Just when there’s a barren spot in the tournament poker schedule, you can count on PokerGO to fill the space!
The 2023 Poker Masters, the “crème de la crème” of the “High Roller” poker world squaring off on the felt, will start with its first event today. Over the next ten days, the fight will be on for millions of dollars in prize money between some of the elite in the poker world. In the end, a nice bonus will await, along with the prestigious Purple Jacket for winning the overall title.
Action Opens with First $10,000 Tournament
Beginning today and lasting until September 25, poker’s best – or perhaps their deepest pocketed – players will descend on the PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas to vie for the 2023 Poker Masters title. Up first for the players will be the relative simplicity of a $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. That event will take two days to complete and it, like all the events during the 2023 Poker Masters, will be livestreamed on PokerGO for its subscribers.
There will be five additional $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tournaments before the game starts to get more serious. On September 21, a $25,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament comes to the fore, with the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event set to begin on September 25 and conclude the next day. Unlike some of the other “made for streaming” events from PokerGO, the Poker Masters series has traditionally been an all-Texas Hold’em affair.
In each of the tournaments, the players will earn points that will go towards determining the overall champion for the tournament. That overall champion will be awarded the Purple Jacket, which has become synonymous with the event. They’ll also receive a bonus payday of $50,000 on top of what they earned during the series.
Here’s a rundown of the schedule of events for the next ten days of the 2023 Poker Masters (all tournaments will start at noon (Pacific Time) and a 30-second “shot clock” will be in effect):
Event #1 (9/14/23) – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (125K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #2 (9/15/23) – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (125K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #3 (9/16/23) – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (125K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #4 (9/18/23) – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (125K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #5 (9/19/23) – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (125K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #6 (9/20/23) – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (125K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #7 (9/21/23) – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em (150K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #8 (9/22/23) – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em (150K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #9 (9/23/23) – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em (150K starting stack, 40-minute levels)
Event #10 (9/25/23) – $50,000 No Limit Hold’em (150K starting stack, 45/60-minute levels)
Solid History Building for Poker Masters Series
It’s hard to imagine that this is the sixth iteration of the Poker Masters event, considering that when it started it was considered an anomaly. Because it focused exclusively on high-dollar tournaments, it wasn’t expected to last long for the tournament world. But as so often happens with PokerGO-sponsored events, the series became a focal point of the tournament poker world as the biggest names in the game gravitated towards participating in the series.
The original Poker Masters was held in 2017 and it was only a five-tournament series. That was enough, however, for Germany’s Steffen Sontheimer to demonstrate his dominance in winning two tournaments (including the Main Event) and capturing the inaugural Purple Jacket. In 2018, David Peters would capture the Main Event title, but he would come up short of Ali Imsirovic in the race to add a new piece to his wardrobe.
Perhaps the most dominant run in Poker Masters history occurred in 2019. Over the ten-event schedule, Sam Soverel would win two of the tournaments and make seven final tables en route to taking down the Main Event AND the Purple Jacket. The COVID pandemic of 2020 saw an online series held (won by Alexandros Kolonias), but the 2021 return saw Michael Addamo etch his name in the record books by winning the last two tournaments to garner enough points to take the Purple Jacket.
Last year’s series battled down to the final events before it could crown an overall champion. In Event #9, Sean Winter would earn enough points to shut out the final table of the Main Event and earn the Purple Jacket. Jason Koon, who had finished sixth in that tournament won by Winter, had to think about what might have been after he went on to win the Main Event over a 37-entry field, picking up $666,000 in prize money for his efforts.
You can expect the “usual suspects” to be on the felt for the 2023 Poker Masters. It is expected that Winter will be there to defend his title, along with Koon, Daniel Negreanu, Soverel, Nick Schulman, Adrian Mateos (runner-up to Koon in 2022), and plenty of other notable figures from the tournament poker world. It all starts at noon today (Pacific Time) and will be streamed on PokerGO for subscribers.
