Vee Quiva Hotel and Casino rebranded itself last summer as a hip destination for Phoenix-area gamblers. Now, it’s upgrading its poker image.
The 16-table poker room rolls out a new tournament schedule March 1, enhancing its three weekly tournaments with bigger buy-ins, more chips and better structures.
The $40 Big Stack tournament, which gets you 4K chips and starts at 11:15 a.m. on Saturdays, has an optional $10 staff fee to your stack to 7K. Early-bird play could earn you 4,500 more chips before the tourney begins. The event has 15-minute levels and features an optional $20 add-on for 4K chips at the first break.
On Sundays, the 11:15 a.m. “Sunday Brunch” tourney costs $30 and gets you 3K chips, but the $10 staff fee can add 2K and early bird play can earns 3,500 more.
Levels are 20 minutes, and after three levels a 4K-chip add-on is available for $20.
The last weekly tournament is the Wednesday night “Hump Day” event, which starts at 7:30. For $40, you get 3,500 chips and can add 4K more via the $10 staff fee and as much as 3,500 more from early-bird play. Levels are 15 minutes, and no add-on is available.
Besides the prize money, each weekly tournament offers players a chance to qualify for a quarterly “Tournament of Champions” freeroll.
The top-two finishers in each Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday tourney is invited to the freeroll, the first of which is scheduled May 31. The event could have a prize pool of $10K, depending on quarterly participation.
Freerolls also are set for Aug. 30 and Nov. 29.
DESERT DIAMOND: The Desert Diamond Hotel and Casino in Tucson continues its effort to provide specialty tournaments that benefit local charities, hosting its annual Chicanos Por La Causa event Feb. 28-March 2.
The $200 tourney will have a $10K guarantee for first place and offer two Day 1 flights (Feb. 28 and March 1), both starting at noon with a 50-player max.
Players get 8,500 chips, but can earn 1,500 more with three hours of live play before the tourney (less live play will earn fewer bonus chips).
Day 2 is March 2 and $100 of the buy-in will go toward the prize pool with the remaining $100 split between the tournament fee ($30) and a charitable donation ($70).
The event is expected to have Tucson-area “celebrities” participate, with a $100 bounty placed on each of them.
— Email Brian at anteupsouthernaz@gmail.com.
