On Wednesday, well over 400 players convened on HogWild Poker, a free play, U.S.-facing online poker room, for the first U.S.-friendly PocketFives Opensince Black Friday. We were thrilled to be able to put on this completely free poker event for members of our community and gave away a brand new iPad to the winner, Mark double_kyan Estus (pictured). Our champ hails from California and has been participating on PocketFives since 2008.

“It’s absolutely prestigious,” Estus told PocketFives in an exclusive interview when asked if the tournament win lost any luster since there was no buy-in. “I love the badge. I’m excited because I won an iPad. I mentioned in one of the threads leading up to the event that I would be excited to win a BOC, or bucket of chicken. I was nitting at the final table. I didn’t think I’d get there.”

Estus scooped a brand new iPad, the latest incarnation of which was unveiled to the world last Friday. It’s now in a UPS Ground package on its way across the United States to California. The iPad boasts a tricked-out, high-resolution screen and has become the talk of the tech community.

What was the game play like in a completely free tournament? Estus gave us his experience: “The tables I played on had some really wild players, a few aggressive players, and a lot of tight players. The competition wasn’t very difficult, though. I was able to pick up on some peeking tells and was able to use that. The PocketFives Open was the only table I was playing, so I was focusing on it.”

HogWild’s software mimics live play and, as such, your cards are actually dealt face down. If you want to look at them, you click on the screen. When you do, they appear lit up to other players, who know you’re looking. Also novel on HogWild is an end-of-table view: “I found it interesting that you sit at the end of the table. I had to get used to it, but I think I have to get used to every site I play on.”

Is peeking at your cards a unique, worthwhile feature or a nuisance? “The peeking is awesome,” Estus quickly said. “You couldn’t do it on multiple tables, but it’d be fun if there were friends playing in a league. There was a time when I forgot my hand, had a flopped flush board, but didn’t want to look and instead wanted to bet my opponent off his hand. HogWild has a bunch of cool ideas and it seems like it’s a work in progress.”

By the way, the members of Off Topic have been discussing forming a PocketFives League on HogWild Poker. Read more.

Fellow community member and PocketFives Moderator Mr. Blonde put a bounty of 1,000 Hog Bucks on Estus’ head during this week’s PocketFives Open, but needless to say, it did not pay out. Estus also joined a last man standing side bet for 5,000 Hog Bucks and took it down. Hog Bucks are the currency of trade on HogWild Poker. You can use them to buy into special tournaments and participate in an array of side bets.

PocketFives received the new iPad on March 16th, the day the device came out. Since then, it has been sitting on this author’s kitchen table and I’ve forced myself not to open it. “This will be my first Apple product,” Estus candidly remarked. “I have a smart phone, but it’s not an iPhone. I’ve never messed with Apple period, so I am stoked to try it out.”

Finally, Californiahas become ground zero of sorts for legalized intrastate online poker legislation. With card rooms, Indian tribes, and other interests to consider, California lawmakers could have their hands full with the issue.

On the prospects of being able to play real money games completely above board in California, Estus told us, “That would be exciting. I think California is big enough to support decent sites on its own, but I would like to see it join with a state like Nevada as well. If there were any way to make poker global with regulation, it would be awesome.”

By the way, if you earned a prize in the PocketFives Open, you must claim it by April 1st by visiting this thread. Thanks to everyone who participated in it.