Perhaps following that old movie axiom "if you build it they will come," the Commerce Casino, the World's largest bricks and mortar card room, decided to kick off their Commerce Hold 'em Series last week with a $220 buy-in tournament that featured a $500,000 guarantee.

In order to cover the huge guarantee, this live event needed to attract an astounding 2,500 entrants, which they didn't do, they attracted 3,967* breaking the record for the largest live non-World Series Of Poker event ever.

Of course astute readers will note the asterisk, which should be included because Commerce for this event came up with a bold middle ground between a traditional tournament and a rebuy event, allowing players who busted on Day 1a or Day 1b, the option of reentering the tournament on Day 1b or Day 1c.

This interesting new spin on an event, perhaps masterminded by Tournament Director Matt Savage, created a total prize pool of $753,730 and a top prize worth $164,627. The event was taken down by Los Angeles' own Moshe Mashian.

The Commerce Hold 'em Series continues for one more week and will conclude with a $2,580 buy-in No-Limit Hold 'em Championship, featuring another half-million dollar guaranteed prize pool.  For more information visit www.commercecasino.com.

 
Story by Mark Anderson