Hard Rock, Isle have fall poker events
The Isle has its second annual Deep Stack Championships. Players start with more chips than usual for a tournament, which better players like because they aren't crippled if they get one bad break on a big hand.
At 1:30 p.m. Sept. 28 is a $100 bounty tournament, with a $30,000 guarantee. Players start with 7,000 chips. Buy-in is $300.
At 1:30 p.m. Sept. 30 is a preliminary event, with a $50,000 guarantee. Players start with 10,000 chips. Buy-in is $550.
There are two opening days for the main event. They are at 2 p.m. Oct. 3 and 1 p.m. Oct. 4 for the $150,000 guarantee event. Buy-in is $900 and players start with 20,000 chips.
The Day 1A and Day 1B players resume at 1 p.m. Oct. 5, and the tournament will run to Oct. 6 if they don't finish on Oct. 5. Players can enter only one of the opening days, as per Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel wagering law, said Mike Smith, Isle director of poker operations. (The Hard Rock, exempt from PMW, lets players enter both days.)
A $20 add-on will net you 2,000 chips in all tournaments.
Meanwhile, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will have its Fall Open, a series of XX tournaments Oct. 2-12.
No. 1: At 11 a.m. Oct. 2 is a $150 tournament with a $25,000 prize pool.
No. 2: At 11 a.m. Oct. 3, it's $350 with a $30,000 pool.
No. 3: At noon Oct. 4, $150 for a $15,000 guarantee.
No. 4: At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4, it's $75 with an $8,000 guarantee.
No. 5: At 11 a.m. Oct. 5, it's $75, with a $6,000 guarantee.
No. 6: At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 5, $300 for a $25,000 guarantee.
No. 7: At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6, $150 for a $15,000 guarantee.
No. 8: At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 7, $75 for a $8,000 guarantee.
The main event is event No. 9, with starting days at 11 a.m. Oct. 9 and 10. Entry is $1,100 and the tournament carries at $150,000 prize pool. Survivors meet Oct. 11 at 11 a.m. to play it out.
No. 10: 6:30 p.m. Oct 11, $75 for an $8,000 guarantee.
No. 11: 11 a.m. Oct. 12, $350 for a $35,000 guarantee.
There will be satellites at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 8 for $75.
So, where are people playing and why? And who gets the time off during the week to play. (Even on a Yom Kippur Monday?)
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.
