The Crown Royal Poker Room at Dover Downs Hotel and Casino will host the Masters Poker Series on April 29-May 3. The series features nine tournaments, including pot-limit Omaha and HOS (hold’em, Omaha and stud). Celebrities on hand will be Tom McEvoy, T.J. Cloutier, Lon McEachern and Kenna James. The pros also will teach a free three-hour seminar April 30 from 4-7 p.m.
There will be a HOS tournament April 4 at 7:15 p.m. to give regulars a taste of this format before the Masters event later in the month. This $3K guarantee has a $60 buy-in as the game changes every 20 minutes. On April 5, there will be a traditional $15K guarantee NLHE event with a $125 buy-in.
HARRINGTON RACEWAY: Tourneys are Tuesday-Sunday ($60), including Omaha and bounty events. Bonuses are offered for cash games that vary between day and time. Call the poker room for details.
HORSESHOE BALTIMORE: To kick off the World Series of Poker Circuit, the poker room hosted a $10K media tournament for charity Feb. 23. This event invited local members of the media to play for their favorite charities. Donations were made by Caesars to the charities of choice of the members of the media. Michael Young of Ante Up finished sixth and a $500 donation was made to the Army Emergency Relief fund.
MARYLAND LIVE: The Mid-States Poker Tour will run April 6-19, featuring eight events and more than $500K in prize pools. The $1,100 main event sports a $250K guarantee. MSPT will be live-streaming the final table on PokerNews.com. Also, April 27-May 3, there will be a $75K guaranteed, multiflight event with a $65 buy-in.
ROCKY GAP CASINO RESORT: The poker room will have a $45 tournament Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Players receive 7K chips and can receive 2K more for a $5 dealer gratuity and an extra 1K if they register by 5 p.m. Blinds are 20 minutes.
Atlantic City/Philadelphia
SUGARHOUSE: The new property hosts its first major tournament, a $100K guarantee this month. The $280 event features six Day 1 flights, starting with Day 1A on April 23 at 11 a.m. Day 1B will be that night at 7, and so on until Day 1F. SugarHouse has been running daily tournaments since February and the new schedule has $22K in weekly guarantees. More info can be found on the Bravo Live app.
BORGATA: The Spring Open is April 14-May 1 with a combined guaranteed prize pool of $2.55M over 17 events. The series begins with its popular $1M guarantee that has a $560 buy-in and four Day 1 flights. The $1M main event is April 20-24 ($2,500) while the WPT World Championship Freezeout will be April 25-29. Last year, the tournament was a re-entry event but the one-time entry fee is $15,400 this year.
PARX: The Big Stax’s $300 event has been the series’ biggest event at every appearance as 1,715 players showed up for the 10th series, which ended in a four-way chop for $53,564 between Anthony Caruso, Joshua Beckley, Jerry Johnson and Kevin Grabel.
“I’ve been playing for about four years,” Caruso said. “I love Parx and was drawn to locale due to the professionalism of (pro and ambassador) Matt Glantz and his interest in making himself available to all players.” Caruso took home the trophy.
Grabel, who has been playing since 2013, has accumulated $235K in tournament earnings with eight final-table appearances, two in the Borgata Open Event 1.
“I have been very fortunate to make several deep runs and look forward to having another successful year,” he said. “I’ve been working hard, focusing on my game and always looking to improve. Studying and analyzing hands with other players and seeing hands from their perspective has taken my game to that next level.” Grabel is a regular cash player at Parx and a part of Team Kitten, a group of outstanding local players.
The $500 event drew a record 957 players as Tim Finne and Cornel Cimpan chopped for $81,540 each. Frank Federici took home his first major trophy in the $1,650 event for $90K as Dan DiZenzo and Ari Engel took second and third, respectively in the three-day event that had 325 players.
Meet Adam Crouse
Adam Crouse is a dealer and part-time floor manager at Hollywood Casino Perryville. He lives in Elkton, Md., and is 37 years old. He started dealing poker about 10 years ago for charity events in the area at fire department halls and has dealt at other casinos in the area. He holds the distinction of dealing the first poker hand at a casino in Maryland.
What are some of the poker rooms where you play? My favorites are Parx, Delaware Park and Borgata.
What makes Hollywood Perryville different from other rooms in the area? It’s a smaller room where many players know each other. There aren’t “big personalities” in the room. It has a feel of a poker club. — Michael Young
