Online poker giant, PokerStars, is known for creating new innovative poker formats, and it has done it again.
A whole new type of Sit & Go format has been launched by PokerStars in the French market that combines the elements of a Sit & Go and Shootout tournament and adds randomized bounty prizes.
Dubbed La Course, the new format is a cycling tour-themed, 4-handed, progressive knockout Sit & Go featuring a six step progressive buy-in where players can sprint to the finish line to win their own bounty plus a chance to win up to €100,000.
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It is currently live for play money in France and will be available for real money including in the international dot-com market very soon.
Once the game goes live for real money, there will be six different buy-in levels: €1, €2, €5, €12, €25, €60. Players can start the race for as little as €1 or directly jump into the €60 buy-in and increase the chance of finishing the race and claiming their own bounty.
Players receive a 1000 to 1250 starting stack depending on the buy-in level. Blinds levels go up every 4 hands at the lower stakes and every 6 hands at the higher stakes. And, with every player you knock out, your bounty goes up.
“The poker world has never seen anything like PokerStars La Course. It’s fast, competitive and progressive, and delivered with a look and feel designed specially for our players in France,” said Severin Rasset, Managing Director and Commercial Officer, Poker, at The Stars Group. “We hope our players will enjoy playing PokerStars La Course as much as we enjoyed creating it.”
Key Points About PokerStars’ New Game:
- 4-max hyper-turbo, progressive-knockout Sit & Go
- Six different buy-in (sprint) levels are available – the higher the buy-in, the closer to the finish line players start
- The goal is to move to the highest 'sprint’ level and win the race by collecting over €100 bounty value
- Randomized bounty prizes ranging from 1x to 6000x of the opponent’s bounty value
The new Sit & Go format takes some of the elements from some of PokerStars’ successful games such as Spin & Go. At the start of the Spin & Go, the prize pool is determined randomly and ranges from 2x to 12,000x the buy-in.
In a similar vein, every time a player knocks out their opponent, they win a part of their opponent’s bounty value instantly, but the bounty value can be multiplied randomly ranging from 1x to 6000x.
Much like progressive knockout tournaments, players also increase the value of their own bounty, bringing them much closer to the finish line. Players win the race and their own bounty as soon as their bounty value goes over €100.
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How the New PokerStars Sit & Go Format Works:
- 4-handed Sit & Go are available in six different buy-in levels.
- Players at the same buy-in level compete in ‘sprints’ – four-player progressive knockout Sit & Go tournaments that each last around five to ten minutes.
- Players start with a bounty level equal to the buy-in minus rake.
- Players increase their bounty level by eliminating their opponents. They then move to the next sprint, where they will be matched with players of similar bounty values.
- Players that win a sprint can continue their journey to the finish line by playing another sprint for free immediately or any time they like.
- When someone is eliminated, their bounty value is split two ways – a percentage is added to the victor’s value and a percentage is awarded as cash directly into the victor’s wallet.
- This cash prize can be multiplied, meaning players could win more than €100,000 at higher stakes.
- Eliminated players keep any winnings from knockouts.
- When a player wins a sprint, they can jump right into the next one or save it for later. Every completed sprint gets players closer to the finish line, where they will be crowned one of many PokerStars La Course champions.
The game was launched earlier today on PokerStars.FR for play money. It comes with a never-seen-before interactive game lobby, showing a list of “recent winners” when hovering the mouse over the finishing race point. It also shows the list of players that have been awarded the biggest bounties. Players can also observe tables of sprints closer to the finishing line.
It is expected to be launched for real money in the French and the international dot-com markets soon.
