Pokerstars has announced that they will be auctioning off a seat in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker on the popular online auction site poker penny auction site, Bidibot.com.
On Bidibot.com, poker players bid, in penny increments, on credits from their favorite poker sites, such as VictoryPoker, and Betfair, and often win credits for a fraction of their regular cost. Each concurrent bid adds another 30 seconds to the bid timer, and $10-$200 poker packages often sell at substantially less then face value.
The seat at the WCOOP is valued at $1050, and is to be auctioned off on Sunday, September 19.
“PokerStars is a brand that resonates through the poker fraternity and we’re delighted to have them on board with Bidibot,” said Bidibot CEO, John Tabatabai. “Partnering with such a renowned and trusted brand really brings home the value we’re offering with our penny auctions and we’re very excited about the packages that we’ll be rolling out in the near future… watch this space!”
The move by PokerStars could result in the seat being sold for, literally, pennies on the dollar, if past similar auctions are any indication. For example, a seat at the largest poker tour in the UK, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, (GUKPT) sold last week for a mere $16.03.
This opens an opportunity for poker enthusiasts who might otherwise not have chance to enter the tournament due to monetary restriction, to participate in one of the most hotly anticipated, and most potentially lucrative online poker events of the year.
The prize pool for this year’s PokerStars WCOOP is a guaranteed $50,000,000.
The prize pool for this year’s PokerStars WCOOP is a guaranteed $50,000,000.
It will run 62 events, including three High Roller tournaments, concluding with a No Limit Hold’em Main Event, which has, by itself, a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000,000.
The WCOOP is in its ninth year, and is played every September on the PokerStars website. Quickly becoming known as the online version of the World Series of Poker, the WCOOP is one of the most highly anticipated online tournaments in the world of online poker.
In 2005, the WCOOP set records for the largest-ever online poker event, as well as the third-biggest poker series, live or online, for 2005.