The opening event for Ace Casino Poker in 2025 is the March edition of The Grande Poker Series. The series kicks off on Wed, Mar 5 with the opening Monthly Challenge event as well as a satellite for events 3, 6, & 9. Daily Rise and Grind tournaments will also run at 10 AM with Ace running an innovative bad beat for the tournament play (in the Rise & Grind games only).
There are 12 days of poker on the schedule with 11 events planned (not including Rise & Grind games or satellites). The series closes on Mar 16 with Day 2 of the Main Event and the final Sunday Madness game at 2 PM.
There are three multi-day events in this series each with different price points. Mixed in amongst those are the Seniors game, a PKO, as well as a PLO/PLO8 mix game, the only tournament of its kind on the Alberta Poker schedule.
The Grande Poker Series: Mar 5 – 16, 2025
Ace Casino Airport is, as the name suggests, located very near to Calgary International Airport with the poker room doors just moments away from the arrivals concourse. That makes Ace the ideal location for business travelers on layovers in Calgary to get their gamble on between flights.
With the Grande Series underway, the poker aficionados in the crowd have an extra incentive to drop into Ace. While tournament action doesn’t allow for quite as convenient of a session as cash poker does, the games at Ace tend to be relatively short making them an ideal way for MTT fans to add a bit of poker to their trip to or through Calgary while staying close to the airport.
While the Ace games tend to see smaller fields than other local series, that contributes to the convenience of the series, especially for travelers. As an example, a business traveler in town for meetings next week may well choose to extend their stay in Calgary to catch the Main Event flights on Friday or Saturday, with Sunday’s Day 2 virtually guaranteed to finish up with plenty of time to catch the redeye home for the office on Monday, complete with a Main Event trophy and some cash in their suitcase.
Events to Watch
There are always a few interesting events. For the over-50 crowd, the second day of the series hosts the Seniors game for $350. I’ll be working a stack of chips in this one, looking for my very first live win.
The series also features two Sunday Madness games on, as the name suggests, each Sunday of the series. The $225 game is a weekly staple at Ace that gets rebranded for the Series, so this is a game that runs every Sunday throughout the year minus the Grande badging.
The Grande Poker Series and Ace Casino are unique on the Alberta tournament scene with a PLO/PLO8 mixed game that runs every Grande and as a regular game on Wednesdays throughout the year. Additionally, this edition of the Grande will feature a PKO game on Mar 10 and two 20-20 Turbo games for $200 each.
Multi-Day Games at the Grande
- Event #3: $350 Mini Grande ($305 + $45)
- Day 1a: Mar 7, 2 PM
- Day 1b: Mar 8, 2 PM
- Day 2: Mar 8, Noon
- Blinds: 30 Min
- Start Stack: 25k
- Event #6: $600 Mid Grande ($530 + $70)
- Day 1a: Mar 11, 2 PM
- Day 1b: Mar 12, 2 PM
- Day 2: Mar 13, Noon
- Blinds: 40 Min
- Start Stack: 30k
- Event #9: $1,100 Main Event ($1000 + $100)
- Day 1a: Mar 14, 2 PM
- Day 1b: Mar 15, 2 PM
- Day 2: Mar 16, Noon
- Blinds: 40 Min
- Start Stack: 30k
Will Panas Persist in 2025?
One player to watch going into the opening tilt of 2025 at Ace is Tyler Panas. Panas had a stellar 2024, much of it in the Ace Casino Poker room with two wins in Grande Series events last year. He also had a second in another Grande event last year and final-tabled two Ace Casino Monthly Challenge games.
- Read more: Lyle’s Poker Adventures 01: A Mini Trip Turns Grande
- Read more: Lyle’s Poker Adventures 03: That Was Ace!
2025 started out well for Panas too. He became a WSOP-C Ring winner this past January after binking the 4-Flight game in the opening Circuit event of 2025. No doubt Panas will be back to try and continue his recent hot run on the Ace Casino Poker tables.
- Read more: Tyler Panas Wins First Ring in 4-Flight
Mar 2025 Grande Poker Series Schedule
