250k buy in, holy crap
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Of course everyone's hero Phil Ivey will be there, another 5 million for Ivey coming up!
Do you have $250K sitting around to play poker? If so, you can try to get into a tournament this fall with a buy-in of a quarter of a million dollars.
The International Poker Players Association and the SBM of Monte Carlo are putting on the ultimate high-roller event starting on November 29 in Monaco. Only 48 players will be allowed into the field for the tournament, which is a no-limit hold’em shootout style event, meaning the winners of the opening tables advance to the final table to play for the all the prize money. The total prize pool is $12 million, with first prize in the tournament is $5 million dollars.
The $250K buy-in is easily the largest buy-in for an open poker tournament. The largest known tournament to date is the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, which was held in 2009.
Many big names have been reported on several poker news sites as committing to the tournament already. The website coinflip.com is reporting the following players intend to buy in:
Patrik Antonius,
Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Michael Mizrachi, Robert Mizrachi, Huck Seed, Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Freddie Deeb, Tony G, Bruno Fitoussi, Allen Cunningham and John Hennigan. Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu are two of the glaring omissions of players you would expect to take part in the tournament.
While the tournament is already attracting well-known poker players with deep bankrolls (or deep-pocketed backers), the event will likely attract a few very rich men who just want to hobnob with poker royalty. Because of the format, we might also see some top online players who specialize in satellites and/or sit and goes take a shot, or be given a shot by a backer.
For those players that cannot afford the buy-in, there are $1K satellites being held in Monaco and the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Players winning 10-handed tables advance to the second round of the structure to try to win a $250K seat.
The tournament’s website says the event will be televised, but it’s not clear when and where the tournament will be aired as of yet.
We’ll keep you updated as more players commit to the event and as more news becomes available.
