05 Sep 10

IPPA Championship to Feature World's Biggest Buy-in at $250,000

From November 29 to December 2,the tournament with the world's biggest buy-in ever will be held at the International Poker Players Association (IPPA) Championship in Monte Carlo. 48 seats are available at $250,000 each.

Before this, the biggest tournament buy-in ever was the $100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Million in January 2010. This event which is scheduled for November 29 to December 2 will be the first time the IPPA Championship is being held after a similar event scheduled for 2009 ended up being cancelled.

If the maximum cap of 48 participants is reached, the event will feature a $12 million prize pool and a $5 million first place prize. The event is set to be televised and play will be conducted in the No Limit Hold'em format.

The eventual field is also expected to consist of two qualifiers and three sponsor exemptions. Qualifiers have already begun and the first one was held in August during the Legends of Poker tournament at the Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles.

Thirteen top pros signed up

The thirteen players who have registered for the event so far are Tom "durrrr Dwan", Patrik Antonius, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Huck Seed, Johnny Chan, Freddy Deeb, Tony G, Bruno Fitoussi, John Hennigan and the two Mizrachi brothers Robert and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (pictured right).

IIPA President and CEO Yosh Nakano proudly pronounced it as the player's championship, the pièce de résistance. It will remain to be seen then, if Michael Mizrachi can prove himself once again by picking up this title to go with the WSOP 2010 Poker Players Championship that he won earlier this year.