RedStar Poker Elite Series Festival
Until June 5, RedStar is hosting a large-scale Elite Series tournament festival. The schedule includes several hundred Hold'em and Omaha tournaments with buy-ins starting from €5. Among them are 78 numbered ones, each will be held in three buy-in categories:
- Low: €3 – €10
- Medium: €12.5 –€70
- High: €100 – €1,000
There will also be multi-day tournaments (including Omaha) starting from just €3. The Main Event with a buy-in of €50 will be held in the Mystery Bounty format, with 250,000 up for grabs. The final will take place on May 27 at 22:30 GMT.
Missions with prizes. For completing tasks you can get tickets to freerolls and major tournaments of the series.
| Mission | Mission Description | Prize | Qualifying Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points High | Earn 30,000 bonus points (status points) | Ticket to 250 Championship | May 1 (00:00) – May 26 (23:59) |
| Points Low | Earn 2,000 bonus points (status points) | Ticket to 10 Slam | May 1 (00:00) – June 3 (20:00) |
| Points Medium | Earn 10,000 bonus points (status points) | Ticket to 50 Mystery Main | May 1 (00:00) – May 27 (23:59) |
| Mystery Bounty | Play Day 1 in the "ES" Mystery Bounty Main Event | Ticket to 5,000 Elite Mega Freeroll | May 1 (00:00) – May 27 (23:59) |
| Satellite | Play 5 satellites starting from 0.5 | Ticket to 5,000 Elite Mega Freeroll | May 1 (00:00) – June 4 (23:59) |
| Tiered | Play 5 Tiered tournaments | Ticket to 5,000 Elite Mega Freeroll | May 1 (00:00) – June 4 (23:59) |
| Knockout | Knock out 10 players in "ES" tournaments | Ticket to 5,000 Elite Mega Freeroll | May 1 (00:00) – June 4 (23:59) |
| Knockout Master | Knock out 25 players in "ES" tournaments | Ticket to 2,000 KO Master Freeroll | May 1 (00:00) – June 4 (23:59) |
The 5,000 Elite Mega and 2,000 KO Master freerolls will take place on June 5th.
Weekly leaderboards. 15,000 will be awarded with tickets to the series tournaments. Each buy-in category will have its own leaderboard, points are awarded according to the following scheme:
- 1 point for participating in a knockout tournament, 2 points for any other
- 1 for knockout
- 5 for getting into prizes
- 15 for the final table
- 25 for a win
The scoring period is divided by weeks (GMT):
- 1 May (00:00) – 6 May (23:59)
- 8 May (00:00) – 14 May (23:59)
- 15 May (00:00) – 21 May (23:59)
- 22 May (00:00) – 28 May (23:59)
- 29 May (00:00) – 5 June (06:00)
Schedule of leaderboards and series
PokerOK Cashout Troubles
Players are complaining en masse about problems with cashouts at GGPoker's Russian counterpart, PokerOK.
Deposits and withdrawals by bank cards from local Russian banks have been unstable for several years now.
In a thread on the GipsyTeam Russian forum, players are massively complaining about canceled withdrawals and other problems.
A good alternative is to use the PokerSwap service. This is an exchange platform where you can literally withdraw money to a card or top up your account in the room in just 5 minutes. Courses are often more profitable than through a client, and the service itself operates 24/7, 7 days a week. All major banks and SBPs are supported, and there are no commissions on deposits.
GGPoker World Poker Festival with a $250,000,000 Guarantee
On May 5, the large-scale poker festival GGPoker World Festival starts with a record prize pool of $250,000,000. The schedule features 1,200 Hold'em, Omaha and Short Deck tournaments with buy-ins as low as $2.5, divided into 4 categories:
- Low (up to $24.99)
- Medium ($25 – $149.99)
- High ($150 – $1,049.99)
- Super ($1,050 or more)
The biggest prize pools (up to $10,000,000!) will be awarded in three tournaments (dates of the second days are specified):
- Global MILLION Mystery Bounty for $525 — May 20th, 18:30 GMT
- GG World Championship for $1,500 — May 27th, 18:30
- GGMillion Super Main Event for $10,300 — June 3rd, 20:00
Leaderboards with a total guarantee of 2,500,000 have been announced; there will be a leaderboard for each buy-in category.
Points are awarded to the table using the formula Log(Prize Fund) / Sqrt(Relative Rank), where Relative Rank = Finish Position/Number of Participants.
