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partypoker MILLIONS Beats $20 Million Guarantee To Produce The Richest Online Poker Tournament In History

partypoker millions

After the fourth starting flight Dec. 4, partypoker succeeded in putting together the richest online poker tournament ever.

There were a total of 4,367 entries. The event attracted 2,190 unique entries; the rest came from re-entries.

At a $5,300 buy-in, it added up to a record-breaking prize pool of $21,835,000.

PokerStars set the previous record in 2011. The 10th anniversary Sunday Million set a $10 million guaranteed prize. That was enough to convince 62,000 players to sign up and create a $12.4 million prize pool.

Partypoker has smashed that record.

The partypoker Millions was a hugely ambitious undertaking

When the partypoker Millions event was announced, many doubted that the guarantee would hit. Doubters can now take a back seat and watch the final day of the event as partypoker triumphs.

The payout structure is relatively flat. Twenty-nine players survived Day 2 to make it to the final day. Each will receive a minimum of $65,000.

The winner is set to secure $2.7 million and second place will take home $1.9 million.

Third place merits a prize of $1.3 million with a little more than $1 million going to fourth.

Partypoker has set its cap at competing with PokerStars. The industry leader uses the tagline “PokerStars makes millionaires.”

Well, so does partypoker!

The message of four millionaires in one online poker tournament is one for the record books.

Satellites and overlays make for an expensive marketing pitch

No one can take away from partypoker’s achievement here, but it was not accomplished by merely posting a tournament in the lobby.

Since the event was announced in December 2017, partypoker has been handing out free seats.

Partypoker used every trick in the book to fill the event.

  • Leaderboard prizes throughout 2018 included seats to partypoker Millions.
  • Satellites with buy-ins as low as $2.20 guaranteed seats to the Millions.
  • Millions event tickets were won as sit-and-go jackpot prizes.
  • Partypoker Live tournaments offered Millions’ event seats as extra prizes.

The cost of putting on partypoker Millions must have made a dent in the marketing budget. But what a prize.

The secondary marketing impact is likely to exceed partypoker’s most optimistic forecasts.

Partypoker has tried for $20 million before

In what must now count as ancient history in the fast-moving world of online gaming, it’s worth remembering partypoker’s last attempt at a giant tournament prize pool.

In summer 2006, partypoker launched the “Monster.”

The Monster tournament consisted of 32 $100,000 weekly freerolls, eight monthly $1,000,000 tournaments and a final tournament with more than $5 million in prize money.

Partypoker put up $16 million to seed the events, so rack it all up, and you get close to a $20 million prize pool.

Sadly in 2006, the US passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and partypoker exited the US market midway through the tournament. All players were paid out an amount equivalent to their expected value at their respective stages of progress.

The world online poker market is smaller than it was back in 2006 because US online poker remains forbidden outside of New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.

Pennsylvania will soon join that elite band of states when it launches state-regulated online poker in the first quarter of 2019.

The smaller global market only serves to accentuate partypoker’s achievement with the Millions. It has out-monstered the Monster.

GVC leadership has transformed partypoker

GVC completed its acquisition of partypoker on Feb. 1, 2016. Under the direction of GVC CEO Kenny Alexander, the online poker room has flourished.

The truth is the former bwin.party management paid little attention to partypoker. Sports betting and online casino were much larger business verticals.

Alexander gave partypoker much more management focus and in the first year of GVC ownership, partypoker returned to growth.

In July this year, partypoker global cash-game traffic surged ahead of 888poker. Partypoker traffic had been greater than 888’s right up until June 2013. From then until August this year, 888 was the clear leader.

WSOP and 888 share a network in New Jersey. In that market, partypoker remains behind its competitor, but the rest of the world experience may well translate across the Atlantic.

Now that GVC has a US partner in the form of MGM, sports betting is its main focus in the US market. However, the deal between the two companies includes launching more partypoker branded poker rooms in any state that allows online poker.

Partypoker can enjoy its day in the sun with the superb achievement of the Millions event. But 2019 will bring a lot more work, and the market remains extremely competitive.

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New Jersey Online Poker Revenue Down 14.5% Since Last Year

NJ Online Poker

Last week, the Department of Gaming Enforcement released the revenue figures for New Jersey online poker.

Overall, online poker posted a 0.60 percent decline in revenue in October 2018 when compared to September 2018. Year-over-year also showed a decrease of 14.5 percent. The revenue figures support the trends we have been reporting here.

Each week this report is a mixed bag of news, this week is no different. The most notable story, though, is it appears the cash games welcomed some new players. It has been a while since we have been able to say that.

