When, on Sunday, the Carnival Series passes the halfway point and begins its downward trajectory on PokerStars Poker and Sisal Poker, the tournament on which the most powerful spotlights will be focused will be the €150.000 UltraDeep, but what we want to write to you about today is instead one of the tournaments that will be played on Saturday evening, the No Limit HoldEm Bacchanal.
Event number 73 of the Carnival Series has a rather particular structure and, in addition to the high guaranteed prize pool in relation to the Buy In, the time division for the first levels of play is interesting.
But let’s take things in order.
€20 NL Hold’Em Bacchanal PKO
Meanwhile, let’s start with the start date of the tournament, which will be played in a single Day on the evening of Saturday, February 21, at 21:00.
Upon entering the table, we will find a stack of 25.000 virtual chips, a reduced amount compared to high-profile online events, also in relation to what will be the first level of event number 073, Small Blind 200, Big Blind 400, Ante 50.
The registration cost will be €20, an investment that most of the players who populate the tournament schedule of
Late registration is open for 2 hours and 40 minutes and, during the late reg period, up to 5 re-entries are allowed.
The format is a PKO
Progressive Knock Out is the formula chosen for the tournament, the mechanics of which can be summarized as follows: everyone starts with a €9 bounty and when you eliminate someone you immediately collect 50% of their current bounty, while the other 50% is added to your bounty, gradually making you a richer target.
Important note also for the pace: a minimum of €4,50 is indicated as a prize for an elimination, so the bounty has real weight from the beginning and not only, as happens for Mystery Bounty tournaments, when players reach the money.
The first level is the peculiarity of the Bacchanal
Previously we labeled the number of blinds we will have once we enter the table as below average, but the difference lies entirely in the entry level which is significantly longer than the others in terms of assigned time.
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The gem here is precisely the 60-minute Level 1: it is a deliberate choice of the structure that changes the narrative and feel of the tournament.
With 25.000 chips and 200/400 ante 50, you are not in “turbo” mode from the first click: you have time to see showdowns, understand who is clicking randomly (and/or to make chips immediately) and who is selecting, and above all to build stack and bounty without being forced to take borderline spots after ten hands.
Seven levels in one
In practice, the size of the blinds never changes for the entire first hour of play, then rises to Small Blind 250 / Big Blind 500 / Ante 60, for a duration of 10 minutes.
At the end of the second level, it switches to 8-minute levels and the duration will remain so until the conclusion of the tournament.
The first is an hour in which you can play cleaner and more strategically: you steal better, 3-bet with judgment, choose calmly when to chase bounties and when to keep variance low.
At the same time, the tournament remains very much an “evening” event because the estimated duration is over 7 hours: this means it allows you a comfortable opening to play real poker, but then pushes the accelerator to reach a sensible conclusion in the night.
Translated: one hour of settling in (also excellent for those who enter through satellites or arrive close to the start), and then a faster path that avoids infinite marathons.
It is a balance that will appeal to your preferences if you want an event with a significant guarantee, but without committing until dawn.
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