Davie Player Wins $40,000 Poker Tournament at Dania 

      It turned out to be the toughest ticket to get in all of South Florida Saturday.  Dania Jai-Alai staged its biggest poker tournament ever, a $40,000 guaranteed prize pool Texas Hold’em tournament with a $250.00 buy-in.

      All 250 entries were sold by 8 pm, Friday night, but the players kept coming, some offering $350 to other players just to get a seat.

      “We were taking a risk guaranteeing $40,000,” said Paula Lettiere, Dania’s senior staffer in the cardroom, “but I was confident the entire way that this would be the most successful tournament we ever had.”

      When the tournament director gave the start signal at approximately 1 pm, all 25 tables were full, and the unlucky players that waited until Saturday could only hang over the rail and watch.

      Nearly 12 hours later at close to 1 am, a tired, but exuberant final table of 10 players agreed to “chop” the over $50,000 in prize money. The chip leader, Angelo Miele, Jr. received the most, around $5,000 and the Champion’s Bracelet signifying he was, indeed, the winner.

      “This took a lot of work, but it was so rewarding to see everyone have a great time… this showed that Dania Jai-Alai is THE tournament room in our area,” said Lou Berdellans, Dania’s promotions and event coordinator.

      Dania Jai-Alai officials are already making plans to offer the event, again, in a few months, maybe even making it a quarterly tournament.  Meanwhile, it was announced that there will be a new $150 tournament with a greatly reduced House Fee of only $5.00 on Saturday, August 1^st, at 12:30 pm.

      Also, Dania Jai-Alai will feature another Dan Le Batard Celebrity Poker Tournament on Wednesday night, July 22^nd, with a $50 entry fee. 

      Here are the top five finishers (25 places paid with the lowest being $600.00) 

1. Angelo Miele, Jr – Davie
2. Jeff Justinak – Ft. Lauderdale
3. Nigel Murray – Miami
4. Glen Maiolini – Davie
5. Carl Delprete – Delray Beach