In this column, we deliver you the latest and most interesting online poker industry news from across the world and all platforms.
Retro Week Series’ $300K GTD Main Event at 888Poker
Global brand 888poker is celebrating its 20th anniversary this Spring season with a week-long throwback festival on its multi-platform site. The Retro Week Series running through this March 27th features $888,000 in prize guarantees spread out across its 26-tournament schedule. The festival is unlike any other the online operator has hosted before with this week’s offering showcasing a selection of its most popular and historic games that many have sorely missed.
While the 8-day lineup boasts a number of great value tournaments, all eyes remain on this Sunday’s $300,000 guaranteed Retro Week Main Event. The $215 buy-in tournament ensures a thrilling poker experience as players start with a 300 big blind mega deep stack. With 12 minute blind levels and late registration through level 19, tournament runners can fire up to three re-entries for a chance to win the series’ biggest top payout.
Retro Week Series Schedule
| Time | Event | Buy-in | GTD | |
| Fri 25.3 | ||||
| 18:00 | Retro Week #18 – $30,000 Friday Challenge KO | $109 | $30,000 | |
| 19:00 | Retro Week #19 – $20,000 Big Fish PKO | $33 | $20,000 | |
| 20:00 | Retro Week #20 – $10,000 Catfish 6-Max | $16.50 | $10,000 | |
| Sat 26.3 | ||||
| 16:00 | Retro Week #21 – $12,000 Swordfish 6-Max | $33 | $12,000 | |
| 18:00 | Retro Week #22 – $30,000 Saturday Challenge PKO 8-Max | $55 | $30,000 | |
| 20:00 | Retro Week #23 – $15,000 Tornado PKO | $88 | $15,000 | |
| Sun 27.3 | ||||
| 18:00 | Retro Week Main Event – $300,000 Mega Deep | $215 | $300,000 | |
| 19:00 | Retro Week #24 – $50,000 Mini Mega Deep | $33 | $50,000 | |
| 20:00 | Retro Week #25 – $50,000 Whale | $525 | $50,000 | |
Poker March Madness on Chico Network
US-friendly Chico Poker Network is likewise hosting its very own party parallel to the ongoing NCAA Championship games with over $175,000 in guaranteed prizes. The Poker March Madness series which kicked off late last week, boasts of an extensive 64 tournament schedule covering Boost (Fast-Fold) tournaments, Turbos, Hyper Turbos, short-handed events, and its newest Boost Turbo PKO games. Buy-ins range from an inexpensive $2.20 to as high as $215 with the festival’s two biggest guarantees coming up this weekend: MM #52: $10,000 GTD Boost PKO and MM #62: $10,000 GTD Boost Turbo PKO, to wrap up the series.
Aside from the cash prizes waiting to be won, the top 64 players of each format’s leaderboard (Boost, Turbos, Hypers, PLO/PLO8) will automatically qualify to a bonus $5,000 Freeroll scheduled this Sunday, March 27.
2022 Poker March Madness Schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Event # | Tournament Name | Buy-in | KO | Fee | Total | Format |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 1:30 PM | 41 | MM – #41 $2,500 Gtd | $10.00 | $10.00 | $2.00 | $22.00 | Boost PKO |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 2:30 PM | 42 | MM – #42 $600 Gtd | $2.50 | $2.50 | $0.50 | $5.50 | Turbo PKO |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 3.30 PM | 43 | MM – #43 $2,000 Gtd | $25.00 | $25.00 | $5.00 | $55.00 | Turbo PLO8 PKO |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 4:30 PM | 44 | MM – #44 $6,000 Gtd | $60.00 | $6.00 | $66.00 | Boost | |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 5.30 PM | 45 | MM – #45 $2,000 Gtd | $15.00 | $1.50 | $16.50 | Hyper Turbo | |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 6:30 PM | 46 | MM – #46 $1,500 Gtd | $10.00 | $1.00 | $11.00 | PLO | |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 7:30 PM | 47 | MM – #47 $500 Gtd | $5.00 | $0.50 | $5.50 | Hyper Turbo | |
| Friday, March 25th, 2022 | 8:30 PM | 48 | MM – #48 $400 Gtd | $2.00 | $0.20 | $2.20 | Boost | |
| Date | Time (ET) | Event # | Tournament Name | Buy-in | KO | Fee | Total | Format |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 1:30 PM | 49 | MM – #49 $6,000 Gtd | $80.00 | $8.00 | $88.00 | Boost | |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 2:30 PM | 50 | MM – #50 $600 Gtd | $2.50 | $2.50 | $0.50 | $5.50 | Turbo PKO |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 3.30 PM | 51 | MM – #51 $1,500 Gtd | $10.00 | $10.00 | $2.00 | $22.00 | Boost Turbo PLO PKO |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 4:30 PM | 52 | MM – #52 $10,000 | $100.00 | $100.00 | $15.00 | $215.00 | Boost PKO |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 5.30PM | 53 | MM – #53 $2,000 Gtd | $15.00 | $1.50 | $16.50 | Hyper Turbo | |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 6:30 PM | 54 | MM – #54 $3,000 Gtd | $20.00 | $2.00 | $22.00 | Boost | |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 7:30 PM | 55 | MM – #55 $500 Gtd | $2.00 | $0.20 | $2.20 | Turbo | |
