Any dedicated Sit & Go players on PokerStars will probably already be familiar with the Battle of the Planets leaderboard. This celestial contest rewards the most effective S&G players every week, paying out thousands of dollars to the site’s top players. Divisions named after the Solar System’s planets are assigned to different levels of tournament, so even low stakes grinders have a chance to win some serious cash. For once, there are also equal prizes for casual players, thanks to the High and Low Orbit distinction.

For two weeks, PokerStars are switching the Battle of the Planets contest into overdrive. From November 8 – 21, all leaderboards across the entire promotion will benefit from added cash. Every prize pool is doubled, making it even more rewarding to be a small-scale tournament expert.

The buy-in of a particular S&G indicates which division it falls into. At the bottom of the scale is the Mercury bracket, containing tournaments from $1 – $2.99. There are eight divisions in total, each named after a planet, with the gas giant Jupiter at the top of the tree. Any Sit and Go that costs $300 or more to enter will contribute points towards the Jupiter leaderboard.

Every division has its leaderboard cleft in two. The Low Orbit option caters to the casual player and allows the quality recreational poker-heads to compete for their own prize pools. Meanwhile, the High Orbit area allows true grinders to outdo their opponents in style. In the Low Orbit section you receive points for the first 20 S&Gs you play per week. Once you’ve finished your 20th, the total points are totted up and counted as your leaderboard score. You then have the opportunity to play up to four more 20 tournament blocks, the highest of which will count as your weekly score. Once you exceed 100 tournaments you are officially part of the High Orbit set. You can now complete unlimited blocks of 100 S&G tournaments, with the highest scoring collection counting for your official score. Satellites, heads-up, Double or Nothing, and tournaments of more than 40 players do not count – but everything else is fair game.

The amount of money you receive for your success depends on which division you are in and which position on the leaderboard you finish. You are permitted to place on more than one leaderboard. First place on both Orbits receive the same prize, which in the Mercury division is $150. This division has a total weekly prize pool of $1,500, distributed between players from 1st to 40th in both Orbits. Over in the gargantuan Jupiter division, both leaderboard victors receive $1,500. The remaining $7,000 in prize money is shared between 2nd to 5th in both Orbits. These prizes are already well worth winning, but during this special promotional period, all of them are doubled!

The top 10 finishers on each weekly leaderboard have the chance to make even more money. They will all be entered into the monthly $50,000 Battle of the Planets freeroll. On the last Sunday of every month at 14:40 ET, a few hundred players will get together to compete for a huge prize pool.

This special Battle of the Planets celebration could be incredibly lucrative for a few skilled players. If anyone manages to break the overall record for any leaderboard, they will receive 10 times the 1st place amount for that week. For Mercury level players that could mean a cool $1,500, Venus players have $5,000 to play for, and high-stakes Jupiter record-breakers stand to net a huge $15,000. Both Low Orbit and High Orbit leaderboards have their own records to break. If more than one person exceeds the record in the same week, then only the highest scorer will get the money. If there’s a tie, the cash will be shared equally.

The records to beat are as follows:

Low Orbit

Mercury     ELIAAEL         725
Mars         justnutty         694
Venus     so awful         712
Earth         luxet             692
Neptune     Petsen2         641
Uranus     jlewis10748         609
Saturn     BigBlindBeny     552
Jupiter     MRIBAS         540

High Orbit

Mercury    dwayno44         2,210
Mars        msEvsiNdreAd     2,030
Venus        PLEBINI         1,944
Earth        MayMan2008     1,909
Neptune    bernardc         1,979
Uranus    i have nuts         1,836
Saturn     ROONEY_DIVES     1,718
Juptier    alesanre         1,609