Stake.com Turns 9: $90,000 Guaranteed Birthday Poker Special for a $9 Buy-in
Stake.com turns nine this month, and Stake Poker is marking the occasion with the kind of tournament that does not come around often: a one-off bounty event with a $90,000 guaranteed prize pool and a buy-in of just $9. It runs on Saturday, August 8 at 17:00 UTC, and you will find it in the Poker lobby under “9th Birthday Poker Special.”
That ratio is the story here. A $9 entry into a $90,000 guarantee is a 10,000-to-1 relationship between what you put in and what the room has promised to pay out, and it exists because this is a marketing event rather than a normal weekend tournament. Stake has committed to the $90,000 whether or not enough players turn up to cover it.
The Details
- Prize pool: $90,000 guaranteed
- Buy-in: $9
- Date: Saturday, August 8, 2026
- Start time: 17:00 UTC
- Format: Bounty tournament
- Capacity: 10,000 players, first come first served
- Where: Stake Poker lobby, listed as “9th Birthday Poker Special”
How the Bounties Work
Every entrant carries a bounty on their head. Knock a player out and that bounty is credited to your account instantly — it is not held until the end, and it is entirely separate from whatever you go on to win from the prize pool itself.
Stake has revised the bounty amount since the event was first announced. Rather than print a figure that may be out of date, we would point you at the tournament details in the Stake Poker lobby — the amount is listed there, and that is the version that counts.
That structure tends to make the early levels considerably livelier than a standard tournament. When every bust-out pays the player who causes it, marginal calls start looking correct to a lot of players, and stacks move faster than they otherwise would. If you are used to patient early-stage play, expect the table to be looser than your instincts suggest.
Seats Are Capped at 10,000
The field is limited to 10,000 players on a first come, first served basis. If the event fills, late registrants are simply out — there is no waiting list mentioned in the promotion. Given the buy-in and the size of the guarantee, this is not a tournament to leave until five minutes before the clock starts. Register early.
How to Get In
- Have a Stake account. If you do not have one yet, create one here so your account is registered to Royal Gambit Poker.
- Fund it with at least $9. Unlike our own freerolls, this one has a buy-in, so you need a balance before you can register.
- Open the Poker lobby and find “9th Birthday Poker Special.”
- Register early — ideally well before 17:00 UTC on August 8, given the 10,000-seat cap.
Start Time Where You Are
17:00 UTC on Saturday, August 8 works out to:
- 1:00 PM — Montreal and Quebec City
- 10:00 AM — Vancouver
- 12:00 noon — Ecuador
- 1:00 PM — Chile
- 5:00 AM Sunday, August 9 — New Zealand
One Thing Worth Being Clear About
This tournament is Stake.com’s own birthday event — their prize pool, their guarantee, their celebration. We are passing it along because our players should know about it.
That makes it different from the weekly freerolls we run, where Royal Gambit Poker funds the prize pool ourselves and Stake provides the tables. Both are worth your time; they are just paid for by different people, and we would rather say so than let you assume.
Before You Register
Stake.com does not accept players in a number of countries and territories. If you are not certain about yours, check the “Prohibited Jurisdictions” section of Stake.com’s Terms of Service, which is the authoritative source and can change.
The event is governed by Stake’s Card Room Rules, Security & Ecology Policy, and Refund Policy. Stake reserves the right to amend or cancel the tournament where necessary. 18+ only, and T&Cs apply.
Worth It?
At $9, with a bounty on every opponent and $90,000 guaranteed behind it, this is one of the better value propositions Stake Poker has put in front of its players. The 10,000-seat cap is the only real catch, and it is the sort of catch that punishes people who wait.