Where to Play Micro Stakes Tournaments: GGPoker

GGPoker

GGPoker has become the dominant force in the online poker world. Hosted on the Natural8 network, the site initially focused on the Asian market when it was first released in 2014. In 2017, the site expanded into the European market, gaining a gaming license from the UK gambling authorities. GG’s reputation has been bolstered by the stable of famous faces serving as ambassadors for the brand, with Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu being the brand’s most famous face on the roster. In 2020, GG offered it’s virtual felts to the WSOP series that was due to be held in Las Vegas. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, the WSOP moved online. During this series, GG was awarded a World Record as the 2020 WSOP Online bracelet series main event’s prize pool was the largest ever for a single online poker tournament. Stoyan Madanzhiev of Bulgaria won the title for a whopping $3,900,000, outlasting 5,802 players to take the coveted gold bracelet.

The Selection

For those looking to keep the buy-ins low, GG has the biggest selection of tournaments under the $15 mark, with frequent “Daily Turbo’s” and “Daily Big” tournaments running throughout the day, with buy-ins ranging from the micros to three-digit buy-ins. Blinds in the turbo last 5 minutes apiece, and 7 minutes apiece in the Daily Bigs. These tournaments often overlay, meaning additional value for players exceeding the guarantee. The field sizes can be sizable in these particular tournaments, due to generous guarantees for low buy-ins. The $1 turbo usually has a minimum guarantee of $600, but there are also $1k guarantees scattered throughout the day at the same buy-in. A selection of hyper tournaments is also available, with blinds at 3 minutes apiece in the Daily Hypers and 4 minutes apiece in the Hypersonic tournaments, which you would think would be faster based on the name alone. The $2.50 Monster Stack that runs at 2:05 p.m. UK time is a personal favourite of this poker writer, with a $4,000 guarantee prize pool ($7,500 on Sundays), 8-minute long levels with 2 and a half hours of late registration, it is a must-play in any micro-stakes grinders’ schedule. It was also the last tournament I won this year, back in March. I bagged $679 into my virtual wallet having done an ICM-deal with my heads-up opponent, topping a field of 2,803 in the process. As of late, the Turbos, Bigs and the Daily Special tournament’s have proved the most profitable for me.

If bounty tournaments are more your thing, GG has you covered there in abundance. Throughout the day the “Bounty Hunters” tournaments run with buy-ins across the micro-stakes spectrum, as well as Deepstack Turbos that have high guarantees than the Bounty Hunters. The $5.50 Bounty Hunters Fifty Stack has a solid $25,000 guarantee and runs daily at 3.05 p.m. UK time, and players all start with a $1.25 bounty and 10-minutes on the clock per level. The clock reduces to 7 minutes per level when registration closes at level 17, or 2 hours and 40 minutes after the tournaments start. Additionally, the $5.40 Bounty Hunters Mini Main also represents great value, with a $30,000 guarantee. Both of these tournaments frequently overlay, which just proves how popular the bounty tournaments are on GG. Arguably, the crown jewel in the micro-stakes could be the $2.50 Bounty Mini Big Game, which has a whopping $15,000 guaranteed prize pool. If battling it out for bounties in big fields is your thing, be sure to give this one a go.

The Players

Due to the wide availability of the Natural8 network, GG is available in more countries than not, attracting players of all skill levels and bankrolls. The most common nationalities at the microstakes tables will be: Russia, China, Brazil, Ukraine, and there is a healthy representation of a multitude of countries from across Europe and Asia, making it a truly global game.

Other Games

GG also offers a range of PLO, PLO5, and Short Deck 6+ tournaments in the micro-stakes realm; however, there are no Mixed Games like Stud, PLO8, 2-7 Triple Draw, etc available on the site yet, which, depending on personal preference, is an understandable drawback. However, for No Limit Hold’em tournaments, it is hard to top GG’s selection at the low buy-in levels. The numbers speak for themselves. GGPoker recently became the first poker site to have 600,000 players concurrently online during WSOP 2025, surpassing its own record. The last operator to hold this record outside of GG was PokerStars in 2009 during the online poker boom, where they managed 307,000 concurrent users.

Highlights from the Micro-Stakes Schedule on GG

What’s Next?

Tomorrow will see a rundown of the world-famous and iconic poker site that is PokerStars and the selection they have too offer to players at the lower end of the buy-in spectrum.

That’s all for now, folks. Until next time, and good luck on the felt.