In this column, we deliver you the latest and most interesting online poker industry news from across the world and all platforms.
Natural8 – GGPNetwork makes history with the biggest ever online prize pool
The $5k WSOP Online Main Event on Natural8 – GGNetwork was already the biggest ever prize pool when the guarantee of $25 million was announced.
Having attracted 5,802 entries across all 23 starting flights we now know that this guarantee has been smashed by 10% with a record $27,559,500. This also means that the first prize of $3,904,686 million will be the biggest ever prize paid out online.
This record prize pool takes the crown off the $5,300 partypoker MILLIONS Online in December 2018 which had 4,367 entries and a $21,835,000 prize pool.
HISTORY IS MADE!
Over 4597 players are now registered to battle it out tomorrow on DAY 2 of the $25,000,000 GTD @WSOP Main Event.
This means it is now the BIGGEST EVER PRIZEPOOL IN THE HISTORY OF ONLINE POKER.
Still time to join in! Catch a flight today or tomorrow.#GGPoker pic.twitter.com/ge0uYvFPjV
— GGPoker – HOME OF WSOP 2020 ONLINE BRACELET SERIES (@GGPokerOfficial) August 29, 2020
“GGPoker is thrilled that the WSOP Online 2020 Main Event prize pool smashed through the $25M guarantee and reached a world-record total of $27,559,500, the richest online poker tournament ever,” said Paul Burke, Head of Marketing, UK & Ireland at GGPoker to pokerfuse. “The final four players will each win over $1M, with the eventual Main Event champion taking home $3.9M.”
This record breaking tournament will commence and finish in Day 3 this coming Sunday, 6th September with 38 remaining players. On top of the almost $4 million payout the winner will also receive a $15,000 package to WSOP Europe and of course, a gold bracelet.
All new Fish Buffet rewards on Natural8
Starting on 9th September there will be an all new Fish Buffet rewards system in place on Natural8. The main feature change is the option to choose between spin rewards or flat cashback.
You can keep spinning for the reward with the additional little sweat or switch to a Black Rank to receive rewards at a fixed rate every week, for one year.
Big numbers for PokerStars WCOOP 2020
In recent years PokerStars had put a lot of effort into favouring the recreational players when it comes to promotions and rewards, much to the dismay of professional and high volume players.
During the Stadium Series we already saw how this has been affecting high-tier events with massive overlays over the course of the event series.
Now that the World Championship Of Online Poker (WCCOOP) has kicked off, this trend is being continued. Overall the first day of WCOOP exceeded the $7.8 million guarantees with $8.7 million in prizes, but four of the higher stakes events finished with overlays worth over $300k.
The second event of the series, for example, the $10,300 8-Max Progressive Knock Out with a $1.5 million guarantee saw 136 entries and so had an overlay of $140,000. It was Dimitar Danchev who claimed victory with a first prize of $400,000 and the first WCOOP title of his career.
It also seems like there has been an error in the WCOOP Sweepstakes promotion which is supposed to give away $1.5 million throughout the series. However, a third of that ended up being given away on the first day alone.
Overall and despite these few negative notions it doesn’t look like too bad of a start for PokerStars’ prestigious online tournament series and we are curious to see how the rest of the festival will develop.
World Poker Tour: Online Borgata Series hosted on partypoker NJ
The World Poker Tour (WPT) announced the first ever Online Borgata Series powered by partypoker US Network 13th to 21st September 2020.
The online series is a replacement of the annual Borgata Poker Open live series at Borgata Resorts & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The week-long festival will feature a total guaranteed prize pool of $275,000 and a $1,060 buy-in Main Event on 20th/21st September. Players have to physically be in New Jersey to take part in this event.
“WPT and the partypoker US Network have created a unique festival for players of all bankrolls across New Jersey to compete in a weeklong series that combines the best of the live and online realm,” said Angelica Hael, VP of Global Tour Management for the World Poker Tour.
If you are in New Jersey or willing to travel for the event, make sure to read all the details on the WPT website.
€1 million Unibet Online Series IX announced
While all the Goliaths of online poker are fighting their big battles with massive buy-ins and guarantees, there is an “online poker David” patiently and continuously delivering value to the poker community.
This David is actually called Unibet and has now announced another upcoming online series with a few interesting details.
With the €1 million guaranteed Online Series IX running from 18th September to 11th October. Unibet has combined the Unibet Online Series and Unibet Open this year.
On top of the €1,000,000 prize pool to play for across all 132 events there will also be an added €32,000 of extra value to the series for leaderboards, a Bubble Burster Showdown tournament and so-called mystery tournaments.
“We care about our community. We listen to them. We act on their advice. The UOS is a manifestation of that. I’m a mixture of excited and nervous about the Unibet Online Series IX,” Kris Bergvall, Head of Poker at Unibet told PokerIndustryPRO. “I’m excited because I know our players love these tournaments and love competing for the leaderboards. I’m nervous because we’ve given ourselves a sweat with that aggressive €1 million guarantee.”
You can find all further details about the online festival on the Unibet website.
