When a big-name poker site offers a tournament series, it is expected that the events will at least meet the prize pool guarantee or even go over the set amount. However, in some cases, the events fall short and the operator must pay the difference. In Michigan, BetMGM Poker recently hosted its first big series, the BetMGM Online Series. Overall, it was a success, however, some events fell short of guarantees while others surpassed them.
Tournament Series Details
The Online Series featured 10 events. The total prize money spread between all the events came to $300,000. By the time the series was over, over $360,000 was paid out. This is good overall, but as noted, some events did not reach their prize pool totals and overlays occurred.
It seems the series started off slow and then built up momentum to finish strong. On the first Sunday of the series, the Sunday Special offered a $215 buy-in and $75,000 in total prize money. In the end, only 339 players competed, which led to an overlay of $7,200. This was the largest one of the series, so technically, it wasn’t too bad for the brand.
Fast-forward to the next Sunday and the news was a bit different. The site hosted another Sunday Special, this time with a $535 buy-in. There were 217 players competing, which lead to the $100,000 guarantee reaching just over $108,000.
Perhaps the most successful event of the series was the $109 Sunday Half-Price Event. This tournament had a relatively small buy-in and was set to offer $20,000 in total prize money. With 501 entries, the prize pool more than doubled to $50,100.
While this was the first BetMGM major tournament series in Michigan, it won’t be the last. The poker room is sure to offer even more great tournament options as it tries to stay in competition with PokerStars.
Big Expectations
There are big expectations for the online poker market in Michigan, especially since the online casino market is doing so well. Players who have already played at the PokerStars platform are just getting to know BetMGM. If the brand continues to offer quality gaming options, then players will lean towards the brand for poker gaming.
Like BetMGM, PokerStars has offered players plenty of tournament action. The site provided the Championship of Online Poker back in January, its first major series in the state after launching. The series is not a good comparison to BetMGM though because it had 60 events to the 10 of the other operator.
Originally, PokerStars had $1 million in prize money for the events. However, with more players taking part, the operator upped the ante and ended up providing over $2.2 million prize money.
PokerStars had a slight head start on BetMGM, so it will really take a few more months for us to be able to determine which site is the market favorite. Will PokerStars stay at the top or will BetMGM Poker be able to claim the majority market share soon?
