On Sunday, November 27, we will celebrate the 5th Anniversary of our $215 buy-in Mega Deep. As such, a special celebration is planned in that the traditional guarantee, which fluctuates from $100,000-$150,000, will be upped to $500,000!

A couple of other changes in store for the anniversary edition of the Mega Deep are lowering the length of blind levels from 30 to 20 minutes and adding a 2nd chance re-entry. Both the 15,000 starting stack and 300 minutes of late registration will remain intact.

The guaranteed half-a-million dollars is just our latest robust offering. It follows in the footsteps of prize pool in the Super XL Series, which has not only grown exponentially with every edition, but is continuously bumping up the guarantees. For example, May's Super XL Series V featured $3 million in guaranteed prize money, and that has been increased to $4 million for September's Super XL Series VI, which you can read all about here.

Attracting the Big Guns

The Mega Deep launched on January 1, 2012 as an exclusive tourney for poker players “in the know”, but soon morphed into a leading weekly event. It tends to attract some of the biggest names in online poker. Among those to win the tournament in the past are Felipe "mr.salgado" Salgado, Peter "joeychestnut" Murphy, and Marcelo "CHELitw" Garcia Gonzalez.

Of course, the special 5th Anniversary Mega Deep is expected to draw some notable players including the most accomplished player in online poker tournament history.

"With the amazing structure allowing for great flexibility of play, the Mega Deep has always been one of my favourite tournaments of the week," said Moorman. "Upping the prize pool to half a million dollars makes this a must-play for any aspiring or professional poker player."

"I will certainly be looking to play this event," said Jonathan "jgjg3000" Gill, who back in 2015 made the final table of the Mega Deep an astounding three times in six weeks. "The Mega Deep is a special tournament. Realistically it is what I believe to be the best structured MTT across all major sites, which I believe is partly the reason for my success in it. Weekly it attracts many players, whether online regulars or recs who have satellited in. It is hard to find a better weekly tournament."

Satellites Running Now

Satellites for the 5th Anniversary Mega Deep will begin immediately after September's Super XL Main Event, meaning you'll have a solid two months to try and qualify for the tournament for as little as 1¢. We’ve made it as easy as ever to play in our major poker tournaments! Enter any of our step satellites running around the clock at any point and climb your way up to the tournament!

The 5th Anniversary Mega Deep is just our latest attempt at pioneering new ideas and offering players a little something extra. From signing the biggest names in the game as ambassadors – including Dominik Nitsche – to the introduction of 888Live Festivals, we aim to offer the best poker tournaments both live and online by constantly striving to improve.

Bigger. Better. Different. That's what you'll get when you play with us.

Chad Holloway is a 2013 WSOP Bracelet winner who has previously worked for PokerNews as a managing editor and live reporter