By
Dan |
Published
Jul 27 2008, 04:52 PM
The largest online poker room on the planet, PokerStars, has taken a pre-emptive strike at CEREUS, the new network formed by the player bases of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, as well as the rest of the online poker world. Currently in the final days of its 2X campaign, which has run throughout the month of July, PokerStars has upped the ante yet again. Starting this Sunday, August 3rd, the PokerStars Sunday Million will feature a $1.5 million guarantee every single week. Gone are the days of just one million dollars on the line. Moreover, the Sunday Warm-Up, which kicks off just a few hours before the Sunday Million, will now boast a regular guarantee of $750K. Let’s take a look at the latest news from the most popular online poker site in existence.
If you’re a regular on PokerStars, you’ll know that the online poker room is nearing the end of its popular 2X promotion. The month of July has featured a special promotion for players on PokerStars to take advantage of every week. During the week that ended on Sunday, July 13th, the guarantees of each of the major tournaments on PokerStars were doubled. This included the three major events that are held every Sunday: The Sunday Million, Warm Up, and Second Chance. The Sunday (Two) Million that week featured a gigantic 14,181 player field, making it one of the largest online poker tournaments ever held. Normally, between 7,000 and 9,000 players show up to the Sunday Million each week.
In that $2 million guaranteed tournament, PocketFiver Tim Dawg scored the largest first place prize ever awarded for the Sunday Million, turning his $215 buy-in into hefty $297,801 in a matter of a few hours. Starting next week, the Sunday Million will sport a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool, undoubtedly influenced by the overwhelming response to the 2X promotion. Here were the top five finishers in that tournament and the amount that they cashed for:
timdawg888 - $297,801
xanja - $198,534
PokerMurphy1 - $141,810
kpax22 - $113,448
KAG1 - $85,086
The Sunday Warm-Up will also see an increased guarantee. Instead of the regular half-million dollars up for grabs each weekend right now, the Sunday Warm-Up will become a $750K Guarantee tournament starting next weekend. It’s also permanent change. The $750K prize pool, by comparison, is the same size as the largest tournament offered on Full Tilt Poker every week. When its prize pool doubled as part of the 2X promotion to become $1 million, there were 5,357 entrants. Parnish won a first place prize of $137,675 and the top four finishers turned the $215 buy-in into more than $50K. Last week, the Sunday Warm-Up attracted 3,488 players and PocketFiver eisenhower1 took home $97,664 for first. In addition to the increased guarantees in the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up, expect the minimum prize pools of other tournaments to increase as well.
In just over one month, PokerStars will become the center of the online poker world for the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker, which kicks off on September 5th. There are $30 million in guarantees this year, which is exactly double the guarantee amount from last year. There are 33 events total in the 2008 WCOOP, culminating in the $5,200 buy-in Main Event, which will sport a $10 million guarantee. The Main Event begins on Sunday, September 21st and runs for two days. Other tournaments you can expect to find in this year’s WCOOP include an eight-game mixed event, a $10,300 buy-in HORSE event, and eight tournaments with six-max tables.
The bottom line is that there is a lot to look forward to on PokerStars. We’ll keep you up to date on the latest news from the largest online poker room on the planet. In the meantime, visit PokerStars for more details.