2009 KANSAS & MISSOURI CHAMPIONSHIP DATES SET!

(BREAKING NEWS, June 8, 2009). The 2009 Kansas and Missouri No Limit Poker Championships will be held on back-to-back weekends in December. These are the area's toughest poker tournaments and feature the unique "double elimination" format originated on the Poker News Channel Circuit. Further information on event structure and location will be released shortly. Kansas Poker News and The Poker News Channel are proud to support and offer complete media coverage on these historic tournaments!

TOP KANSAS PLAYERS MEET IN 2008 CHAMPIONSHIP

Title Bracelets Awarded in 2 Divisions

Champions Enshrined in KS Poker Hall of Fame

Player of the Decade Tournament set for 2010

Jason Barrett, Kansas City 2008 Texas Holdem Champion	Tony "River T" Stevens, Manhattan 2008 Poker Grand Champion
Click here for a look at the 2008 Final Tables!
Click here for tournament details and FAQ sheet

(Dec. 28). After nearly 3 months of City Championships and other qualifying tournaments across the state, 55 of Kansas' top players met Dec. 13th to decide it all at the 2008 Kansas No-Limit Poker Championship. When the final hands were dealt, Tony Stevens and Jason Barrett claimed top honors, winning the No-Limit Mixed Games and No-Limit Texas Holdem Title Bracelets. The tournament lived up to it's billing with both Championships lasting nearly ten hours. The Final Tables featured a who's-who of Kansas poker and all the drama you'd expect from such a contest.

When the smoke cleared, Jason Barrett of Kansas City became the first Kansas No-Limit Texas Holdem Champion of the new millennium. Afterwards, Barrett reflected on his strategy saying: "... I honestly started thinking about how to win this at the break, hours before we even got to the final table. I realized then that there were quite a few short stacks developing. Right then I knew that the longer I could preserve my capital the more valuable it would become..."

"... in the middle of the tourney I about went into hibernation, becoming very selective of the hands I played. You could say i was making money folding... Looking back this was one of the best moves I made."

Joining Barrett at the Texas Holdem Final Table in order of finish were: Jerrad Humerickhouse (2nd, from McLouth), "Mean Gene" Kimber (Olpe), Chris Moman (Topeka), Robby Werner (Kansas City), Sheila Gropp (Topeka), Dan Guth (Manhattan), Kevin Moten (Topeka), and Sara Blatt (9th, from Shawnee). The quality of the table is evidenced by the fact that it featured no less than 7 qualifiers for the Player of the Decade Championship scheduled for 2010!

To win the 2008 Mixed Games Grand Championship, Tony Stevens had the monumental task of beating 55 of the State's best players in 4 different types of poker, all played no-limit. Stevens hails from Manhattan where he manages the poker room at Bobby T's. Recognized as the single-most difficult challenge in Kansas poker, Stevens managed to win the Grand Championship without using his re-buy option. Robby Werner of Shawnee and Sheila Gropp of Topeka rounded out the top 3 spots.

Tournament Manager Stew "Chicago Mike" Bishop watched the Final Table and commented: "... Tony just looked comfortable.... his years of professional experience paid off tonight... There's no easy substitute for experience...  Managing a poker room puts him in touch with so many different types of games and players, and that's what the Grand Championship is all about. You name the game and he can play it, someone makes a move and he's probably seen it..."

After winning the final hand, Stevens' summarized his keys to victory saying "... I could sense when I probably had the best cards.... I played conservatively until they came. The key for me tonight was learning the reads on the other players; knowing when to go in and when to give the hand up..."

For their efforts, both Stevens and Barrett became the first inductees to the Kansas Poker Hall of Fame in nearly a century, earning a place in history alongside Luke Short, "Wild Bill" Hickok, John Wesley Hardin, and other legends of the game. Knowing he's enshrined with characters named "Bat" and "Doc", Barrett commented "... I probably should get a nickname...".

How does a Kansas Poker Champion approach the game? Barrett's opening strategy is an effort to get to know his opponents as quickly as possible. He'll play looser early when the blinds and risk are lower.  "Playing loose early gives me alot of info on the other players and a reputation as a loose player..."

But he's not necessarily a loose player by nature, adding "... I try to focus more on strategy and long-term payoff as opposed to winning as many pots as possible as often as possible...". Tony Stevens' approach is not dissimilar, saying simply "... I'll wait for the right situation..."

While Stevens and Barrett get well-deserved attention, the quality of the other players in this tournament cannot be overstated. Bracelet winners from every corner of the State made sure that winning the titles wouldn't be easy. Among many comebacks of the evening, none was more notable than Sheila Gropp's 2nd Runner-Up finish in the Grand Championship. One of Topeka's most respected veteran players, Gropp was putting on her coat to leave the qualifying round when she learned she was the final player to win a Main Event seat. From there she parlayed the opportunity into a 6th and 3rd place finish at Texas Holdem and Mixed Games respectively, earning a seat at the Player of the Decade tournament. Hers' is one of a long list of "chip and a chair" stories so typical of this fantastic tournament series.  Read detailed player's stories at the Final Table page here.

The Kansas No-Limit Poker Championship is a presentation of Kansas Poker News. It is the most prestigious and challenging poker event in the State. This non-profit event benefits the Arthritis Foundation of Kansas which has led arthritis research for over 60 years. The need is great as nationwide over 40 million Americans are afflicted with arthritis including nearly 500,000 Kansans!

The Washburn University Chapter of the American Medical Students' Association (AMSA) volunteered their time to help make the event tremendously successful. Additional information on the event can be found at:http://poker.meetup.com/1682

Everyone at Kansas Poker News feels privileged to have been a part of this tremendous Championship!

(Dec. 8) BREAKING NEWS: State Championship Main Event is set for Dec. 13th in Topeka. Wild Card Rounds set for Dec. 12th and 13th. Wild Cards are Open to All Players who have not yet qualified for the Main Event. They are the final opportunities to qualify for the Main Event. FOR ALL DETAILS REGARDING THE WILD CARD AND MAIN EVENT DATES / TIMES / RULES / STRUCTURING/ etc. PLEASE CLICK HERE.

See archive of past news stories here.

Kansas No-Limit Poker Championship and "Kansas' toughest poker tournament" are trademarks of Kansas Poker News. All rights reserved.