The costs of buy-in poker tournaments run the gambit from less than a dollar to thousands, but a new IPPA Monte Carlo tournament has announced that they will be holding one of the most expensive poker tournaments of all time. The International Poker Players Association Championship organizers are offering a tournament in Monte Carlo with a massive $250k buy-in.

If you’ve got the bankroll to participate in the $250k tournament (and I’ll go out on a limb and say that probably few do), then you can compete for a huge $12 million prize pool. The big winner will take home $5 million of the total $12 million prize. Once, the $50,000 WSOP event seemed like the big time, but compared to the upcoming IPPA Championship event it seems like small change.

Who has signed up for the $250k tournament so far? Poker bigwigs set to compete include Michael Mizrachi, Robert Mizrachi, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Tony G, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Freddy Deeb, Huck Seed, and Gus Hansen. These players, and others who decide to pay the massive buy-in, will compete in Texas Hold’em. Originally, the $250k tournament was scheduled for last year, but was set to be a H.O.R.S.E. tournament and not enough high profile players signed up. The decision to switch to Texas Hold’em has made the event much more popular.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine ever shelling out $250k to pay in any kind of tournament. However, it should still be fun to see who shines in the competition and walks away with millions.