GGPoker’s GGMasters: What You Need to Know

Originally launched in January 2020, the GGMasters brand represents GGPoker’s high profile online poker tournaments that provide great value for players.

The tournament was originally designed with the help of Daniel Negreanu, GGPoker’s biggest ambassador, and the weekly freezeout featured a $150 buy-in with a guarantee that was boosted every time it met its guarantee – going from $250,000 to $500,000 in less than three months.

But because the tournament became so popular with the poker play community, GGPoker expanded the GGMasters brand twice.

In late August 2020, the operator took the idea of a weekly freezeout with a reasonable buy-in and an attractive guarantee and boosted it to the next level by adding Daily GGMasters tournaments and weekly High Rollers GGMasters, totaling $1.8 million per week.

In February 2021, it once again expanded its weekly tournament schedule, adding five more tournaments: GGMasters Bounty edition, a turbo-paced Fast, Hyper, an Asia edition catering to Asian players and Double Stack.

With these new additions, the GGMasters tournament now boasts weekly guarantees of at least $2.5 million—ten times more than what it had started with.

The $25 buy-in new GGMasters tournaments run every day except Sunday.

The GGMasters Daily features a $50,000 guarantee from Monday to Friday and $70,000 on Saturday and runs at 17:00 GMT.

The GGMasters Asia runs at early hours at 11:00 GMT featuring gurantees ranging from $25,000 to $30,000; GGMasters Double Stack at 13:00 GMT promising $30,000 to $40,000 depending on the day; GGMasters Bounty two hours later at 15:00 GMT boasting $50,000 to $60,000.

There are also two fast-paced editions of GGMasters. GGMasters Fast runs daily from Monday to Friday at 19:00 GMT featuring $25,000 to $30,000 in guaranteed prize money. On Saturday, GGMasters Hyper runs instead of GGMasters Fast at 21:00 GMT, guaranteeing $20,000.

Each of these new additions cost $25 to enter except for the Bounty edition that has a price tag of $25.50 ($12+$12+$1.20).

And of course, the original GGMasters still runs on Sunday at 17:00 GMT as a freezeout with a $500,000 guarantee and a $150 buy-in.

The event is accompanied by the GGMasters High Rollers taking place on Sunday at 17:00 GMT, the same day and time that the original GGMasters runs. It features a $1 million guarantee for a $1050 buy-in.

When Do the GGMasters Run and At What Time?

The $25 Buy-in GGMasters take place on the GGPoker network every day from Monday to Saturday at four different time zones: GGMasters Asia – 11:00 GMT; GGMasters Double Stack – 13:00 GMT; GGMasters Bounty — 15:00 GMT; GGMasters Daily — 17:00 GMT; GGMasters Fast — 19:00 GMT (Monday to Friday); GGMasters Hyper — 21:00 GMT (Saturday Only).

The Original GGMasters takes place every Sunday at 17:00 GMT.

The GGMasters High Rollers run on Sundays at 17:00 GMT.

What are the Buy-ins and Tournament Fees for the Different GGMasters Events?

The original GGMasters carries a $150 buy-in. The tournament is raked 8%, meaning $138 of the buy-in goes to the prize pool and the remaining $12 is charged by the network as tournament fee.

The GGMasters High Rollers has a $1050 buy-in, $50 of which is the tournament fee. The fee on this event breaks down to 4.8%, the lowest in terms of percentage of the three GGMasters tournaments.

The GGMasters tournaments that run from Monday to Saturday—each of the five editions carries a $25 buy-in with $23 allocated for the prize pool and the remaining $2 going to the operator as a tournament fee.

Like the original, the $2 fee works out to 8%. The exception is the Bounty edition that has a $25.20 buy-in, with $12 going towards the regular prize pool, another $12 towards bounty and $1.20 as tournament fee, equivalent to just 4.8%.

How Much Does GG Masters Guarantee?

