With the holiday season quickly approaching, are you looking for a way to celebrate? If so, how about playing in a world-class poker tournament as part of a vacation package in an exciting location such as Australia, the Caribbean, or Europe? Better yet, how about winning your way into such an event for pennies on the dollar?
A number of online sites are sponsoring exciting tournaments and giving you a way to maximize those valuable vacation days.
PokerStars is running satellites for players to get into the next two
European Poker Tour events on the cheap. The annual
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will be held Jan. 5-10, and the site is giving away packages for free that include the $8,000 buy-in, seven nights' accommodations at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas, and $1,000 in cash for travel.
In another package giveaway, Daniel Negreanu will have dinner with the winner and give him a private training session. For this package giveaway, players are given one free pass every week into a weekly freeroll that takes place daily at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET from Sept. 29 to Nov. 30. The top 1,250 players in each round one will win a cash prize, and the top 200 finishers will advance to a second round. This second round will be held every Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. The top 15 percent of players in each round two will win a cash prize. The top finisher will advance to the online final, which will be held on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 3 p.m. ET, and the package will be awarded to the winner. Other top prizes include cash rewards. The player who knocks Negreanu out of the tournament will receive a $500 bounty.
The other
EPT event for which players can qualify on PokerStars is in Prague at the Hilton, running Dec. 10-14. The buy-in is 5,000 euros but can be won for free. Every Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, a $1,050 buy-in qualifier runs for a package that includes a seat, luxury hotel accommodations, and $1,000 in spending money. There are satellites for that direct qualifier for as little as $8.
Full Tilt is again sponsoring the
Aussie Millions Poker Championship and offering players a chance to win a luxury poker getaway, Jan. 5-20. Full Tilt is giving away $18,000 prize packages that include $10,500, 10 nights' accomodations at the luxurious Crown Casino Resort, round-trip airfare for the winner and a guest from Los Angeles to Melbourne, $3,000 in spending money, plus winner and pro golf outings, dinners, winery tours, seminars, and a bounty tournament.
The best part about this package is that players can win it for free up until Dec. 15. One of the five ways to win is through a biweekly freeroll. Players must accumulate 5,000 Full Tilt Points during a two-week qualifying period to be entered into the freeroll, which takes place every other Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET. The top two finishers win an $18,000
Aussie Millions package.
For those who are not interested in a long flight, there's the last
World Poker Tour event of the year, the
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio. The $15,000 buy-in event, running Dec. 12-17, promises to generate one of the largest prize pools of the year.
However, you don't have to go to Vegas and plop down $15,000 to enter. A number of sites, including Full Tilt, Bodog, and UltimateBet, are offering
Player's Choice promotions in which you can satellite your way to winning a big buy-in event package to any tournament you like.
If you want to take a shot, be sure to take advantage of
Card Player's special bonuses that are available at
www.CardPlayer.com/online-poker/rooms/status.
