The Ante Up World Championship will return to Thunder Valley Casino Resort for the second year in a row, this time running July 27-Aug. 10 with 20 events capped by a $1,650 Main Event with a $250,000 prize pool guarantee.
The schedule has been beefed up in its second year at the resort in Lincoln, Calif., just north of Sacramento, adding six additional events, including some new formats.
The $1,650 Main Event, with its unique single-flight format with just one re-entry per player permitted, remains the highlight. This was the same format used last year, intended to create a "championship feel" where every hand matters and so players with smaller bankrolls don’t feel pushed out by players with bigger wallets.
The three-day Main Event Aug. 8-10 will end with a live-streamed final table on the patio of the resort’s renowned steakhouse, High Steaks. The winner will appear on the cover of the September issue of Ante Up Magazine and get a personalized World Champion jacket, in addition to what is sure to be a hefty payday.
New this year is the $365 Ante Up World Heads-Up Championship on Aug. 6, with the final four returning on Aug. 7. A bracket draw featuring a breakfast buffet will be at 11 a.m. on Aug. 6.
Other more unusual events on the schedule include a $140 Bankroll Builder event, where the top 12 percent of the field each wins $1,000; a $100 ante-only event with no blinds; a $180 no-limit hold’em escalator event and a $235 pot-limit Omaha event.
Popular events returning from last year include a four-flight multi-day deepstack event with a $200,000 guarantee and a live-streamed final table, a $180 limit Omaha/8 event, a $150 HORSE event, a $265 open-face Chinese pineapple event, the $250 Western Senior Poker Tour event and several knockout events, with bounties ranging from $25 to $100.
The schedule rounds out with several no-limit hold’em events, including a six-max event, and many feature guarantees. All told, the series touts $575,000 in guaranteed prize money.
Several multi-table and single-table satellites, starting as low as $55, will run throughout the series, giving players an opportunity to advance to three different events, including the Main Event.
All of it plays out at the luxurious AAA Four Diamond resort, which features oversized guest rooms, a spa, several restaurants and a full casino, with a championship golf course nearby. Special discounted room rates of $99 Sunday-Thursday and $179.99 Friday-Saturday, plus fees, are available for players using code 150727ANTE.
For more information on the Ante Up World Championship, visit our World Championship webpage.
For more information on Thunder Valley Casino Resort, visit the resort’s website.
