Main Event | FPN King Slayer National Championship

01-11-2020 11:52 UTC-7

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

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 today many of them will are here in Las Vegas for the FPN King Slayer National Championship Main Event at Golden Nugget.

All weekend, hundreds of players have been in town for the 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.

On Friday night, the invite-only League Champ Championship took place. It was only open to league champs and Tournament of Champions winners who competed for a $10,000 first-place prize with the top 15 percent advancing to today's King Slayer Championship Main Event. Fargo, North Dakota's Cory Retzlaff, who plays regularly at Prairie Brothers Bar, finished as the last player standing in that tournament to claim $10,000 in cash plus a Main Event seat into today's field.

The tournament will kick off at 1 p.m. PST and 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 it be live reported here on PokerNews, but a feature table will also be live-streamed on twitch.tv/freepokernetwork.

Tonight at 6 p.m., there will also be a Tag Team Championship event that is open to the public.

How it Works

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 straight from the tournament floor of the Golden Nugget!

01-12-2020 19:00 UTC-7

Huge Bounties Awarded Today

Jesse Fullen

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

Each of the 200 players who started the day received a bounty envelope to award to the person that knocks them out. Of those 200, only 65 contain cash prizes while the others say "Keep Hunting Those Bounties!".

$10,000 in cash and prizes are up for grabs but the biggest prizes have already been captured.

Mike Marek and Dennis Duncan were shocked to open envelopes containing $1,000 but the biggest shock came to Tracy Leonard. Leonard knocked a short stack out adding few chips to her growing number but when she opened her envelope, she was shocked. The $2,000 dollar top prize was found making all of the other players at the table drop their jaws. Leonard is still in the running for the cash but if she comes up short, she won't be too disappointed.

Tags: Dennis Duncan Mike Marek Tracy Leonard

01-13-2020 01:21 UTC-7

Thomas Gjerde Wins 2020 FPN King Slayer National Championship Main Event

Jesse Fullen

Level 21 : 60,000/120,000, 0 ante

On Sunday night, Thomas Gjerde became $25,000 dollars richer after topping a 202-entry field to win the 2020 Free Poker Network (FPN) King Slayer National Championship Main Event, a tournament that was open to state tournament qualifiers, League Champ Championship qualifiers, satellite qualifiers, and others.

Gjerde has been a passionate lover of poker for over 51 years and his visit to the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas proved to be one of the greatest pages in his poker story. Gjerde has been playing poker longer than most of the people in the room had been alive.

Gjerde learned the game from his parents when he was 12 years old. They needed one more player in their home game to fill up the table and young Gjerde was called in. The 71-year-old Gjerde sat gratefully for that first invitation that led to a game he can't stop playing.

Gjerde finished second this past summer in an FPN Main Event that awarded a $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event seat to the top spot. After coming so close, Gjerde knew this deep run could end in a similar way but he kept focused and picked the right spots to make moves. Gjerde plays out of VFW and Spurs Bar in Willmar, Minnesota.

FPN King Slayer Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Thomas Gjerde	United States	$25,000
2	Gary Lance	United States	$5,000
3	Ben Farner	United States	$1,500
4	Kathy Easton	United States	$1,000
5	Dustin Johnson	United States	$860
6	Jacob Jobman	United States	$600
7	Steve Spratlen	United States	$500
8	Marylin Ragan	United States	$500
9	Neal Kukla	United States	$500

When asked what words Gjerde had for players back at home, he said: "Don't worry about getting old. I'm 71 and Farner who finished third is 73. We can beat these young guys." When asked what Gjerde wants to do with his winnings all he could talk about were all the poker tournaments back home.

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. All weekend, hundreds of players were in town 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.

On Friday night, the invite-only League Champ Championship took place. It was only open to league champs and Tournament of Champions winners who competed for a $10,000 first-place prize with the top 15 percent advancing to today's King Slayer Championship Main Event. Fargo, North Dakota's Cory Retzlaff, who plays regularly at Prairie Brothers Bar, finished as the last player standing in that tournament to claim $10,000 in cash plus a Main Event seat.

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.”

That wraps up PokerNews coverage of the 2020 FPN King Slayer National Championship Main Event. Congrats Thomas and to all players for a fun weekend!

Tags: Thomas Gjerde