From October 15, Ignition Poker will be hosting its first major online poker tournament series – the $2.5 million guaranteed Golden Spade Poker Open.
Although this is the first time that the Golden Spade Poker Open (GSPO) will be played at Ignition Poker, it is hardly a new series. The GSPO “Contender” and GSPO “Championship” series were annual events for three years at Bovada Poker, where this year´s “Contender” series was played just prior to the site´s migration to its new home.
Ignition Poker aims to build on its predecessor´s success by offering a bigger and more valuable tournament schedule than ever before. Fifty-nine “Championship” tournaments will take place over the sixteen days between Saturday October 15 and Sunday October 30, with guaranteed prize pools of $2.5 million and a $400,000 guaranteed Main Event.
Big Buy-Ins to Create Massive Prize Pools
Ignition Poker´s GSPO Championship series is aimed at players with bigger bankrolls. Buy-ins start at $48.00 for the $40,000 guaranteed “Mini Main Event” and go up to $474.00 for the $100,000 “Anniversary Special” and the $50,000 “High Rollers” event. The buy-ins for the majority of tournaments are priced between $109.00 and $215.00.
The mix of tournaments is pretty good. Although predominantly NL Hold´em events, the schedule includes KO tournaments, Shootout tournaments and Ante-Up tournaments. There is a $15,000 guaranteed Heads-Up event in the line-up, plus games played in 6-Max and full ring format at a variety of speeds and stack sizes.
The highlight of the series is the $400,000 guaranteed Main Event at 6:04pm (ET) on Sunday October 30. Despite the event´s substantial buy-in of $425.00 + $25.00, the Main Event is expected to be very popular. A comprehensive satellite schedule is already underway at Ignition Poker, and there will be a number of players rich in tournament tickets carried over from Bovada Poker, who will be looking at this event as a good way to convert their tournament tickets into a valuable prize.
Plenty of Value Expected in GSPO Series
When Bovada Poker migrated its players to Ignition Poker, it was not possible to carry forward Player Points earned in Bovada Poker´s VIP Rewards program, and players were advised to convert them into tournament tickets that would be honored by Ignition Poker. However, despite there being a good number of players with pockets full of tournament tickets, it is expected that there will be plenty of value in the form of undersubscribed tournaments during Ignition Poker´s GSPO Series.
Reports from players currently playing at Ignition Poker would indicate that a number of tournaments are failing to reach their guarantees. This has been attributed to various reasons, but the most likely scenario is that players from the regulated states of New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware were unable to transfer their accounts from Bovada Poker when the migration to Ignition Poker took place last month. Players from Maryland and New York are also prohibited from playing at Ignition Poker.
The decline in the player database is not the only reason why some GSPO events may fail to reach their guarantees. The series coincides with PokerStars´ New Jersey Championship of Online Poker – which will likely attract high-rolling players from neighboring states – and Americas Cardroom´s High Five series from October 19 to October 23, which has its own $420,000 guarantee Main Event. For players who like to get a little value from their online poker, this could be a very lucrative series to compete in!
Ignition Poker Bonus for New Players Now $1,000
While the migration from Bovada Poker was underway, Ignition Poker offered a relatively small first deposit bonus for new players. Now that the migration process has finished, the site has increased the Ignition Poker bonus to a 100% match on first deposits up to $1,000. The bonus is cleared in eight stages as certain Player Points milestones are reached, and weighted to ensure that the early levels are easy to clear. Full details of the new clearing requirements can be found in our [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/ignition-poker/”]Ignition Poker review[/geolink].
Admittedly, clearing the full Ignition Poker bonus within the time allowed is a big ask. However, players who achieve the feat will have earned 10,000 Ignition Player Points. Ignition Player Points can be converted into tournament entry tickets at the rate of 200 points per $1.00. This means that a player clearing the full Ignition Poker bonus will be able to convert their Player Points into $50.00 worth of tournament tickets – not enough for a free entry into the GSPO Main Event, but certainly a good way towards the buy-in for one of the supporting tournaments in the Golden Spade Poker Open.
It is definitely worth considering!
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