The $150 buy-in GGMasters (the original) boasts a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. It originally started with a $250,000 guarantee, and as it got closer to meeting that guarantee, GGPoker bumped it up to $300,000. After weeks of overlays, the tournament finally met its $300,000 guaranteed prize money for the first time on March 15. Three days later, GGPoker bumped up the guarantee to $400,000 and again to $500,000 after the $400,000 guarantee was met.

The GGMasters High Rollers features a $1 million guarantee every Sunday.

The $25 buy-in GGMasters that run every day except on Sunday carries guarantees ranging from $20,000 to $70,000.

What is the Structure of GGMasters Tournaments?

All of the GGMasters tournaments are played as freezeouts, meaning no re-entries or rebuys are allowed. The tournaments are played 8-handed except for the final tables which get switched to 9-handed.

The tournaments allow late registration for approximately 3 hours. Players receive 200 big blinds as their starting stack (400 bb for Double Stack) and blind levels change:

• Every 6 minutes for the GGMasters Hyper (Saturday only)
• Every 8 minutes for the Daily GGMasters Fast
• Every 10 minutes for the Daily events (Asia, Double Stack, Bounty)
• Every 12 minutes for the original GGMasters
• Every 15 minutes for the GGMasters High Rollers

What Percentage of Places are Paid in GGMasters?

All of the GGMasters tournaments pay the top 15% places.

Does GGMasters Allow Rebuys or Reentries?

No, since the tournaments are freezeouts, every player gets a single shot in each tournament to reach the money. Once eliminated, players cannot enter the tournaments again (until the next one kicks off).

How Can I Qualify for GGMasters? What Buy-ins Are Available for Satellites to the GGMasters?

GGPoker offers a plethora of satellites and qualifiers running around the clock throughout the week.

Players can qualify for Daily GGMasters for as little as $2.50 for Hyper Satellites that guarantee 2 seats and run twice an hour. Mega Satellites that guarantee 20 seats cost $3 to enter and run every day.

Satellites to the original GGMasters are available for as little as a $15 buy-in, with step qualifiers starting as low as $1.50. These satellites run every half an hour, with the $15 buy-in satellites guaranteeing between two to fifteen seats depending on the time slot.

GGMasters High Rollers satellites cost $100, guarantee between 3 and 6 seats and run multiple times per day. $10 qualifiers to the $100 satellites run twice an hour.

Once qualified for GG Masters, players will not be allowed to unregister.

Does GG Masters Has a Leaderboard? What are the Prizes?

Starting 2021, GGMasters no longer comes with its own dedicated Player of the Year (POY) leaderboard.

The operator did run the POY leaderboard in 2020 and it was won by a player with the nickname “M Dziubdziela.”

The leaderboard also rewarded those that finish in second through tenth place with a package of entries to the 2021 GGMasters tournaments, each worth $7800.

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Does GGMasters Utilize GGPoker’s Tournament Staking Feature?

Yes, GGPoker’s built-in tournament staking platform allows players to buy or sell action in GGMasters events with no additional fee. This can be done so by going to the tournament lobby and heading to the staking window. Being able to sell action can allow players with smaller bankrolls to play the GGMasters.

What Additional Perks Does GGMaster Provide Players?

GGMasters supports many of the network’s unique features including Bubble Protection – a feature that refunds players their buy-in if they bust out just before the money.

Bubble Protection is available for free as players don’t have to pay any additional fee to take advantage of this protection. The only caveat is that players must register for the tournament before it starts.

The size of the bubble depends on the number of entrants. As per GGPoker’s bubble definition, if the tournament gets entries between 1000 to 1999, the bubble is 4 and if the number of entrants is between 2000 and 2999 the bubble is 5.

In addition to the Bubble Protection feature, GGMasters also supports Smart HUD – the network’s built-in tracking tool—as well as final table features such as the ability to switch seats, a chess clock, deal making, etc.

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