Ever since we launched the “Baby Whale” every other Sunday back in February, the tournament -- which costs $320 to enter and boasts a $100,000 guarantee – has proven to be one of our most popular events. To celebrate the New Year, we’re proud to announce a Special Edition of the Baby Whale- the Super Whale, one that will see the guarantee upped to $500,000!

Other one-time changes will see the traditional 180 minutes of late registration lengthened to 250 minutes, while the usual Freezeout format will morph into one allowing for re-entries.

Satellites Running Now

Satellites are running around the clock right now. In addition, there are two special satellites that will see at least 75 players win their way in. The first is a special 50 seats GTD satellite that will run a few hours before the Special Edition Super Whale on Sunday, January 15. The second is a special 25 seats GTD freeroll that is restricted to players who deposit with a dedicated bonus code.

The Baby Whale, which alternates every other week with the $600 buy-in The Whale, averages between 300-400 players, but for the Special Edition, we expect the field to swell to 1,000 players or more!

Baby Whale Big Winners

Some past Baby Whale winners include “JohnyK91” (March 13 for $28,443), Peter “breeth” Turmezey (March 27 for $27,189), “olibalint” (April 10 for $28,860.30), Jan "hownorez" Nakládal (April 24 for $26,334), “Emil “Ejsenhoven1” Olsson (July 3 for $16,073.70), “Tacuara87” (Sept. 11 for $27,303), “Mikel_Hansen” (Oct. 9 for $21,991.74), and “MainHiAK” (Oct. 23 for $21,013.05).

“I like the Baby Whale mostly for its structure,” said former champ Nakládal. “It’s decently deep all the time, so you have a plenty of space to make your moves, wait for your spots, and so on. You don’t really need to rush. Since it has a lower buy-in than the regular Whale, it’s tempting to play for a lot of players, so it’s more fun to compete with different people. I think it has a good value because there are plenty of satellites into the tournament.”

Nakládal continued: “I’m pretty sure I will play the Special Edition because it will attract a lot of recreational players. My strategy will be the same strategy I apply for deep-stacked tournaments with good structures -- just be tight before antes come into play, wait for my spots, and then start to open up more while using my tight image to steal pots. We will see how it will work this time.”

There’s no better poker tournament to kick off the New Year than the Special Edition Super Whale. We do it because players love big events with big GTDs, so be sure to mark your calendars.

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