If you’ve been following along, you know that I spent the bulk of August thinking, breathing, eating, dreaming, and speaking about the Eastern Poker Tour’s $30K Championships being held the last weekend of the month. I played as much tournament no limit hold em as I could. I told everyone who would listen about the wonderful opportunity I had to play for a spot on the televised final table and the possibility of winning a seat in the 2011 WSOP.
About the Tournaments
The $30K Championships start off on Saturday. Saturday’s tournament is for the Eastern Poker Tour players who have earned “enough” points in their region. The number of points to qualify for the tournament varies depending on the region. Glenn McCory/EPT home office sets a percentage (i.e. top 15%) for each region. (I don’t know how the percentage is arrived at…Feels like it is a combination of the number of players in a region and the age of the region.)
The Sunday no limit hold em tournament is for those who have won at least one EPT tournament regardless of region. Those who have won multiple tournaments receive extra chips at the start of Sunday’s tournament. The top ten players from Sunday’s Wins tournament qualify to play in the televised $30K Championship finals.
So, 20 poker players advance to the Finals for the $30K Championships. The finals are recorded for TV and shown on Comcast’s SportNet channel.* All in all, not a bad weekend if you can land in the top 10 Saturday or Sunday. There’s no entrance fee for Saturday’s Points or Sunday’s Wins tournaments, so, the only cost to you is gasoline and lodging, and, oh yeah, whatevah you spend for snacks and the lunches and dinners provided by the venue.
My Prep
I had doubled upped on playing until the week of the Championship tournament. That week, I played Sunday and Monday, then took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. I even went to York Beach Maine Thursday and Friday to totally relax in the surf and the sun so that I would be fresh and ready to go for long, all-day sessions on Saturday and Sunday. <– I had qualified to play both days.
* I understand that 27 players advance to the finals. I believe one of the players advances from the Battle of the Champions (another no limit hold em tournament for Eastern Poker Tour’s uber-winners) and the other 6? Don’t know.