The Winning Poker Network is trialing a Steps program into its $1,000,000 guaranteed Million Dollar Encore tournaments that starts at freeroll level.
Last month I wrote about how the Winning Poker Network (WPN) was intending to run [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/more-encore-for-high-rollers-at-winning-poker-network/”]weekly million dollar guaranteed tournaments[/geolink] all the way to Christmas. For many players the news didn´t mean very much because the $2,650 buy-in is way out of their comfort zone. Nonetheless, the tournaments have been very successful and have mostly failed to meet their guaranteed prize pools by small margins.
Now the Network has announced it is trialing a new six-stage Million Dollar Sunday Encore (MDSE) Steps program that culminates with a weekly Final guaranteeing fifteen seats into the $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament. In order to ensure a constant flow of traffic to the MDSE Steps program – and to give players the opportunity to go from zero to hero – the new Steps program starts at freeroll level.
How the MDSE Steps Program Works
Every two hours, sites on the Winning Poker Network (such as Americas Cardroom and Black Chip Poker) are hosting MDSE Step 0 freeroll tournaments. Unlike the Network´s freebuy tournaments, these are freezeout events in which players start with 2,500 chips and blinds of 15/30. Late registration is open for six 10-minute levels, by which time the blinds have increased to 100/200 (ante 20). The top 113 players from each Step 0 freeroll win a ticket that can be used to enter any Step 1 tournament.
Unlike the freeroll stage, Step 1 to Step 4 tournaments have an “On Demand” format. This means each tournament starts when a certain number of players has entered rather than having scheduled start times. Each Step 1 to Step 4 tournament can be bought into directly and has a late registration period during which time unlimited re-entries are allowed. Each of the four “On Demand” stages also guarantees a minimum number of seats into the next Step.
| Step | Players Required to Start | Direct Buy-In | Late Reg | Gtd Number of Seats into Next Step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | $6.61 | 60 mins | 60 |
| 2 | 79 | $16.51 | 60 mins | 30 |
| 3 | 42 | $55.01 | 120 mins | 18 |
| 4 | 32 | $215.01 | 120 mins | 12 |
The top twelve players in Step 4 win a ticket to the intriguingly named Step 4.5. This Final tournament of the Steps program takes place at 6:30pm (ET) on Saturday evening (it can also be bought into directly for $630.01). It is important to note this is not an On Demand event, but a scheduled tournament with two hours late registration. The top fifteen players in the Step 4.5 tournament will win a seat to the Million Dollar Sunday Encore tournament taking place the following day at 1:00pm (ET).
Alternative Free Routes for Million Dollar Encore
The new Steps program is not the only route that gives you the opportunity to go from zero to hero. The Network is also running hourly freebuy tournaments through which the top three players win a seat in a daily Super Satellite at 7:41pm (ET). The Super Satellite (which can be bought into directly for $11.00) awards thirty seats for Sunday´s Mega MDSE Satellite (at 11:30am ET), which itself awards ten seats into the Million Dollar Sunday Encore event that afternoon.
The freebuy route is actually the quicker qualification route of the two free options as it only has three stages until you reach the target event. However, you are more likely to progress to the Million Dollar Sunday Encore event through the new Steps program due to the number of seats guaranteed into the next stage at each Step. Of course, there is no reason why you cannot attempt both routes simultaneously. You only have to have an account with Americas Cardroom or Black Chip Poker to try.
