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 Most
of the time when you think of a major tournament, you probably imagine
something like the
World Series
of Poker. Hundreds (if not thousands) of players gathered in a
single large room, the sound of chips clicking together omnipresent, and
millions of dollars in prize money on the line - a true poker player's
paradise. Now imagine that in addition to all those things the floor is
gently rolling beneath you, and after you've eaten during the dinner breaks
you have a chance to take in a spectacular view of the glistening ocean
before heading back inside to put your opponents to the test - in the
world's biggest limit
hold'em
tournament. If that sounds like your idea of a good time, the Party Poker
Million is your kind of tournament.
As one of the charter tournaments on the World Poker Tour, the Party Poker
Million carries a lot of prestige in today's crowded tournament schedule.
The players who have won the tournament are a virtual Who's Who of today's
poker elite: Kathy Liebert,
Howard
Lederer,
Erick
Lindgren and Michael Gracz have all taken home the big prize, and
Liebert's performance made her the first woman ever to win $1 million in a
poker tournament. The list of players who have made the final table rounds
the Who's Who out even further:
Phil
Hellmuth,
Chris
Ferguson, Mel Judah,
Chip Jett,
Daniel
Negreanu, Steve Zolotow,
Scotty
Nguyen,
Barry
Greenstein,
John
Juanda, and Paul Darden have all finished in the top 9 of the Party
Poker Million.
Participation in the Party Poker Million has grown considerably since its
first go-round, thanks not only to booming interest in poker but also to the
readily available satellites on Party Poker. In 2002, 139 players either
qualified for the event online or bought their way in for $8,000 apiece. In
2003, 134 qualified online and 33 bought directly in. In 2004, the number of
players skyrocketed to 546, and in 2005, 735 players boarded the ship for a
shot at $1.5 million. This success is amazing when you stop to consider that
the Party Poker Million is one of the only major limit hold'em tournaments
in the world outside of the WSOP. The thrill of pushing all-in, one of the
major draws for many of the newer crowd of poker fans, is non-existent in
this tournament, yet it continues to draw record fields with every passing
year.
Players who can't buy in directly, but still dream of having their name
enshrined in poker history next to the greats who have cruised to victory,
can qualify through a number of paths. The first choice players have is
whether they want to qualify by playing limit or no-limit hold'em. Once
they've decided on their game of choice, it's time to pick a tournament. For
those who don't mind putting down the $150+12 entry fee, super satellites
with a limit of 180 player entries run on Party Poker twice a week, with one
entry into the tournament for every 90 players. The PPM Semi-Finals run for
four days every two months, with a $250+20 buy-in and one cruise package
awarded for every 56 player entries. If $675+40 isn't out of your price
range you can enter the PPM Gateway, which runs once weekly and awards one
cruise package for every 20 player entries. Finally, for those who don't
want to spend any money at all there is the Players Club Freeroll - anyone
with 15,000 Party Points can enter once a week for a shot at a single cruise
package. Sit-and-go satellites are available for the super satellites and
Semi-Finals, and Party's famous Steps sit-and-go tournaments have been set
up to award cruise packages as well.
The prize pool for the Party Poker Million V, to be held in March 2006, will
be the biggest yet - a stunning $7 million. While we may not know who will
win this tournament ahead of time, it's a safe bet that hundreds of internet
qualifiers and most of the biggest names in poker will be rubbing elbows
again on the next installment of the world's favorite poker cruise. |
