League Champ Championship | FPN King Slayer National Championship

01-11-2020 03:10 UTC-7

Cory Retzlaff Wins FPN King Slayer "League Champ" Championship ($10,000)

Chad Holloway

Level 22 : 80,000/160,000, 0 ante

The Free Poker Network (FPN) King Slayer National Championship “League Champ Championship” played out Friday night at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. The tournament catered to 234 players who qualified throughout 2019 at approximately 200 bar leagues across the county.

In essence, the tournament served as a satellite of sorts as the top 34 players earned a spot into Sunday’s $50,000 guaranteed Main Event, which is also only open to FPN qualifiers. One player to win a Main Event seat was Fargo, North Dakota’s Cory Retzlaff, who finished as the last player standing to also claim a $10,000 first-place prize.

Retzlaff has had a love for poker since around 2005 and has played on and off in different leagues and friendly games over the years. Retzlaff isn't a stranger to Vegas having been to the city at least ten times but he has never taken too many risks in the casino.

"$200 is probably my largest buy-in I've ever played and of course a few WSOP events are on my bucket list,” he said after the win. “This is my best poker experience... so far!" he shouted to his happy friends on the rail.

When asked what words Retzlaff has for his friends back home playing at the Prairie Brothers Bar in Fargo, he said, "I just got hot in a quarterly event and qualified for this weekend. I've played in so many of those and gotten nowhere but let me tell you, keep playing. Keep playing like I did and you can make it here and run deep like I did."

At the end of the winner-take-all tournament, Retzlaff squared off against Doug Lindgren of Mill Banks, South Dakota, who qualified at the Back Door Pub. In the final hand, Lindgren shoved with ace-seven but failed to hold against Retzlaff’s king-queen.

On to the Main Event

On Saturday, there will be some last-chance qualifiers for players to win their way into Sunday’s King Slayer Championship Main Event. That tournament, which will kick off at 1 p.m. PST, will pay out the top 27 spots. There will be $10,000 in mystery bounties awarded with the eventual winner taking home $25,000. The tournament is open to state tournament qualifiers, League Champ Championship qualifiers, satellite qualifiers, and others.

Most players earn their seats in the King Slayer Championship Main Event by first competing in their local state championship. The number of qualifiers is based on total participation. The state with the highest participation in the league is Minnesota, with 30 direct qualifiers to the King Slayer Championship Main Event.

Not only will the Main Event be live reported here on PokerNews, but there will also be a live-streamed feature table on twitch.tv/freepokernetwork. On Sunday at 6 p.m. there will also be a Tag Team Championship event that is open to the public.

Be sure to check back here at PokerNews on Sunday for more FPN King Slayer action!

01-11-2020 01:34 UTC-7

Omara Out Fifth Against Schuman's Quad Kings

Jesse Fullen

Level 19 : 30,000/60,000, 60,000 ante

John Omara (standing); Dale Schuman (right)

John Omara was left with 10,000 after losing a monster pot. Shortly after, action folded around to Omara on the button and he put his last chips in the middle. Dale Schuman called by default from the big blind.

John Omara:
Dale Schuman:

"Oh wow. I hadn't looked," announced Schuman as the flop of came out to give him quads.

The entire crowd exclaimed "No!!!" as the fan-favorite only had runner-runner Royal Flush outs. The turn left him drawing dead and the river sent him out the door in fifth place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dale Schuman	589,000	120,000
John Omara	Busted

Tags: Dale Schuman John Omara

01-11-2020 00:45 UTC-7

Johnson Out in Ninth

Jesse Fullen

Level 17 : 15,000/30,000, 30,000 ante

Dustin Johnson was all in for his short stack preflop and called by two players. The other two players checked it down as the board ran out .

Dale Schuman rolled over the for two pair, Nancy Beasley mucked her cards, and Johnson turned over the for a missed flush draw.

With that, Johnson exited the tournament in ninth place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dale Schuman	469,000	389,000
Dustin Johnson	Busted

Tags: Dale Schuman Dustin Johnson

01-10-2020 23:41 UTC-7

Giant Pot for Cory Retzlaff

Jesse Fullen

Level 15 : 8,000/16,000, 16,000 ante

Three players were all in after the flop came .

Opponent 1:
Opponent 2:
Cory Retzlaff:

Retzlaff had everyone covered but worried about his stack until the came on the turn to give him a set and the guaranteed win.

A meaningless came on the river and the entire table was shocked when the number of chips were announced before being pushed to Retzlaff.

"497,000," said the dealer as another player added, "That's nearly half the chips in play!"

The player was incorrect but pretty close. Retzlaff has about 25% of the 2.3 million chips in play with 20 players remaining.

Player	Chips	Progress
Cory Retzlaff	497,000	497,000

Tags: Cory Retzlaff

01-10-2020 22:37 UTC-7

Shanie Darling Bubbles to Send Remaining 34 Players to Sunday's Main Event

Chad Holloway

Level 13 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

The bubble has burst here in the FPN King Slayer National ChampionshipLeague Champ Championship.

It happened when Shawn Zuniga flopped a set and rivered boat to send Shanie Darling out the door as the bubble girl.

Darling's elimination means the remaining 34 players have all won a seat into Sunday's $50K GTD Main Event. For all but one of them, that's the only prize they'll leave with today, but for one lucky winner, there's still $10,000 in cold hard cash awaiting the last player standing.

