I started dealing poker in North Florida when I was 19, a little more than a decade ago. A lot of our readers remember those days as limit poker was king ($2 bets) and state laws prohibited buy-ins larger than $45 for tournaments. It packed the fledgling tournament sections of North Florida’s biggest rooms (bestbet and Daytona Beach, respectively), each one running an endless stream of single-table events as well as 30-player dailies.
Well, the two largest rooms in North Florida are still the leaders in tournament innovation, never afraid to take risks when it comes to evolving the face of poker in Florida.
The Heartland Poker Tour has made Daytona Beach one of its marquee stops, and the room hosts $50,000 guarantee tournaments monthly. The HPT returns Oct. 2-12, with $65 satellites leading up to the $1,650 main event. Please see the ad on Page 41 for more schedule details, including buy-ins for undercard events.
Farther north near the banks of the St. John’s River, bestbet Jacksonville has become home to some of the biggest tournaments in the state thanks to its partnership with the World Poker Tour. The WPT returns there with the $1 million guarantee Bounty Scramble on Nov. 7-8, featuring pro players at each table worth bounties as well as big payouts for the chipleaders of each starting day. There are regular satellites as well as10-seat guarantees at the end of each month.
Check out both rooms’ websites for details on high hands and satellites, so you can be a part of Florida’s rich poker history.
AUPT: The Ante Up Poker Tour will be making a stop at Pensacola Greyhound Track, where the winner of the event will appear on the cover of our January issue. This AUPT stop will feature one tournament, but four Day 1s, and it runs the weekend after Thanksgiving. More details will be made available as we get closer to the event and be sure to visit anteuppokertour.com. In the mean time, Pensacola has some great promotions and tournaments this month. You can earn $3 an hour if you play cash games Sunday-Tuesday. There’s a Full House Drawing on Sept. 20 and you can begin earning tickets Sept. 6.
Also, Sept. 13 and Sept. 27 will be $10K guarantees at1 p.m. Buy-in is $250. There are satellites to these events on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 1.
Don’t forget the great $50 tournaments on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Tuesdays and Fridays at 1.
— Email Charles at anteupcharles@gmail.com.
