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GGPoker Site Crash Disrupts GGMasters Anniversary and Players React

GGPoker Site Crash Disrupts GGMasters Anniversary and Players React
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Iva Dozet News Editor
  • Fact Checked by: PokerListings
  • Last updated on: February 24, 2025 · 2 minutes to read

The GGMasters Anniversary was set to be one of the most-anticipated events of the month. In a turn of events that not even the organizers expected, the $150 buy-in tournament was brought to a halt on Sunday after the platform suffered a major technical failure. Boasting a $5 million guarantee, the event attracted over 20,000 entries before the site-wide crash forced a pause in play. While GGPoker has already assured players that funds remained safe and has now rescheduled the event for March 2, many in the community have expressed their frustration over the handling of the situation.

We’re breaking down the story as it happened.

Technical Issues Bring the GGMasters Anniversary to a Halt

The GGMasters Anniversary crash occurred nearly an hour into the event, leaving thousands of players unable to continue their run at the title. To their credit, GGPoker was quick to acknowledged the issue, stating that all tournaments were being paused to stabilize the servers.

Unfortunately, even with a quick response, the damage was already done. GGPoker couldn’t have prevented a flood of complaints on social media, with many players questioning whether the tournament should be restarted entirely rather than resumed next week.

Poker pro and GGPoker ambassador Kevin Martin was among those affected, live-streaming his play when the crash occurred. While he initially shared information from the site’s developers regarding the outage, his detailed tweet about the issue has since become unavailable. Now, all that remains is a follow-up post stating:

In another post, Martin clarified that “All tournaments are cancelled and refunded except the $150 GGMasters which is moved to March 2nd.” The decision to delay the tournament rather than refund entries entirely has been a point of contention among players, with some arguing that they might not be available to compete on the new date.

The Poker Community Reacts on X

As we said, the announcement of the reschedule did little to calm the frustration. Many players were thus quick to take to social media to vent their concerns, with some questioning the fairness of continuing the tournament next week rather than issuing refunds across the board.

  • @TimeForIHeroes: “What if we can’t play next week? I just have to forfeit my entry fee? I feel like it needs to be refunded and restarted next week for those that can play.”
  • @aleeexRr: “Do you rollback? People farmed BBs when others were on sitout.”
  • @maxbroens: “I’m logged in but I am not refunded for the tournaments I was playing. When will this happen?”
  • @Qwyntessence: “Absolute asinine way to deal with the anniversary event ngl.”

While some, like @vitolyborgov, took a more understanding approach — “Agree. This is the best you can do now. Please make sure next week we don’t get the same outcome” — others remained skeptical about how GGPoker would handle the resumption.

For now, players will have to wait until March 2 to see how the situation unfolds. However, with lingering concerns over fairness and transparency, GGPoker will need to ensure a smooth restart of the GGMasters Anniversary to regain player confidence.

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