Fall is under way and with it comes exciting promotions and a few more tournaments in Mississippi poker. I’ll start at the north end of the state in Tunica. Gold Strike has moved its annual winter tournament to an earlier time slot, running Oct. 31-Nov. 9. This will conflict less with the holidays and hopefully guarantee big turnouts and even bigger prize pools. Though promotions will be suspended during the tournament, the fall is a great time to visit Gold Strike.
“They’re just giving away money at the Strike!” said manager Johnny Grooms, who also runs the Beau Rivage’s poker room in Biloxi. Promotions include the “Sick Beat,” which rewards players losing with queens full of deuces or better. The loser wins $500, the winner wins $300 and any player dealt in will win $100. Aces Cracked is back from midnight on Sunday until 3 p.m. Friday every week. Any player in a limit hold’em game up to $10-$20 will receive $100 when they lose a pot with pocket aces. From 9-3 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. the payout doubles to $200. For more info, visit facebook.com/GoldStrikePoker.
Just down the road at Harrah’s Tunica, all sorts of great fall promotions are running. The Early Bird High Hand is my favorite, awarding the morning players every 30 minutes from 4 a.m. till noon Sunday-Thursday weekly. The highest hand each 30 minutes, bigger than 10s full of deuces will be awarded a progressive cash prize.
The first session each morning will begin with $100. If no hand qualifies, the money rolls over and increases by $25 every 30 minutes until there’s a winner. Once awarded, the prize will start over at $25 and continue to increase until awarded. If mornings aren’t your thing, from 2-9 p.m. Monday-Friday every 30 minutes $25 will be awarded to a random seat at each limit hold’em table. For more info, call 662-357-3018.
Just a bit further south at the Pearl River Casino Resort in Choctaw, Miss., the Bravo Poker System has arrived. This is one of many signs of positive growth as action continues to reach new levels in Choctaw.
Manager Neil Atkinson has added two tables to bring the room total to 12. Pearl River will host a $25K guarantee Dec. 13-15. The last one, held in September, had 197 entries for a prize pool of a little more than $35K. In addition to new tournaments and expanding space, the poker room is set up for tableside dining from the casino sports bar. For more information, call 855-97-POKER.
In beautiful Biloxi the action is heating up with a WPT Regional qualifier runs Nov. 29-Dec. 8 at the IP Casino Resort. This event will feature multiple guarantees in a broad range of buy-ins. More information is available on the WPT website or you can call the IP at 800-436-3000.
Speaking of the IP, the World Series of Poker Circuit wrapped up on Sept. 16 and you can see the winners down below.
Martin Zentner of New Orleans captured the main-event title by edging Hank Sitton of Greenville, S.C. Zentner earned more than $106K for the victory and a gold ring. Sitton won $65K. Third place went to Rob Mariano of Pensacola, Fla., for almost $48K. If that name sounds familiar it’s because he’s Boston Rob from Survivor fame. Mariano was a poker student of pro Daniel Negreanu.
The Biloxi poker rooms have so many great promotions they deserve their own column. Next month, I’ll feature everything going on at the Beau Rivage, Hard Rock, IP and the newly rebranded Golden Nugget.
— Email Jennifer Gay at jennifergay80@hotmail.com.
WSOPC, IP Casino Resort, Biloxi, Miss., Sept. 5-16
Event 1 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 220 • Pool: $66K
James Pomransky, $16,502
Event 2 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 193 • Pool: $57,900
Robert Irby, $15,056
Event 3 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 571 • Pool: $171,300
Tam Nguyen, $35,978
Event 4 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 127 • Pool: $38,100
Andrew Kattner, $10,668
Event 5 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 154 • Pool: $46,200
Ylon Schwartz, $12,474
Event 6 • $365 6-Max
Entries: 159 • Pool: $47,700
Nolan Burton, $12,877
Event 7 • $365 PLO
Entries: 65 • Pool: $19,500
Joshua Evans, $6,825
Event 8 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 169 • Pool: $50,700
Jin Lee, $13,689
Event 9 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 168• Pool: $50,400
Richard Tenhet, $13,609
$1,675 Main Event
Entries: 302 • Pool: $453K
Martin Zentner, $106,455
Event 11 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 96 • Pool: $28,800
Russ Head. $8,638
Event 12 • $365 NLHE
Entries: 66 • Pool: $19,800
William Wellman, $6,930