Let’s take a closer look. Here are the key stories from the US regulated poker scene since our last report published on Nov. 12:

  • PokerStars NJ implemented its new Star Rewards program
  • WSOP.com continued to host the Coast 2 Coast III concluded with enough entries to exceed the $200,000 guarantee for its Main Event
  • partypoker NJ continues to hold down third place while posting the most consistent numbers from week to week

Now, let’s take a look back at the tournament and cash game trends for the two-week period ending Nov. 18, 2018.

U.S. Regulated Online Poker Operators

The major U.S. poker operators are:

Operator Network Provider Other Sites in the Network
WSOP.com 888 888poker
PokerStarsNJ PokerStars None
partypokerNJ partypoker Borgata Poker and PlayMGM-NJ

Pala Poker also operates in New Jersey on its own network. We do not include Pala Poker in this report because the traffic volume is low and doesn’t affect the latest US online poker trends.

Major online poker tournaments summary

The tournament summary continues to rely on big tournament series to produce decent prize pools. Last week we reported that it appears tournaments are losing their appeal.

This report supports that hypothesis. During the last two weeks, each of the three operators exceeded their guarantee once, and each posted an overlay once. There just doesn’t seem to be any consistency.

WSOP.com posted strong numbers both weeks most likely due to the continuation of the Coast 2 Coast Classic III. Even so, it still contributed to the prize pool on Nov. 11 to match the larger than usual guarantee.

On Nov. 18, WSOP.com surpassed the $200,000 guarantee by $15,000. It’s only the second time since shared liquidity that NJ players have had a $200,000 guarantee tournament. Considering, WSOP.com failed to meet its guarantees the previous two weeks, the site took a big gamble. Luckily it paid off.

Now that the Coast 2 Coast Classic III concluded, there is sure to be a new tournament series starting soon. It seems as if a week doesn’t go by without one.

Both partypoker NJ and PokerStars NJ both held a series in Oct. So, it is hard to predict which operator will be the lucky host.

One last thing worth mentioning is PokerStars brought its global Star Rewards customer loyalty program to NJ. However, it is unlikely to have an effect on the results.

Sunday major online tournaments by the numbers

Information for the tournaments held on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018,

Tournament Entries Guarantee Actual Prize Pool Difference
WSOP $320 Coast 2 Coast III #25 $150,000 Guaranteed 488 $150,000 $146,400 -$3,600
PokerStarsNJ $200 Sunday Special $30,000 Guaranteed 188 $30,000 $34,968 $4,968
partypokerNJ $215 Sunday NLH $35,000 Guaranteed 203 $35,000 40,600 5,600

Information for the tournaments held on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018:

Tournament Entries Guarantee Actual Prize Pool Difference
WSOP $525 Coast 2 Coast III #48 $200,000 Guaranteed 430 $200,000 $215,000 $15,000
PokerStarsNJ $200 Sunday Special $30,000 Guaranteed 171 $30,000 $31,806 $1,806
partypokerNJ $215 Sunday NLH $35,000 Guaranteed 157 $35,000 $31,400 -$3,600

Average cash game and peak traffic summary

For the first time in many weeks, NJ poker seemed to grow. Both WSOP.com and PokerStars NJ posted gains to their 7-day rolling average number of cash game players.

It is encouraging that the gains happened without stealing players from partypoker NJ, who remained consistent posting a 7-day average of 45 cash game players.

There hasn’t been much good news for online poker in the Garden State. So it is understandable to latch on to the first glimmer of hope for a growing market in quite a while – no matter how small.

WSOP.com posted a 7-day rolling average of 200 cash game players. It hasn’t seen that number consistently since the summer.

PokerStars NJ showed a 7-day rolling average of 85 cash game players. It, too, was one of its highest figures in quite a while. Although, it was not quite enough to reverse the site’s declining trend line.

Peak traffic numbers were pretty much more of the same for the operators with one exception. PokerStars NJ, for the first time, posted a peak traffic number in the double digits. That, by the way, is not good news. They haven’t even really come close to dropping down that far before this week. We contacted PokerStars for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Factors impacting U.S. regulated online poker in the coming weeks

The holidays are upon us. That means some players will have more time to play and others will have less. Looking back over the past few years, online poker took a small hit over Thanksgiving weekend but rebounded nicely in the following weeks.

It will be interesting to compare last year’s online poker trends without sports betting over the holidays and this year’s trends that include sports betting.

We will take a look at that, and other news affecting the New Jersey poker scene, and the complete U.S. regulated online poker landscape. We will be back here on Dec. 4.