Player	Chips	Progress
Shanie Darling	Busted

Tags: Shanie Darling Shawn Zuniga

01-10-2020 22:16 UTC-7

Amazing Flop But Terrible River for Neumann

Jesse Fullen

Level 13 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Tony Neumann was loving life when the flop showed and he held the .

The decision to slow play his hand may be on Neumann's mind tonight because he checked the flop allowing Debbi Edwards to get a flush draw on the t turn with her .

"All-in" was announced from Neumann and Edwards chose to call with her draw.

She showed how happy she was with that decision when the showed up on the river. Neumann was silent as most of his chips were pushed towards Edwards.

Player	Chips	Progress
Debbi Edwards	150,000	150,000
Tony Neumann	54,000	54,000

Tags: Debbi Edwards Tony Neumann

01-10-2020 21:53 UTC-7

FPN's Incredible Promotions

Chad Holloway

Level 12 : 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante

The Free Poker Network's (FPN) promotions over the years have been very interesting and entertaining. The league has given away some really incredible prizes, including trips to the Atlantis in the Bahamas, trips to California to play in the Bay 101, seven-day Caribbean Poker Cruises, various Heartland Poker Tour events, WPT Championship at the Bellagio, Super Bowl, UFC Tickets, and of course, the World Series of Poker. All of the major prizes from the league are paid directly from the pool of sponsoring bars. Without this support, there would be no league!

At least 75 different players have enjoyed winning a seat in bracelet events over the years, and who could forget the “Party at the Palms” promotion when the league rented out King Pin and Erotic Suites for the national championship tournament and party.

Exciting wins by players in the league have provided a lot of inspiration. The league’s first major success story was Jenny Kriewald (pictured), a mother of three from Valley City, North Dakota. She earned a seat to a Heartland Poker Tour event through the league and went on to become the HPT’s first female champion! Her first-place prize of $56,000 came as a direct result of playing FREE POKER in the league.

Two other league players also went on to become HPT champions – Scott Eckert and most recently Brandon Dosch.

League representative and poker pro Mitch Schock from Bismarck, North Dakota came close making the final table in the World Series of Poker Main Event (27th place for $329,000) the year Jamie Gold won. He reached his goal of winning a bracelet in 2011 and made a run at the WSOP Leaderboard including more than $400,000 in winnings!

From day one, the league made a long-term commitment to success. Many poker leagues have come and gone over the years, but FPN continues to stay strong thanks to players, sponsors, and representatives who share the same passion for poker and good times.

Players in the league today have MORE opportunities than ever before. With the combination of live weekly play, monthly awards online, Tournament of Champions, and state final tournaments, players have multiple ways to qualify for our exclusive national finals!

For more information visit freepokernetwork.com.

01-10-2020 21:26 UTC-7

Big Slick Doesn't Do the Trick for Victoria

Chad Holloway

Level 11 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Up at the feature table, Russ Victoria was all in for 58,500 and Dale Schuman opted to call off his stack of 58,000.

Dale Schuman:
Russ Victoria:

The flop was kind to Schuman by pairing his queen, but his lead was shortlived as the dealer burned and turned the to pair Victoria. The rollercoaster didn't stop there though as the spiked on the river to give Schuman two pair and the double. Victoria was left with just 500 after the hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dale Schuman	121,000	99,000
Russ Victoria	500	-5,500

Tags: Dale Schuman Russ Victoria

01-10-2020 21:12 UTC-7

History of the Free Poker Network (FPN)

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

The Free Poker Network (FPN) league was founded by Brook Lyter, who you might remember finisher runner-up in the 2006 World Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), and Jason Drake in North Dakota (Dakota Poker League). With grassroots help from players and a commitment to providing the best grand prizes possible, the league spread to Minnesota, Nebraska, and beyond. Today, the Free Poker Network (FPN) has over 265 participating locations nationwide.

Over the years, there have been many wonderful success stories, and many more friendships.

While countless poker leagues have come and gone over the years (many falling woefully short on promises made to players and bars), the Free Poker Network continues to deliver great prizes season after season.

The league has put over 100 players into World Series bracelet events and countless other Heartland Poker Tour, World Poker Tour, and other major tournament events!

For more information visit freepokernetwork.com.

Tags: Brook Lyter

01-10-2020 18:36 UTC-7

Who Will Slay "Cash King" Bob Tweten as the Next FPN Champ?

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/200, 0 ante

In last year’s FPN Championship, which was deemed the “Cash King Championship,” it was Dakota Poker Tour (DPT) regular Bob Tweten finished as the last player standing for $25,000 in cold hard cash! He's back in 2020 to attempt a title defense after he qualified by winning his bar’s TOC.

Last year, Tweten had qualified for Vegas after finishing as the League Champ at El Roco Bar in Grand Forks, North Dakota. While in Sin City, he failed to win his way into the Main Event via the League Champ Freeroll, but he tried his hand at a Last Chance Cash Qualifier and won his way in.

Prior to the $25K score, Tweten’s only documented tournament cash on HendonMob was a mere $1,116 for finished seventh in a 2017 Grand Poker Series $150 No-Limit Hold’em Daily tournament.

Here’s a look back at Tweten claiming victory in the FPN “Cash King” Promotion:

Tags: Bob Tweten