The Winning Poker Network has announced the cancellation of the Bigger Online Super Series following a series of DDoS attacks on the network´s servers.
Players competing in the Winning Poker Network´s Online Super Series experienced a frustrating time over the weekend. Constant DDoS attacks on the network´s servers resulted in events being suspended and cancelled, affecting not only the network´s feature tournaments, but also the satellite qualifiers for the $1,000,000 guaranteed Million Dollar Sunday – the flagship event of the whole OSS Cub3d series.
Despite the disruption, the Million Dollar Sunday event was still able to go ahead. It attracted 2,698 entries to create a prize pool of $1,349,000, with “Bad Pelican” collecting $269,800 for finishing in first place. However, although the Million Dollar Sunday event was relatively problem-free, the Network has cancelled the Bigger Online Super Series (BOSS) scheduled to take place from this coming Wednesday.
Nagy Goes on Twitch to Explain Cancellation of BOSS
Phil Nagy – CEO of the Winning Poker Network – went on Twitch yesterday afternoon to announce measures were being taken to mitigate the threat of more sustained DDoS attacks. The measures include upgrading the network´s existing servers to better cope with the attacks and, as the work could not be completed in time for BOSS, he was cancelling the final leg of the OSS Cub3d series.
Nagy also announced that once the upgrade was completed, the network would re-run the whole OSS Cub3d series from September 24th to October 22nd. A new schedule will be announced later this week, and will include two Million Dollar Sunday events – the first with a half-priced buy-in of $265.00, and the second being the conclusion of the re-scheduled Bigger Online Super Series.
Although next week´s BOSS has been cancelled, Nagy said he would honor the current positions in the OSS Cub3d leaderboard competition and award the players in the top three positions a package to the Punta Cana Poker Classic in October. The WPN-sponsored live event takes place the week after the next OSS Cub3d series concludes and guarantees a $500,000 prize pool.
Mobile Product and New Poker Client also Announced
Nagy took the opportunity of a larger-than-usual audience to announce the timelines for a new mobile product and WPN V2 – the long-awaited release of the Winning Poker Network´s new software. According to Nagy, the mobile product will be launched next week and allow players to play Jackpot Poker and Sit & Go 2.0 on the go. The new software should be released the following week.
Nagy also discussed the possibility of player sponsorship. This idea has been mentioned before but, as many existing pros are reluctant to be associated with the leading “grey” poker network, Nagy is proposing to create a “Winning Pros” program in which the top performers on the network would be rewarded with a $100,000 sponsorship package to play in live events around the world.
Nagy will listen to suggestions about how the program will work, and said interested parties should keep an eye out for a soon-to-be-created thread on the 2+2 poker forum. His “first draft” plans for what the program will consist and the announcement about the new mobile product and WPN V2 can be found on this Twitch stream. Earlier Twitch streams here and here relate to the rescheduled OSS Cub3d series.
Bigger Guarantee Events could be on their Way
Prior to the DDoS attacks that disrupted the weekend action and forced the cancellation of BOSS, the OSS Cub3d series was smashing its $6.7 million guarantee. Events in the first leg of the three-tiered series – the Mini Online Super Series – averaged 67% above their guaranteed prize pool and the network paid out $320,000 more than the guarantees over the first half of the Online Super Series.
With the Million Dollar Sunday event once again paying 30% more than its guaranteed prize pool, the likelihood is that a future OSS Cub3d series could be guaranteed for $10 million – maybe not the September/October series announced yesterday, but possibly before Christmas. Even before then, the guarantees for some of the network´s regular tournaments could be enhanced.
The network´s $150,000 guaranteed “Sunday Special” is already the leading online poker tournament open to players in the States, and last weekend the tournament paid out a staggering $208,000 in prize money. In addition, the $20,000 guaranteed “High Rollers” event paid out $51,000 in prize money. Both of these tournaments are prime candidates for big jumps in their guaranteed prize pools.
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