| Saturday, March 26th, 2022 | 8:30 PM | 56 | MM – #56 $5,000 Gtd | $25.00 | $25.00 | $5.00 | $55.00 | Boost Hyper Turbo PKO |
| Date | Time (ET) | Event # | Tournament Name | Buy-in | KO | Fee | Total | Format |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 1:30 PM | 57 | MM – #57 $5,000 Gtd | $50.00 | $50.00 | $9.00 | $109.00 | PLO8 PKO |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 2.30 PM | 58 | MM – #58 $500 Gtd | $2.00 | $0.20 | $2.20 | Boost | |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 3:30 PM | 59 | MM – #59 $1,500 Gtd | $10.00 | $1.00 | $11.00 | Turbo | |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 4.30PM | 60 | MM – #60 $2,500 Gtd | $25.00 | $25.00 | $5.00 | $55.00 | Boost PLO PKO |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 5:30 PM | 61 | MM – #61 $2,000 Gtd | $20.00 | $2.00 | $22.00 | Hyper Turbo | |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 6:30 PM | MM FREEROLL – $5,000 Gtd | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | Turbo | |
| Sunday, March 27th, 2022 | 7:30 PM | 62 | MM – #62 $10,000 Gtd | $50.00 | $50.00 | $9.00 | $109.00 | Boost Turbo PKO |
Big Sunday Turnout: GGMasters $5M Overlay Edition and PokerStars’ $10M Sunday Million
A smashing Sunday wrapped up a few days ago as two online poker giants scrambled for everyone’s attention in order to meet their ambitious guarantees. PokerStars began with the excitement for its 16th anniversary edition when it slapped a $10,000,000 prize pool guarantee for its $215 Sunday Million event, followed closely by Natural8 – GGNetwork’s announcement of its GGMasters $5,000,000 Overlay Edition happening on the same day.
While PokerStars’ massive tournament is one for the books, players saw a slightly smaller guarantee as compared to its previous 15th anniversary $12.5 million prize pool. This however, did not slow down this Sunday’s traffic with 52,119 players having jumped in for a piece of the action. In the end, it was Germany’s “Blackbeaty” who claimed the title along with $931,885 in winnings.
Sunday Million 16th Anniversary Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout (US$) |
| 1 | Blackbeaty | Germany | $931,885* |
| 2 | JanRas1983 | Denmark | $817,235* |
| 3 | ChavesVila | Brazil | $552,126 |
| 4 | Peauker123 | Belgium | $406,954 |
| 5 | EdilsonRTJ | Brazil | $299,952 |
| 6 | bamse25 | Sweden | $221,085 |
| 7 | ajjapasia | United Kingdom | $162,955 |
| 8 | begines1 | Brazil | $120,108 |
| 9 | Nigelsnuts | Brazil | $88,528 |
*Denotes a deal was made
GGNetwork’s signature GGMasters tournaments are already a popular choice for online players everywhere for its great value, freezeout format and juicy guarantees. While its regular schedule is already exciting in itself, the aggressive operator made it even more enticing as it pulled out all the stops to bring the recently concluded $5,000,000 Overlay Edition to the felt.
Considering the prize pool, 36,232 distinct players were required to participate to meet the guarantee. Iconic ambassador Daniel Negreanu went over and beyond to even promise the community that he would shave off his head should the $5M be met. Luckily for the Canadian, the turnout recorded over 3,000 short of runners, pushing the network to fork out a minor overlay. By the end of the final day, it was Albania’s “Sr_Duck” who emerged triumphant and took home the generous $343,564 top prize.
GGMasters Overlay Edition Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Countryq | Payout (US$) |
| 1 | Sr_Duck | Albania | $343,564 |
| 2 | CallMeEasy | Ukraine | $257,637 |
| 3 | BJHorseman | Poland | $193,200 |
| 4 | lwolfwhite | United Kingdom | $144,880 |
| 5 | Malach | Israel | $108,645 |
| 6 | 1TrytoSHIP | Germany | $81,472 |
| 7 | ZaaKiiu | Brazil | $61,096 |
| 8 | Fishulkin | Russia | $45,815 |
| 9 | FHT Luffy | China | $34,357 |
PokerKing hosts $6M GTD High Five Tournament Series
Reputedly the fastest growing online poker in Europe, PokerKing is happy to announce a 420-friendly series featuring over $6,000,000 in prizes to be awarded. The festival, geared for this April 8th through the 27th, will run five tournaments a day throughout the 20-day schedule for a total lineup of 100 games. Similar to its 2021 festivities, two Main Events will also be available with the later one posting a $1,000,000 guarantee for a $420 entry fee.
Main Event #1
$420,000 GTD ($55 buy-in)
Day 1’s from April 10th to 17th
Day 2 on Sunday, April 17th
Main Event #2
$1,000,000 GTD ($420 buy-in)
1st Day 1 on Saturday, April 23rd
2nd Day 1 on Sunday, April 24th
Day 2 on Monday, April 25th
So far, the full schedule of events has not yet been released but looking back at last year’s festivities, players can expect buy-ins to range somewhere between $0.25 to $2,650, catering to users of all levels of bankroll. Additionally, a variety of games including less common types Stud and Omaha Hi-Lo were evident in the 2021 games suggesting this year may likewise have something for everyone.
