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WSOP Qualifiers: An overview

March 6, 2008

The countdown to June’s World Series of Poker is well underway with this year’s event reported to be the biggest yet. Thousands of people are set to make their way to the Rio in Las Vegas to fight for the most coveted prize in the poker world … and a huge amount of cash.

Those of you who can’t quite afford the $10,000 buy-in price for the main event will be pleased to hear that various online poker rooms are gearing up to start their WSOP qualifiers, ensuring that as many people as possible have a shot of pulling down the big prize. These qualifiers will allow online players to win a place at the main even for a fraction of the usual cost. Perhaps the most famous qualifier is Chris Moneymaker who went on to win the main event in 2003 having earned his place in the tournament through an online satellite costing only $39 to enter.

For those of you interesting in following in his tracks, The Short Stack has put together a brief overview of the WSOP qualifiers offered by some of the best online poker rooms available.

Pokerstars:

Pokerstars has a rich history of success at the World Series of Poker providing Main Event champions such as Chris Moneymake and Greg Raymer, and as such they are offering very generous incentives to all of their players who play a part in the WSOP.

As long as their representatives agree to wear the Pokerstars gear, players will earn $50,000 just by playing at a TV table. Should one of their qualifiers make the final table, they will receive a lump sum payment of $1 million.

Pokerstars prides itself on its association with the World Series and as such they are offering the largest number of opportunities for online poker players to qualify for the event. They include $55 Sit and Go’s, $33 rebuy multi-table tournaments and freeze-out tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $215 to $1,050. As expected all of these tournaments have satellite events that cost as little as $2 (plus rebuys).

A series of tiered Sit and Go tournaments have also been made available for users who prefer to play in slightly smaller numbers. Players will need to work their way through 6 tiers by placing in the top two in order to qualify for the next stage:

First Tier (buy in: $7.50)
Players need to finish in the top two in order to qualify for the second stage. The player who finishes in third spot will be allowed to try again for free.

Second Tier (direct buy in: $27)
Players finshing in third and forth position get to try the second round again. Fifth place finisher will drop back down to first tier.

Third Tier (direct buy in: $82)
Third, fourth and fith place finishers will repeat the third tier

Fourth Tier (direct buy in: $215)
Third place will repeat fourth tier. Fourth and fifth place will drop back down to the third tier. Sixth place will go back down to Tier two.

Fifth Tier (direct buy in: $700)
Top two places move on to the final step where as those finishing in third and fourth place will be allowed to try this tier again. Players in fifth and sixth will drop back to level four.

Sixth Tier
Top two are each awarded with a $12,500 prize package. Second and third place finishers win $1,500. Fourth and fifth will walk away with $1,000 and the sixth place finisher will receive $500.

Click here to register for PokerStars WSOP qualifiers»

Bodog:

Bodog are promising that they will provide at least 100 players in the Main Event and each one of them will have won a prize package worth $12,000.

These prizes are being given out on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (19.15 EST) and Sunday afternoons (15.35 EST) via a $270 main-event qualifier. The winner of each of these tournaments will be handed a seat at the Rio in Las Vegas.

As expected, there are plenty of qualifiers for those who don’t have $270 burning a hole in their pocket and they are run throughout the day costing as little as $1 (with rebuys) or $1.50 and $5.50 freezeout. Winners of this first satellite will be granted a $29 ticket to be used in a second satellite where entries into the $270 tournament are up for grabs.

Click here to register of Bodog WSOP qualifiers»

Full Tilt:

Once again, Full Tilt will be looking to make one person’s summer even more memorable. As they have done in previous years, Full Tilt are offering an extra $10m to any of their qualifiers who go on to win the main event.

Tournaments are wide ranging and plentiful: Packages worth $2,000 are being handed out on a weekly basis from now until June 22nd. Prize pools worth $12,000 will also be given to qualifiers and for those of you looking to play something other than Hold-’Em, Full Tilt is offering qualifiers to the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship.

Players looking to win the $2,000 packages can buy-in for $75 or $26, but if that sounds like too much then players can go through a series of qualifiers which run throughout the week for as little as $2.20.

Qualifiers hoping to walk off with one of the $12,000 packages will need to buy-in to a qualifier for $200 (Tuesday), $300 (Wednesday), $1,000 (Thursday) or $500 (Sunday). Again, the opportunity is there for players with a smaller bank roll to go through a series of extra qualifiers which start with a $26 buy in.

Then, on Sunday 8th, a $1060 satellite will be held where a minimum of two seats will be won for the WSOP H.O.R.S.E event and a week later (on June 15th), Full Tilt will put a guaranteed 150 main event seats up for grabs by hosting a $535 WSOP qualifier.

Click here to register for the Full Tilt WSOP Qualifiers»

Written by ShortStack · Filed Under Bodog Poker, Full Tilt, Online Poker news, PokerStars 

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