Majestic Star Casinos, Gary, IN- It all began in October of 2006 when Majestic Star Casinos hosted their first, wildly successful, Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) event and shattered all records with a prize pool of $450,000 and a field of 186 players. First place paid more than $122,000.
This event's huge success prompted poker room manager Dom Niro to bring HPT back to Chicagoland in 2007, with three scheduled events. March 2007 bettered the October event with a record crowd of 208 players, and an unprecedented prize pool of over $500,000, and a first place payout of more than $140,000. But records are meant to be broken, and it looks like Dom Niro intends to raise the bar even higher with his next HPT event to begin in July. The eagerly awaited event clearly has the potential to shatter all previous records, with a new structure that should set the prize pool soaring.
In the past, HPT events at the Majestic sold out well in advance, so Niro changed the structure of the event to enable twice as many players to enter into the final event, thus doubling the potential prize pool in the process. The main event has been changed from a two-day to three-day event and its flight system will accommodate 420 players and generate a potential prize pool of $1 million dollars or more. Because of Niro and the entire team at Majestic, HPT events and the Chicagoland poker scene are generating interest from top players across the country.
When asked about his new tournament structure Dom explained, "We will hold single-table tournaments two weeks prior to the start of each main event, with buy-ins starting at $55 and the winner receiving a $450 satellite seat. At the $100 singletable tournaments the top two players will get $450 satellite seats. We will also run $450 single-table tournaments on Friday, July 27 and the top two winners get seats to the $2,200 main event.
"Each $450 satellite will have a maximum of 150 players and depending on the number of players that have registered in each satellite, the final 20 percent of the players in each of the satellite tournaments will advance to the main event. The $2,200 main event will be a three-day tournament based on a flight system. There will be two day-one start times of 9:00am and 5:00pm. The players will play ten rounds and the remaining players will come back on day two. The main event will be limited to 210 players from each flight (420 player's total)." Dates for the satellites and the main event-Registration begins Monday, July 2 for all satellites and the main event. Heartland Poker Tour single-table satellites into the HPT $450 qualifiers as follows:
$55 buy-in: One winner gets a seat to a $450 qualifier.
$100 buy-in: Top two winners get seats to a $450 qualifier.
• Saturday July 21, 11:00am ($450 Satellite)
• Sunday July 22, 11:00am & 7:00pm ($450 Satellite)
• Monday July 23, 7:00pm ($450 Satellite)
• Tuesday July 24, 7:00pm ($450 Satellite)
• Wednesday July 25, 1:00pm & 7:00pm ($450 Satellite)
• Thursday July 26, 11:00am & 7:00pm ($450 Satellite)
• Friday July 27, 10:00am & 5:00pm ($450 Satellite)
• Main Event ($2,200) Saturday July 28, (Flight One)
9:00am; 5:00pm (Flight Two)
Day Two: Sunday July 29, 9:00am (Play down to final 6 players)
• Televised final table Monday July 30, 2:00pm (Final 6 Players)
Set your sails for Majestic Star Casino located on Lake Michigan's Buffington Harbor, and get in on some hot summer poker action and your share of some cool cash. For additional information on please contact the casino directly at 1-877-9777 of log on to www.heartlandpokertour.com.
