Cash King National Championship Preview
The field is set, the feature table setup is ready to roll, merchandise packed up, Snapchat filters uploaded, and 200+ qualifiers have RSVP'd to takeover the Showroom at the Stratosphere the weekend of February 8-10th. Which lucky player is going to take home the top prize of $25,000 CASH??
This FPN National Championship will have a different look and feel compared with previous events. The weekend will be filled with a lot MORE poker action with the introduction of the League Champ freeroll and Last Chance Cash Tourney qualifiers and Sit-N-Go's. These tournaments give those who haven't qualified for Sunday's Main Event a chance to earn a seat or pad their chip stack up to 3x. Approximately 80 players qualified DIRECTLY for Sunday's MAIN EVENT.
FPN will have a registration booth available starting Thursday Feb 7th in the poker room where players can check in and collect their player card/lanyard (will need this to register for all FPN tourneys). Note: be sure to get your Stratosphere player card FIRST in order to register for any Stratosphere tournament. The league will be bringing the FPN championship set featuring trussing and lighting (pictured). Video clips will be posted throughout the weekend. If you can't make it to Vegas, be sure to follow Facebook and Twitter updates.
Didn't qualify? The FINAL FINAL CHANCE to qualify is by playing the 7pm nightly cash tournament on Friday and Saturday Feb 8-9th in the Stratosphere Poker Room. These tournaments will overlay ONE seat in the CASH KING MAIN EVENT on Sunday Feb 10th to the highest FPN or "friends of FPN" player.
Nice turnout of 101 out of 115 qualifiers for the Illinois State Championship recently held at Chuck's Cafe in Darien. Brook & Jason from home office attended the event and brought a nice bonus prize consisting of a pair of Chicago Bears vs LA Rams tickets. Sue & Vyto Liskunas won the tickets in a drawing. The tournament played fast and at the end there were 25 qualifiers left standing: Phil Heintz, Mike Mejia, Alex Aguirre, Adam Lender, John Aduana, Brett Zimmerma, Chris Z, Russell Holder, Stefan Carlos, Melissa Block, Maksimilian D, Joe Foster, Bill Allivato, Jack Smith, Wesley Streblo, Kadey Easton, Julie Stahler, Wendy Adamczyk D'Andrea, Jeffrey Heraud, Earl Robb, Mark Wright. The final four players earned State Champ designation along with a championship Trophy, $300 travel voucher, and the coveted MAIN EVENT seat in Nationals: Richard Korel, Bonnie Bona, Lynda Hansell, and Craig Ashley. The tournament got over just in time for the nasty winter storm that dumped about 6-12 inches of heavy snow making the trip home a little interesting! Congrats to all qualifiers, the Illinois chapter of the league will have a lot of players representing at nationals! 
Garry Merrinette of Illinois outlasted Joel Smith of Minnesota and the rest of the championship field of 117 to "take the throne" in the Game of Cards national championship tournament held at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. For his accomplishment, Garry won the grand prize, a coveted $10,000 main event seat and a chance to win millions. Garry earned his spot in the championship by winning the Tournament of Champions at Muggs 'N Manor in Addison, IL, a league which draws about 35 players every Wednesday night.
We are only days away from possibly crowning a new NATIONAL CHAMPION! The reason why we can't say we will be crowning a new National Champion is because Rob Maier (MN)(pictured) will be in the field. In FPN history we have never had a two time National Champion, however Rob will have the opportunity to not only become the first person to win it twice, but also do it back to back. He’s not the only one that has the opportunity though as former National Champions Joel Smith (MN) and Debbie Boltena (SD) will also be in the field.