The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Returns with a $10m Guarantee for the Main Event
Key Takeaways
  • The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open tournament series starts on August 14 bringing 23 events to the Florida casino, including a repeat of last year’s inaugural $10m guaranteed Main Event.
  • The Hard Rock Poker Open will also feature the award of the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year.
  • The 2013 Main Event crushed its guarantee with a final prize pool of over $12m which paid out $1.7m to the eventual winner Blair Hinkle.

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open tournament series starts on August 14 bringing 23 events to the Florida casino, including a repeat of last year’s inaugural $10m guaranteed Main Event.

The 2013 Main Event crushed its guarantee with a final prize pool of over $12m which paid out $1.7m to the eventual winner Blair Hinkle.

Several day 1s are available to help build the Main Event prize pool and the tournament will be run in the now common re-entry format.

The buy-in remains the same as last year at $5,300.

The $100k High Roller event on September 1 will also allow re-entries.

The confirmed tournament schedule has been shifted slightly from the original estimate in order not to conflict with the EPT Barcelona.

Success Gets Noticed

The success of the $10m guarantee immediately spawned imitators. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event in January this year carried the same guarantee for the first time, albeit with a $10k buy in.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) also proposed a $10m guarantee for its 2014 event at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. The proposal was revised down to a $5m guarantee for the event which ran last month, but the buy-in was a relatively low $3,500.

The Hard Rock Poker Open will also feature the award of the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year. The award is based on performance during four tournament series held at the casino, and consists of $30k of tournament entries together with other VIP casino benefits.