Welcome to the PocketFives Tournament Preview presented by Poker Update. Every month, we will preview tournament series that are of interest to players in the United States, looking for good values, big fields, and the best venues for any size bankroll anywhere in the country.

Major National Events

There are four major events coming up in the next two months and they are spread out nicely across the country, offering players a chance to get to a series with big buy-ins and some celebrity star power.

Borgata Fall Poker Open – 11/4 to 11/21 in Atlantic City, New Jersey

The best value of the next two months is at one of our favorite card rooms. The Borgata Fall Poker Open features 17 days of tournaments with at least one big event every day in a big beautiful room far from the ringing of slot machines and run by star tournament director Tab Duchateau. Borgata (pictured) is the premier property in Atlantic City and the rooms, restaurants, poker room, and tournament staff are all some of the best in the country.

The series starts with a bang on November 4th and is a million-dollar guaranteed prize pool for a buy-in of $560, so the field should be huge and this should set the tone for big fields throughout the series. On top of other events with big guarantees, the series includes Mixed Game events, a Seniors’ event, a $560 Heads-Up event, and a $1,090 Six-Max event. The main event is a $2,700 buy-in with a million dollar guarantee that starts on November 16th.

Venetian Deep Stacks – 10/30 to 11/25 – in Las Vegas, Nevada

Whether you love the Venetian, hate them, or boycott them over their CEO’s stance against online poker, there is no doubt that the Venetian Deep Stacks were a game-changer and continue to draw huge fields. The rake is a little higher than it once was and the fields might not be as big as they once were, but they are still large and there is definitely still value to be found.

This time around, the Deep Stacks include the standard schedule of multiple tournaments every day, typically in the $200 to $400 range with a few larger events, some guarantees, and a few alternate events including a Seniors’ event that should generate a big field.

Commerce Casino LA Poker Open – 11/7 to 11/27 in Los Angeles, California

Commerce (pictured) is one of the biggest card rooms in the country and they draw big fields for their tournaments. The LA Poker Open features some big guarantees, including a $500,000 guarantee for the $1,600 main event and even guarantees on the nice selection of mixed and alternate game events. Omaha/8, Stud/8, and HORSE events with guarantees are rare.

Seminole Hard Rock RNR Open – 11/13 to 11/29 at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood Florida

Florida has become one of the biggest poker markets in the world over the last few years, with a new tournament series seeming to pop up every month, and the Seminole Hard Rock Casinos have taken the lead by running huge guaranteed events that bring players from all over the country. The Rock and Roll Open is a prime example of just how big this market has become, with huge guarantees that should generate massive fields.

Event #2 has a $500,000 guarantee for a buy-in of only $350, which should set a nice tone for the rest of the series. Other notable guarantees include $150,000 for $150 buy-in and another $500,000 guaranteed event, this one with a $570 buy-in. The variety is excellent.

The main event features a $2 million guarantee for a $3,500 buy-in with two starting flights on November 28th and 29th. The Rock and Roll Open has nice qualifier schedule and a wide variety of buy-ins, so there is something here for you no matter how healthy (or sickly) your bankroll might be.

Regional Bargains

East

Turning Stone Super Stacks – November 28th to December 7th at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York.

The Turning Stone Super Stacks looks like a great bargain for the small baller on the East Coast. The main event is only $550 to buy-in and the rest are between $75 and $250, but there are some nice guarantees. The first event is a $230 buy-in with a $100,000 guarantee and the main event is a $550 with a $100,000 guarantee. The structures look solid for small buy-ins and you can be sure that the fields will be soft, with all the big name pros heading elsewhere for bigger buy-ins.

Pittsburgh Poker Open – October 30th to November 17th at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Poker Open has a great schedule and while the guarantees are small, we still expect a good turnout. The poker community in the Pittsburgh area is booming and the buy-ins are small enough that local players should flock to this event. The structures look solid and there are multiple tournaments each day, including satellites, and every tournament is no-limit holdem with a few minor variations.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City – December 11th to December 22nd

The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s won’t be a huge draw, but the fields won’t be tiny and lots of Circuit grinders will be there chasing points for the National Championship. Harrah’s features a nice poker room with a good number of tables and, after Borgata, is the only other thriving poker room in Atlantic City (pictured). The schedule is pretty much a standard WSOP Circuit stop except that there is no $1,000 event in the middle of the series.

Midwest

Things are pretty thin in the Midwest for the next two months and, since it’s getting colder, many players will be traveling to some of the other excellent values on our list. Players who are staying in the Midwest should find good values within driving distance at a number of events on the Heartland Poker Tour Schedule.

Heartland Poker Tour

The HPT has changed from a single event on a single weekend to a tournament series lasting around ten days. The main event is still a $1,650 buy-in on the final weekend and the final six players make the cut for the television broadcast. There are three HPT events in the next two months in the Midwest.

HPT Soaring Eagle – Mt Pleasant, Michigan from 11/14 to 11/24
HPT Prairie Meadows – Altoona, Iowa from 11/28 to 12/08
HPT Ameristar – East Chicago, 12/04 to 12/15

Mid-States Poker Tour – 12/4 to 12/11 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota.

The MSPT was born in Minnesota and still draws big crowds in its home state. Canterbury Park is an excellent poker room and this $1,100 event, with a week of qualifiers ahead of time, should draw a field of well over 300 players. The guarantee is only $200,000, but a field larger than 300 is a lock.

South

While Florida isn’t the only place to play poker in the southern United States, it doesn’t have much competition during the last few months of 2014. Still, poker is so big in Florida right now that it more than makes up for a lack of major tournament series in the rest of the south.

Seminole Hard Rock Winter Poker Open – 12/2 to 12/11 in Tampa, Florida

In addition to the Rock and Roll Open that was featured earlier as a major national event, the Seminoles are hosting the Winter Poker Open at the Hard Rock in Tampa with $415,000 in guarantees. The guarantees are not as large as some of the bigger events we have featured, but we expect this series to exceed the guarantees by a significant margin. The smaller buy-ins make it a great bargain for players with a smaller bankroll.

West

California is fairly quiet this fall and Las Vegas has all the best action in the last two months of the year. Luckily, there are three very different events in Vegas on top of the Venetian Deep Stacks and together they should have something for everyone.

WSOP Circuit Planet Hollywood – 11/13 to 11/23 in Las Vegas

When the WSOP stops in Vegas, there are always big crowds, and this stop will be no exception. Since the Caesars poker room was moved to a much smaller space, its parent company has focused more poker on Planet Hollywood; the Vegas stop on the circuit is now at PH for the foreseeable future. Flights and hotel rooms are cheap during this time of the year and there should be more than enough soft players chasing rings to make these events profitable.

Heartland Poker Tour Stratosphere – 11/7 to 11/16 in Las Vegas

Hidden among the big tournament series in Vegas over the next few months you can find a hidden gem. The HPT at The Stratosphere features very reasonable room rates and much lower expenses while giving the frugal player a chance at some real money. The final table of the $1,650 main event is televised and the prize pool was over $500,000 last year, with more than $120,000 going to first place.

The PocketFives Monthly Tournament Preview is provided by PokerUpdate.com, your site for poker industry news.