By Dave Lukow
Leaves are coming down, but stakes are rising at Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.
Starting Nov. 1, the Seneca Niagara poker room will host the Seneca Fall Classic, which runs until Nov. 10. The five-event tourney is capped by a $1K no-limit hold’em main event with a guaranteed prize pool of $200K.
Day 1 takes place Nov. 7 and 8.
“We’re running a lot of qualifiers and satellites for our main event,” Brian Bartoe, a poker room supervisor at Seneca Niagara, said. “For Event 2, we have six starting flights each day. We had close to 800 entries last time, so we really smashed it.”
Event 2 ($125, NLHE) begins Nov. 2.
“The Fall Poker Classic is one of our biggest tournament events,” Bartoe said. “There are satellites every Friday and Saturday. With our qualifiers, the house guarantees five seats for the main event.”
Seneca Niagara, home to tour events in the past, has done well with its own tournaments.
“For our Fall Classic and our Summer Slam, we pull in people from all over,” said Bartoe, who has been at Seneca Niagara for 12 years. “We get players from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Canada, Rochester and Syracuse.”
As part of the Fall Poker Classic, Seneca Niagara opens its balcony to those 18 and older, something that’s gotten a nice response from younger players.
“We get a lot of interest from college kids on social media,” Bartoe said.
While warmer days are in the rearview, you couldn’t tell by visiting the Seneca poker room.
“We’ve been pretty steady. We run about 10-17 games,” Bartoe said. “In summer, it’s a little slower. The weather changes, so it starts picking up.”
MOHEGAN SUN: The $220K guarantee Fall Showdown runs Nov. 19-23, including a $1,100 main event that sports a $100K guarantee on Nov. 22. Each day leading up to the championship, there will be step events to earn your main-event seat for $250.
Other events include an $80K guarantee (Nov. 19, 11 a.m., $400), a $10K guarantee (Nov. 20, 7 p.m., $120), a $20K guarantee (Nov. 21, 11 a.m., $250) and Nov. 23 features a $250 senior event at 11 a.m. and a $250 HOSE tourney at 1 p.m. More details at mohegansun.com.
— Email Dave at david@anteupmagazine.com
