The GG Spotlight – GGPoker microFestival Update
As quickly as the GGPoker World Festival ended, the microFestival began. From the biggest of the big online tournament series, we jump right into the biggest of the miniature tournament series. So, step right up and get ready to shuffle, stack, and show your skills at the electrifying microFestival—a poker extravaganza like no other! Brought to you by us here at GGPoker, the unrivaled titan of the poker realm, this one-of-a-kind tournament series is set to deal out thrills, spills, and staggering rewards. Last year for this series we offered a total of $5,000,000 in this spectacular series. This year, we wanted to be better.
Brace yourself for a whirlwind of action as we unveil $10,000,000 in jaw-dropping guaranteed prize pools, spread across a remarkable array of nearly 500 tournaments, with buy-ins that won’t exceed a mere $25. Prepare to go all-in on the grandest, most exhilarating, biggest microFestival known to the online poker world, where the stakes may be micro, but the excitement and prize pools are mega! With cards on the table and chips flying high, this spectacle will have you on the edge of your seat, as you join the ranks of poker enthusiasts ready to seize victory and make their mark. It’s time to ante up and be part of poker history in the making, as the microFestival deals a winning hand of unforgettable moments, incredible competition, and unforgettable glory. Are you ready to take your seat at the virtual felt and experience the most sensational poker showdown ever?
Each of the events in the tournament series is split into either 2 or 3 versions, a No Limit Hold’em, a Pot Limit Omaha, and a KO version with a variety of low buy-ins and relatively huge guarantees. More than enough variety for everyone to find something to enjoy.
Sadly, there are too many tournaments to highlight every winner but we will review the winners of each tournament with a $100K or greater guarantee – which is crazy when you remember that the buy-ins are no more than $25.
The first of the big guarantee events was event 03-KO: GGMasters Sunday Bounty Special Edition. This $25 buy-in event offered a guarantee of $125,000 which the 6,834 entrants smashed, creating a total prize pool of $158,548.80. The event took a total of 10 ⅓ hours to run and at the end, it was ‘Ameliorer’ defeating ‘yogayanyan’ for the top prize of $6,554.32 and an additional $6,249.62 in collected bounties.
A few hours after the start of event 03 saw the launch of event 05-KO: $15 Bounty Hunters Sunday Grand Slam. The guarantee for this event was ‘only’ $100,000 with a $15 buy-in. When the late buy-in period ended, 9,755 players had signed up for the event which took nearly 11 hours to complete. The heads up battle between ‘Ole86’ and ‘2number9s’ ended with the latter eventually winning the $5,060.97 top prize plus $3,978.87 in bounties.
The following Sunday, June 11th, saw event #54, the $25 buy-in GGMasers Sunday Special Edition. The $100,000 guarantee was enough to attract 5,456 players, creating a prize pool of $125,488 from which ‘Xot-D’, flying the Brazilian flag, took down the event, defeating ‘CeTheBeast’, and earning $13,428.76.
At the same time, the GGMasters Sunday Bounty Special Edition, event 54-KO also ran. It offered a $125,000 guarantee and attracted 7,931 players. Once everyone was in, the total prize pool reached $183,999.20. At the end of the 10 hour and 20 minute run time, it was ‘Gagarinec11’ winning the event when they defeated ‘JJEddie’ for the top prize of $7,420.39 plus an additional $6,201.17 in bounties.
The next of the big guarantees was two event 57’s. The first, the NLH Sunday Hundred Grand offered a $100,000 guarantee on a $15 buy-in. The tournament had 8,519 players join which created a prize pool of $117,562.20. When the last hand played out, it was ‘Artem Yarots’ who defeated ‘Plackyy’ to claim the top spot and the $11,707.49 top prize.
Event 57-KO Bounty Hunters Sunday Grand Slam also had a $100,000 guarantee with a $15 buy-in. This event, which took just under 11 hours, finished with ‘Titaaa’ standing atop the pile, claiming the biggest portion of the pool for $5,792.39 plus an additional $5,913.59 in bounties.
In addition to all of the tournaments we reviewed, there were 2 special events with multiple Day 1’s that ran during the first weekend in the microFestival, the first of which was the micro Omaholic Bounty MILLION$. This micro Omaholic tournament offered a $100,000 guarantee on a $5.40 buy-in. The Day 1’s from the event saw a total of 26,524 players buying in of which 2,336 players survived to Day 2. When it was all completed, it was ‘shuo88’ that was able to claim victory with a top prize of $3,952.85 in addition to the $3,749.91 earned through bounties.
The final big micro event of the first half of the microFestival was the micro Global MILLION$. This $5 buy-in event offered an incredible $300,000 guarantee which was dwarfed by the 89,494 total entrants! The prize pool ended up at $411,672.40 which was shared by the 10,099 players that survived to Day 2. The final table, which took just under 8 hours, saw a 3-way deal between ‘Lecheero’, ‘111kila111’, and ‘fromabigmind’ who earned $21,665.02, $16,879.78, and $16,979.87 respectively. When the last hand played out, it was ‘Lecheero’ who was able to claim the title of champion.
As we head into the second half of the microFestival, there are still over 200 tournaments to run and $6 Million in guarantees. So just in and get a small taste of something HUGE! Hope to see your name here next week.
From the Desk of the Wordsmith