Key Tournaments
| Date | Time (GMT) | Buy-in Level | Tournament name | Buy-in | GTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, 5 May | 12:30 | L | Zodiac Mini MILLION$ [Final Day] | ¥21 | $140,000 |
| Sun, 5 May | 18:30 | L | Short Deck Mystery MILLION$ [Final Stage] | $5.25 | $100,000 |
| Sun, 5 May | 20:30 | L | Omaholic Bounty Mini MILLION$ [Final Stage] | $5.40 | $200,000 |
| Mon, 6 May | 18:30 | L | Global MILLION$ Mystery Bounty Million [Final] | $5.25 | $1,000,000 |
| Sun, 12 May | 12:30 | M | Zodiac Bounty MILLION$ Special Edition [Final] | ¥215 | $280,000 |
| Sun, 12 May | 18:30 | M | Short Deck MILLION$ [Final Day] | $50 | $200,000 |
| Sun, 12 May | 20:30 | M | Omaholic Mystery MILLION$ [Final Stage] | $52.50 | $400,000 |
| Mon, 13 May | 18:30 | M | Global MILLION$ World Festival [Day 2] | $50 | $2,024,000 |
| Sun, 19 May | 12:30 | H | Zodiac MILLION$ Turbo Edition [Day 2] | ¥888 | $350,000 |
| Sun, 19 May | 18:30 | H | Short Deck Bounty MILLION$ [Final] | $525 | $300,000 |
| Sun, 19 May | 20:30 | H | Omaholic Bounty MILLION$ HR Edition [Final Stage] | $525 | $500,000 |
| Mon, 20 May | 18:30 | H | Global MILLION$ Mystery Bounty [Final] | $525 | $10,000,000 |
| Sun, 26 May | 12:30 | S | Zodiac Asia Championship [Bounty, Final Stage] | ¥1,500 | $1,100,000 |
| Sun, 26 May | 18:30 | S | Short Deck Championship [Final Day] | $1,500 | $500,000 |
| Sun, 26 May | 20:30 | S | Omaholic Championship [Day 2] | $1,500 | $1,000,000 |
| Mon, 27 May | 18:30 | S | GG World Championship [Day 2] | $1,500 | $10,000,000 |
| Sun, 2 June | 12:00 | S | GGMillion$ Zodiac Edition | ¥25,500 | $700,000 |
| Sun, 2 June | 18:00 | S | GGMillion$ Short Deck Edition [3-Stack] | $25,500 | $500,000 |
| Sun, 2 June | 18:00 | S | GGMillion$ Omaholic Edition | $25,500 | $1,000,000 |
| Mon, 3 June | 20:00 | S | GGMillion$ Super Main Event [Day 2] | $10,300 | $10,000,000 |
| Sun, 9 June | 12:30 | H | Zodiac MILLION$ Closer [Bounty Turbo, Final] | ¥215 | $280,000 |
| Sun, 9 June | 18:30 | H | Short Deck MILLION$ Closer [Bounty Turbo, Final] | $215 | $250,000 |
| Sun, 9 June | 20:30 | H | Omaholic MILLION$ Closer [Bounty Turbo, Final] | $215 | $500,000 |
| Mon, 10 June | 18:30 | H | Global MILLION$ Mystery Closer [Final Stage] | $210 | $5,000,000 |
Useful services from GipsyTeam
● Traffic in poker rooms. We track and update the number of cash tables and players in the largest poker rooms and applications every week.
● Poker calculator. Now estimate your equity on the flop or quickly calculate which hand is stronger in five-card Omaha preflop.
● ICM calculator. Help for any tournament player: you can quickly enter stacks, prize money and find out the cost of a stack using the ICM model. Up to 20 participants are supported.
● GT+ Pro. Educational community for GT+ players: free training, discussions in closed chats, lectures on psychology and other benefits.
● Bot with shares. Telegram bot that notifies you about new offers from poker rooms: in the promotions section, click on the “Subscribe” button, mark the desired rooms and disciplines and click “Save for bot”.
● Randomizer. A simple, nice and convenient random number generator. Can be opened in a small separate window in the browser and placed next to the tables in honor of the GTO.
● Freeroll schedule. All key rooms from all affiliates – along with passwords!
