The two Connecticut poker rooms will have a couple of fun tournament options this month, including the return of the Summer Showdown at Mohegan Sun.
New poker room manager Josh Zuckerman hosts his first Summer Showdown since returning to the Nutmeg State, this time with a series that’s guaranteeing $250K, running July 30-Aug. 3.
The $1,100 main event, which is a two-day affair that begins Aug. 2, sports a $100K guarantee, allows re-entry for the first six levels as players start with 30K chips and has 40-minute blinds for Levels 1-9 and 50 minutes the rest of the way. For the schedule and more details, see the ad in our July issue.
Foxwoods gets the action started earlier in the month with its Independence Day tournament schedule. On July 3-5, there will be tournaments at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The 9 a.m. ($60, 6K chips, 15 minutes), 1 p.m. ($100 bounty, 10K chips, 15 minutes) and 8 p.m. ($100, 20K chips) events will all have the same buy-ins for each day, same starting stacks and same blind levels. For more info, go to foxwoods.com.
PARX: After 1,351 players entered Big Stax V’s opening event in May, Alex Queen, a reputable local poker pro with nearly $1.5M in tournament winnings, chopped the tournament with Justin Liberto, a Maryland pro who’s made about $200K in the past month.
So, it was nothing short of a surprise when Liberto made another heads-up appearance for the Big Stax $1,500 main event against Aditya Prasetyo. They played for a solid hour, but Prasetryo took home nearly $119K and the championship trophy. Liberto had finished second in the WSOPC main event at Harrah’s Philadelphia just days before Big Stax.
Will “the Thrill” Failla, who chopped Foxwoods’ Mega Stack main event for a little more than $36K earlier in May, won the Big Stax $550 six-max with a three-way-chop. With nine cashes and two trophies just in the past month, Failla really hit his stride heading into the WSOP.
SUGARHOUSE: In center city Philadelphia, the SugarHouse Casino construction is under way. The expansion will lengthen the building, doubling its size, while boosting the district development by establishing a safer, family-oriented-type zone and wider dining options.
The actual addition to the casino will not be open to the public until 2015. However, SugarHouse has begun hiring dealers and staff in preparation. Ray Ramsey will be leaving the Borgata as the newly appointed poker director of SugarHouse.
Philadelphia will most likely become a top competitor in the running for generating the most gaming revenue in the nation, after Nevada, having surpassed Atlantic City.
— Email Jo Kim at anteupjokim@gmail.com.
