Season 5 is alive!

Norborne - After another grueling 13 events over 12 months, Season 4 of the Fish 'N' Chips Poker Tour is in the books and Season 5 is upon us. Congratulations again to Season 4 Champion Bill B!

Here are some facts and stats from Season 4:

• A total of 32 players participated in the 11 regular season events last season compared to 33 from Season 3.
• Out of the 32 players, the top 8 in the overall final standings earned a seat in the Championship.
• Out of these 8 players, 3 of them played in all 11 regular season events.
• Jim H. finished 1st overall in the league standings with 51.39 points and earned his first Player of the Year honors. He did this despite playing in only 8 events.
• Jim H. was the only player to earn 2 regular season wins last season. 
• 7 of the top 8 players in the final standings won at least 1 regular season event.
• 9 of the 11 events offered a full or partial rebuy. In Season 3, only 6 of the 11 events featured a rebuy.
• A total of 46 rebuys were purchased in Season 4. This was up from 40 purchased in Season 3.
• Out of the 46 rebuy's purchased last season, a record 10 players cashed. This was up from the record 9 in Season 3.
• Overall odds of cashing on a rebuy increased to 10:46. As always, 100% of all rebuy proceeds go to the event prize pool.

Like Season 4, Season 5 will include:

• 11 regular season events with the same scoring formula.
• The top 8 point finishers earning a seat in the Championship Event.
• Positions 9-17 earning a seat in the Championship Qualifier. The winner gets the 9th and final seat in the Championship.
• A majority of the buy-in's will remain at $40.
• The Championship buy-in will remain at $100.
• The Championship blinds structure will remain the same.
• A majority of the events will be no limit hold'em.
• The PLO event with a full rebuy is back.
• The rebuy + add-on event will return.
• The HO event will return.
• The unlimited rebuy NLHE event is back for the 4th consecutive season.
• So is the double-stack $50 NLHE freeze-out.
• And the $60 triple-stack freeze-out returns. This once again will become this season's regular season finale.
• The $5 for 2 cards River Jackpot is back.

Changes in Season 5 will include:

• 8 events this season will offer a rebuy.
• All rebuys this season will be full rebuys.
• The first 3 blind levels in every regular season blinds schedule this season will be reduced to 20 minutes from 30 minutes. Level 4 will remain at 20 minutes. Levels 5-11 will be increased to 30 minutes from 20 minutes. Levels 12-15 will remain at 20 minutes. Level 16 will be reduced to 15 minutes from 20 minutes. All remaining levels will remain at 15 minutes. A side by side comparison of the old and new structure can be viewed here.
• The rebuy period will now expire at the conclusion of level 4.
• Bill B. and new regular Mike M. will each host an event this season.
• There will be a total of 4 regular season freeze-out (no rebuy) events this season.
• All 4 freeze-out events this season will have increased starting stacks.
• The no limit Tahoe event didn't make the cut.
• The Ante-Only tournament is gone.
• The Qualifier starting stacks will increase to T200k with bonus chips.
• The Qualifier buy-in will be increased to $50.
• The new updated T100k blinds schedule will be used at this season's Qualifier.
• The Championship starting stacks will increase to T300k with bonus chips.
• The start time of the Championship will be moved back to 5pm.

Good luck to everyone in Season 5!

~ Jason Tr.