Less than a year after its inaugural event, the 2022 PokerGO Cup will return for its second installment this upcoming week. The eight-event schedule is completely No Limit Hold’em – no Pot Limit games here! – with an escalating buy in after the first three events. The tournament will be held at the PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas, with the tournaments streamed “nearly live” on PokerGO.
Tournament Schedule Starts Wednesday
The 2022 PokerGO Cup will start off on Wednesday, February 2, with the first of three $10,000 No Limit Hold’em events. Each tournament is scheduled to be a two-day event, with the final table featured in action on the PokerGO broadcasts. After the first three events, all $10,000 tournaments, the price of poker will ramp up.
On Saturday, February 5, the opening day of the $15,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #4 on the schedule, will take to the felt and crown a champion on Sunday. From there, two $25,000 tournaments and a $50,000 event will kick off next week’s action. The schedule will wrap up with the $100,000 Championship Event, set to take place on February 9 & 10.
While the fans enjoy watching the “high rollers” go at it, the question is just how many “high rollers” can continue with the breakneck pace of tournaments. January saw an abbreviated four-tournament swing at The Venetian in Las Vegas that was rather disappointing in its turnout (only 18 entries were received for the $50,000 Main Event). The “Stairway to Millions” started out with some promise (the first $10K event drew 190 entries), but it too would fizzle as the buy-ins went up; the $100,000 finale of the “Stairway to Millions,” won by Nick Petrangelo, only drew 19 entries.
Reliving the 2021 PokerGO Cup
The inaugural PokerGO Cup came last summer at an exceedingly challenging time for the poker world. Just beginning to emerge from the effects of the COVID pandemic and the shutdown of casinos around the world, it was not known just how the tournament would perform. The same eight-event schedule took to the felt in the PokerGO Studios and, for the most part, the play was outstanding.
Alex Foxen kicked off the festivities by winning the first event on the schedule, a $10,000 No Limit Hold’em event, emerging victorious over a 66-entry field. Two of 2021 Poker Player of the Year Ali Imsirovic’s victories would come from the 2021 PokerGO Cup, a $10,000 tournament and a $15,000 battle. In the end, however, two longtime veterans of the “high roller” world would come out on top.
Daniel Negreanu would win Event #7 on the schedule, the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, pulling into second place in the race for the PokerGO Cup Player of the Tournament championship. Negreanu was chasing Imsirovic at the time and needed to at least cash and not have Imsirovic make the money to take the title, and he did. Negreanu would make the final four in the tournament before bowing out in fourth place and earning enough points to seize the PokerGO Cup title. Meanwhile, poker player/businessman Cary Katz would take the title over the 23 entries that played in the event, earning a $1,058,000 payday.
Can the 2022 PokerGO Cup rise up to show that there is some life to the “high roller” game? Or are there simply too many of these tournaments and not enough money or players to go around? We will find out on Wednesday when the second running of the PokerGO Cup takes place.
