partypoker MILLIONS LIVE 2019 Schedule Shifts to $10K Main Event Freezeouts
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Following from a successful Season 2 of partypoker LIVE MILLIONS that culminated with a MILLIONS Online event that reached a record-breaking $21,385,000 prize pool, partypoker has released the schedule for the third season of their live tour. The recently revamped online poker brand is shaking things up once again, introducing a single Day 1 freezeout structure with a $10,300 price point for all their main events for the upcoming season.
The five-stop Season 3 schedule will once again be capped off with the MILLIONS Online event to end the year after spanning the globe with stops in Rio de Janeiro, Montreal, Rozvadov and Baha Mar.
Main Event Changes
The Season 3 changes fall in line with partypoker’s recent push to seek out and incorporate player feedback in their events, both live and online, as confirmed by partypoker President John Duthie.
“Our MILLIONS Season 2 tour has been very successful, however we pride ourselves on listening to player feedback and continually improving our offering to ensure we provide the best live tour in the world.
“As part of this we are going to change the format of our MILLIONS tournaments to a 10,000 (local currency) freezeout, with reduced late registration and no multiple Day 1s. The schedules will be reduced to a maximum of seven days, giving the host venues the option to add their own events around the tournament to build the festival.”
“We want the MILLIONS brand to be synonymous with being one of the most prestigious live competitions in the world."
MILLIONS South America, MILLIONS North America and MILLIONS Europe all feature a $5 million Main Event guarantee, while that gets doubled for MILLIONS World in the Bahamas. The dates and guarantee for the 2019 MILLIONS Online event has yet to be announced.
In an attempt to add even more to the prestige of becoming a partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Main Event winner, partypoker is introducing a traveling trophy that will be etched with champions’ names for each stop.
“We want the MILLIONS brand to be synonymous with being one of the most prestigious live competitions in the world," Duthie said. "We hope these changes will allow us to improve and build our MILLIONS tour to make it the best LIVE experience for our players.”
The poker community got a glimpse of these impending changes back in October when Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Yong released a blog in which he highlighted a list of proposed changes to partypoker LIVE events compiled by he and Duthie. The aforementioned changes to the Main Event buy-in and structure were among the bullet points, as were:
- Qualify 60 percent of the field online and live
- 200 big blind starting stacks
- Double chance option where players can take 100 big blinds at start (pending debate and input from players)
- $10K Second Chance tournament and $500-$1K side events for qualifiers (who bust the Main Event)
While further structure and specific event details for the upcoming season are yet to be announced, players may expect to see additional tournament changes as partypoker continues to fine-tune their live offerings based on player feedback.
2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Main Event Schedule
| Event | Venue | Dates | Main Event Buy-in | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MILLIONS South America | Copacabana Palace Hotel, Rio de Janeiro | March 15-24 | $10,300 | $5,000,000 |
| MILLIONS North America | Playground Poker Club, Montreal | May 22-27 | C$10,300 | C$5,000,000 |
| MILLIONS Europe | King’s Resort, Rozvadov | August 10-18 | €10,300 | €5,000,000 |
| MILLIONS World | Baha Mar, The Bahamas | November 15-24 | $10,300 | $10,000,000 |
| MILLIONS Online | Online | TBA | $10,300 | TBA |
Qualifying for Season 3 partypoker LIVE Events
As always, players will have plenty of opportunities to qualify into LIVE events through satellites held both live and online, and satellites are already running for MILLIONS South America at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro March 15-24. According to the press release, partypoker is expecting more than 200 qualifiers into their season-opening event, with 100 entries guaranteed via live qualifiers and 100 guaranteed online.
Ten MILLIONS South America packages worth $12,000 are guaranteed to be won at partypoker every week for 10 weeks leading up to the event. The packages include:
- $10,300 Main Event entry
- $1,700 cash for travel and hotel expenses
Continuing on from last season, players can still earn PP LIVE Dollars via online satellites and use the funds toward LIVE event buy-ins or travel costs. Additionally, the first 100 players to buy into the MILLIONS South America Main Event using PP LIVE Dollars will receive a bonus $1,000 up front to help with travel costs.
