It’s a brand new year in American Canyon, California, home of Napa Valley Casino. The card room, which is located between wine country and the Bay Area, is introducing a new Player of the Year promotion for 2012. It’s also adding new tournaments to its already hectic schedule and changing existing event structures after receiving feedback from players.

By the way, if you’ve never visited Napa Valley Casino, give it a shot. If you live in the area or are taking a trip out to California, then click here to get a special new player coupongood for $60 in chips for $30. PocketFives caught up with Napa Valley Casino’s Chris Henderson to get the scoop on the changes for 2012.

PocketFives: Thanks for joining us, Chris. Tell us about the brand new Player of the Year award.

Chris Henderson: Our tournament players are pretty dedicated; they come in weekly and play our tournaments. The Player of the Year award is designed to reward those guys and also reward people who consistently play in the tournaments themselves. For any tournament entry, you get one point. After that, if you make it to the final table, you get an additional five points. Depending on where you cash, you get additional points. If the players decide to chop, then we’ll add all of the remaining points and divide the total equally.

PocketFives: How many Napa Valley Casino patrons do you anticipate competing for the Player of the Year?

Chris Henderson: I think there will be a lot of people playing. We have about 20 or 25 hardcore tournament players who I look forward to seeing every weekend and every morning; they’ll definitely play in this. In December, we’ll have the top 30 players in terms of points entered into a winner-take-all tournament. The winner gets a huge crystal trophy, a paid vacation, and a cash prize of at least $2,500.

PocketFives: We understand that you’re adding a few new tournaments this year. What can you tell us about them?

Chris Henderson: We’re adding a Saturday afternoon tournament that starts at 2:00pm and will be a $40 buy-in. On Sunday at 2:00pm, instead of our regular $60 buy-in tournament, we’ll have a $60 bounty tournament. Every player’s bounty is worth $10. If you eliminate a player, you get $10 in cash right after the elimination.

PocketFives: Why did you decide to include a bounty tournament on the Napa Valley Casino event calendar?

Chris Henderson: We added two tournaments that are regular $40 and $60 events, so we wanted something different. We’re pretty much the only place in the Bay Area to have a bounty tournament. If a person buys in for $60 and doesn’t cash, if they bust out three or four people, they’ll get some of their money back.

Regular freezeouts and rebuys will always be the primary tournament structures, but the popularity of bounties will always loom large. You can put your money on the line with the prospects of getting some of it back without having to make the money.

PocketFives: What other poker tournaments will the casino be rolling out in 2012?

Chris Henderson: We’re bringing back our Monday night tournament that has a $60 buy-in. Lots of players liked it, but it became hard to run it and cash games at the same time when we first had it. But, we decided to bring it back in 2012 anyway. It’s the new year, so let’s give people what they want. We’ll figure out how to make it work.

PocketFives: We know you’re adding a brand new kitchen this year as well. What’s the latest on it?

Chris Henderson: The blueprints are in for it. We’re going to add more poker tables as well. That’s another thing to look forward to in 2012.

PocketFives: The global economy has struggled mightily since 2008. What trends have you seen at the Napa Valley Casino?

Chris Henderson: Business has been more or less steady. We have days where you know there are going to be a lot of players like Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. There are not too many days where it’s slow either. Instead, there’s steady poker action and steady play throughout the week.

Players play less time-wise, which has been the result we’ve seen of the recession. In 2008 and 2009, it was slow during some hours, but we’ve gotten players back through promotions and other giveaways to make their money last longer.

Check out Napa Valley Casino’s websitefor more details.