For Chicago-area tournament players local casinos offer a variety of options with several weekly tournaments running daily. Be sure to turn to our Where to Play pages in the back of the magazine for more tournament details, but here are some highlights:
• Budget-minded players should hit the Four Winds Casino, which offers tournaments for as cheap as $10 and daily events for less than $30.
“At Four Winds players can play in four tournaments a week for less than $100,” said poker manager Glen Arana, who usually can be found greeting players as they walk into his room.Tournaments are run on Poker-Tek tables, allowing for faster and more efficiently run tournaments.
• The Horseshoe’s most popular weekly tournament is the Sunday $200, which normally draws 100-plus fields. On the last Saturday of the month at noon, the Horseshoe runs a $500 event.Recently the Horseshoe has experienced an increase in tournament players, and its World Series of Poker Circuit stop will be Oct. 13-24.
• After running successful Monday monthly $120 tournaments, Majestic Star will be offering two biweekly Monday events starting this month. On Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. the $10K guarantee ($120 buy-in) begins and then on Sept. 12 the noon $75 event has a $5K guarantee. Tournaments are scheduled to run on alternating Mondays until Dec. 19. Majestic Star’s quarterly $330 tournament is scheduled for Sept. 25 at 10 a.m.All tournaments are eligible for the tournament bad beat: aces full of kings or better with a minimum of four players dealt a hand.Jackpot at press time was $22,500.
• Harrah’s Joliet has transformed its $3-$5 NLHE into the deepest cash game in the Chicago area. When the game starts the max buy-in is $500 with a $300 minimum. Then, with the game in progress, the max buy-in changes to the largest stack at the table. Players in the game are allowed to buy in or reload up to the largest stack.
• Par-A-Dice in East Peoria will run its $330 quarterly tournament on Sept. 25, but this one will be a bounty event. The poker room recently switched its $1K buy-in $2-$5 cash game from Monday to Tuesday. This game allows players to buy in for up to 70 percent for the largest stack and has been drawing players from all parts of central Illinois.
• Chicago Getaway Green (with the Horseshoe Casino as one of the main sponsors) ran its charity tournament and casino night Aug. 4, as money raised will help Getaway Green plant 1,500 trees in Chicago by 2015.
• ESPN’s Inside Deal host Bernard Lee was in town to co-host a celebrity tournament at Harry Carey’s downtown location. Many celebrities were on hand, including Richard Roeper, Bulls star C.J. Watson, Bears favorites Otis Wilson, Emery Morehead and Jim Morrissey.Dallas Mavericks star Shawn Marion was the co-host along with Lee. This was part of a 10-stop tour supporting pediatric cancer efforts.
— “Chicago” Joe Gieturga is the Ante Up Ambassador for the Chicagoland area. You can email him at chicago.joe@comcast.net.
