- $10m gtd event starts at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in South Florida.
- Unlimited re-entries are permitted on each of the first three Day 1 “flights”.
- The poker glitterati are out in force, tempted by the $1.5m guaranteed first prize.
- The Seminole Tribe have launched the event to raise the profile of the casino they bought in 2007 for almost $1bn.
The first day of the $10m guarantee Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open has started in Florida. There are three starting Day 1 “flights” to thin out the field in the $5,300 buy in event.
The winner is guaranteed $1.5m, but the re-buy format could see this figure substantially higher. Players can re-enter the tournament as often as they like up until the 8pm end of registration deadline on each starting day.
The event should rapidly fill up with some of pokers’ top names — David “Raptor” Benenfield, one of this year’s WSOP November Nine, is getting some practice in, but still managed to turn up late.
Other “names” getting an early Day 1A start include Raptor’s friend Isaac Haxton, David “Doc” Sands, Chino Rheem, Erick Lindgren, Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger, Jake Balsiger, Tony Dunst, Jonathan Little and Adam “Roothluss” Levy.
Day 1A is expected to work through the first 13 blind levels, which start at 40 minutes each, and increase by the start of Day 2 to 90 minutes. At which point, the organizers will know if they have managed to reach the required number of entries to cover the ambitious $10m guarantee.
The event has been put on by the Seminole Tribe at the Casino it bought for $965m in 2007. Larry Mullin, COO Seminole Gaming said, “This destination deserves a tournament like this.”
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is the only South Florida casino with a hotel and 5,000-seat concert venue.
