March Madness Poker Series at SwCPoker: March 22 – April 7

SwcPoker, the most popular bitcoin-only online poker room, is hosting a 2024 March Madness Bitcoin Poker Series. This consists of 64 events running from March 22 to April 7 with guaranteed prize pools amounting to 3 BTC in total.

SwcPoker General Information

As a poker site that handles all its cashier functions and gameplay in bitcoins, SwCPoker displays buyin and prize information a bit differently than at mainstream poker sites. The basic unit of value at SwC is the μBTC, which is equal to one-millionth of a bitcoin. This is what each chip is worth.

Thus, a buyin listed as “1k” or 1,000 chips represents a value of 1,000 millionths of a bitcoin or one-thousandth of a bitcoin (approximately $70 at current market prices). A guarantee of 200,000 chips similarly is equal to (200,000/1,000,000 BTC) or one-fifth of a bitcoin (about $14,000).

All deposits must be performed over the Bitcoin network too at least for those residing in the United States. SwCPoker employs a service called SideShift to convert a handful of other crypto coins into Bitcoin, but this feature is not available to those in the United States and a few other restricted countries.

Thus, it's very helpful to set yourself up with Bitcoin before beginning to play at SwCPoker. If you're unfamiliar with how to get started in the world of Bitcoin, then check out this informative guide to using Bitcoin for online poker and gaming.

March Madness Series Info

Over the 17 days of the series, there are between three and six events every day with the weekends tending to be busier than weekdays. All tourneys begin between noon and 10 p.m. ET.

Buyins range from 250 chips (about $18) to 15k (approximately $1,080) while guarantees start at 10,000 (around $700) and climb up to 300,000 (close to $21,500). SwCPoker is well-known for the variety of poker formats that it spreads, and this is reflected in the March Madness Series. Though about three out of every four MTTs feature NL Hold'em gameplay, there are also options for those who prefer PLO, HORSE, Stud, Mixed Games, and other variants.

Main Event

The series culminates in a 5,000-chip ($350) Main Event, which comes with a respectable guarantee of 300,000 chips (about $21,500). It begins at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 7. You can re-enter up to four times.

It's only fitting that SwC provides mechanisms for winning Main Event seats for less as it's the most noteworthy event on the schedule and probably the one that users most wish to play. To this end, there are a couple of super satellite qualifiers for this tournament.

The first runs on Saturday, March 30 at 9 p.m. ET while the second is on Saturday, April 6 at 9 p.m. They each cost 500 to join (about $35) and award three seats to the Main guaranteed.

Additionally, there are SNG satellites that award 5k tournament tickets, which you can use to buy into the Main Event. 9-max satellites require a 625 chip (around $45) buyin and pay the winner a ticket while second place gets their buyin back. There are also 5-max FLIP satellites, where everyone is all-in preflop, with a 1,000 (approximately $70) buyin and a single winner who gets a ticket.

Other Intriguing Tournaments

Besides the Main Event, the roster of tourneys in the March Madness series contains numerous other items that are interesting for one reason or another. If you don't necessarily have enough free time to play every tournament in the series, then you might want to keep your eyes peeled for the following notable events:

#14, Sunday, March 24, 7 p.m. ET; 5,000 chip ($350) buyin Big BTC PKO 3 RE; 200,000 GTD ($14,000)
This is a progressive knockout version of SwCPoker's weekly Big BTC tournament. You will therefore have two ways of scoring a respectable prize: by finishing in a high enough position to benefit from the regular prize pool or by knocking out an opponent with a big bounty on his or her head.

#23, Wednesday, March 27, 6 p.m. ET; 1,500 chip ($105) buyin PL Omaha 2 RE; 30,000 GTD ($2,100)
With a respectable buyin amount, this is a decent tournament for fans of four card poker. There are other Omaha mixes and variants represented in the March Madness series, but this is the one for PLO purists who eschew such gimmicks as extra cards, split pots, and alternating rounds of different games.

#41, Monday, April 1, 9 p.m. ET; 250 chip ($18) buyin HORSE 3 RE; 10,000 GTD ($700)
HORSE features alternating rounds of limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha/8, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud/8. With an affordable buyin, this should prove a fun event for those who enjoy this popular mixed game format.

#47, Wednesday, April 3, 9 p.m. ET; 500 chip ($35) buyin PL 2-3-4-5-6 Card Mix 7 RE; 15,000 GTD ($1,000)
A non-standard mix of Hold'em, Pineapple Hold'em, Omaha, 5 Card Omaha, and 6 Card Omaha, you'll seldom be confused because every game features a different number of starting cards. The buyin amount is reasonable enough that you don't need to invest too much to try out this entertaining-sounding format.

#60, Sunday, April 7, 3 p.m. ET; 15,000 chip ($1,050) buyin 9-Game High Roller 2 RE; 120,000 GTD ($8,400)
If you're not exactly an NL Hold'em specialist and feel that competence in multiple forms of poker is a better gauge of poker excellence, then this mixed-game tournament with a hefty buyin may prove more to your liking.

Leaderboard

SwCPoker is adding additional prizes to the series in the form of a leaderboard. Points toward the leaderboard will be distributed based on the formula below:

10 x (√Field Size/√Finish) x (1 + log (buyin))

Anyone who registers for a tournament before it begins will see their leaderboard points for that tourney multiplied by 1.5.

Prizes

The top 10 individuals on this leaderboard at the end of March Madness will receive a mixture of chips and tickets as prizes:

• 1st: 7,500 chips ($525) + Big BTC Ticket (worth 5k or $350)
• 2nd: 4,000 chips ($280) + Med BTC Ticket (worth 2k or $140)
• 3rd: 2,000 chips ($140) + Little BTC Ticket (worth 500 or $35)
• 4th – 6th: 1k Ticket (worth $70)
• 7th – 10th: 500 Ticket (worth $35)

Furthermore, the top 64 individuals on the leaderboard will receive entry into The Big Dance: a freeroll that takes place over the two days following the series. The top 20 will in fact earn re-entries for this freeroll:

• 2nd: 3 re-entry tickets
• 3rd – 10th: 2 re-entry tickets
• 11th – 20th: 1 re-entry ticket

The Big Dance Freeroll

The Big Dance freeroll is a two-day affair that begins the day after the March Madness series ends. The top 64 individuals on the series leaderboard (excluding the #1 finisher) will gather on Monday, March 8 at 9 p.m. ET and play down to 15 in a normal tournament format. It is on this first day of the freeroll that individuals who have earned re-entry tickets will be able to use them.

Then the following day at 9 p.m., these 15 survivors along with the leaderboard victor will gather for heads-up brackets and will play until there's a single person left standing.

Leaderboard Pools

Before the series begins, you'll see leaderboard pools in the tournament lobby. These pools will be priced at various levels to cater to those of different bankroll levels. A single player can enter as many of these pools as he or she wishes.

All the chips in each pool will be paid out to the competitor in that pool who accumulates the most leaderboard points. There's no rake or house fee taken.

Join SwCPoker and Compete in the March Madness Series

In order to participate in the March Madness Bitcoin Poker Series, you must have an account at SwCPoker. If you currently lack one, then it's easy to get started. Simply press the button below:

For more information about SwC prior to creating an account, you can take a look at this SwCPoker review.