BBZ Picks: the best online poker tournaments

What’s your favorite regular online poker tournament?

Most of us have a tourney we simply have to play whenever we put in a session (it can feel wrong somehow to miss it). Perhaps it’s the structure you like, the buy-in level, or the fact you’ve had success in it in the past.

We asked the BBZ Team to tell us their favorite regular online poker tournaments and why. Here’s what we found out.

Lex Veldhuis

Favorite tournament(s): $530 Bounty Builder and the Sunday Million (PokerStars)
Kicks off: $530 – 12:30 pm ET (5:30 pm BST) daily
Sunday Million – 1 pm ET (6 pm BST) every Sunday

“I have two specific tournaments that I love. My favorite weekly tournaments are the $530 Bounty Builder and the $109 Sunday Million, both on PokerStars.

“The $530 Bounty Builder has everything. The best players in the world play in that tournament and I love playing against good competition, which I get to do in that tournament. But at the same time, a lot of recreational players love the tournament and play it too. There are lots of good satellites to it, so you get the perfect mix for a tournament.

“On top of that, there’s the bounty aspect, which I think is really awesome because it adds another layer of dynamics to poker. I think the bounty builders are cool because they create a lot of winning moments where there’s more at stake than just chips.

“My best result in the $530 Bounty Builder was first-place during a smaller weekday edition for around $20K.

“Then there’s the Sunday Million. I love that the buy-in is relatively lower than other tournaments I play, but it’s a prestigious tournament and a household name so there’s always a lot at stake. It’s the most famous online tournament. I’ve been playing it my whole career!

“A deep run in the Milly feels more special than other tournaments of a similar size. You can feel the tension because so many people qualify for it and they really want to cash it. It also gets busy at the end which I like because otherwise, I think professionals have too big of an edge. You see people make crazy plays and huge folds because they don’t want to go out. It’s very dramatic and I love playing it every week. I think I’ve only missed it once during a grind over the past couple of years. I hated the feeling of missing it!

“My best result in the Milly was third for $77K which was…14 years ago! Holy fuck. Kind of crazy, really.”

Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet

Favorite tournament: $1,050 Apestyles After Party (ACR)
Kicks off: 6 pm ET (11 pm BST) daily

“My current favorite tournament is the $1,050 Apestyles After Party on America’s Cardroom. I like this tourney because it’s late, has a new faster structure that I helped with, and we just bumped the guarantee up to $100K. It’s only just started running and I think my best result so far was 12th place for $3,000 or something. I’m going to win it within the year, or I’m gonna change it to the Pardy After Party.

“I’ve always had a weekly tournament that was my favorite. In the beginning of my career, my favorite was probably the PokerStars $109 rebuy that I won around 15 times or so. My buddy Ryan Daut used to call it the “Apestyles Invitational”. The $109 and $200 rebuys were both towards the end of the day and I think regs were extra over it on Sundays.

“People always thought I was doing something special to beat them so badly but I mostly just played fundamental ICM-aware poker. It’s satisfying to me beating up on tough fields but it’s also easy to go through the opposite, where it feels like you’re getting outplayed left and right. So, looking back, it’s nice that I have a track record like this. Not many can say that.”

Jargo “bungakat” Alaväli

Favorite tournament: $1,050 GG Masters
Kicks off: 1 pm ET (6 pm BST)

“I would have to say the weekly tournament I enjoy playing the most is the $1,050 GG Masters. It has a great structure, no re-entries, and a big $1 million guarantee. My best result so far was 12th for $7,850.”

Fintan “easywithaces” Hand

Favorite tournament: $530 Bounty Builder (PokerStars)
Kicks off: 12:30 pm ET (5:30 pm BST) daily

“I’ve won it a bunch of times, so one of the reasons I like it is that I’ve had so much success in it. Prior to my SCOOP scores, it would have been my biggest ever score, around $28K. It’s a big tournament on a daily basis and it’s always nice to play $530 buy-ins. I like bounty builders in general and it’s great to get to play against the best regs.”

Arlie “prince pablo” Shaban

Favorite tournament: $109 Monday 6-Max (PokerStars)
Kicks off: 6 pm ET (11 pm BST) every Monday

“The $109 Monday 6-Max is my favourite tournament and my best result is 3rd for around $3K, I believe. I grind late into the night and enjoy how this $109 has a great structure and large field size (for the evenings). I also enjoy that it is a 6-max as it makes for more hands played and fewer chances for recreationals to sit around and wait for better spots.”

Lukas “RobinPoker” Robinson

Favorite tournament: $60 Zodiac Main Event (GGPoker)
Kicks off: 8 am ET (1 pm BST) daily

“I love this tournament. I played it every day during my 100 days challenge and at the start, it was the biggest buy-in I played, so I felt like it was the main event for each day of my stream. I just love the structure of the tournament overall (10-minute blinds throughout) and how soft it is. I made the final table three times during the challenge and finishing third for $4,704 on a Sunday was my second biggest score of the challenge overall, so I have lots of happy memories playing this one. The blinds roll back on the final table too which I love, as it allows for a lot more play on the FT rather than everyone being so short. This tournament is definitely one that I would love to win before the end of 2021.”

Andreas “derbegott” Ponath

Favorite tournament: $215 Battle Royale (PokerStars)
Kicks off: 1 pm ET (6 pm BST) every Wednesday

“My favorite MTT always used to be the $215 Battle Royale on Pokerstars and my best score in it was first place for ~$27K. I enjoy the format. It has big guarantees, a slow structure, no re-entries, and it’s a Progressive KnockOut (PKO). EV wise, PKOs might be worse than regular MTTs, but I simply enjoy the format more! Knocking out people is fun and the bounties add another layer of complexity to the game. Also, PKOs tend to be softer and have bigger guarantees, but unfortunately these days the Battle Royale guarantee has dropped.”