League Champ Championship | FPN King Slayer National Championship

01-10-2020 14:00 UTC-7

Welcome to the Free Poker Network (FPN) King Slayer National Championship!

Chad Holloway

The Free Poker Network (FPN), which dates back to 2005, is a free-to-play bar poker league hosted at venues in a dozen states across the county. More than 7,000 active players participate at approximately 200 locations, and this weekend many of them will are here in Las Vegas for the FPN King Slayer National Championship at Golden Nugget.

Anywhere from 250-350 players are expected to travel in for the league, which was created by Brook Lyter, who back in 2006 finished runner-up to Steve Paul-Ambrose in the World Poker Tour PCA in the Bahamas for $681,500.

This weekend, six months of league play will culminate in the “Cash King 2 – King Slayer” event.

Tonight at 5 p.m. PST, the invite-only League Champ Championship will take place. It’s only open to league champs and Tournament of Champions winners who’ll compete for a $10,000 first-place prize with the top 15 percent advancing to Sunday’s King Slayer Championship Main Event.

That tournament, which will kick off at 1 p.m. PST, will offer an estimated prize pool of $50,000 with the top 27 spots getting paid. 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.

Not only will both events be live reported here on PokerNews, but the final tables will also be live-streamed on twitch.tv/freepokernetwork.

In between, there will be a series of satellites and last-chance qualifiers open to all players on Saturday, January 11. On Sunday, January 12 at 6 p.m., there will be a Tag Team Championship event that is open to the public.

How it Works

Players have pre-qualified for one (or both) of these tournaments and have incentives to play additional cash qualifiers in order to achieve chip bonuses.

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.

To qualify for the state championship, players compete for points throughout the season (on a monthly basis) to qualify. Each quarter, the overall points leaders are crowned “League Champ” and automatically qualify for the League Champ Championship, which is a freeroll with a top prize of $10,000 cash, in addition, the top 15% qualify for a King Slayer seat. Each location also holds an end-of-season Tournament of Champions. Those players also earn a seat in the League Champ Championship.

Alternates are allowed, so if a League Champ does not claim their seat, second and third place players would have an opportunity to represent their bar.

As organizers and players like to say, “The Free Poker Network offers a fun and safe atmosphere for players to learn how to play tournament poker and grind out wins, earn achievements, and most importantly, make a lot of poker friends.”

Stay tuned for plenty of fun and updates this weekend straight from the tournament floor of the Golden Nugget!

01-10-2020 18:30 UTC-7

Download the PokerNews MyStack App and Update Your Chip Count

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/200, 0 ante

PokerNews has activated the My Stack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live-action that you're involved in.

Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.

01-10-2020 18:36 UTC-7

Steve Spratlen Turns the Table

Jesse Fullen

Level 1 : 100/200, 0 ante

A player in early position opened for 400 and found himself called by five players, including Steve Spratlen. With a flop of , UTG +1 led out with a bet of 600. Only Spratlen, who was in middle position, called and action was heads up.

The turn brought the and a second flush draw.

UTG +1 bet 750 and the Spratlen went into the tank. A raise of 3,200 was announced as raising chips were pushed forward by Spratlen. UTG +1 thought for a minute before eventually calling.

The came on the river squashing the hopes of anyone with a flush draw, though a gutshot straight may have crossed the finish line as UTG +1 bet 5,000.

Spratlen called and turned over for a set. UTG +1 shook his head and said "Nice hand" and showed his top pair hand with .

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Spratlen	27,000 27,000	27,000

Tags: Steve Spratlen

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

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 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	99,000
Russ Victoria	500 -5,500	-5,500

Tags: Dale Schuman Russ Victoria

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 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	150,000
Tony Neumann	54,000 54,000	54,000

Tags: Debbi Edwards Tony Neumann

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.