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New Jersey Online Poker Outlook: Fair To Partly Cloudy

New Jersey

New Jersey poker players are still flocking to tournaments more so than cash games. Thankfully, the news is not bad. But it isn’t great either.

There were some tournament overlays during the past two weeks, and some cash game players went into hiding, but nothing too drastic.

Overall, New Jersey poker keeps chugging along waiting for the next big thing. What that is remains a mystery.

Most are pointing to Pennsylvania coming online as the jump start New Jersey online poker needs. We are not so sure.

Even when it does launch online poker, Pennsylvania likely won’t join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) immediately.

So for the foreseeable future look for New Jersey poker to keep doing its thing and keep banking on a big poker tournament series here and there to add a little excitement.

Here are the key stories from the U.S. regulated poker scene since our last report published on Sept. 25 are:

  • New Jersey’s three major poker operators all posted positive tournament trend lines
  • The WSOP.com Online Circuit event ended on a high note
  • PokerStars NJ‘s NJCOOP takes center stage
  • partypoker NJ reports the most consistent numbers of the bunch

Now, let’s take a look back at the tournament and cash game trends for the two-week period ending Oct. 7, 2018.

U.S. Regulated Online Poker Operators

The major U.S. poker operators are:

Operator Network Provider Other Sites in the Network
WSOP.com 888 888poker
PokerStarsNJ PokerStars None
partypokerNJ partypoker Borgata Poker and PlayMGM-NJ

Pala Poker also operates in New Jersey on its own network. We do not include Pala Poker in this report because the traffic volume is low and doesn’t affect the latest US online poker trends.

Major online poker tournaments summary

Two major tournament series descended on the New Jersey poker scene on Sept. 30. WSOP.com hosted its 13th and final Online Circuit event, and PokerStars NJ kicked off the always popular NJCOOP.

The WSOP.com Online Circuit event was a huge success. It met all of its guarantees and handily. PlayNevada.com spoke to Bill Rini at the conclusion of the event to get his take.

“We were actually quite surprised at how well the event performed. We were aware that a lot of players wanted something like this on the schedule, but we were truly blown away at the draw. We thought our guarantees were fairly in-line, but when every event is doubling or tripling the guarantee, it shows we underestimated the demand.”

Piggybacking on that success, all three operators are showing positive trend lines when looking back on the last two months of tournament data. It’s the first time in quite a while that we’ve been able to say that. Granted, partypoker NJ is mostly flat, but a little something is better than nothing in this environment.

Making its Sunday major guarantee was almost a certainty for WSOP.com over the last few months. Without the Online Circuit event on the schedule, the online poker room went into overlay territory for only the second time since the launch of shared liquidity.

You might assume the players went over to PokerStars NJ. You would be wrong. PokerStars NJ actually had fewer tournament players during its NJCOOP event than WSOP.com had on its regular Sunday major.

For now, let’s just keep our eyes on those positive trend lines and hope for a repeat in a few weeks time. 

Sunday major online tournaments by the numbers

Information for the tournaments held on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018

Tournament Entries Guarantee Prize Pool Difference
WSOP $525 Circuit Event #13 – Main Event 439 $200,000 $341,000 $141,000
PokerStarsNJ $250 NJCOOP-05 Sunday Special, $60,000 Guaranteed 285 $60,000 $66,405 $6,405
partypokerNJ $215 Sunday $35,000 Guaranteed NLH 157 $35,000 $31,400 -$3,600

Information for the tournaments held on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018

Tournament Entries Guarantee Prize Pool Difference
WSOP $320 Sunday Weekly $100,000 NLH 245 $100,000 $73,500 -$26,500
PokerStarsNJ $350 NJCOOP-25 Sunday Special, $70,000 Guaranteed 224 $70,000 $73,472 $3,472
partypokerNJ $215 Sunday $35,000 Guaranteed NLH 174 $35,000 34,800 -200

Average cash game and peak traffic summary

The seven-day rolling average cash game traffic report is anything but exciting. It keeps posting a slightly declining trend line.

The only exception came during the few days when WSOP.com and PokerStars NJ hosted a big tournament. You can see the blip on the charts.

It doesn’t seem that PokerStars NJ was as attractive to players as WSOP.com’s Online Circuit event. Of course, that most likely has to do with the fact the WSOP.com’s player pool includes Nevada and Delaware.

The expectation was that some of the cash game players would jump ship over to PokerStars NJ once the Circuit event concluded. They jumped ship, all right. But they left the online poker scene altogether.

