Word appears to be getting out about Pickle Money Ball events.

This week at the tour’s East Coast Regional in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, there were more than 550 players competing for a share of the $625,000 total prize pool.

And in the top divisions, many of those players were established pros. It just goes to show: If you put up the money, the players will come, said Pickle Money Ball COO and co-founder Clay Deen.

“We put meaningful prize money on the line and created opportunities for players to compete and win money,” Deen said. “The response has been incredible, and it reinforces what we’ve believed from the beginning: When you invest in the players and give them something worth competing for, they show up. With every event, we’re seeing stronger competition, greater participation and continued momentum. This has been our biggest event yet, but we believe we’re only beginning to realize the potential of what we’re building at Pickle Money Ball.”

My first-hand experience playing in Fort Lauderdale

This week I played in my first Pickle Money Ball event.

I’ll get into how it went below, but my biggest takeaway is this: Everything about these tournaments feels elevated. The money is big, this week’s venue (The Fort) is one of the best pickleball facilities in the country, almost every match has a ref (sometimes two) and it was run efficiently even with a few rain showers on Thursday and Friday.

The Championship Court setup also felt very professional, with live streaming and commentators for most of the gold-medal matches throughout the week.

For a tour that is still relatively new, Deen and his team are getting the details right.

I heard from several players who shared that sentiment.

“The communication from everyone here and just how well this tournament was organized was amazing,” said Romina Casanova, who walked away with $2,000 after winning the 4.49 and under mixed doubles division. “All I really had to focus on was my game and talking to my partner.”

I played the 5.0+ men’s doubles division and finished 16th out of 27 teams. Luckily for us, this tournament paid out to the Top 16 finishers, so me and my partner ended up just barely in the money. We earned $325 each — enough to cover our entry fee.

While I would have liked to have played a little better and won a couple more matches, I knew coming into the event that I would have to play very well to compete with the top teams. I’m a 5.2 DUPR, and the men’s doubles 5.0+ field included several pro players that many pickleball fans would recognize.

Ryan Fu/Callan Dawson defeated Robert Slutsky/Jayden Broderick 5-11, 11-6, 11-6 in the final to win $2,000 each. Other established pros in the field included Jack Munro, Richard Livornese Jr., Max “Purple Jesus” Manthou, Tanner Tomassi and Ryler DeHeart.

There were several notable players on the women’s side as well. Katerina Stewart/Megan Fudge defeated Shelby Bates/Vivian Glozman 11-6, 13-11 in the women’s doubles final.

As somebody who was traveling from out of state (I live in Nebraska), I appreciated that the field was stacked. The format for Pickle Money Ball events is round robin followed by a single-elimination bracket, so it makes the trip worth it for me knowing that I’m guaranteed to play a lot of matches against really good players — and also have a chance to earn some money.

Pickle Money Ball events also pay out the same amount in each division, whether it’s 3.499 and under or 5.0+, which gives all players the chance to experience the thrill of competing in a high-stakes environment.

Building momentum heading into 2027

It’s clear that Pickle Money Ball is gaining traction among players, and the tour shows no signs of slowing down heading into 2027. They’ve announced a ton of events already for next year, including the Pickle Money Ball National Championship in July, which will feature the largest total amateur payout in pickleball history of more than $1 million.

Below is the current schedule for next year.

If you haven’t played one of these events yet and the tour is coming to a location near you, I would definitely recommend it. It’s good competition with money on the line at premium venues — what’s not to like?

Pickle Money Ball 2027 schedule.