PokerStars is inviting its members to be a part of history by participating in a Guinness Book of World Records attempt. The goal is to hold the world’s largest poker tournament by sweetening the pot for anyone who participates. This time around, the tournament boasts a half-million dollar guarantee. The buy-in is just $11, meaning that for the price of a pizza, amateurs and professionals alike can attempt to take home a massive payday. Mark your calendars for this unique poker tournament and etch your place in the Guinness Book of World Records at the same time.
The tournament will kick off at 15:30 Eastern Time on Sunday, December 28th and provides a reasonable excuse to stay in and play poker rather than fight mall traffic while returning unwanted Christmas presents. The tournament will be played 10-handed and blinds will run 10 minutes each. As of Friday afternoon, December 19th, there were 4,970 players who had coughed up the $11 buy-in and registered. The tournament is actually capped at 35,000 players, meaning that, at worst, it will have a six-figure overlay.
If you’re thinking to yourself that this promotion sounds familiar, you’re right. Back on July 29th, 2007, the Sunday Hundred Grand on PokerStars drew a massive field of 20,000 players, the largest poker tournament ever held at the time. Its winner, Lynna1, turned their $11 buy-in into $20,000, which is a 200,000% return on investment. Around the same time, the online poker room signed up customer number 10 million, doubling its base in just one year as online poker grew dramatically and sites like PartyPoker and Paradise Poker left the U.S. market due to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
The December 28th tournament’s lobby reads, “This is an official attempt at the Guinness world record for World’s Largest Poker Tournament!” It comes with an ID number of 126551369. Registration is open until two minutes before the mammoth tournament kicks off. The tournament will take place on a Sunday, regularly the busiest day on the world’s largest online poker room.
On the same weekend, PokerStars will be dishing out seats to its annual Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which is held every January at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino on Paradise Island in The Bahamas. On Saturday, December 27th, PokerStars is running a $650 buy-in event that will award 10 seats to the PCA. The following day at 18:00 ET, the same day as the record-setting $500,000 Guaranteed, Stars is holding a 30 seat satellite. In total, it promises to be an exciting weekend packed with value for players who turn out.
Other recent news from PokerStars is the revelation that a Spring Championship of Online Poker, or SCOOP, will debut during the early months of 2009. The only aspects of the SCOOP that are known are what little information PokerStars gives about the prizes of the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker: “SCOOP is the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker. The event takes place early 2009 - more details will be announced soon. Event name is also subject to change.” SCOOP is a play on WCOOP, the World Championship of Online Poker, which takes place once a year and offers millions of dollars in guaranteed tournaments. SCOOP prize packages will be given out during the Blogger event.
Guinness claims itself to be the authority on people around the world breaking records. The “Guinness Book of World Records” was first released back in 1955. A “Gamer’s Edition” is also released specifically for accolades surrounding computer and video games. It recently named its top moments during the 2008 calendar year, which included Chris Chike racking up nearly 900,000 points on Guitar Hero playing the song “Through the Fire and Flames.” A British man’s bed went a staggering 69 miles per hour, owning the title of World’s Fastest Bed in the process. A Floridian made the world’s largest rubber band ball at a diameter of 25 feet. Those are just some of the records you can seek to break.
Visit PokerStars to sign up today.
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