Three-tiered buy-in structure
PokerStars has announced the upcoming debut of a new online tournament series, the Stadium Series. Running July 5 – August 2, the Stadium Series features 102 tournaments and $50m in guaranteed prize money.
With multiple buy-in levels, the Stadium Series is accessible to the majority of players, regardless of bankroll.
Like many PokerStars tournament festivals, the Stadium Series will have three buy-in tiers for each event; the 34 events with three tournaments each make up the 102 in total. With multiple buy-in levels, the Stadium Series is accessible to the majority of players, regardless of bankroll.
The Stadium Series culminates with the $5,200 Grand Final “Main Event,” which has a $5m guaranteed prize pool. This is the “High” buy-in tier of the Grand Final – the “Low” buy-in is $55 with a $1m guaranteed prize pool and the “Medium” buy-in is $530 with a $2m guarantee.
Buy-ins increase each week
This series is structured a bit differently than PokerStars’ other popular tournament series. Rather than being a continuous four weeks, the Stadium Series is divided week-by-week. The Low, Medium, and High buy-ins remain consistent during a given week (Monday to Sunday except for the first week, which runs Sunday to Sunday), but increase in each successive week.
The tournaments on Monday through Saturday are called weekly “Heats.” They lead up to the “Weekly Finals,” held each Sunday. Regardless of the names, all of the tournaments are regular events, covering a variety of formats. The top finishers (a term that PokerStars has left undefined at the moment) in each Heat will also receive tickets into that week’s Final.
Those who make the final table of a Weekly Final will be gifted a $5,200 seat in the Grand Final.
In a first for the poker room, PokerStars will be live-streaming the end stages and final tables of the Heats – with all cards shown to viewers – on a brief delay. It appears that the final table broadcasts will also be replayed later.
Multiple paths to Grand Final
PokerStars has also created a number of avenues for players to qualify for the Grand Final without having to make a massive run in the Heats or Weekly Finals.
The Fast Track is a step-format progression series of tournaments in which players can buy-in for as little a $1 and try to win their way to the next level. The top finishers of the fourth stage, which has a direct buy-in of $1,050, will win tickets into the Grand Final. PokerStars has guaranteed at least five seats for every Fast Track round four.
some rare prize spins result in a Grand Final ticket as the prize pool rather than cash
For those who like Spin & Gos, PokerStars has put two special editions in the lobby with buy-ins of $4 and $22. They play like any other Spin & Go, but some rare prize spins result in a Grand Final ticket as the prize pool rather than cash.
There are also the Stadium Series Trials, which is a fancy name for a leaderboard. Players earn one point for every $1 spent on multi-table tournament buy-ins. The top 25 players on the leaderboard when the promotion ends on August 1 win $5,200 Grand Final tickets.