High Society to Host El Paso’s Most Expensive Tournament, Ever

El Paso poker players are already getting excited about the next big tournament happening in town. High Society is guaranteeing a whopping $20k to first place on February 25th. And get this. It’s a Freezeout! A true freezeout (that means no add-ons, Sun City). Freezeouts are no doubt the best tournaments. But the buy-in is $1,100. Daaaaaang! I know some of y’all high rollers don’t sweat that amount, but that is too rich for my blood. And I would say the majority of El Paso poker players. 

 

But wait! High Society is running $50 satellites every Tuesday and Friday leading up to the tournament date! I love tournaments so much, I might just just spend $1100 trying to qualify for this tournament, and still not make it, but at least I had fun trying. 

To me, tournament poker is a sporting event. It’s all about having a clear winner to declare to the public. Someone at the end of it ends up with all the chips (yeah right! Because everyone chops!)  or at least that’s the way it should be (except when I’m short stacked, then we should chop). At the very least, instead of just stopping play and agreeing to a chop, everyone should secure themselves a higher payout and then play for the remaining cash, and more importantly, the title of tournament champion. 

I usually don’t like when 20% of the field is getting paid. I would rather it be 10% of the field with 50% of the prize pool up top. Winning a large tournament is a huge accomplishment and the payday should match. It also makes “making the money” more meaningful. That’s why I think this tournament is going to be a huge deal, especially with it being a freezeout. 

I was curious if other El Paso poker players felt the same way I did. So I started getting in dudes DMs to see how they felt.

El Paso card club regular Brian Tipton said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, because what about the other players who play for 6 hours when their prize pool doesn’t hit the guarantee? Only first place gets it? If I grind for 6 hours, and get 2nd place, and don’t even get my buy-in back, I would never play again.”

I definitely understand being frustrated and playing for a long time and not getting paid. But I think that adds to the excitement. Anyway, some players feel if you make it that far, you are going to get the other players to chop.

Seasoned tournament player Daniel Natividad said, “20k gtd for first place sounds awesome, however when you consider the possibility that they don’t meet the guarantee or just barely cover it; it becomes a ‘winner take all’ format and creates a monsterous pay jump that I don’t think any players would actually want to play out. Players are always very eager to chop in a conventional format so I can’t imagine 20k going to first place here unless the pool more than doubles the guarantee. I think with stakes this high, like $1,100, it’s very important to be very clear and stick to what is advertised. I would love to see the winner take a nice even 20k but I am anticipating players chopping when it comes down to it. Still very excited to see how this turns out.”

I think we are all excited to see how it turns out. Either way, this will be the largest buy-in amount for a tournament El Paso has seen (I think ever, correct me if I am wrong), so regardless if there is a chop, the person that takes home the championship trophy gets prestige recognition of winning El Paso’s most expensive tournament ever. 

The dream begins at 6pm today at High Society. See you there!