Irish Masters Online Begins Friday at Partypoker; Caribbean Series Wraps Up With Success Stories

Players at partypoker will be looking for the luck of the Irish beginning this weekend. The Irish Poker Masters final schedule has been released and action starts Friday with 21 events set for Dec. 4-16.

Party announced in October that the Irish Poker Masters would be moving online this year. The series includes a €1,100 Main Event with a €1 million guarantee.

Recreational players will also find mini versions of several events on the schedule. It should be a nice two weeks of action with plenty of nice guarantees for every player level.

Partypoker Irish Poker Masters highlights

The fun starts right away on Friday with the €530 Opener, a progressive knockout (PKO) tournament with a €250,000 guarantee. Players will find a trio of starting flights to take a shot at this Irish Masters title.

The Main Event features two starting flights and wraps up on Dec. 14. Those with smaller budgets may want to check out the €109 Mini Main Event.

That tournament also includes two starting flights and comes with a €100,000 guarantee. The action gets started on Dec. 14 and wraps up two days later.

The series is designed to put players’ skills to the test with several event formats. Some of those include: Pot Limit Omaha, seven-max, PKO, heads-up, turbo, and more. Here are a few more highlights from the series:

  • €2,100 High Roller (Event 8, Dec. 8) – €100,000 guarantee
  • €530 JP Masters (Event 14, Dec. 11) – €250,000 guarantee
  • €1,050 Omaha High Roller (Event 17, Dec. 13) – €100,000 guarantee
  • €109 Mini Omaha High Roller (Event 17, Dec. 13) – €15,000 guarantee
  • €55 Mini Second Chance Turbo (Event 19, Dec. 14) – €10,000 guarantee

Numerous satellites planned, focusing on fun

Players will find numerous satellites for the Main Event with some qualifiers starting at only €0.01. A massive €109 mega satellite event is planned for Dec. 6, with 50 Main Event seats awarded.

All Irish Poker Masters events are designed for fun according to partypoker officials. Organizers said they hoped to level the playing field with limited re-entry and reducing the late registration period. Here’s a look at the complete schedule:

DateNameBuy-inGuaranteeTime (GMT)
Fri 4 Dec#01 The Opener Day 1A: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0007:05 p.m.
Fri 4 Dec#02 7-Max Turbo: €25K Guaranteed [PKO, 1-day event]€162€25,0009:15 p.m.
Sat 5 Dec#01 The Opener Day 1B: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0007:05 p.m.
Sat 5 Dec#03 6-Max Turbo: €20K Guaranteed [1-day event]€162€20,0009:15 p.m.
Sun 6 Dec#01 The Opener Day 1C: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0004:05 p.m.
Sun 6 Dec#04: Irish Poker Masters Main Event Day 1A: €1M Guaranteed [3-day event]€1,100€1,000,0007:05 p.m.
Sun 6 Dec#05 Omaha High Roller: €50K Guaranteed [1-day event]€530€50,0007:05 p.m.
Sun 6 Dec#05 Mini Omaha High Roller: €10K Guaranteed [1-day event]€55€10,0007:05 p.m.
Sun 6 Dec#01 The Opener Day 2: €250K Guaranteed€530€250,0008:05 p.m.
Sun 6 Dec#06 6-Max Hyper: €25K Guaranteed p1-day event]€265€25,00010:05 p.m.
Mon 7 Dec#07 Deepstack: €50K Guaranteed [2-day event]€265€50,0007:05 p.m.
Mon 7 Dec#07 Mini Deepstack: €15K Guaranteed 02-day event]€27€15,0007:05 p.m.
Tue 8 Dec#08 High Roller: €100K Guaranteed [2-day event]€2,100€100,0007:05 p.m.
Tue 8 Dec#09 Heads-Up: €25K Guaranteed [256-cap, No Late Reg, 2-day event]€320€25,0008:05 p.m.
Tue 8 Dec#09 Mini Heads-Up: €3K Guaranteed [512-cap, No Late Reg, 2-day event]€33€3,0008:05 p.m.
Wed 9 Dec#10 Mix-Max: €50K Guaranteed [2-day event]€320€50,0007:05 p.m.
Wed 9 Dec#10 Mini Mix-Max: €15K Guaranteed [2-day event]€33€15,0007:05 p.m.
Wed 9 Dec#11 Omaha Knockout: €30K Guaranteed [PKO, 1-day event]€320€30,0007:05 p.m.
Wed 9 Dec|#11 Mini Omaha Knockout: €10K Guaranteed [PKO, 1-day event]€33€10,0007:05 p.m.
Thu 10 Dec#12 6-Max: €50K Guaranteed [2-day event]€265€50,0007:05 p.m.
Thu 10 Dec#12 Mini 6-Max: €15K Guaranteed [2-day event]€27€15,0007:05 p.m.
Thu 10 Dec#13 Omaha: €20K Guaranteed [1-day event]€215€30,0007:05 p.m.
Thu 10 Dec#13 Mini Omaha: €5K Guaranteed [1-day event]€22€5,0007:05 p.m.
Fri 11 Dec#14 The JP Masters Day 1A: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0007:05 p.m.
Fri 11 Dec#15 7-Max Turbo: €2K Guaranteed [1-day event]€162€2,0009:15 p.m.
Sat 12 Dec#14 The JP Masters Day 1B: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0007:05 p.m.
Sat 12 Dec#16 6-Max Turbo: €25K Guaranteed [PKO, 1-day event]€162€25,0009:15 p.m.
Sun 13 Dec#14 The JP Masters Day 1C: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0004:05 p.m.
Sun 13 Dec#04 Irish Poker Masters Main Event Day 1B: €1M Guaranteed [3-day event]€1,100€1,000,0007:05 p.m.
Sun 13 Dec#17 Omaha High Roller: €100K Guaranteed [1-day event]€1,050€100,0007:05 p.m.
Sun 13 Dec#17 Mini Omaha High Roller: €15K Guaranteed [1-day event]€109€15,0007:05 p.m.
Sun 13 Dec#14 The JP Masters Day 2: €250K Guaranteed [PKO, 2-day event]€530€250,0008:05 p.m.
Sun 13 Dec#18 6-Max Hyper: €25K Guaranteed [1-day event]€265€25,00010:05 p.m.
Mon 14 Dec#04 Irish Poker Masters Main Event Day 2: €1M Guaranteed [3-day event]€1,100€1,000,0007:05 p.m.
Mon 14 Dec#04 Irish Poker Masters Mini Main Event Day 1A: €100K Guaranteed [2-day event]€109€100,0007:05 p.m.
Mon 14 Dec#19 Second Chance Turbo: €50K Guaranteed [1-day event]€530€50,0009:15 p.m.
Mon 14 Dec#19 Mini Second Chance Turbo: €10K Guaranteed [1-day event]€55€10,0009:15 p.m.
Tue 15 Dec#20 Super High Roller: €200K Guaranteed [2-day event]€5,200€200,0007:05 p.m.
Tue 15 Dec#04 Irish Poker Masters Mini Main Event Day 1B: €100K Guaranteed [2-day event]€109€100,0007:05 p.m.
Wed 16 Dec#04 Irish Poker Masters Mini Main Event Day 2: €100K Guaranteed [2-day event]€109€100,0007:05 p.m.
Wed 16 Dec#21 The Closer: €40K Guaranteed [1-day event]€265€40,0009:15 p.m.
 

