Unibet’s flagship tournament series, the Unibet Online Series (UOS), is back — and it’s bigger than ever.
Returning after eighteen months, the 17th edition of UOS is nearly four times larger than the previous edition. In fact, with more than €1.1 million in guarantees, it is the biggest prize money the operator has ever offered in a single tournament series.
UOS XVII kicks off this Sunday, October 29 and runs for over three weeks, making it the longest series to ever run by the operator. The showstopper event of this series is the €100 UOS Main Event, which guarantees €40,000 in prize money.
Unibet Online Series 2023 Highlights:
- Runs from October 29 to November 20, 2023
- Guarantees over €1.1 million across 228 tournaments
- Buy-ins range from €2 to €300
- €100 buy-in Main Event with a €40,000 guarantee
- New events include Phased tournaments, PKO NLHE Main Events, and PLO Main Events
- Weekly Missions, Mystery Freerolls, and Leaderboards to promote the series
The massive prize money is spread among 69 numbered events, following the customary practice of classifying them into three buy-in categories — Low, Mid, and High — so players with a wide range of bankroll sizes can play.
With 69 events in each of those three tiers, along with side events on Fridays, the total number of tournaments has expanded to 228, making it the broadest schedule in the series’ five-year history.
The Low-stakes tier offers buy-ins between €2 and €5, while the Mid-tier ranges from €10 to €25. High-stakes enthusiasts will find buy-ins ranging from €50 to €300. On weekdays, there are at least nine tournaments scheduled, starting at 7pm, while Sundays take the spotlight with 15 to 30 tournaments beginning at 4pm.
The event lineup covers the entire spectrum of Unibet’s tournament offerings, including progressive knockouts, rebuys, turbos, Pot Limit Omaha, freezeouts, ante tournaments, 2-day events, and more. Notably, bounty formats come in different variations, such as 30% bounties, 70% bounties, and Banzai PKOs, beginning with just 20 big blinds.
Plenty of New Events
As pointed out to us by Unibet’s ambassador, David Lappin, this year’s schedule boasts a variety of new editions. These include three Phased tournaments featuring buy-ins of €2, €10, and €50 with combined guarantees of €87,500. The operator has also introduced Phase Qualifiers for the Main Event, with an entry fee of just €5. While Phased tournaments are not entirely new on Unibet, this is their debut appearance as part of UOS.
Another first is the inclusion of Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) Main Events, offering buy-ins of €5, €25, and €100, with a combined prize pool of €15,000. Additionally, the 2-day No-Limit Hold’em Main Events will be played in the progressive bounty format for the very first time.
Fridays during the series offer a breather, with only side events on the schedule — a trend started by PokerStars during its flagship tournament series. This gives respite to those vying for leaderboard prizes.
“In terms of features, it’s the longest series we’ve ever run, first time with off days to give LB chasers a break, first UOS PLO main event, first UOS with phases and a Main event phase qualifier,” Lappin told Poker Industry PRO, “first UOS main that’s a PKO. Big reduction in R/A [rebuy and add-on] tournaments based on player feedback, including the Main.”
Leaderboards, Missions, and Mystery Freerolls to Promote the Series
As with past UOS editions, this year’s series will be accompanied by a variety of promotions. There are three separate leaderboard competitions for each buy-in tier, along with an overall leaderboard covering all 69 events, with a total of €20,000 in prizes at stake.
Additionally, Unibet will also run weekly UOS missions where players can earn an entry to a weekly €2000 Mission tournament, running three times throughout the series and offering UOS tickets as rewards. The missions are straightforward, requiring players to compete in 15 events each week, starting from October 29.
Furthermore, there will be Mystery Freerolls running throughout the series where players can win UOS tickets for no investment.
UOS XVII takes place from October 29 to November 20.
