Pokerstars Launches New Stadium Series For July
It may be time for Aussies to arrange trips to New Zealand to play some online poker.
The largest online poker sites in the world are hosting massive tournament series this summer, the first of which just started this weekend. And hundreds of millions of dollars will be guaranteed in those prize pools. The WPT will offer $100 million on PartyPoker. The WSOP will put a $25 million guarantee on its Main Event alone on GGPoker and Natural8. And PokerStars kicked off its $50 million Stadium Series this weekend.
July and August might be a good time for a holiday in an Asia-Pacific country that hasn’t banned online poker like the Australian government did.
WSOP and WPT Online Soon
The largest tournament series in the world are now online.
The World Poker Tour had to cancel its live tournaments indefinitely during the pandemic, so it partnered with PartyPoker to offer online events. The initial series’ success led them to craft the WPT World Online Championships, set to run July 17 through September 8.
Over the course of the large series, PartyPoker will offer 12 main WPT-branded tournaments, out of which three players will emerge as official WPT champions and win seats to the WPT Tournament of Champions. And buy-ins will range from $33 to $102K.
Did we mention $100 million in guarantees?
The World Series of Poker had to cancel its world-famous summer WSOP series in Las Vegas this year due to Covid-19 concerns, so it also went online. Its partnership with the GGPoker Network puts the 54 out of 85 gold bracelet WSOP events on Natural8.
Action for the WSOP 2020 Online starts on July 19 and runs through September 6 and marks the first time that the official series will be online and available to non-US players. The series features a NLHE Main Event at a discount – only $5K for the buy-in – and with a $25 million guarantee.
Did we mention 54 official WSOP gold bracelets on the line?
PokerStars Gets Underway First
Only about two weeks ago, PokerStars announced a new series, a unique one to run through the month of July. The Stadium Series is something different from its usual tournament series offerings with an escalating buy-in structure, weekly heats, and Sunday finals. And it all leads up to a Main Event.
The series began this weekend on July 5 and runs through August 2 with 102 official Stadium Series events. That leaves plenty of time to get out of Australia and set up the laptop in a country that welcomes PokerStars.
Did we mention $50 million in guarantees?
Oh, and PokerStars is awarding $2 million worth of free tickets and tournament seats.
Stadium Series Setup
The way it works may seem complicated, but it is actually rather smooth and simple.
PokerStars starts the first week of action with heat events as low as $5.50, with the same price points for the July 12 Sunday finals. The buy-ins increase each week until the Grand Final on the last weekend of the series.
This should clarify a bit:
- July 5-11: Weekly heats with buy-ins of $5.50 / $55 / $530
- July 12: Sunday finals with buy-ins of $5.50 / $55 / $530 (with $150K / $500K / $1M GTD)
- July 13-18: Weekly heats with buy-ins of $11 / $109 / $1,050
- July 19: Sunday finals with buy-ins of $11 / $109 / $1,050 (with $500K / $1.5M / $1.5M GTD)
- July 20-25: Weekly heats with buy-ins of $22 / $215 / $2,100
- July 26: Sunday finals with buy-ins of $22 / $215 / $2,100 (with $500K / $1.5M / $1.5M GTD)
- July 27-August 1: Weekly heats with buy-ins of $55 / $530 / $5,200
- August 2: Sunday finals with buy-ins of $55 / $530 / $5,200 (with $1M / $2M / $5M GTD)
The Grand Final is that last event, the $5,200 buy-in Sunday final with the $5 million guarantee.
The heats offer a variety of poker formats, such as PKOs and 6-max tables and deep stacks, as well as prize pool guarantees on each one. They vary, but PokerStars offers more information.
Opportunities Abound
As with all PokerStars series, there are numerous qualifiers and satellites running for every heat and finals round. In addition, the top finishers in the weekly heats will win tickets to the Sunday finals.
Players need not work their way through the series, though. They may buy in at any level at any time. The heats simply provide a path for players who may not be able to afford the larger buy-ins.
There will also be Fast Track steps, special Spin & Gos starting at just $4 each, and a leaderboard competition that will award tickets to the Grand Final.
There are also freerolls – daily – that will award 170 tickets to the Main Event. That’s the one dubbed the Grand Final with the $5K buy-in.