PokerKing Reload Bonus and $40 Mil Series
Reload bonus 50% up to 2,000 on deposit in cryptocurrencies
Until May 7, PokerKing is offering a 50% reload bonus when funding your account with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
To take advantage of the bonus, you need to enter the promotional code GOCRYPTO for a deposit of $25 or more. The maximum bonus amount is 2,000, money is credited at 5 for every 120 Award Points (corresponding to 23% rakeback), and wagering is given 30 days.
OSS Series with $40,000,000 Guaranteed
PokerKing has announced a new stage of the Online Super Series tournament festival: it will take place from May 5 to May 27, and the prize fund will be $40,000,000.
The series schedule includes 324 tournaments in hold'em, PLO, and high-low games (stud, Omaha), which are divided into three buy-in categories: Low, Medium and High.
We talk about the most notable of them.
Main Tournament. There will be three of them at once:
- #6 – $2,500,000 GTD Main Event for $2,650
- #7 – $2,000,000 GTD Main Event for $1,050
- #8 – $1,000,000 GTD Main Event for $215
Entry Days will take place on May 19th and 26th at 15:05 GMT, Day 2 – May 27th at 17:30, the final table – the following day at the same time.
Multi-day tournaments. Flights from the start of the series, Day 2 – May 27th at 18:05 GMT:
- #1 – $2,000,000 GTD for $630
- #2 – $1,500,000 GTD (Mystery Bounty) for $109
- #3 – $500,000 GTD for $66
Mystery Bounty. In two inexpensive tournaments, you can compete for solid prizes:
- #4 – $200,000 GTD for $16.5
- #5 – $100,000 GTD for $2.5 The finals will take place on May 26th at 18:05 GMT.
Satellites will help you save on tickets.
Leaderboards
An additional $60,000 will be played in the leaderboards (twice as much as in February).
$45,000 of them are in the leaderboards for three buy-in categories:
- High (from $104.5)
- Medium ($10.5-$88)
- Low ($8.8 and below)
Points are awarded based on the formula √prize pool / √final position, with prizes going to the top 10.
| Place | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| 2 | $1,500 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| 3 | $1,000 | $1,750 | $3,500 |
| 4 | $750 | $1,250 | $2,500 |
| 5 | $500 | $750 | $1,500 |
| 6 | $251 (Tickets: 3x $33, 3x $16.50, 3x $11, 5x $8.80, 10x $2.50) | $591 (Tickets: 3x $109, 3x $55, 3x $33) | $1,278 (Tickets: 1x $630, 2x $215, 2x $109) |
| 7 | $160 (Tickets: 2x $33, 2x $16.50, 2x $11, 3x $8.80, 5x $2.50) | $394 (Tickets: 2x $109, 2x $55, 2x $33) | $954 (Tickets: 1x $630 + 1x $215 +1x$109) |
| 8-10 | $86 (Tickets: $33, $16.50, $11, 2x $8.80, 3x $2.50) | $197 (Tickets: 1x $109, 1x $55, 1x $33) | $648 (Tickets: 2x $215 + 2x $109) |
An additional $15,000 will be awarded to the winner of the overall leaderboard.
WPT Global
Daily leaderboards in Omaha at 4,000
Every day on WPT Global, there is an Omaha rake race (including five-card), where $4,000 is up for grabs.
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There are only three leaderboards, corresponding to tabs in the lobby:
- Micro: PLO4 — $0.1/$0.2 and $0.2/$0.5, PLO5 — up to $0.2/$0.5/$1 inclusive
- Low: PLO4 — $1/$2 and $2/$4, PLO5 — $0.5/$1/$2 and $1/$2/$4
- Mid: PLO4 — from $5/$10 to $50/$100/$200, PLO5 — from $2/$4/$8 to $10/$20/$40
High limits are not included in the race.
There is no precise scoring system: it is stated that the number of played raked hands affects the points. The scoring period lasts from 2:00 to 1:59 the next day, with double points given from 20:00 to 0:59.
If more than 150,000 raked hands are played in a week (up to 0:00 on Sunday), the poker room increases the weekly guarantee from Tuesday by $7,000 (+$1,000 each day).
