While it is a given that the most lucrative sector of the online poker business is in the cash games, it is good to see that online operators still consider it crucial to organize tournaments in both the physical and virtual world. Tournaments have always been the key to attracting players.
In the month of May, the virtual poker world will be very busy with three online card room giants – PokerStars, PartyPoker, and 888Poker – releasing the schedule of their upcoming online festival.
There are a couple of exciting things that players can expect; the big boost in the overall guarantees and the fat rewards to all the winners. Here is a review of all those events coming soon to your screens.
Over $55 Million Guaranteed at the PokerStars SCOOP
The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) will undoubtedly be the biggest online event to look forward to with over $55 Million in prizes guaranteed. That’s a massive $15M more than last year’s SCOOP! The festival will run from April 30th to May 22nd, which is one week longer than its previous edition.
Through the years, SCOOP has been one of the most popular online festivals offering a wide variety of games that cater to all levels of bankroll. This year’s SCOOP will be no different with 57 events on the roster featuring a mix of poker games and an abundance of formats.
One interesting newcomer is the Progressive 100% KO tournament wherein the bounty is the buy-in (less the fee). What this means is, there is no prize pool instead players immediately receive a payout of one buy-in for every player eliminated.
As usual, all events are broken down into three categories: low, medium, and high.
-Low buy-in events begin at $5.50 and go up to a $109 Main Event
-Medium buy-in events begin at $55 up to $1,050 Main Event
-High buy-in events begin at $530 up to $10,300 Main Event
Each level of buy-in also features three High Roller events:
–PLO 6-Max HR buy-ins at $109, $1,050, $10,300
–NLHE 8-Max HR buy-ins at $215, $2,100, $25,000
–NLHE Heads-Up HR buy-ins at $215, $2,100, $25,000
Starting things off is a weeklong of Phase 1 Tournaments with buy-ins at $11, $109, and $1,050. There are 11 more of these offered throughout the schedule with all the qualifiers from each buy-in category volting in for a final showdown on Sunday, May 21st. The Main Event also gets underway on this penultimate day. Closing out the festival is the Players’ Choice event running on Monday, May 22nd.
Partypoker announces $20 Million Guaranteed Powerfest
The upcoming partypoker Powerfest has just gotten juicier with the announcement of a massive $20 million guarantee and over 300 events on the roster. Ever since its inception last year, Powerfest has seen four editions, each one subsequently increasing in overall prize pool with the latest one at $11 million.
In the partypoker blog, Managing Director of partypoker, Tom Waters, said:
“We decided to go for it this time and increase the total guaranteed prizepool for the upcoming Powerfest to over $20 million. There are some fantastic new headline events in the series, including three $1m guaranteed editions of the Title Fight, a $2m charity event and eight phased tournaments covering a range of buy-ins. I’m confident that the players will love the variety of events on offer and will relish the opportunity to become a Powerfest champion.”
The festival runs for a total of 15 days, from May 7th – May 21st, and with the sheer magnitude of events offered, there is definitely something for everyone. Alike their previous editions, the events are divided into four weight divisions with buy-ins ranging from $5.50 to $5,200.
Some of the big events that players must not miss are the $1 million guaranteed Title Fight events, the Phase tournaments which start at a lowly $5.50 buy-in, the High Roller event, and of course the Main Event which has varying guarantees based on weight class.
| Date | Event | Buy-in | Guarantee |
| Sunday 21 May | Powerfest #291 Main Event $50K Gtd | $11 | $50,000 |
| Powerfest #292 Main Event $100K Gtd | $55 | $100,000 | |
| Powerfest #293 Main Event $1m Gtd | $215 | $1,000,000 | |
| Powerfest #295 Main Event $1m Gtd High Roller | $1,050 | $1,000,000 |
Additionally, there will be a $2M guaranteed Super High Roller event with a buy-in of $25,500. All the fees ($500/players) will be donated to a charity organization of the winner’s choice. In the event that the turnout exceeds 100 entrants, partypoker will add a very generous $50,000 to the charity donation.
| Date | Event | Buy-in | Guarantee |
| Sunday 7 May | Powerfest #013 – $1m Gtd | $215 | $1,000,000 |
| Sunday 14 May | Powerfest #152 – $1m Gtd | $215 | $1,000,000 |
| Powerfest #162 Final Phase: $1m Gtd | $530 via Phase 1 | $1,000,000 | |
| Tuesday 16 May | Powerfest #301 – $2m Gtd Super High Roller | $25,500 | $2,000,000 |
| Sunday 21 May | Powerfest #296 – $1m Gtd High Roller | $5,200 | $1,000,000 |
| Powerfest #300 Final Phase: $1m Gtd | $530 via Phase 1 | $1,000,000 |
Poker pro and partypoker ambassador, Sam Trickett stated, ”I will be playing more online events than ever in this new edition of Powerfest on partypoker. The addition of the $25K Super High Roller is great and it’s a really nice touch from partypoker to donate all fees to charity.”
888Poker announces XL Infernos
Another online event to get excited about in May is the 888Poker XL Infernos running from May 8th-May 24th. The festival guarantees a $7.5 million prize pool with buy-ins ranging from $5 to $5,200. The highlights include:
Main Event: XL Inferno $1,500,000 Guaranteed, buy-in of $1,050
Opening Event: XL Inferno $300,000 Guaranteed, buy-in of $160
High Roller: XL Inferno $500,000 Guaranteed, buy-in of $2,100
Super High Roller Chip-In: $400,000 Guaranteed, buy-in of $5,200
All event winners will qualify for the XL Inferno Champion of Champions tournament wherein the ultimate champion will be awarded a WSOP 2017 Las Vegas Main Event package.
Here is the breakdown of the prizes:
- 1st: WSOP 2017 Las Vegas Main Event package
- 2nd: Crazy 8s WSOP Side Event package + $1,050 ME Qualifier ticket
- 3rd: Cray 8s WSOP Sode Event package
- 4th-5th: $600 Tournament ticket
- 6th-40th: $55 Tournament ticket
Article by Triccia David
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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