For its first series, the Silks Poker Room in Tampa is coming out swinging with a week-long schedule of events catering to the many facets of the poker community. Holding events for players younger than 40, women and Omaha enthusiasts, this series is affordable and looks to bring players in from the Tampa Bay area and beyond.
Since mid May, the Silks has been holding satellites to the $225 Warm-Up on July 18, the $330 PLO event on July 16 and the $100K guarantee main event ($540) on July 19 and 20 (Day 2 is July 21). The staff is doing a great job of building up the entrants for these events. The first $30 satellite into the PLO event awarded nine seats. Satellites to that event be every Monday until July 8.
I chatted with Patrick Murphy, director of poker, and he said he’s excited about the series, especially giving the added bonus of sending players to the PPC Aruba Classic in October. Players who cash for more than $2,500 in any event will have 20 percent of the winnings applied to travel or event buy-ins for the Aruba series. The main event for that series is $2,500 and will feature big-name players such as World Poker Tour’s Season X Player of the Year Joe Serock.
Murphy also said the satellites into these events were active. “When you know the payouts are going to surpass the guarantees, people know they can expect a good deal of return on their investment,” he said.
I’ll be at the Silks to report from the series, so look for a recap in an upcoming issue of Ante Up.
HARD ROCK TAMPA: As mentioned in the July issue of Ante Up, the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood has set a record $10 million guarantee prize pool, utilizing everyone in the Seminole poker family.
Until the week before the $10 million tournament in late August, the Tampa Hard Rock will be having satellites, high hands and drawings for seats into the main event in Hollywood.
Through Aug. 15, if you have 15 hours of play Sunday through Thursday, you’ll receive an entry into a weekly drawing for a $5,300 seat in the main event.
On the tournament side, Monday-Thursday turbos satellites (15-minute blinds, $575) will send one out of every 10 entrants to the $5,300 main event (Aug. 22). Times for those tournaments are still being determined so check with the poker room.
Saturday’s 2 p.m. $575 satellites (30-minute blinds) will have five guaranteed seats, but in August those seats double to 10 (Aug. 3 and Aug. 10). The Tampa property wants to send a minimum 54 players to an event where first place may pay $1.8 million, according to tournament director Matt Savage. For updates on tournaments, schedules or the poker room in general, follow @SHRTPoker on Twitter.
— Email Andrew Malowitz at anteupandrew@gmail.com.
