Turkey Day poker in the US
PokerStars is the king of tournament series, so now is as good a time as ever for the site to introduce a new tournament series. On Wednesday, Stars revealed Fall Fest in the United States, with separate tournaments in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan running November 20-29.
It’s all relatively straightforward. New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Fall Fests will feature 40 tournaments each. Total guaranteed prize pools in New Jersey total $412,500, while it’s all the way up to $1 million in Pennsylvania.
Michigan’s is a little bit different. There are 50 events in what PokerStars calls its Fall Fest 50/50, with each tournament coming with a $50 buy-in. Total combined guarantees for Michigan are $507,000.
All three states’ Main Events are on November 28. New Jersey’s has a $300 buy-in and a $75,000 guarantee, while Pennsylvania’s Main Event is $200 with a $150,000 guarantee. Michigan’s Main Event falls right in line with the rest of the Fall Fest 50/50 events and still has just a $50 price point. Its guaranteed prize pool is $50,000 (guess that makes sense).
Get ready for some knockout tourneys
We can, of course, expect all the usual game types and tournament formats, but PokerStars has highlighted a few events of interest:
• Last Man Standing Tournaments – the top seven players get the regular prize pool, while everyone grabs a “Big KO” for every elimination. The winner gets 75% of the prize pool.
• “The Gobbler” – held on Thanksgiving, it’s a five-handed Total Knockout event, which means the ENTIRE prize pool is bounties.
• “Thanksgiving Thrill” – another tournament on Thanksgiving, it’s a mystery to me.
• “Fall Brawls” – several progressive knockout tournaments of different buy-ins and knockout values
And, as usual with PokerStars, the site is giving players an opportunity to get into Fall Fest on the cheap. The first way is, again, very common with Stars: the Depositor Freeroll. Using a deposit code (check the specific sites or the PokerStars blog for details), those in Michigan who deposit $50 or more and those in New Jersey and Pennsylvania who deposit $30 or more get a seat into the freeroll. In Pennsylvania and Michigan, 50 Main Event seats will be awarded, while 25 will be awarded in New Jersey.
Then, players who get eliminated from a Fall Fest tourney out of the money automatically get entered into a Second Chance Freeroll, which awards $1,000 in Fall Fest tickets. The freerolls run every day from November 21-28.
And, as one would expect, there are satellites for Fall Fest, starting as low as $5.
