Poker Central's Poker Masters Returns in September
Just a day after the Super High Roller Bowl wrapped up with Justin Bonomo coming out on top for $5,000,000, Poker Central and ARIA Resort & Casino have announced their next big series. The Poker Masters tournament series returns for its second year with this time seven tournaments for high rollers to play and poker fans to enjoy.
The high-profile event will feature lower buy-ins than last year; it now features a single $10,000 buy-in tournament, five $25,000 buy-in tournaments, and a $50,000 buy-in tournament. While the event consisted solely of no-limit hold'em events in the inaugural edition last September, this year's version includes a Pot-Limit Omaha tournament as well.
The series kicks off on September 6th and runs continuously through September 13th barring a dark day on September 9th.
“As we add on even more high stakes events, fans can expect a week’s worth of world-class poker action featuring some of the game’s best.”
This year, all events will allow two re-entries, with the exception of the $50,000 tournament which will only allow a single re-entry. Once again there's a 30-second shot clock in place with players receiving five 30-second time banks daily. There's no cap on the number of players allowed to enter each event, and there will be no tournament fees on first entry for players who register by 2 PM the day of the event.
“We were pleased with the turnout for last year’s inaugural Poker Masters series and look forward to building upon the legacy of one of poker’s leading majors,” said Sam Simmons, vice president of content at Poker Central. “As we add on even more high stakes events, fans can expect a week’s worth of world-class poker action featuring some of the game's best.”
Whoever finishes with the highest total earnings over all seven events, will become the Poker Masters Champion and win the Poker Masters Purple Jacket.
Besides the regular prize money and the purple jacket, results from this event will count towards the High Roller of the Year points race. As part of Poker Central's 'High Roller Triple Crown' major, additional High Roller of the Year points will be awarded for all Poker Masters events.
German high stakes regular Steffen Sontheimer reigned supreme in 2017 taking home a total of $2,733,000 in earnings across five events. He won two of the events and finished fifth and fourth in two of the three other tournaments.
All events will be played in their entirety out of the new PokerGO Studio, with final and featured tables streamed on PokerGO. Additionally, original episodes from the event will be broadcast in the months that follow on NBC Sports Network. Streamed tables will have a flexible broadcast delay between 30-60 minutes.
2018 Poker Masters PokerGO Tournament Schedule
| Duration | Event | Buy-in | Variant | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 6 | #1 | $10,000 | No Limit Hold’em | 2 days |
| September 7 | #2 | $25,000 | No Limit Hold’em | 2 days |
| September 8 | #3 | $25,000 | No Limit Hold’em | 2 days |
| September 10 | #4 | $25,000 | Pot Limit Omaha | 2 days |
| September 11 | #5 | $25,000 | No Limit Hold’em | 2 days |
| September 12 | #6 | $25,000 | No Limit Hold’em | 2 days |
| September 13 | #7 | $50,000 | No Limit Hold’em | 3 days |