You can track progress on the promotion page.
| Micro | Low | Mid | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 | 1,200 | 2,400 | 4,000 | |
| 1 | 100 | 300 | 750 | |
| 2 | 70 | 225 | 450 | |
| 3 | 50 | 160 | 300 | |
| 4 | 40 | 125 | 225 | |
| 5 | 30 | 90 | 175 | |
| 6 | 25 | 70 | 150 | |
| 7 | 20 | 55 | 125 | |
| 8 | 15 | 45 | 100 | |
| 9 | 12.5 | 35 | 75 | |
| 10 | 10 | 25 | 50 | |
| 11 | 7.5 | 20 | ||
| 12 | 5 | 15 | ||
| 13 | 5 | 15 | ||
| 14 | 5 | 10 | ||
| 15 | 5 | 10 |
PokerStars Must Return Cash
One of the largest poker rooms in the world will return lost money to Dutch poker players.
A court in Overijssel, a province in the eastern Netherlands, handed down a ruling on Wednesday that could set an important precedent for the European gambling industry. Two poker players said that from 2006 to 2021 they played poker on sites without licenses – which means the rooms were operating illegally in the Netherlands. The judge sided with them and ordered PS and Bwin to return to the “victims” all the money they lost – around $450,000.
In fact, the court canceled user agreements between rooms and players, because operators did not have the right to provide services until 2021 (when online poker was legalized in the country). Stars' lawyers tried to explain that most of the deposits ended up not in the room's account, but in the pockets of other players. The judge was not impressed by these arguments.
The lawyer representing the players said it was a “historic precedent” and hundreds of similar lawsuits could now be filed in Dutch courts. At the end of 2021, the same story happened in Austria, when a player in the Supreme Court of Vienna won a case against the same PokerStars. The judge then ruled that from 2014 to 2019 the room operated in the country without a license, and ordered the plaintiff to return 28,000 euros lost during this period. And in 2022, a resourceful gambler from Germany used the same scheme to sue PS for 58,517 euros left at the blackjack table.
In the USA, Stars also lost a similar case a couple of years ago. The state of Kentucky sued the room shortly after Black Friday. PokerStars was accused of organizing an illegal game from 2006 to 2011. The lawyers protested the initial fine of 290 million – in the end, they fought for about 10 years and almost lost 1.3 billion. In the final they agreed on 300 million. However, the difference with the European cases is that the money went to the state treasury, and not to the players.
SCOOP-2024 with a Guarantee of 75,000,000
A new stage of the SCOOP spring series has been announced: this year the festival will run from May 5th to May 29th, with a total prize pool of $75,000,000.
There are 128 tournaments on the schedule, each taking place in three buy-in categories: Low, Medium, and High.
Traditionally, in addition to Holdem and Omaha, there will be room for H.O.R.S.E, stud, 8-Game, badugi, and other poker variations. The cheapest ticket for the series will cost just $2.2.
There will be six main tournaments: three in hold'em (on May 26th at 19:30 Moscow time) and three in omaha (at 22:05 on the same day).
Hold'em:
- #115-L: buy-in $109, $2,000,000
- #115-M: buy-in $1,050, $3,500,000
- #115-H: buy-in $10,300, $5,000,000
Omaha:
- #117-L: buy-in $215, guarantee $250,000
- #117-M: buy-in $1,050, guarantee $400,000
- #117-H: buy-in $5,200, guarantee $500,000
For the first time at the festival, Mystery Bounty tournaments will be held: for guarantees of $150,000 – $500,000, you can compete for just $3.3.
CoinPoker CSOP Begins
On May 5th, the Crypto Series of Online Poker begins at CoinPoker. Until May 26, they plan to give away a record ₮25,000,000, and there is room in the schedule for several hundred Hold'em and Omaha tournaments with buy-ins up to ₮25,000.
🏆 There will be four main tournaments (all will take place on May 26 at 18:00 GMT):
- ₮12,000 GTD for ₮50
- ₮100,000 GTD for ₮200
- ₮500,000 GTD for ₮1,000
- High-Roller Main ₮600,000 GTD for ₮5,000
Friday during the series is declared a day off.
From May 5 to May 12, the Good Game 1% Admin Bonus promotion is valid: the poker room takes 1% less commission on buy-ins and gives tickets to tournaments for active play. For every ₮1 buy-in or rebuy, 1 point is awarded, after collecting the required number of points you will receive a ticket:
- 5,000 points => ₮50 ticket
- 20,000 points => ticket to main for ₮200
- 50,000 points => ₮500 ticket
- 100,000 points => ticket to main for ₮1,000
