With their Leaderboard Race Challenge 2008 bet365 offer you the chance to qualify for The Grand Final simply by playing regular cash games. The Grand Final will see players compete for a prize-pool of $130,000 which includes several European Poker Tour Packages worth $12.000 each. The winner of The Grand Final will receive as many as 6 EPT Packages (total value $72.000) and while the players ending up 4th – 10th will receive cash the ones ending in the top 3 also have the option to exchange their EPT Packages for cash if they so please (they will be bought out for 75% of the packages’ worth – the winner for example would end up with $54.000 cash instead of the 6 EPT Packages if he decides he prefers not to compete in the EPT).
How can you qualify for The Grand Final? You will not have to compete in satellites or any qualifying tournaments, you will simply play your usual cash games at bet365 and be rewarded for the rakes you produce. Each week the 40 players who lead the list by accumulating qualifying raked hands will get rewarded with cash prizes. Additionally to that the top 5 players will receive a seat for The Grand Final. If one of these 5 players is already qualified he will be rewarded with an additional 3,000 chips for the final tournament up to a possible total of 9,000 chips! So it really pays off staying dedicated after you have qualified.
The Grand Final takes place on January 19th 2009, the qualification will end after December 28th 2008. And in order to give you a chance to be part of the final tournament even if you don’t have the time to play each and every day bet365 holds a special tournament each week for the top 100 players where the winner gets rewarded with a seat in The Grand Final.
While this Leaderboard Race Challenge by bet365 is an excellent idea to reward cash game players for their activity and dedication we strongly urge you not to start playing excessively just because of that (or any other) promotion. Stay at your limits and play according to your personal bankroll, avoid playing on tilts or playing for too long in one session with your concentration waning. If you manage to be in a promising position in the leaderboard by playing your regular game you can still increase your playing frequency a bit. But it would be the wrong approach to throw your whole usual concept of poker over board simply for a promotion even if it is as tempting as this one.