Every year poker players at bwin can count on one thing, the growth of their Grand Series of Poker tournament series. As the Grand Series of Poker approaches, players expect the progression to continue and the tweaks bwin has made should insure that. As bwin says “Poker players should fasten their seat belts and prepare for 15 days of non-stop poker action, leading up to the $5,000 buy-in Grand Slam Final.”
The latest edition will feature a broad range of games and buy-ins. There are fifteen GSOP 5 events with games like No-Limit Hold’em and PL Omaha. The powers that be at bwin have correctly seen fit to give players a choice across a wide range of formats. There will be shorthanded action, rebuy tournaments and standard freezeouts.
They will have one rebuy one addon tournaments, unlimited rebuys, fixed limit, Omaha Hi/Lo, Omaha shorthanded and more. They are also offering deep guarantees in prize money which should have players coming out of the woodwork. With 15 days of action and $2.5 million in the kitty the series offers salivating opportunities.
Wait, that’s not all. Bwin has realized there is more to a Grand Series of Poker than just main events and bigger buy-ins. Those of us with slimmer wallets will get the chance to participate this year too. While the Grand Series of Poker will have $2.5 million guaranteed the mini-Grand Series of Poker will have $250,000 guaranteed.
The Grand Slam Mini final is a $525 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold’em Freeze-out tournament. The good folks at bwin will be guaranteeing $30k. The tournament will be held on October 10th. Of course there will be ways to make the Grand Slam Mini Final other than just buying in outright. There will be 15 qualifiers running from September 19 to October 3rd. The buy-ins are as low as $5 and $10. The events will be rebuy tournaments and will start with one guaranteed Grand Slam Final Ticket.
Other ways to get into the Grand Slam Mini Final include being first place in Series leader board, winners of the three leader board qualifiers (to be contested by players ranked 2nd to 100th place), and winning any of the GSOP Mini events. The leader board ticket qualifiers will be contested as such: players ranked 2nd thru 10th play for a ticket; Players ranked 11th through 30th will vie for a ticket; and players ranked 31st to 100th will play for the third and final ticket.
Leader board points will be accumulated in all events. They will be calculated by multiply the prize pool by 0.2. That number will be divided by the place finished times 0.5. Then that number will be multiplied by 10.
But there’s even more fun and excitement in store this GSOP, as bwin is rolling out a new GSOP Mini series that runs alongside its bigger GSOP brother. The tournaments and formats are the same, but the buy-ins are much smaller, giving players with smaller bankrolls an equal chance to share in the GSOP glory. There will be 15 Grand Slam Mini Main Events inclduing the Grand Slam Mini Final.
The bigger series the will conclude in the Grand Slam. The Grand Slam will have a guaranteed 300k prize pool and a buy-in of 5k. The format will be No Limit Texas Hold’em Freezeout tournament. Qualifiers for the Grand Slam Final will work similar to the Grand Slam Mini Final. Besides buying in players can earn their way via the leader board from the Grand Slam series win one of the 15 Grand Slam Qualifiers, win one of the 15 Grand Slam Main Events and via a Last Chance Qualifier. There a $50 buy-in two hours before the final will give away at least three seats.
Should be a lot of fun. See you there.