8 and the main event of the Ante Up NorCal Classic.

With just a few events left this year, Candida Ross-Powers, winner of the Thunder Valley Players Championship in August, is 37th with 804 points, and Huan Cung, winner of the Ante Up NorCal Classic, is 44th with 747 points.

The new season begins Jan. 1.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC WINNER HUAN CUNG

Huan Cung of Sacramento Ca. won the Ante Up Norcal Classic, earning $73,000.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Toan Nguyen of Elk Grove Ca. finished 2nd, earning $68,585.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Dragem Vang of Rocklin Ca. finished 3rd, earning $33,685.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Walt Strakowski of W. Palm Beach Fl. finished 4th, earning $26,500.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Bas Pansuntorn of American Canyon Ca. finished 5th, earning $20,520.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Paul Dias of Sacramento Ca. finished 6th, earning $17,100.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Tay Nguyen of Elk Grove Ca. finished 7th, earning $13,680.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Johnny Mora of Orangevale Ca. finished 8th, earning $10,260.

Ante Up Norcal Classic

Streaming live video by Ustream

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINAL TABLE

Meet your final table:

Bas

Huan

Dragem

Walt

Paul

Toan

Johnny

Tay

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINAL TABLE

The stage has been set! We are less than two hours away to determine who will be the inaugural Ante Up Norcal Classic champion!

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC FINALIST

Congratulations to the 8 finalist of the Ante Up NorCal Classic. The final table will be played tomorrow, Monday Dec. 3rd at 1pm. Watch all the action right here on our blog where will be live streaming the final table.

                         

HUAN CUNG  $1,990,000

TOAN NGUYEN  $707,000

WALTER STRAKOWSKI  $598,000

BAS PANSUNTORN  $519,000

PAUL DIAS  $488,000

JOHNNY MORA  $344,000

TAY NGUYEN  $279.000

DRAGEM VANG  $205,000

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC UPDATE

At the start of level 17 we are down to the final two tables, average chip stack is 256,500.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC CHIP LEADERS

Candida is the current chip leader with 564,000 chips.

Johnny is currently second with 411,000 in chips.

Manh is third with 329,000 in chips.

Paul is fourth in chips with 323,000 in chips.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 2 UPDATE

Just thirty minutes remain until the dinner break and we are down to the final 30.

Bao Liu of Davis Ca. contemplates his next move.  Bao will represent Thunder Valley at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas later this week.  As soon as Bao finishes the Ante Up Norcal Classic, he will be on a plane to Las Vegas for the $10,300 buy-in event which begins Tuesday.  Bao currently has over 240,000 in chips, which is twice the average chip stack.

Candida from Sacramento Ca. is the reigning Thunder Valley Player's Champion.  Candida finished 5th in event #51 and 40th in event #2 in this years WSOP.  She has also won a bracelet in a regional WPT event in September.  Candida currently has 126,300.

Brian Barnes of Durango Co. made a twenty hour drive to attend the Ante Up Norcal Classic.  Brian currently has 142,000 chips.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 2 UPDATE

With 20 minutes left in level 12,  63 players remain with the average chip stack at 81,248.

Tony Recchia from Orangevale Ca. a fixture around the Sacramento poker scene for the last 50 years.  Tony is a local restaurant owner who makes the best meatball sandwich in town.  Tony currently sits with 62,000 chips.

Walt Strakowski travelled from W Palm Beach Fl. to play in the Ante Up Norcal Classic.  Walt has the distinction of being the only Ante Up Poker Tour bracelet winner, which he won in 2010.  Currently Walt sits with 105,000 chips.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 2

With just over an hour into Day 2, 12 players have been eliminated.  74 players remain with the average chip stack at 69,324.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 1B CHIP COUNTS

Chip counts for Day 1B are as follows:

Rudy H                                    153,100                                   Firas B                     52,600

Toan N                                    148,100                                   Tay N                       52,400

Jimmy Z                                  144,900                                   Tim T                       48,500

Johnny M                                 129,300                                   Eric T                       46,900

Hafiz K                                    128,400                                   Dennis C                  46,800

Huan C                                    121,600                                   Anthony R               45,600

Candida R                                98,700                                     Jon J                        45,300

Manh T                                    95,300                                     Robert F                  40,600

Ken J                                        91,600                                     Mihai G                   39,500

Steve D                                    90,000                                     William C                34,000

Cheo S                                     88,400                                     Igor V                      32,300

Paulino D                                 88,300                                     Stephan K                31,500

Soren J                                    79,800                                     Matthew G             31,400

Erle M                                     79,200                                     Richard O                 31,300

Walter S                                  75,000                                     Peter P                    30,400

Tim K                                       68,400                                     Sang Y                     29,200

Narunat P                                67,200                                     David P                    28,800

Michael H                               66,500                                     Jeff S                       27,300

Brian B                                    65,900                                     Daniel H                  26,900

Cornel C                                   64,100                                     Kelly G                     25,900

Sam H                                     60,100                                     Anton T                   25,100

Kulwant S                                59,500                                     Roger M                  22,200

Dragem V                                58,900                                     Mike M                    21,000

Aibing R                                  58,400                                     Matthew K              20,300

David K                                    54,800                                     Cherie B                  19,700

John E                                      53,700                                     Francis A                 19,700    

Richard S                                 53,000                                     Ali G                        18,600

David M                                   52,900                                     Jimmy D                  17,000

                                                                                                Zach P                     10,500

AnteUp NorCal Classic Update

Day 1 A and B in the Ante Up NorCal Classic has been completed. Day 2 will begin on Sunday at 11am with 86 players advancing. The top 10 players on Sunday will be coming back for the final table Monday Dec. 3rd for a chance to win a 1st place prize of over $88,000.

The Top 5 Chip Leaders going into Day 2 are as follows:

1. Jon J             153,300
2. Rudy H         153,100
3. Casey M       149,600
4. Jimmy Z        144,900
5. Johnny M      129,300

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC PRIZE POOL

The Ante Up Norcal Classic prize pool is as follows:

1 $88,235
2 $53,350
3 $33,685
4 $26,500
5 $20,520
6 $17,100
7 $13,680
8 $10,260
9  $6,840
10 $5,130
11-20 $2,735
21-30 $2,225
31-40 $1,710

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC

The Field for the inaugural Ante Up Norcal Classic is set! Day 1A drew a total of 122 players, while Day 1B added another 220. The two day total of 342 players puts the prize pool at $342,000.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 1A CHIP COUNT

1 Casey M        149,600

2 Robert M       128,000

3 John M          124,100

4 Matt W          118,600

5 Richard L       111,600

6 Terence V       89,600

7 Hoss D           82,200

8 Fred S            79,100

9 John H            77,200

10 Andrew S     72,100

11 Casey S        67,100

12 Bayard S      66,500

13 Sal T             61,100

14 Kao V           56,900

15 Steve G          56,000

16 Daniel K         53,200

17 Bao L             48,000

18 Jose G            47,300

19 Shannon K      41,100

20 Jason P            39,300

21 Rellie S            37,000

21 Neon G            37,000

23 Andrew H        36,100

24 Tro W              33,300

25 Carlos R           29,800

26 Gary T              23,500

27Sui V                 23,300

28 Ai-Van V          22,900

29 Gangi T           22,600

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 1B UPDATE

Forty five minutes through level 1 we currently have 169 players registered for DAY 1B.  Registration is open through level 4.

ANTE UP NORCAL CLASSIC DAY 1A UPDATE

After 12 hours and 10 levels, 29 players moved on to day 2.