MicroMillions III Underway at PokerStars

Yesterday I was referring to the rebirth of Full Tilt Poker and games going on there from which we Americans are prohibited from participating. Today my thoughts have turned to the MicroMillions III series just underway on PokerStars, also not available to U.S. players.

I always played a lot more on Stars than FTP, and thus never really got too heavily involved with FTOPS or the other tourneys and promotions on Full Tilt. Indeed, I was always more of a cash game player than a tourney guy in general, although I liked participating in various events on Stars, even jumping in to some low-level SCOOP events before the time came to cash out for good.

The first MicroMillions series came along post-Black Friday, and is one in which I would’ve loved to have participated given the chance. The MM features 100 different events with lots of tiny “micro”-level buy-ins that are perfect for recreational players with just a few hundy or less on the site (as was the case for me).

Looking over the schedule, the buy-ins range from 11 cents (the first event, a rebuy tourney) to a “Main Event” near the end with a $22 buy-in.

In between are events with buy-ins of $1 (13 of them, almost all rebuys), $2.20 (14, some rebuys), $2.22 (3), $3.30 (27, just a few rebuys), $4.40 (8, two rebuys), $5.50 (19), $8.80 (6), and $11 (8). And of course, all of the different games are represented among the choices, too, from no-limit hold’em to Badugi.

A great appeal of the MM series, of course, is being able to spend very little for a chance to win a lot. That first event has already finished -- the $0.11 one (with rebuys) -- and the winner took away a cool $1,761.22, probably after investing a quarter or two at most. Of course, that feat required topping a field of 53,780.

Meanwhile, registration has closed for Event No. 2, a $1+R NLHE event, and the first prize there is $18,536.10.

You probably heard the story of this year’s WCOOP winner, Marat “maratik” Sharafutdinov, a microstakes grinder who mostly stuck to $1-$3 SNGs and who played his way into the $5,200 buy-in event starting with just 40 frequent player points. He’d chop the sucker for $1,000,907.26, winning it outright after the deal. Here’s a neat article about Sharafutdinov by Rick Dacey for the PokerStars blog, if you want to read more.

Sharafutdinov is kind of the poster boy for a series like the MicroMillions, where no one is going to spin a few FPPs or pocket change into a million dollars, but there will be a few six-figure first prizes mixed in there.

Anyhow, for those who can participate, here’s the main site which includes the full schedule. Will be over in a flash, too, as the 100 events are packed into just 11 days, so jump in there if you’re so inclined.