The inaugural Hard Rock Summer Series boasted a $1 million guarantee for its main event. This $3,500 event saw 346 runners vie for a $1.1 million prize pool.
Timothy Miles took the title and $295,203 after a five-hour heads-up battle with Andrew Batkin ($164,003). Third place went to Hard Rock Winter Open champion Stephen Diamantas ($102,010).
CRUISE WINNERS: Ante Up Poker Cruise winners, pictured at right, were all over the region. Brandon Ray and Thomas Moran from Club 52 in Melbourne and Cory Chandler from Derby Lane in St. Petersburg.
FREE POKER FIGHTS BACK: About two years ago, Florida raided and shut down the Nutz Poker League. This raid and eventual dissolution of the company sent shockwaves through the bar-poker scene. Treasure Chest Poker never folded, but it changed its business model to try to stay within state regulations. The state, however, has decided that’s not enough and has been sending letters to places where TCP hosts games, and similar letters to other bar poker leagues. This time, the leagues are going all-in.
TCP has sued the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations. TCP claims it is within the rights since it’s a form of entertainment and paid by the establishments to host these games, with no promise of any monetary compensation by anyone attending the games and none ever required. The company is asking the state to stop threatening sanctions and penalties against the bars that host games.
NEW AUPT DATES AT DERBY
The AUPT Derby Lane Fall Pokerfest will be Nov. 1-16 (moving from late August) to accommodate new and exciting events, including the Accumulator Main Event, which has a $250K guarantee and $150 buy-in.
“We take pride in the Ante Up brand and our own product,” director of poker Jeff Gamber said. “We wanted to be sure we put out a marquee event for our poker community. We think this will be the largest guarantee with the smallest buy-in in Florida history.” Derby Lane may amend or cancel any event without notice, but look for deepstacks, a high roller, pineapple OFC and PLO. Coverage and updates will be atderbylanepokerblog.wordpress .com.
— Email Andrew at anteupandrew@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @anteupandrew and read his blog at anteupandrew.wordpress.com.
