On Your Bikes: Race Across the Finish Line with PokerStars Grand Tour Sit & Gos

PokerStars just keeps surprising everyone with new game ideas and formats. The room has been leading the way of innovation for some time now, and its latest cycling-themed Grand Tour Sit & Go tournaments represent the latest effort in this area.

These new sit & gos combine elements from PKO tournaments and spin & go events with some completely new features, creating a brand new and exciting way to enjoy poker. In coordination with its new product, PokerStars commissioned a survey that showed that about a third of people living in the UK, some 20 million, cycle every month.

And before we move on, as a way to celebrate this latest invention, PokerStars is giving everyone a chance to win a brand new, custom-made bike worth £15,000. If that’s something you’d fancy, you can find more info on how to get involved at the end of the article.

Poker and Cycling: How Do You Connect the Two?

At first glance, poker and cycling do not have that much in common, but PokerStars was thinking outside of the box with its Grand Tour idea. The survey the poker room conducted provided them with a lot of interesting data that showed that the two, as different as they might seem at first, do have a lot in common.

18% of the people in the UK said they cycle just for the thrill of it
23% of the UK men claim cycling helps them feel adventurous

So, it would seem that a great percentage of those who cycle do it simply for the rush and the excitement it provides them. And that’s exactly why many people play poker, in the UK and around the globe.

Banking on this data, PokerStars launched Grand Tour games, bringing these thrills together and offering players a chance to get involved in a virtual bicycle race by progressing through the stages of quick-paced, four-handed sit & go tournaments.

Getting Involved with PokerStars Grand Tour

Players interested in checking out these new games will find them in the lobby of the PokerStars client under the Grand Tour tab. These are 4-handed sit & gos (aptly called sprints) feature progressive knockouts and random win multipliers.

There are five different buy-in levels or starting points for each race. The lowest entry point is just $1 and the highest one is $60. The way to win the race is by reaching the $100 mark on the player’s progressive bounty.

Each sprint starts with four players and it plays down until there is just one player remaining (which usually takes between five and ten minutes). For every player you eliminate, half of their bounty is added to your own bounty (or 60% if the bounty average is at least $10.80) while 25% (or 20%) of it is paid in cash to your account.

And here’s the kicker: the cash amount won in each flight is multiplied by a random multiplier determined at the start of the race, just like in Spin & Gos. The value of the multiplier is anywhere from 1x to 6000x at higher stakes.

For the 6000x multiplier to be possible, the bounty average of the sprint needs to be equal to or over $10.80. Otherwise, the maximum multiplier applied to cash winnings is 300x.

So, with every player you eliminate, your personal bounty will grow. Once it reaches $100, you’ll be able to cash out and you’ll have won the race. If you’re eliminated before getting across that $100 line, you’ll still get to keep any bounties you picked up by that point. Of course, if you do reach the end, the value of your own bounty is also added to your balance.

Interesting Facts about PokerStars Grand Tour

Although Grand Tour tournaments haven’t been running that long, it seems they’ve been quite popular with the players. So far, the biggest single knockout went to the player playing under the alias ‘*zjuupa*’, who banked $149,220 after starting their journey at the $12 level.

Up to this point:

Grand Tour has awarded over $33.5 million in KOs
The second biggest knockout to date is $74,880
German players are leading in terms of Grand Tour accolades with 11,000 race wins

So, How Can You Win That £15,000 Bike?

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about it and yes, it is true. You could win a very special, custom-made bike worth 15 grand for free. All you have to do is head over to the PokerStars site and register for the draw before October 8. It’s as simple as that.

Unfortunately, this promotion is restricted to only players from Spain, France, and the United Kingdom.

The lucky winner will receive a bike made by Spoon Customs and it will be one of the most exclusive bikes designed by the company. The design process will only begin once the competition is over so that the bike can be fully adjusted to the winner’s weight, build, and cycling style and preferences.

Those who come up just short will still receive consolation prizes in the form of electronics and PokerStars merchandise. It’s definitely not as good as the super-bike but it’s still something and quite nice given the fact the competition is open to all players from these three countries with no restrictions or qualification criteria.