Every poker player around the world is putting together plans to have their best ever year at the tables. What better way to kick-start 2023 than by reeling in a guaranteed $1 million prize during the first week of the New Year? It is possible thanks to The Return: a Borgata Championship Event at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa at Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The Borgata is known for hosting incredible tournaments and it continues that trend into 2023 with The Return festival. Running from January 2 through January 8, The Return: A Borgata Championship Event features four action-packed tournaments, including a $3 million guaranteed Main Event that guarantees $1 million to the eventual, worthy champion. Will that champion be you?
The Return is a $5,300 buy-in $3 million guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em event that features a brace of Day 1s. Day 1A shuffles up and deals at 11:00 a.m. on January 4 with Day 1B starting at the same time on January 5. Days 2 and 3 get underway at 11:00 a.m. on January 6 and January 7, respectively, with the final table commencing on January 8; the final table’s starting time depends on when Day 3 concludes.
The structure of The Return is superb. Everyone sits down with 35,000 chips and plays to blinds starting at 100/100 with a 100 big blind antes. Levels 1-8 last 60-minutes, with Day 1 ending after the tenth level. Levels 9-10 and Day 2 last 75-minutes, with Day 2 concluding at the end of the 20th level. Blind levels on Day 3 onwards are 90-minutes long!
The Return: A Borgata Championship Event Schedule
| Date | Time | Tournament |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 2 Jan | 11:00 a.m. | $2,200 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1A |
| 7:00 p.m. | $2,200 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1B | |
| Tue 3 Jan | 12:00 p.m. | NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 2 |
| 4:00 p.m. | $600 NLHE Big Stack The Return Qualifier | |
| Wed 4 Jan | 11:00 a.m. | $5,300 NLHE The Return Day 1A |
| Thu 5 Jan | 11:00 a.m. | $5,300 NLHE The Return Day 1B |
| Fri 6 Jan | 11:00 a.m. | The Return Day 2 |
| 3:00 p.m. | $2,100 NLHE $1,000 Bounty Day 1 | |
| Sat 7 Jan | 11:00 a.m. | The Return Day 3 |
| 1:00 p.m. | NLHE $1,000 Bounty Day 2 | |
| 2:00 p.m. | $1,100 NLHE Super Survivor | |
| Sun 8 Jan | TBD | The Return Final Table |
| 12:00 p.m. | NLHE Super Survivor Day 2 |
Before $3 million The Return, there is the Borgata’s first-ever Mystery Bounty event. It costs $2,200 to enter, and guarantees at least $1 million worth of mystery bounties. Rounding off the week-long series are a $2,100 buy-in Bounty Event where you receive $1,000 for every opponent you send to the showers, and a $1,100 Super Survivors tournament where one in ten will walk away with $10,000.
PokerNews‘ live reporting team will be on the ground throughout the series, bringing you all of the action as it happens. Our team is providing updates on the $2,200 Mystery Bounty, the $2,100 Borgata Bounty, and, of course, the $3 million guaranteed The Return Main Event.