The inaugural Moneymaker Tour is ready to finally get out on the road touring city to city hosting poker tournaments. And its first stop will be in the Sunshine State.
At the head of this new poker tour is Chris Moneymaker himself. Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker main event for $2.5 million. He arguably sparked the modern poker boom after earning his seat through an $86 satellite event on PokerStars.
Following the victory, PokerStars decided to sign Moneymaker as a sponsored pro for the site. The partnership remained intact for the next 17 years. At the end of 2018, PokerStars launched the Moneymaker Tour as part of their Platinum Pass promotion for the PokerStars Players Championship.
But the partnership concluded at the end of 2020. In 2021, Moneymaker signed with a different online poker site. And in 2022, Moneymaker announced he was launching the Moneymaker tour as an independent venture.
This May, he brings the tour’s first stop to a popular Florida poker room: the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The 20-event schedule will run from May 10-24.
Tony Burns steps in with years of Florida poker experience
It’s no shock the Moneymaker Tour’s first stop is in Florida.
To help him in this endeavor, Moneymaker hired Tony Burns to be the tour’s executive manager. Burns has deep ties to the Florida poker industry and oversaw most of its growth over the last decade.
Previously, Burns was the director of poker marketing for Seminole Gaming. Before that, he was the tournament director at the Seminole Tribe’s flagship poker room in Hollywood. In his new role, Burns is tasked with growing the new tour. That growth will start in Florida.
In a social media post, Burns teased details about his new position after stepping down from his position with the Seminole Tribe:
“After working in baseball for 12 years and leaving in 2005, I always said if I found another job in an industry that I loved, I’d never leave that industry again. Well, I’m doing just that. I had admired their tournaments and wanted to be a part of that someday. I guess when you put things out into the universe, they sometimes come to be.”
Burns brings a wealth of information and experience to the table for Moneymaker as he begins marketing the tour as a mainstay in the poker industry. “I had the privilege of learning first hand about the Tribe’s culture/past from my late boss and friend Larry Frank,” tweeted Burns as he paid respect to his former employer. “I worked under two other great industry leaders, including William Mason and David Hoenemeyer.”
Now, after all of their planning and hard work, the Moneymaker Tour begins.
Florida poker players will see Moneymaker Tour at Palm Beach Kennel Club
When the Florida gaming compact was updated in 2010, it changed the rules surrounding poker tournaments and cash games. It was the start of a regional poker boom in the state. In the years immediately following the change, Palm Beach Kennel Club became one of Florida’s more popular tournament stops.
Its poker room was a regular destination for the World Series of Poker Circuit and other mid-major tours. However, in recent years, PBKC has seen those tours go elsewhere. But its management is excited to bring poker players back to the room with the first stop of the Moneymaker Tour.
“We are very excited to be hosting the inaugural Moneymaker Tour to the poker room at PBKC,” said Poker Room Director and Assistant General Manager Noah Carbone via press release. “It’s going to be an amazing event featuring our largest buy-in event ever. This event will bring people to us from all over the country who haven’t experienced this facility before, and many are first-time visitors to beautiful Palm Beach County.”
Series features seven-figures worth of prize pools
The 14-day event will include 20 separate tournaments and over $1 million in guaranteed prizes. There will be a large diversity of buy-in amounts ranging from $86-$2,500 to attract all manner of players.
The press release already outlined the opening event and the Main Event on poker.org as follows:
“With 20 events promised, we can already share details about two marquee events. The opening event will feature six starting flights and run from May 10 through May 13. It boasts a $250,000 guarantee with a $500 buy-in.
The Moneymaker Main Event will have three starting flights and run from May 18 through May 24. That one features a $500,000 guarantee and a $2,500 buy-in.
The final table will be live-streamed to bring the culmination of the first stop on the tour to an online audience.”
