It’s a big week for Jacksonville Greyhound Racing & Poker. It announced simultaneously that it anticipates opening the Jacksonville Poker Room later this year (in addition to its already popular Orange Park and St. Johns facilities), and has signed a deal with the WPT to host three new tournaments during Season X.
Jax Poker is the newest WPT partner as its poker rooms will host a televised WPT Main Event, a first-ever domestic non-televised main event and one regional event during the Season X schedule.
Event dates will be announced closer to the start of Season X. First up will be the non-televised main event, which will crown an official WPT champion, count in the WPT Player of the Year standings and will award the winner a WPT trophy and a $25,000 buy-in to the Season X WPT World Championship.
Already housing over 70 poker tables at their Orange Park and St Johns Poker Rooms, Jax Poker is home to two of the largest poker rooms in the world. In addition the Jacksonville Poker Room will be the largest and their crown jewel facility and will host a televised WPT Main Event in Spring 2012.
"Florida is a growing poker market with a huge imprint on the U.S. poker scene. The WPT is focused on growth and we are very excited about our new stops in North Florida," WPT CEO Steve Heller said. "The Jacksonville Poker Room promises to be one of the pre-eminent poker rooms in the country. Jacksonville Greyhound Racing & Poker’s commitment to providing world class service to players is exactly what WPT was looking for when selecting a home for a new event. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership."
"Jacksonville Greyhound Racing & Poker could not be more excited to join forces with WPT," Jacksonville executive director of poker operations Deborah Giardina said. "Large-scale, large buy-in events are new to Florida. We are committed to remaining a market leader during this Florida poker boom. To that end, we sought out the best in class poker partner – the WPT- to help us build a world-class series of poker events."
