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In-full live major poker tournaments will return to the U.S. with a World Poker Tour event in January.
The 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker Classic $1,650 Main Event attracted 332 entrants and created a $498,000 prize pool, well above the advertised $300K guarantee. In the end, poker pro Matt.
- The thrills of Hollywood, Florida begin at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Located just miles from the historic beaches of Hollywood, our hotel packs a punch of entertainment, dining, and poolside flair for those seeking a glamorous escape.
- Must be at least 21 years old to play Slots, Table Games or to receive Seminole Wild Card benefits. Must be 18 or older to play Bingo and Live Poker. Persons who have been trespassed or banned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida or those who have opted into the self-exclusion program are not eligible.
- Seminole Gaming CEO James F. Allen sent a note on Saturday to elite XCard members at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino detailing new measures the company was putting in place and reassuring.
In a Monday presser, host venue Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood announced they’d be joining forces with the WPT once again for the Lucky Hearts Poker Open. The event will fill its traditional January slot and culminate with the $3,500 WPT Main Event with a $1 million guarantee.
Furthermore, the WPT announced on Wednesday its first U.S.-based online Main Tour event, the $3,500 WPT OnlinePoker Open Main Event, set for a late December running in New Jersey. That one will also carry a guarantee of $1 million.
Live WPT Events Return
Jan. 22 will mark the return of the WPT to U.S. soil.
The Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event will kick off that Friday with the first of two starting flights for the $3,500 reentry event. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will see the tournament play down to a champion, who will get their name etched onto the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup and earn a place in the WPT Tournament of Champions.
The WPT Main Event will be part of an overall festival running Jan. 14-26. It will include an opening $600 multi-flight event with $300,000 guaranteed, a good mix of non-NLHE events around the $400 price point, and four other tournaments with six-figure guarantees.
The full schedule can be found here.
A WPT card hasn’t been pitched in the U.S.since mid-March with the conclusion of WPT Rolling Thunder. Instead, the top brand has opted to go with the industry norm under the cloud of COVID-19, hosting a variety of huge online events, most notably the WPT World Online Championship.
Seminole Hard Rock properties reintroduced poker tournaments several months back, so they’ve started to ramp up the action in Florida, but nothing has been in the ballpark of the WPT LHPO’s scale with its more than $2 million in total guarantees.
The WPT LHPO was last on the schedule in January 2020, when it guaranteed $2 million and created a prize pool a little under $2.7 million, drawing 843 entries.
COVID Safety Protocols
Of course, the reason the WPT and so many other poker tours have been on ice for the last eight-plus months is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Key word being ongoing, as the situation in the U.S. and many other countries has, if anything, worsened in recent months.
Florida has been known to be one of the harder-hit states overall, and the past week at the time of writing has seen an average of 6,602 new cases per day, according to official numbers released by the state.
Knowing this, Seminole Hard Rock has instituted special “Safe + Sound” protocols in an effort to make the playing environment as safe as possible.
- Eight-handed tables with plexiglass shielding players and dealers
- Temperature checks upon entry
- Mandatory mask usage
- Routine cleaning of chips, cards and newly-emptied seats
- Wide availability of hand sanitizer for players and employees
- 50% max capacity on property
- State-of-the-art air filtration system designed to destroy viruses
Learn about partypoker NJ by clicking here!
New Jersey to Host Additional $1M Guaranteed
Those looking to get their names on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup need not wait until January, though. In fact, they don’t even need to leave their own homes or play live poker at all, provided those homes are located in New Jersey.
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The WPT OnlinePoker Open Main Event will be held Dec. 27-29 on partypoker US Network for players in New Jersey. PokerNews has already signed on to provide live reporting.
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The ambitious $1 million guarantee signifies how serious the WPT and partypoker are about making this a premier poker tournament worthy of the WPT name.
“The WPT OnlinePoker Open brings the most prestigious prize in poker to New Jersey and the partypoker US Network,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska in a presser. “WPT’s continued pivot toward online will continue with another landmark for regulated onlinepoker in the United States.”
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Indeed, the WPT has pivoted into a strong series of online offerings, however all were offered to the dot-com partypoker player pool, a much larger bunch of customers than the prospective New Jersey pool. Drawing the necessary entries to meet the guarantee will require some effort, and the WPT already announced satellites will be available for as little as $5.
Speaking of the dot-cam pool, they’ll also get a January shot at WPT glory. WPT Montreal, traditionally occupying a November slot on the schedule, will take place on the main partypoker client. It begins with starting flights on Jan. 10 and Jan. 17, two Sundays that will play down to a short enough percent of the field that the tournament finishes Jan. 18.
That one will have a $3,200 buy-in and a $2 million guarantee. Click here for full details.