On average WSOP.com lost 30 cash game players, PokerStars NJ lost five, and partypoker NJ stayed the same. In fact, of all three poker operators, partypoker NJ has posted the most consistent figures. It is not helpful that it remains solidly in third place, though.

New Jersey’s online poker forecast is fair to partly cloudy at best — at least until more states join the MSIGA.

Peak traffic continues to spike a few days a week, but overall, traffic is trending downward over the last month.

With two big tournaments on the schedule for Sept. 30, one might expect a decent peak traffic number. However, that is not the case. Instead, that day posted some of the lowest peak traffic numbers of the month.

Factors that will impact U.S. regulated online poker in the coming weeks

PokerStars NJ continues to host NJCOOP through Oct. 15. The big finale comes on Oct. 14 with the $500 NJCOOP-42 NL Holdem $150,000 guaranteed Main Event.

Online poker is entering its slow season. It would not be surprising to see an announcement of another tournament series soon.

It seems as if the industry is a one-trick pony these days. Players hop from one tournament to another, so the online poker rooms are giving them what they want. partypoker NJ hasn’t hosted one in a while; maybe it is time.

We will keep our eyes on the New Jersey poker scene, and the complete U.S. regulated online poker landscape and report back here on Oct. 23.

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Koon, Haxton Win Big As Last Weekend Of partypoker POWERFEST Approaches

After almost three weeks of action, players have just a few days left to get in on the partypoker POWERFEST action. There were plenty of big winners in the final week, including Team partypoker members Jason Koon and Isaac Haxton coming up just short of a title in the $500,000 Guaranteed Championship 6-Max PKO.

Final week of action

Tuesday brought some huge action for Week 3 of the POWERFEST with the kickoff of the $10,300 buy-in $2 Million Guaranteed Championship with 208 entries adding an extra $80,000 to that guarantee. Poker pro Chance “ChanceSeeYou” Kornuth took third in the event for $219,440 as he streamed his play Twitch.

“Alien_Army” and “mbtremendo” battled heads-up for the championship. In the end, mbtremendo took the title and $424,112. It was a nice few days for Alien_Army, who won $307,840. Alien_Army also won the $540 buy-in $200,000 Guaranteed PKO Mix-Max on Friday for $20,515 plus $5,434 in bounty cash.

If that weren’t enough, Tuesday featured a second $10,300 event in the $500,000 Guaranteed Championship 6-Max PKO. With 97 entries, the prize pool swelled to $970,000. Partypoker team members Isaac “Ike_Haxton” Haxton and Jason “Jason_Koon” Koon advanced to the final three. Ultimately, Haxton finished third for $116,400 and Koon took second for $189,150. “MysterioBrown” took the title for a nice $303,421 score.

The $1,050 buy-in $500,000 Guaranteed, also played on Tuesday, ended in a deal between the final two players. The event attracted 405 entries, just short of the guarantee, and “SUPERSCOUSER” and “TheFatMexican” split a combined first- and second-place prize pool of $161,350 for $80,675 each.

Emma “cr3zyem34” Fullarton highlighted Wednesday’s action after winning the $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max event, which featured a $1,050 buy-in. Fullarton best a field that included 280 entries to win $68,452. MOTHERSMATT finished runner-up for $45,750.

The same day, 749 players bought in the $200,000 Guaranteed 6-Max for $215. “Duda850” and “farell8” ended up heads-up for the title, with Duda coming out on top for $34,000. Farell8 took $26,000 for finishing runner-up.

Big weekend ahead

There is still plenty of fun for those looking for some poker at any buy-in level. So far, there have been 550 events played and more than $53.6 million awarded in prize money. As the weekend approached, 120 tournaments remain.

Thursday brings several major events – highlighted by the $3 Million Guaranteed Super High Roller. With a $25,500 buy-in, someone will take home a big payday in an event that is sure to attract plenty of poker sharks. Also on Thursday is the $500,000 Guaranteed Mix-Max ($1,050 buy-in), and Omaha fans will be pleased with the $200,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PLO  ($1,050 buy-in).

Plenty of big weekend action awaits with nice six-figure and $1 million guarantees. Here’s a look at some of the weekend’s highlights:

  • Friday, Sept. 21 – $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PKO  ($1,050 buy-in)
  • Saturday, Sept. 22 – $200,000 Guaranteed PKO  ($1,050 buy-in)
  • Sunday, Sept. 23 – $500,000 Guaranteed PKO  ($1,050 buy-in)
  • Sunday, Sept. 23 – $1 Million Guaranteed Championship ($5,200 buy-in)
  • Sunday, Sept. 23 – $1 Million Guaranteed Championship ($1,050 buy-in)

Along with those big buy-in events, there are also several $530 buy-in events with guarantees ranging from $50,000 to $300,000. Lower rollers also have numerous options, including events such as a $16.50 buy-in with a $30,000 guarantee and a $27.50 event for $50,000 guarantee.

