After moving the extremely popular California State Poker Championship to May earlier this year, the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, CA, was left with a gap in its schedule of poker events in the fall when the CSPC traditionally was held. To cover up that gap and offer some innovations to the poker tournament world, the Commerce announced last Friday that the Commerce Casino Hold’em Series would take place from September 10th to September 25th.
The Commerce Casino Hold’em Series will feature sixteen tournaments that offer buy-ins from as low as $220 up to the $2500 buy-in for the Championship Event. In a departure from most tournaments, nearly each event will have guaranteed prize pool ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 guaranteed for the players. The $335 No Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament and a $1065 Pot Limit Hold’em event will not have guaranteed prize pools and other tournaments that do not have guarantees will offer seats to the $2500 Championship Event to the victors. Along with a wealth of cash, there are other innovations that will be tested during the run of the Commerce Casino Hold’em Series.
One of the best innovations is offered to players in the first tournament on the series, the $220 No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $500,000 guarantee. Slated to have three Day Ones and be a four day tournament, a player who is eliminated on Day 1A has the option to come back and buy in again to play on Day 1B. Any players eliminated on Day 1B will also have the option to buy in again and play Day 1C. The potential exists for a player to take three shots at the $500K prize pool, which should exceed the guaranteed amount.
Other interesting tweaks to tournament poker can be found later in the Commerce Casino Hold’em Series schedule. The Commerce will put a twist to the Heads Up format when they offer the $545 Double Elimination (meaning that a player has to lose twice before they are eliminated) Heads Up Championship on September 22nd, which will feature a seat into the $2500 Championship Event for the eventual winner in addition to the cash prize. Also on the 22nd, the first ever $335 Knockout Bounty Tournament with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool will play out. For each player that a competitor eliminates in that tournament, the winning player will get $100 on the spot from the Commerce Casino.
On September 23rd, arguably the most original event of the Commerce Casino Hold’em Series will take place with the $1600 Ironman Challenge. The tournament, which will have $10,000 added to the final prize pool, will truly be a test, as it has no scheduled breaks and will test the abilities of the players under extreme and unrelenting pressure. While the tournament does not deny the players the opportunity to leave the felt, the tournament does not stop and the player’s stack continues to be in play and blinded off. The payout of the event is also like no other tournament, as 50% of the prize pool is paid to first place and no deals are allowed at the final table.
Some of the new twists on tournaments are courtesy of the gentleman considered the finest tournament director around today, Commerce Casino’s very own Matt Savage. “The series will feature huge guarantees and unique tournaments that have never been seen before in poker,” Savage commented during the announcement of the Commerce Casino Hold’em Series. “The diversity of events and unusual formats will continue to make Hold’em tournaments at Commerce Casino exciting, stimulating and rewarding for our players.”
With the fall schedule a little slow in the poker community, Commerce Casino’s Hold’em Series should offer different innovations for players and plenty of guaranteed money for the winners. For a full look at the schedule of events or other information, visit the Commerce Casino website to learn more.
