WPN’s $2.5M Anniversary Special Enters Its Final Weekend

The Winning Poker Network’s $2.5 million guaranteed 25th Anniversary Special is approaching its decisive stage, with only a handful of opportunities remaining to qualify before Day 2 gets underway on Monday.

The $250 multi-flight tournament has been running throughout September, but with Day 2 scheduled for September 28 at 17:05 GMT, the event has now entered its final weekend. The final table will follow on September 29.

Players who have not yet secured a Day 2 stack still have time to qualify, while those already through can use the remaining flights to accumulate additional chips.

For RakeRace.com players, we recommend playing the event through PokerKing, our partner room on the Winning Poker Network.

Day 1 flights have been available every Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving only the closing part of the schedule before the surviving field returns for Day 2.

Each regular starting flight begins with 300,000 chips, equivalent to 150 big blinds, and is played 8-handed. Late registration remains open for 24 levels with unlimited re-entries, while each Day 1 continues until the completion of Level 28.

One particularly important feature of the Anniversary Special is its approach to multiple qualifications.

All qualifying stacks are combined for Day 2.

Players can therefore enter and qualify through multiple Day 1 flights, with every successful stack contributing to their chip count when the tournament reaches its next stage.

As a result, the remaining flights are not only a last chance for players still looking for their first qualification. They also give already-qualified players an opportunity to increase their Day 2 stack.

A direct entry into the Anniversary Special costs $250, but WPN is also offering a much cheaper route to the tournament through step satellites.

The two-stage system starts with a $1.05 Super Satellite, which guarantees 25 seats into an $11 Mega Satellite.

The $11 Mega Satellite then guarantees 25 $250 tickets to the Anniversary Special.

These step satellites run on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. With the final weekend now approaching, players still have opportunities to turn a low-cost satellite entry into a seat in the $2.5 million guaranteed tournament.

For players starting from the lowest step, that means a potential route from $1.05 all the way to a $250 Day 1 ticket.

The cumulative-stack system gives the closing stages of the qualification period additional importance.

In many multi-flight tournaments, only a player's largest stack advances. Here, every successful qualification matters because the stacks are added together before Day 2.

A player qualifying from three separate flights, for example, will take the combined total of those three stacks into Monday's action.

That creates two different objectives during the final weekend. Players yet to qualify will be looking simply to survive a Day 1, while those already through can continue playing flights in an attempt to build a stronger position for Day 2.

The 25th Anniversary Special is one of the headline events of the Winning Poker Network's anniversary celebrations, combining a substantial $2.5 million guarantee with a relatively accessible $250 direct buy-in.

The satellite system lowers the entry point even further, with qualifiers beginning at just $1.05.

Most of the Day 1 schedule is now behind us, however, and the window for joining the tournament is closing.

The focus this weekend will be on the remaining Day 1 flights and final satellite opportunities, before the surviving stacks are combined for Day 2 at 17:05 GMT on September 28.

The tournament will then continue toward its September 29 final table, where the WPN Anniversary Special will crown its champion.