Promotions

Partypoker offers several ways for players to win free tournament tickets. Check out the daily Click Card promotion where players can win POWERFEST buy-in tickets up to $5,200 in value.

The site is also running the series-long Leaderboards with $60,000 worth of MILLIONS Online tickets up for grabs. One additional way to win POWERFEST tickets for only $2.50 is to give one of the POWERFEST Sit & Go Jackpot tournaments a shot.

Cash game players aren’t left out. Of the POWERFEST promotions. During the daily Power Hour, cash game and fastforward players can earn double cashback points for an hour every day. There’s a promotion for everyone during this fun poker festival.

***

There are only a few days left for your chance to get in on the action and take a shot at big money. For the complete POWERFEST schedule, click here.

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POWERFEST Week 2 Recap: Patrick Leonard Earns Second Title Of Series

powerfest

Major prize pools and major payouts were on hand as the $60 million guaranteed partypoker POWERFEST continued over the weekend. The festivities were highlighted by some big scores by some big names including Ben Tollerene with a huge six-figure win and Bertrand “ElkY_” Grospellier taking a runner-up finish in a $500,000 guarantee.

With 461 events in the books and $45.4 million awarded, the series continues to reward players looking to get in on the action – with buy-ins ranging from from  $1.10 to $25,500. The events run through Sept. 23 and feature nice payouts for even low and medium rollers.

ElkY And Tollerene score big; ‘IEatBears’ attacks

As POWERFEST played into the weekend, Bertrand “ElkY_” Grospellier highlighted Thursday’s play as he bagged a runner-up finish in the $1,050 buy-in $500,000 Guaranteed Mix-Max event with “MoNddLeR” taking the title and $96,997 top prize. Another well-known partypoker team member, Kristen “Krissyb24” Bicknell, finished 15th for $4,500.

Another team member scored big on Friday, Sept. 14, with Patrick Leonard earning his second win of the series. Leonard shIpped the $300,000 Guaranteed for $34,796 and $34,315 in bounties in an event that featured 305 entries. Leonard also took down a $200,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PKO event last week for $41,000.

Also on Friday, the $540 buy-in $200,000 Guaranteed PKO Mix-Max produced a nice 423 entries for an extra $16,787 for the prize pool. “Alien_Army” came out with guns blazing and finished on top for $20,515 plus $5,434 in bounty cash.

The festival reached its 14th day of action on Saturday, Sept. 15, and there was plenty of big money awarded. The day was highlighted by the $200,000 Guaranteed PKO, featuring a $1,050 buy-in The tournament attracted 272 entries for an extra $77,440 above the guarantee. In the end, it was “b0b_z00m” zooming to the title – taking home $27,064 and $29,079 in bounty bucks.

Saturday’s events also included two $530 events. The $200,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PKO attracted 368 entries with “IEatBears” gulping down the $20,680 top prize and $20,042 in bounties. In the $100,000 Guaranteed, “FairPlay373” came out on top for $12,328 and a bounty total of $12,202. IEatBears made another deep run in this one, finishing fifth for $2,970 plus $1,296 in bounties.

Sunday was highlighted by another nice score from poker pro Ben “CowEyed” Tollerene, who took down the $1 Million Guaranteed Championship, which featured a buy-in of $5,200. Tollerene took home $310,400 for the title. He’s no stranger to winning in the series, and won the $25,500 Super High Roller in the 2017 POWERFEST for $850,000. The event featured 312 entries with an extra $560,000 above the guarantee. Also on Sunday, Canada’s “nolet20” emerged as the winner of the $1,050 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed Championship PKO for $102,214 and $88,328 in bounties.

This week’s action

A total of 209 tournaments remain for partypoker players this week. There is still $27 million up for grabs as the third and final week gets underway, culminating in the final day on Sunday. In total, 247 tournaments remain.

On Monday, players are treated to another $1,50 buy-in event, $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PKO as well as another $530 event, $200,000 PKO. Tuesday brings another $1,050 event ($500,000 Guaranteed) and also the $2 million Guaranteed Championship with a $10,300 buy-in. There’s also another event at the same buy-in with a $500,000 guarantee.

