In an interview with PokerNews U.K.that surfaced in recent days, poker pro Roberto Romanello(pictured) pitched a new tournament format to the community. Its name: Multi-Prize Pool Poker. The game entails exactly what you think it would – a tournament with several prize pools, three to be exact.

PokerNews explained the general gist of Multi-Prize Pool Poker: “Each MPP tournament offers three buy-in levels, which creates three prize pools. If the buy-ins were £25/£50/£100, players could choose to buy into Prize Pool 1, Prize Pool 2, or Prize Pool 3. In this example, Prize Pool 1 is the default prize pool, and the first £25 from any buy-in goes into this prize pool. Any player buying into Prize Pool 2 (£50) will first have £25 invested in Prize Pool 1 and £25 invested in Prize Pool 2. Finally, any player buying into Prize Pool 3 will have £25 invested in the first prize pool, £25 in the second prize pool, and £50 invested in Prize Pool 3.”

The tournament plays out much like any other one would. However, three different prize pools are distributed. And if a person won the tournament after buying into each prize pool, he would win the first place prize from each one.

Dusk Till Dawnin the U.K. has already introduced a test Multi-Prize Pool Poker tournament that will take place on January 10, with a larger event tentatively planned for February or March. A Dusk Till Dawn rep told PokerNews U.K., “We are going to start with a soft launch in January where we will run the event using three tournament screens to show the three prize pools, players remaining in each, places paid, and prizes.”

The PokerNews U.K. article heralded Multi-Prize Pool Poker as a format that would benefit players of all stakes. Lower stakes players can enter what could be a large-field tournament, while higher stakes players would have an edge over an increased number of fish and still compete for a meaningful buy-in. In addition, a deep run by higher stakes players would not necessarily be needed in order to claim payouts from the second and third prize pools.

Dusk Till Dawn also trumpeted the fact that a larger guarantee could be offered than a traditional poker tournament, increasing the format’s appeal: “Where we see this leading is huge guarantees that will benefit all bankrolls, e.g. we would normally guarantee a £500 Deep Stack at £100,000, whereas with an MPP event, we could have £250/£500/£1,000 buy-ins and a minimum £250,000 guaranteed.”

Here are the details of the first Multi-Prize Pool Poker tournament slated for January 10 at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham:

Date: Thursday, January 10
Time: 7:00pm Local Time
Prize Pool 1 Buy-In: £25 + £6
Prize Pool 2 Buy-In: £50 + £8
Prize Pool 3 Buy-In: £100 + £10
Chips: 10,000
Clock: 30/20 Minutes
Guarantee: £5,000

What do you think? Are you a fan of Romanello’s tournament format? How would you improve Multi-Prize Pool Poker? Comment here and let us know.

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