888poker is upping the ante in their Baby Whale tournament with a special edition 0,000 guarantee.

In their drive to bring recreational players to the table while adding value for seasoned pros, 888poker has announced that it will be running a Special Edition of its popular $100,000 guaranteed Baby Whale tournament this Sunday, bumping up the prize pool to an impressive $500,000.

The Special Event has been dubbed the Super Whale, and in addition to its inflated prize pool, will allow for re-entries.

The Baby Whale, which features a $320 entry, was introduced in February of last year, and has since grown to be one of 888’s most popular tournaments. The event normally takes place every other Sunday, rotating with the $600 buy-in The Whale tournament, and averages 300-400 players. For the Special Edition, however, 888 expects the field to more than double to 1000 players or more.

Satellites

While standard satellites into the event are running as we speak, 888 will offer two special satellites which will grant entry for at least 75 players in total. The first will run a few hours before the Baby Whale event on Sunday, January 15 and will guarantee 50 seats. The second is a freeroll, open only to players who deposit with a special bonus code, and will hand out 25 seats.



Past Winners

With its traditional $100,000 guarantee, past winners of the event have taken home first-place prizes in the $20,000+ range. Here are a few of the 888 players who claimed victory in the tournament in 2016:

  • ‘JohnyK91’: March 13 for $28,443
  • Peter ‘breeth’ Turmezey: March 27 for $27,189
  • ‘olibalint’: April 10 for $28,860.30
  • Jan ‘hownorez’ Nakládal: April 24 for $26,334
  • Emil ‘Ejsenhoven1’ Olsson: July 3 for $16,073.70
  • ‘Tacuara87’: Sept. 11 for $27,303
  • ‘Mikel_Hansen’: Oct. 9 for $21,991.74
  • ‘MainHiAK’: Oct. 23 for $21,013.05

“I like the Baby Whale mostly for its structure,” said April winner Nakládal. “It’s decently deep all the time, so you have plenty of space to make your moves, wait for your spots, and so on. You don’t really need to rush. Since it has a lower buy-in than the regular Whale, it’s tempting to play for a lot of players, so it’s more fun to compete with different people. I think it has a good value because there are plenty of satellites into the tournament.”

Nakládal, who has cashed for more than $400,000 in his career, expects even more value in Sunday’s event, which he believes will draw some very weak competition. “I’m pretty sure I will play the Special Edition because it will attract a lot of recreational players. My strategy will be the same strategy I apply for deep-stacked tournaments with good structures — just be tight before antes come into play, wait for my spots, and then start to open up more while using my tight image to steal pots. We will see how it will work this time.”