The only other WPT Main Tour events currently scheduled at WPT Russia in Sochi for mid-February and the second edition of WPT Online Series, scheduled for May.
Table Of Contents
As live poker slowly creeps back amidst the ongoing pandemic, the successful completion of any poker series in the U.S. is news. At Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, the team wrapped up Pinktober over the weekend, its annual festival benefiting charity while awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.
Across four numbered events, more than $650,000 in prize money was collected. Meanwhile, $1 from each of the 3,315 entries went to charity, with most benefiting the American Cancer Society, as befits an event in Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
That money represents a part of the property's overall goal of $50,000 raised in October.
“We are truly honored to once again provide support to those in need and we are especially proud to work with the American Cancer Society during PINKTOBER,” said Seminole Hard Rock Tampa President Steve Bonner in a press release. “We encourage guests to come out to support this cause, while spreading a message of strength, hope and awareness for those affected by this disease.”
Sweeley Claims Biggest Prize of Series
One of the two main tournaments held produced the biggest prize of the series, as the other ended in a deal while Event #2: $400 Buy-in NLH (Re-Entry) produced an outright winner.
With 854 entries thought four flights, a prize pool of $281,820 was up for grabs on the weekend of Oct. 11, and David Sweeley (pictured above) made off with the lion's share. He won $51,698 after topping Ricardo Tavares heads up.
That sum dwarfed the roughly $4,500 in winnings Sweeley had previously, according to The Hendon Mob.
John Dolan, Nick Palma and Zhen Cai were some of the notable names to cash in the event.
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Sweeley | Roswell, Georgia | $51,698 |
| 2 | Ricardo Alves De Lima Tavares | Sao Paulo, Brazil | $36,251 |
| 3 | John Ryan III | Winter Garden, Florida | $23,371 |
| 4 | Gustavo Zorilla | Tampa, Florida | $17,160 |
| 5 | Rashaud Cook | Lakeland, Florida | $13,105 |
| 6 | Mitchell Smith | Palm Beach, Florida | $10,447 |
| 7 | Jonathan Marlow | Longwood, Florida | $8,652 |
| 8 | Tyler Ramsdell | Whitefield, New Hampshire | $6,888 |
| 9 | Daniel Quesada | Miami, Florida | $5,171 |
Three-Way Deal Ends Event #3
The massive multi-flight, Event #3 $200: Buy-in NLH (Re-Entry), gave players 11 chances to find a bag, and 1,786 entries were recorded to produce a prize pool of $283,974. According to the Seminole Hard Rock blog, that was the largest tournament the venue hosted since the COVID-19 shutdowns.
Some of those who cashed included WSOPC standouts Ricardo Eyzaguirre and Jeff Trudeau Jr., as well as Josias Santos.
After the elimination of Carlos Guerrero in fourth, the final three players of the all-Florida final table opted to deal. All would take home nearly identical sums, with Robert Aleman getting $33,920 while Burl McCraney and Nir Sharon each got $33,921, the latter named the official champ.
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| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nir Sharon | Naples, Florida | $33,921* |
| 2 | Burl McCraney | St. Petersburg, Florida | $33,921* |
| 3 | Robert Aleman | Palm Harbor, Florida | $33,920* |
| 4 | Carlos Guerrero | Orlando, Florida | $16,013 |
| 5 | Fabian Foster | Davenport, Florida | $12,043 |
| 6 | Wilmer Chavira | Altamonte Springs, Florida | $9,715 |
| 7 | Joseph Kearns | Hollywood, Florida | $7,968 |
| 8 | Jason Giles | Haines City, Florida | $6,282 |
| 9 | Christopher Green | Citrus Springs, Florida | $4,700 |
*reflects three-handed deal
Other Results
Another deal ended Event #1: $180 Buy-in NLH (Re-Entry), the opening $50K guaranteed. Joel Wadsworth Jr. snagged the biggest prize among the five who topped the 476-entry field, banking $9,138. Joshua Harrison, Mohamed Abdelmutaal, Michael Traficante and Reginald Bautista all won between $5,076 and $7,559.
Meanwhile, the wrap-up tournament, Event #4: $200 Buy-in NLH (Re-Entry), produced an outright winner in Brian Barros Vazquez. He claimed $7,682 and the commemorative guitar trophy for getting through the field of 199 in Sunday's single-day event.
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Winter Poker Open on Tap Next
Seminole Hard Rock Tampa will look to keep the tournament success rolling come December with the property's Winter Poker Open. Scheduled for Dec. 2-14, the WPO ups the ante quite a bit with a $200,000 guarantee on the $1,700 Main Event. Check out the corresponding schedule on the SHRT website.
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