Diego Ventura crushes Caribbean Poker Party Main Event – start to finish

The Irish Poker Masters is just beginning, but the Caribbean Poker Party Online just finished. The series ran from Nov. 13-25 with a $10 million guaranteed prize pool and 10 events with mini and micro versions.

The series produced a couple of unique stories including in the Main Event. It’s rare for a poker player to lead a tournament from start to finish, butr Peru’s Diego Ventura did just that.

Caribbean Poker Party Main Event winner Diego Bentura (photo courtesy partypoker)

He finished Day 1B of the event not only as the flight’s chip leader, but as the player to catch overall. That run continued on Days 2 and 3 before he started a star-studded final table as the leader.

The $5,300 tournament featured a $5 million guarantee and a trophy to the champion. Ultimately, Ventura’s big run ended with the title and the $879,894 top prize.

Player turns penny into five figures

Beyond Ventura, another player also scored big with a significantly smaller buy-in. Partypoker regularly offers qualifiers starting at just €0.01. Players can take a shot in these and hopefully work their way up to a tournament ticket.

Ukraine’s Yevhenii Dushko did just that. He turned a penny into a Main Event entry and went on to finish 55th. That turned into a payday of $19,184. Simply turning one cent into a Main Event seat was quite an accomplishment – and cashing is even bigger.

Ukraine’s Yevhenii Dushko turned one cent into a five-figure payday in the Caribbean Poker Party. (photo courtesy partypoker)

“I got lucky during Day 1A when I had a set of Aces over a set of eights and that helped build a stack and progress to Day 2,” he told partypoker. “I felt I played quite well despite the obviously different level of skill compared to my usual limits; there were a lot of strong players.”

The payout is about 40 times the average monthly salary for someone in the Ukraine. So far, Dushko isn’t sure how he’ll use the cash.

“I haven’t even thought about any big purchases to be honest,” he said. “I know that I have to keep my head cool after winning this big prize. The money will help my life for sure, but I feel like I don’t have to do anything spontaneous.

“It also will help me continue growing as a poker player. I am grateful that my friends and family treat my love of poker with respect and without the stereotypes about gambling. This support was very important to me.”

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