by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Sep 22, 2021 | Updated on Sep 22, 2021
Most U.S based online poker operators are hesitant to offer a 7 figure guaranteed prize pool to a ring faced market. The WPT decided to test the waters by announced a $1 million guaranteed prize pool for its WPT Borgata Poker Main Event.
The WPT Borgata live poker tour has been taking place since 2003 and every year poker players from New Jersey as well as other states show up to take part in the live poker tournament. The WPT decided to cancel the live poker edition in 2021 and instead take the tournament online.
The WPT announced that the buy-in for the Main Event would be $3,500 and a $1 million prize pool would be on offer. The $3,500 buy-in for an online event is quite a stretch and there were some who believed the WPT was going to fall short.
They were right as the WPT fell short of the $1 million guaranteed prize pool. A total of 305 players registered to bring the guaranteed prize money to $976,000, resulting in a $24,000 overlay. The WPT promoted the event via its U.S network of sites which included Borgata Poker NJ, partypoker NJ and BetMGM Poker NJ.
These three sites combined to take up $91,500 in rake and fees, making it a rather successful WPT Borgata online series overall for the three operators.
The winner for the WPT Borgata Online Main Event will take home $180,747 in prize money, get a $15,000 entry to the WPT Champions tournament which will be a live poker tournament. They will also go down in history as the first player to win the inaugural Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
The player who finishes in second place is set to take home just below $136,000 while those who make the final table should take home a minimum of $24,625.
partypoker U.S. Network Doing Well
The partypoker U.S network continues to do well in New Jersey as it reported revenues of $800k in August 2021 which is a 7% growth from the same period in 2020. One reason for the increase in revenues is the market share in New Jersey has also increase from 25 percent in 2020 to 33 percent this year.
The U.S. network recently signed Darren Elias to its list of brand ambassadors as it looks to expand its presence in the country.
