The Golden Nugget held the official grand opening of its poker room on Feb. 17, scheduling a big tournament to christen the room. They put together a $10,000 guarantee with a $120 buy-in and knocked the guarantee out of the park.
When I walked in to check out the event, the room was jam-packed as 189 players bought in for the event. With first place sitting at more than $8,000, it was an investment worth making.
The same tournament is continuing for a few more weeks and Keith Richman and his staff have been doing a great job handling the flow of traffic that the tournament has created. The staff has been doing a great job and the room is shaping up to be one of the hottest in Atlantic City.
In other new poker room news, Revel is opening April 2 as former Dover Downs poker room manager Frank Foti was named executive poker director. A lot of players are looking forward to this one as speculation to the size and scope of the poker room has been all over the map.
BORGATA WINNER: Carl Tirella of Ardslley, N.Y., won $53,962 and the Borgata $100K Guarantee Saturday Series on Feb. 11. The $400 NLHE event attracted 662 entries for a $231,700 prize pool.
EAST PA.: The Mount Airy Casino in the Poconos recently opened its newly located poker room with World Series of Poker bracelet-holder Cyndy Violette on hand for the festivities. Winners from Mount Airy’s Friday tournaments in January and February had the chance to go up against Violette in a championship round as part of the grand opening’s day of special events.
The new 11-table poker room is on the second floor of the resort. With a bar and cash cage on site, there’s no place else you need to be when you’re in the Poconos. If you think the Poconos is a great place to vacation, just wait until you see the poker room.
• Deepstacks Live will be making another stop at Parx Casino on April 28 for a “1-Day 1K” power poker course. Deepstacks Live, known for having some of the biggest names in the business when it comes to training, has upped the ante for this one by announcing high-stakes pro Matt Glantz will be joining the fold.
Alongside Tristan Wade, Randal Flowers and Ante Up strategy columnist Jay Houston, the team will be holding an eight-hour course that will be half no-limit hold’em and half pot-limit Omaha. Camp attendees will receive official Deepstacks gear, exclusive coursewear and a special freeroll at the conclusion of the session.
For more information, go to deepstacks.com.
— Cris Belkewitch is the Ante Up Atlantic City Ambassador. A member of Team Bustout, his insight can be found at thepokerjourney.net.