The rest of the week brings more big guarantees including the massive $3 million Super High Roller on Wednesday, which should attract plenty of big names with sizable bankrolls. Here are some other highlights to look forward to in Week 3:

  • Wednesday, Sept. 19 – $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max ($1,050 buy-in)
  • Thursday, Sept. 20 – $3 Million Guaranteed Super High Roller ($25,500 buy-in)
  • Thursday, Sept. 20 – $500,000 Guaranteed Mix-Max ($1,050 buy-in)
  • Thursday, Sept. 20 – $200,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PLO  ($1,050 buy-in)

Along with those big buy-in events, there are also several $530 buy-in events with guarantees ranging from $50,000 to $300,000. Lower rollers also have numerous options, including events such as a $16.50 buy-in with a $30,000 guarantee.

For the complete POWERFEST schedule, click here.

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Powerful Payouts, Big Turnouts As partypoker POWERFEST Gets Underway

powerfest

The $60 million guaranteed partypoker POWERFEST kicked off on Sept. 2 and is off to a fast start with plenty of big money already awarded. The entire tournament series features 635 events for every bankroll – ranging from  $1.10 to $25,500 and running through Sept. 23.

Through the first five days, 154 events had already been played with more than $16 million awarded.

Big action early

The first day already featured some major action playing out with the $1 Million Guaranteed Championship (Event #003) attracting 181 players in the $5,200 buy-in event. It was WWWpartyCOM collecting $221,300 for first place.

Five partypoker team members had nice finishes including Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov, who finished runner-up for $159,000. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier also fared well, finishing in fourth for a cool $83,000. Other team members cashing included: Joao “joaosimaobh” Simao, 22nd for $13,300; Patrick “Patrick_Leonard” Leonard, 18th for $13,300; and Roberto “WelshWizard” Romanello, 16th for $17,200.

Event #004 featured a nice $500,000 guarantee with a $530 buy-in. The tournament attracted 924 entries with 120 making the money. That included Simao again with a deep run (32nd for $2,350).

In the end, it was“bagoch” and “GlobalHappiness” heads-up for the title. They reached a deal for the remaining $149,800 with bagoch pocketing $71,800 and GlobalHappiness taking $78,000 and the title.

Yet another big buy-in tournament, Event #005 $1 Million Guaranteed Championship PKO, attracted 876 players. The $1,050 buy-in event paid 120 players with “SirStanleyRoyce” coming out on top with a combined $178,519 after eliminating 18 players.

Teams members Filatov, Romanello, Kristen “Krissyb24” Bicknell, and Dzmitry “Dzmitry_Urbanov” Urbanovich all cashed in the event.

Another chance at a big score came in Event #011 on Day 2, the $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PKO, which featured a $1,050 buy-in, attracted 359 entries, and built a nice prize pool of $366,180.

Romanello was at it again, finishing sixth for a combined $12,857. It was “RosenheimCops” coming out on top and collecting $35,900 and $32,391 in bounties.

Event #013 offered a $100,000 guarantee for a $530 buy-in and brought in 194 entries. Romanello and Simao continued big runs for the team. Romanello took 16th for $1,300, and Simao notched an impressive third place for $11,250. In the end, “Paul_Folders” defeated “IEatBears” heads-up for the championship and $24,906.

Lucky Leon

Day 3 was highlighted by the $5,200 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed Championship, which fetched 204 entries and topped the guarantee by $20,000. Leon Tsoukernik, owner of King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, and host of the World Series of Poker Circuit Kings and World Series of Poker Europe, took the title and $207,978.

The fourth day featured Event #024: $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max. The tournament’s $1,050 buy-in attracted 360 entries and a $360,000 total prize pool. “Ilijix133” finished in the top spot, pocketing $64,452, with “skippyskip5” taking runner-up for $60,827.

The $550 Event #023: $200,000 Guaranteed PKO added almost an extra $40,000 to the prize pool with 438 entries. “Mateee” emerged as champion and won $22,054 and $22,328 in bounties.

On Day 5, Hungary’s Andras “probirs” Nemeth topped a field of 195 players in the $5,200 Event #029: $1 Million Guaranteed Championship. Nemeth was heads-up with “rdcrsnn” for the title when they struck a deal. rdcrsnn took home $173,965 and Nemeth snagged $177,934. He now has more than $8.5 million in lifetime online winnings.

Looking ahead

Plenty of action awaits partypoker players no matter the bankroll size as the weekend rolls in, including Friday’s Event #037: $300,000 Guaranteed 6-Max PKO ($1,050 buy-in). On the same day, two $530 events offer $200,000 and $100,000 guarantees.

