He then met another great resource for learning about how to run tournaments, Matt Savage. In 2011, Hammer began working at ARIA as a tournament manager. “He was kind of my first mentor doing tournaments,” explains Hammer. He worked at Binion’s as well where he met Paul Campbell, now the TD at ARIA. Starting in 2007, Hammer worked as a dealer at the World Series of Poker for the next summers. Though a relative newcomer to Texas, he brings many years’ worth of poker experience to the position. Hammer started at Prime Social Club in August 2020. “There will be more million-dollar events, and the biggest prize pool is going to go up and up and up.” From Vegas to Houston: Learning the tournament ropes “There’s going to be a lot more records that are set for the biggest tournament ,” says Hammer. As Hammer explains, if Prime Social Club hadn’t “swung for the fences” with its $500,00 event that became a $1 million tournament, other clubs likely would not have been encouraged to stage their own large-scale events. The clubs’ successes are no doubt inspiring to each other. The Texas Card House in Dallas achieved a similar feat earlier this month with a $500,000 guaranteed tournament attracting enough players to create a $1.246 million prize pool. However, it won’t be the first with a seven-figure prize pool thanks to Prime Social Club first hitting that milestone in Feb. Technically speaking, it is the first Texas tournament with a $1M guarantee. That series is advertising its series-climaxing tournament as the “Inaugural Texas State $1 Million Guaranteed Main Event.” Meanwhile, the Lone Star Poker Series is making another stop at the Champions Poker Club this month. The club is now planning another big series for May-June. Timothy Gilliam of Celeste emerged as the winner, collecting $160,390 following a heads-up deal. With 1,079 total entries, that prize pool ballooned to a whopping $1,079,000. ![]() The 18-day, 17-event series culminated with a $500,000 guaranteed Main Event (with a $1,100 buy-in). ![]() In February, the Prime Social Club ran the even larger Prime Signature Series. That included a $104,000 guaranteed Main Event that ultimately drew enough entries to push the prize pool to $330,000. The series resulted in guarantees doubled and even tripled throughout, ultimately awarded close to $775,000 across the 16 events. Last October and November, Hammer and the Prime Social Club hosted the first Lone Star Poker Series. Speaking of large tournament series, Hammer has been on hand for a couple of the bigger ones over recent months. Million-dollar tournaments multiply in Texas poker clubs Hammer spoke with PlayTexas about the Prime Social Club and its activities, what’s been happening generally speaking with Texas poker, and what the future may hold. And it’s going to get bigger and bigger.”Ī number of factors are spurring poker’s growth in Texas, including the lifting of COVID– related restrictions and an increase in the percentage of individuals receiving vaccinations. “You’re going to see these big events that are worth traveling for, and series that are worth staying a week and playing in. ![]() “Now I think Texas is going to be on that map somewhere,” he says. and Florida,” says Hammer, referring to the growth of poker in the country and other “poker meccas” having establishing themselves. “For the last few years it’s been Vegas and L.A. Just ask Justin Hammer, Tournament Director for the Prime Social Club, one of the larger of the 30 or so poker clubs operating in the Lone Star State. Clubs are expanding, tournament series are growing, and more players than ever are actually playing Texas hold’em in Texas.
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