PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, has announced a new weekly Sunday tournament that will cater to players residing in the Eastern Hemisphere. The $109 buy-in Sunday Kickoff, with a $50,000 guarantee, will begin at 2:00pm Central Europe Time, meaning that European players won’t have to worry about playing a major tournament deep into the night like the Sunday Million, which gets underway at 10:30pm CET each week.
The Sunday Kickoff is open to all players, including early risers in the U.S., who can play in the new tournament at 8:00am ET. The event will join the Sunday Million, Sunday Warm-Up, Sunday 500, and Sunday Second Chance on the weekly Sunday Major schedule on PokerStars.
To celebrate the launch of the first Sunday Kickoff tournament this weekend, PokerStars is hosting a promotional $11 satellite featuring 100 seats guaranteed at 8:00am ET on Saturday. The initial $11 buy-in could ultimately result in a five-figure payday for the winner. Players can also buy in directly through the tournament lobby.
The new tournament received mostly positive feedback from members of TwoPlusTwo, as non-U.S. players unable to play the normal PokerStars Sunday Major slate welcomed the early start time. “Nice time to get the action underway,” TwoPlusTwo poster “mdr1984” said. “For the Europeans, it’s a great time, especially when you have to work the next day.” Fellow European player “Snapman” agreed: “Awesome. Will be playing this. Can’t really play the Sunday Warm-Up or Sunday Million due to work on Monday morning, so I’m happy about this development.”
However, forum members also discussed the validity in the Sunday Kickoff being mentioned as a “Major” tournament. The structure was a chief concern, as players will receive 3,000 chips to start compared to the 10,000-chip stacks of the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up. Said TwoPlusTwo member “DaBigBoss86,” “The Kickoff needs a better structure and a six-figure guarantee to be considered a ‘Major.’” Several others chimed in saying that PokerStars already had a bigger $109 buy-in on the Sunday schedule, the $125,000 Guaranteed starting at 7:00pm ET.
The five Sunday Majors on PokerStars now guarantee more than $3 million in prize money each week, with the Sunday Million generating more than half of that total. Last Sunday, PokerStars player “Troopaloop” took down the flagship event for more than $243,000. The other big winners over the weekend included “Limitless22” (Sunday Warm-Up win for $144,425), “jokkee_apart” (Sunday 500 win for $89,234), and “teamfranklin” (Sunday Second Chance win for $51,564).
This weekend will not only feature the inaugural Sunday Kickoff, but also the highly anticipated SuperStar Showdown, PokerStars’ answer to Full Tilt Poker’s Durrrr Challenge. The 2,500-hand heads-up match will pit newly signed PokerStars Team Pro “Isildur1” against any challenger. This weekend, the mystery Swede will face off against Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton. The two players will play four tables of $50/$100 or higher No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha simultaneously until the 2,500-hand mark is reached. The match is set get underway on Sunday at 6:00pm ET. Read more.
