Will the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series Main Event hit the $5 million guarantee?

WSOP Super Circuit Online aims for biggest Main Event in WSOPC history
Poker writer Geoff Fisk profile photo
Geoff Fisk
Posted on: May 27, 2021 09:14 PDT

Final Day 1 flights for the massive $525 buy-in tournament play out through Sunday

GGPoker went big with its Main Event for the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series. The centerpiece tournament from the ongoing $100 million guaranteed series offered more than 60 Day 1 flights, playing out over the last two weeks on the international online poker site.

While a few Day 1 opportunities still remain, the tournament moves ahead to Day 2 action on Sunday, May 30. Opening-day flights play right up until the start of the Day 2 flight, which begins at 1:05 pm EDT this Sunday.

The $525 buy-in tournament ($500 plus $25 in registration fees) needs to hit 10,000 total entries to meet the $5 million guarantee. The tournament cleared the 7,200-entry mark as of Thursday morning, but still needs to draw at least 2,800 more to avoid an overlay.

More than 20 Day 1 flights remain to be played between now and the start of Day 2. The final opening flight begins at 11:30 am EDT on Sunday, less than two hours before the start of Day 2 action.

GGPoker’s ambitious approach to the WSOP Super Circuit Online Main Event

GGPoker hasn’t shied away from pumping up the guarantees for its major festivals in 2021. The WSOP Super Circuit Online Series almost feels like the official beginning on the 2021 World Series of Poker.

We still have to wait until July to see the first official 2021 WSOP bracelets doled out, but the 18 Circuit Ring Events in the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series make up a part of one of the biggest online poker festivals so far this year.

The series guaranteed $100 million across all tournaments, which included the official Circuit Ring Events and side events. The $5 million guaranteed Main Event marks the largest promised prize pool across the series.

With still more than 20 Day 1 flights left to be played, GGPoker could see the prize pool go over the $5 million mark for the Main Event. The players ending up at the top of the Main Event payout structure will see a massive return on their $525 investment, with most of the final table participants likely looking at six-figure paydays.

The biggest tournament played so far in the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series offered a similar combination of affordable buy-in and big guarantee. That tournament came in the form of the COLOSSUS, which offered a $2.5 million guaranteed prize pool at a $400 entry fee.

The $400 COLOSSUS ran as a two-day event, a much less ambitious venture compared to the $525 Main Event. Players turned out for the COLOSSUS in massive numbers, with more than 10,000 entries pushing the final prize pool up over $3.8 million.

The top six players in the COLOSSUS turned their $400 buy-ins into six-figure paydays, and that same pattern will emerge in the Super Circuit Main Event. Day 2 is scheduled to play down to a final table on Sunday, with the Main Event resuming on Saturday, June 5.

The Main Event final table will officially end the 2021 WSOP Super Circuit Online Series, but WSOP season is just beginning in the poker world.

WSOP.com will host the U.S.-based WSOP Online bracelet events July 1 through August 1. GGPoker will follow with the rest-of-world slate of WSOP Online bracelet events Aug. 1 through Sep. 12.

The long-awaited return of the traditional World Series of Poker plays out at the Rio Las Vegas Sept. 30 through Nov. 23.

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