While PokerStars 27-event, $11m GTD, High Roller series is a far cry from the multi-millions fought over in the live high roller tournaments across the globe, it’s still going to attract high roller brethren like kites to electricity pylons.
From Dec 1 – 9, the world’s largest online poker room will usher superyachts into their harbour with the lure of action ranging from between $530 – $10,300. There’s also room for the odd tugboat with feeder satellites starting at $5.50.
The Poker Gods from the Isle of Man promise one daily event with a guarantee of $500,000, and the series opens with a $10,300, $1m GTD No-Limit Hold’em event and three more games with combined guarantees of $1.1m.
The one day that high rollers don’t want to be caught outside with a hatchet driving into wood is Sunday, December 8. The schedule contains four events ranging between $530 and $10,300 with $3.15m in guarantees.
Included in that honey pot is the $5,200, $2m GTD NLHE Main Event. Starting December 8 and ending December 11, the four-day dingaling is a 250 big blind bash allowing players to fire three bullets before late registration ends somewhere near the start of Day 2.
Here is the schedule in full.
Schedule in Full (All Times CET)
Dec 1: 19:00 $10,300 NLHE, $1m GTD
Dec 1: 20:30 $1,050 NLHE PKO, $500k GTD
Dec 1: 22:00 $530 NLHE Turbo, $300k GTD
Dec 1: 23:00 $1,050 NLHE Hyper-Turbo, $300k GTD
Dec 2: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE PKO, $500k GTD
Dec 2: 20:30 $530 NLHE, $250k GTD
Dec 2: 22:00 $1,050 NLHE, $200k GTD
Dec 3: 19:00 $10,300 NLHE, $1m GTD
Dec 3: 20:30 $1,050 PLO 6-Max, $150k GTD
Dec 3: 22:00 $530 NLHE PKO, $200k GTD
Dec 4: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE, $500k GTD
Dec 4: 20:30 $530 NLHE, 200k GTD
Dec 4: 22:00 $1,050 NLHE, $200k GTD
Dec 5: 19:00 $10,300 NLHE PKO, $1m GTD
Dec 5: 20:30 $1,050 8-Game, $100k GTD
Dec 5: 22:00 $530 NLHE, $150k GTD
Dec 6: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE, $500k GTD
Dec 6: 20:30 $1,050 NLHE, $200k GTD
Dec 6: 22:00 $530 NLHE PKO, $150k GTD
Dec 7: 19:00 $5,200 6+Hold’em, $250k GTD
Dec 7: 20:30 $1,050 NLHE PKO $250k GTD
Dec 7: 22:00 $530 NLHE, $150k GTD
Dec 8: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE Main Event, $2m GTD
Dec 8: 20:30 $10,300 PLO 6-Max, $500k GTD
Dec 8: 22:00 $2,100 NLHE PKO, $400k GTD
Dec 8: 23:00 $530 NLHE Hyper Turbo, $250k GTD
Dec 9: 13:00 $5,200 NLHE, $500k GTD
PokerStars High Rollers: A Brief History
The PokerStars High Roller Series fell out of a bloody womb in 2017 with 22-events and $11.4m in guaranteed prize money. Winners included Fedor Holz, Simon Mattsson and Talal Shakerchi.
The $2,100, $2m GTD No-Limit Hold’em Main Event attracted 1,135-entrants, and ‘Sanderssi’ from Finland won $294,685 after cutting a four-way deal with ‘jutrack’ from the UK ($226,162), ’Maz&Yauskas’ from the UK ($250,000) and ‘MATT HOLVIK’ from Canada ($250,000).
PokerStars extended the number of events to 27 in 2018 but carved a million bucks off the previous year’s guarantee. ‘th’Kick’ from Switzerland won the $413,157 first prize in the $2,100, $2m GTD No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. He also finished third in the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event in 2017 for a career-high score of $690,348.
The Main Event pulled in 1,333-entrants, and Connor “blanconegro” Drinan came fourth, Simon “C.Darwin2” Mattsson finished sixth, and Ole “wizowizo” Schemion’s claim for a title ended in seventh.
PokerStars was so happy with the turnout, in Nov 2018, they created the PokerStars High Roller Club, where people joust in tournaments with buy-ins ranging between $530 – $2,100. Six events take place Mon-Sat, with seven on each Sunday.