Qualify Today for Sunday’s $1 Million Big Game at Party Poker

Players taking advantage of undersubscribed Big Game satellites may also have the edge when the tournament reaches its $1 million conclusion on Sunday.

Party Poker´s Big Game is a cracking tournament that attracts some of the best online poker players in the world, yet gives casual players the chance to win a life-changing amount from as little as $0.55. But that´s not all. With the conclusion of the event still five days away, there are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of undersubscribed satellites and take a healthy chip stack to the Big Game Final.

To understand the advantage of qualifying early for Sunday´s Big Game Final with a healthy chip stack, you only need to look in the Phase 2 lobby. At the time of writing, forty-five players have qualified for Sunday´s Final with chip stacks of up to 1.45 million chips. However, players who buy-in directly on Sunday only receive 500,000 chips. Consequently, the current chip leaders have a massive advantage.

Not every player who has made it through to Sunday´s Phase 2 Final has a healthy chip stack. Some will only have the equivalent of ten Big Blinds when the Final gets underway at 7:00pm (all times UK). However, with the qualification route starting at just $0.55, there´s no reason why short-stacked players can´t try to reach the Final again and – if they make it – forfeit their existing stack for one that gives them a better chance of making it into the money.

The $0.55 Qualification Route to the Big Game Final (Stages 1 and 2)

The early stages of the qualification route are not “official” Big Game satellites inasmuch as Party Poker hosts multiple satellites throughout the day at multiple buy-ins to give players a chance of qualifying for any of the site´s big buy-in events. However, the $0.55 buy-in “feeder satellites” represent an excellent way to extract value from the qualification route as they guarantee between ten and twenty $11.00 tournament entry tickets depending on the time of day.

Typically the $0.55 buy-in “feeder satellites” are undersubscribed by as much as 50%. This means that the buy-ins only add up to half as much as Party Poker is giving away in prizes, and you have twice as much chance of winning an $11.00 ticket as if there was no guarantee. Similarly, you can find $11.00 buy-in satellites guaranteeing between five and fifteen $55.00 MTT tickets which also fail to cover the value of the prizes on offer. That´s the first two stages of the BIG Game qualification route.

The Big Game Feeder Satellites and the Big Game Phase 1

“Official” Big Game Feeder Satellites with a $55.00 buy-in run three times a day at 3:30pm, 6:30pm, and 8:30pm (additional satellites are scheduled for Sunday). These each guarantee five seats into the Phase 1 legs of the Big Game which take place at 5:00pm, 8:00pm and 10:00pm daily. Additional Phase 1 legs are scheduled for Sunday and, if you wish to skip the qualification process, you can buy directly into any Phase 1 for $540.00.

Each Phase 1 leg lasts twenty-four levels of six minutes each, and only players who survive the 2½ hours of action carry forward chip stacks into Sunday´s Phase 2. Ideally, you will want to come out of a Phase 1 leg with more than 500,000 chips – so it´s not necessarily a good idea to leap into the next Phase 1 on the schedule. The fewer players there are in each Phase 1 leg, the fewer chips on the table. Indeed, it could be in your best interests to delay the Phase 1 leg of your qualification until Sunday.

The Big Game Final (Phase 2)

As mentioned above, the Big Game Final (Phase 2) gets underway on Sunday at 7:00pm. The Final can be bought into directly for $5,200, but why would you want to do that if you are likely to start with a chip stack a third the size of the chip leaders, and when you can qualify from as little as $0.55? The Final starts with blinds of 2,500/5,000 (ante 600) and levels increase each fifteen minutes. There is no Day 2, so the game will continue until the winners of the $1 million prize pool are determined.

If you fancy concerting a $0.55 investment to a six-figure win, visit Party Poker today while the value still exists in the feeder satellites. If it is your first visit to the site, register an account using the Party Poker bonus code “[bonuscode room=”partypoker”][/bonuscode]” and you will be entitled to receive $30 in free Spins tickets when you make a deposit of $20 or more. It could be a big weekend for you if you play in the Big Game at Party Poker.

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