After the record-breaking 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) last summer and the WPT World Championship held later at Wynn Las Vegas, January brings a full menu of live poker tournaments and cash games to Illinois poker rooms and casinos.
The poker rooms at The Horseshoe will organize three weekly tournaments, just a 20-minute drive from downtown Chicago. These tournaments are part of the preparations for the upcoming WSOP Circuit Event, which will take place at the Hammond Casino from February 29 to March 11.
The packed January lineup includes charity poker events and daily cash games with up to six-figure Bad Beat jackpots. Grand Victoria Casino, Hollywood Aurora, and Rivers Des Plaines Casino also host regular tournaments with a wide range of buy-ins and prize pools.
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Horseshoe Hammond Hosts Guaranteed Tournaments
The poker room at Horseshoe Hammond, located just outside Chicago, kicked off the busy January schedule with a $40 buy-in tournament on New Year’s Day featuring a $5,000 guaranteed prize pool. Throughout the month, the poker room will spread no-limit hold’em tournaments at 11 am and 7 pm daily with buy-ins from $40 to $115.
On Tuesdays, The Horseshoe presents a $120 No-Limit Hold’em tournament that kicks off promptly at noon. This tournament offers a guaranteed prize pool of $5,000. As for Wednesdays, the stakes are raised with a $220 NLH event starting at noon, which guarantees an impressive prize pool of $10,000.
Thursdays round out the week with another evening $120 NLH tournament launching at 6 pm and $5,000 in guaranteed cash up for grabs. The tournament formats alternate between bounty and freezeout layouts, which don’t allow reentry or add-ons.
For cash players, Horseshoe Hammond offers a full range of fixed-limit and no-limit games at stakes from $1/$2 blinds up to $10/$25 blinds. Spreading up to 31 tables at a time, the casino provides the region’s highest limits and most diverse game selection.
Promotions include high-hand jackpots up to $1,500 for quads or better, drawings for cash and merchandise prizes, and football squares contests during this month’s NFL playoff game. Along with cash prizes, players can compete for entry into the Winter Poker Open Championship in February.
Grand Victoria Casino Continues with Regular Deep-Stack Schedule
A bit further west in Elgin, Grand Victoria Casino keeps its standard lineup of deep stack tournaments running each week of the month. Tuesdays see a $135 NLH tournament welcoming players from 5 pm onward, with a generous 15,000 starting chip stack. Fridays follow suit with a $190 NLH event launching at 6 pm and 15,000-chip starting stacks.
On Sundays, the official WSOP poker room sets aside its highest buy-in event, a $300 NLH tournament, at noon, giving players double the starting stack of 30,000 chips. The Elgin casino will also host the return of the 2024 WSOP Circuit series from April 4 to 15.
Weekend Tournaments are Back at Hollywood Aurora
Hollywood Aurora Casino has resumed its popular weekend tournaments following a short holiday break. The $300 buy-in tournament starts promptly at 1 pm each Saturday, awarding players a generous starting stack of 20,000 chips.
The poker room at Hollywood Aurora takes registrations from noon until the fourth round is concluded, keeping the event running well into the afternoon. Players can include an optional $15 dealer add-on, increasing their initial stacks by 10,000 chips.
Online Satellites Added to the Regular Schedule at Rivers Casino
Over in Des Plaines, Rivers Casino hosts daily poker tournaments at noon and 6:30 pm, alongside occasional guaranteed prize pools. Cash games run from the early afternoon until late at night, with blinds starting at $1/$3 for No-limit Hold’em and going up to $10/$25 for high-rollers. Limits reach $50/$100 for Pot Limit Omaha games.
However, this month’s highlight of poker at Rivers Des Plaines revolves around a hybrid series of online and live satellites available on one of Illinois’ popular online casinos, BetRivers. BetRivers offers online satellites every Sunday for players to win a seat at the live tournament final table, with five seats guaranteed each week.
Buy-ins for the online satellites start at just $10, providing an affordable way to compete for a spot at the final table, where the normal buy-in is $230. Connecting online and live play delivers convenience and lower buy-ins for recreational players while potentially driving bigger field sizes for brick-and-mortar events.
Bad Beat Poker Jackpots Swelling Across Illinois
At Rivers Des Plaines, cash games remain active across the poker room’s 22 tables as players vie for a share of the growing Bad Beat Jackpot. Having last been hit last August, the bad beat trigger of quad fours beaten now promises a payout well over $180,000. With no jackpot awarded for over five months, anticipation among the cash game community continues to build.
Elsewhere across the state, bad beat pots are also climbing, with over $150,000 at Horseshoe Hammond Casino and Grand Victoria Casino with its $85,000 offering. More than $73,000 at Hollywood Aurora and a modest $3,000 at Windy City Poker Club are up for grabs.
Wrap-Up: Gearing up for WSOP Circuit Event at Horseshoe Hammond
The Horseshoe Hammond will host a major WSOP Circuit stop from February 29 to March 11, with over $2,000,000 in guarantees spread across 16 events. According to the official schedule, Event #1 will run as five consecutive daytime starting flights from February 29 through March 2, each guaranteeing $500,000.
Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold’em tournaments are scheduled for March 2 and 4 with $250,000 guarantees each. Senior events for players aged 50+ will run on March 3rd and 10 with $50,000 guarantees.
The Main Event will take place as three daytime starting flights from March 8 through 10, each flight guaranteeing $1,000,000 in prize pool. Other tournaments, including Pot Limit Omaha and No-Limit Hold’em, will also be available, alongside $10,000 guaranteed NLH tournaments running nightly at 8 pm.
