PartyPoker, one of the largest online poker rooms around the globe is launching another Powerfest tournament after a very successful debut earlier this year. Their last tournaments had a guarantee of $5 million, but this time, they are raising the stakes as they have a $7.8 million guarantee spread among the four different levels, having 172 poker events to participate in. The entire tournament will last for three weeks starting in May.
What to Expect at Powerfest
For those that are not familiar with Powerfest, it is split up into four main divisions, which have different buy-ins, stakes, and guaranteed prize pools.
- Featherweight: this division will start the tournament lasting the first week, and will have the lowest buy-ins ranging from $5.50 and $11.
- Middleweight: this division will go on during the second week and have buy-ins ranging from $22 to $55.
- Heavyweight: the third division will take place during the final week of the tournament, with slightly higher buy-ins ranging from $109 to $215.
- High Roller: the High Roller division will take place at the same time as the Heavyweight events, giving big spenders a chance at some large prize pools, with buy-ins ranging from $530 to $5,200.
There are two events that are getting everyone’s attention, the Heavyweight Main Event with $500,000 guaranteed and the High Roller Powerfest Main Event with $1,000,000 guaranteed. The combined prize pools for the entirety of the tournament will give players the chance to get a piece of the $7.8 million guaranteed cash. The general schedule for the event is:
| Powerfest Divisions | Dates | Buy-Ins | Guarantee | Main Event |
| Featherweight | May 1-8 | $5.50 – $11 | $390,000 | $11 buy-in $50,000 GTD |
| Middleweight | May 8-15 | $22 – $55 | $840,000 | $55 buy-in $100,000 GTD |
| Heavyweight | May 15-22 | $109 – $215 | $2,925,000 | $215 buy-in $500,000 GTD |
| High Roller | May 15-22 | $530 – $5,200 | $3,650,000 | $1,050 buy-in $1,000,000 GTD |
The entire event schedule is still being worked on, but stay tuned and check the PartyPoker website for more in-depth information.
Pure Poker Launch to Eliminate Re-Entries
PartyPoker is also launching their version of Pure Poker, as they try to get their No-Limit Hold’em tournaments back to their original form. They will be expanding their concept, which only ran on Wednesdays, and tie it into the majority of the tournaments they offer. This would include all no-limit hold’em tournaments, with the exception of High Rollers and a few re-buy tournaments. Players that lost will automatically be frozen out. They will start with 30,000 chips, so they will have to guard their stack much better than before.