Saturday and Sunday should bring in plenty of weekend players for even bigger turnouts. That includes another $1,050 buy-in $200,000 PKO event on Saturday, and a $530 buy-in $100,000 Guaranteed Fast 6-Max tournament.

Plenty of big prize pools await Sunday players. That includes two $1,050 events with $1 million and $500,000 guarantees. The day is highlighted by the $5,200 buy-in Event #049, the $5,200 Championship PKO.

And while these may be a bit out of your bankroll, there are even $33 events that offer $100,000 guarantees. Grab the keyboard and get registered.

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New PartyPoker Partnership Expands Online Satellite Offerings To World Poker Tour Events

partypoker

The World Poker Tour and partypoker LIVE are global partners thanks to a new four-year deal announced on Wednesday. Seven joint events are on tap to be hosted in Canada and Europe with a prize pool guarantee topping off at  €3 million.

Montreal plays host to the first series held as part of the deal in October at the Playground Poker Club. The WPT premieres the first-ever trio of branded events to be held at a single stop. WPT500, WPTDeepStacks, and the WPT Main Tour are all represented at the festival.

Other properties named in the WPT release are Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, UK (a past Main Tour and WPT500 stop) and Casino Sochi in Sochi, Russia.

partypokerLIVE MILLIONS holds a strong base in all properties since the inception of the tour in April 2017.

WPT online qualifiers at partypoker

A key detail coming from Wednesday’s news is the availability of online satellites for all of the events involved in the partnership. Starting at only $.01, players can qualify on partypoker for all WPT Main Tour events. A minimum of 300 seats are going to be up for grabs through promotions run on partypoker.

Also now in the fold are partypoker LIVE Dollars, a form of currency won on partypoker that players are now able to transfer over to select WPT Main Tour events. LIVE Dollars can be won in satellites on partypoker and then be used to for event buy-ins, travel expenses including hotels, and visas. LIVE Dollar satellites run weekly with guarantees of over $1.1 million.

“The World Poker Tour is proud to partner with partypoker LIVE on this new, four-year global initiative,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said. “The partnership allows the WPT to continue its dedication of bringing world-class poker to people’s lives, and we are honored to have John Duthie and the entire team at partypoker LIVE sharing in this value. Together with partypoker LIVE, we look forward to elevating the game for all levels.”

Exciting stops on the horizon

The announcement expands the availability of live poker events for all three regions included thus far.

Montreal is a strong ally with partypoker and the WPT. Last year, Playground hosted the first North American partypoker LIVE MILLIONS series and raised the stakes with their festival of events in the 2018 edition. World Poker Tour utilized Montreal in past seasons as one of the few properties to host two Main Tour events. The property comes full circle in being chosen to be the first to run all three WPT-branded tournaments in a single series.

The WPT500 runs from October 26-30 followed by the Main Event from October 29-November 4. WPTDeepStacks wraps the series from November 1-4. The Main Event is a C$5,300 buy-in. Day 1 play for the Main Event can be done online through partypoker on October 28. WPT500 also allows for online Day 1s on October 21, 22, and 23.

WPT returns to Dusk Till Dawn in April 2019 for the first time since Season IX when Iaron Lightbourne joined the Champions Club against a field of 450 runners.

Russia has hosted the WSOP Circuit and partypoker LIVE in the past. The eventual WPT event held in Sochi will be a first for the country when the tour arrives in April 2019.

Players proved last month their willingness to show up for a prestigious event. partypoker LIVE MILLIONS drew 692 entrants this month for a ₽300,000 ($4,400) buy-in. Attendees can forecast a similar buy-in for the WPT Main Tour event.

“The partnership with partypoker LIVE will bring WPT Main Tour stops in Europe to unprecedented heights,” WPT VP of Europe Hermance Blum said. “We are thrilled that two major operators can join forces again to bring the best poker experience to the players with each individual savoir-faire.”

Lead image courtesy of WPT/Flickr

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WSOP.com And PokerStarsNJ Setting Online Poker Records

old vinyl records

The dust is settling, and poker players in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware are settling into their seats.

It has been three weeks since New Jersey joined Nevada and Delaware in the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. The combined player pool is beginning to show its power.

The key stories from the last two weeks:

  • WSOP.com hosted the tournament with the largest prize pool in regulated U.S. poker history
  • PokerStarsNJ hosted the tournament with the most entries – even surpassing WSOP.com’s marquee event in the Coast to Coast Classic
  • Cash game traffic is soaring on WSOP.com and showing only a slight decline on PokerStarsNJ and partypokerNJ
  • Peak cash game traffic is showing a declining trend across the board

Now that you’ve been briefed let’s take a look back at the cash game and tournament trends for the two-week period ending May 20, 2018.

U.S. Regulated online poker operators

The major U.S. poker operators are:

Operator Network Provider Other Sites in the Network
WSOP.com 888 888poker
PokerStarsNJ PokerStars None
partypokerNJ partypoker Borgata Poker and PlayMGM-NJ

Pala Poker also operates in New Jersey on its own network. We do not include Pala Poker in this report because the traffic volume is low and doesn’t affect the latest online poker trends.

Major online poker tournaments summary

WSOP.com hosted the Coast 2 Coast Classic from May 11 – 20. Holding a big tournament series following the combining of player pools was a smart move by WSOP.com. It encouraged poker players that hadn’t done so to create their new accounts and get online.

The series came with over $1,000,000 in guarantees and included 32 events. All but one of the events made their guarantees. This is something even the most popular series over the recent past have failed to do.

The big story, though, is the Coast 2 Coast Main Event. Its $200,001 guarantee was the largest guarantee in regulated U.S. poker – by $1. What’s more impressive is that it shattered the historic guarantee by posting a massive prize pool of $245,642.

PokerStarsNJ and partypokerNJ both held their regular $45,000 and $40,000 guaranteed Sunday tournaments, respectively.

PokerStarsNJ switched things up by hosting a half-off version on Sunday, May 20. The tournament drew 583 entries for the largest tournament of the two week period.

WSOP.com met its guarantees for both weeks, while PokerStarsNJ and partypokerNJ did not meet them on May 13. Both sites rebounded and exceeded their guarantees on Sunday, May 20.

Tournament data for Sunday, May 13.

Tournament Entries Guarantee Prize Pool Overlay
WSOP $320 Coast 2 Coast Event #7 – $100,000 NLH 502 $100,000 $150,600 N/A
PokerStarsNJ $200 Sunday Special, $45,000 Guaranteed 216 $45,000 $38,200 $6,800
partypokerNJ $215 Sunday $40,000 Guaranteed NLH 175 $40,000 $35,000 $5,000

Tournament data for Sunday, May 20.

Tournament Entries Guarantee Prize Pool Difference
WSOP $500 Coast 2 Coast Event #29 – $200,001 NLH Main Event 526 $200,001 $245,642 $45,641
PokerStarsNJ $100 Half-Price Sunday Special, $45,000 Guaranteed 583 $45,000 $53,519 $8,519
partypokerNJ $215 Sunday $40,000 Guaranteed NLH 214 $40,000 $42,800 $2,800

Average cash game and peak traffic summary

Shared liquidity has only had a small impact on the cash game seven-day rolling average traffic numbers.

Before the merging of player pools, WSOP.com in Nevada and Delaware averaged 135 cash game players. New Jersey averaged 75 on the network. Since the launch, the combined number is 240. That number equals about 30 additional players on average logging into the site.

PokerStarsNJ and partypokerNJ have remained relatively flat post-liquidity with a seven-day rolling average of 85 and 50 cash game players, respectively. PokerStarsNJ posted a decline of about five players, while partypokerNJ posted a decrease of 10.

The big question at the beginning of the month was how a combined player pool on WSOP.com would affect PokerStarsNJ and partypokerNJ. Well, it seems like it is business as usual.

Peak traffic seems to be struggling a bit more than the average traffic numbers. There is a declining trend among all three operators following the merging of player pools.

WSOP.com’s negative trend line is most likely due to low peak numbers on May 18 and 19.

Nevada hosted Electric Daisy Carnival which historically draws players away from the tables. Additionally, the Las Vegas Knights were busy fighting for their spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. These events can easily explain the significant drop in peak traffic for those days.

Surprisingly, partypokerNJ had the best trend line of the bunch. Of course, it is a hollow victory with two outlier days for WSOP.com and two missing days of data for PokerStarsNJ.

Factors that will likely impact U.S. online poker in the coming weeks

In one week, crowds of poker players from around the world will descend on the Las Vegas desert for the 2018 World Series of Poker.

Four online bracelet events, online satellites, and the ability to play live and online at the same time will likely drive online traffic numbers higher for WSOP.com over the coming months.

Expect business as usual for PokerStarsNJ or partypokerNJ. It is unlikely for the sites to try and compete with WSOP.com during this time.

We will be reporting again on the U.S. online poker landscape on June 5.

The first online bracelet will be awarded to a combined player pool, and the WSOP will have a week’s worth tournaments under its belt.