BetOnline Poker has quietly launched a three-handed, hyper-turbo Sit & Go game, giving players the opportunity to win up to two thousand times their buy-in.
Back in 2013, the French online poker site Winamax was the first to launch a three-handed, hyper-turbo Sit & Go product with a random prize awarded at the start of each game. Due to the success of the “Expresso” game, the concept was copied by the iPoker Network, Full Tilt and PokerStars, and versions of the game became widely available throughout Europe and the rest of the world by the end of 2014.
The first USA-friendly poker site to launch a similar product was Americas Cardroom. Its Jackpot Poker game was first released in April 2015 and has seen several different manifestations since. Earlier this year players were given the chance to [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/americas-cardroom-launches-million-dollar-jackpot-poker/”]play for a million dollar jackpot[/geolink] or win a [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/world-series-of-jackpots-comes-to-americas-cardroom/”]package to the WSOP Main Event[/geolink] – which several players took advantage of to fund their summer trip to Las Vegas.
Last month, Ignition Poker also [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/win-sit-go-jackpot-30000-ignition-poker/”]launched a Jackpot Sit & Go game[/geolink], giving players the opportunity to win up to one thousand times the buy-in. The main difference between the two is that Ignition Poker´s game has fewer prize points – including a lower Jackpot prize – increasing the likelihood of hitting a prize in the mid-range. Now BetOnline Poker has quietly launched its own version of the game.
BetOnline Poker´s Windfall Sit & Go Games
BetOnline Poker has chosen to name its Jackpot Sit & Go games “Windfall”. The games can be found under a new tab in the poker client and are only available in NL Hold´em format (Americas Cardroom offers Jackpot Poker in NL Hold´em and PLO formats). Windfall Sit & Go games follow the standard structure of three-handed, hyper-turbo Sit & Go games played elsewhere:
- As soon as three players are registered, a random prize is drawn.
- Players start with 500 chips – equivalent to 25 Big Blinds.
- Each level last just three minutes.
Players can buy-in at four price points – $3.00, $7.00, $15.00 and $30.00 (rake included) – and at present I am still waiting to hear whether each player´s contribution to the rake is counted towards [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/betonline-poker/”]clearing the BetOnline Poker bonus[/geolink], or if points are awarded to each player towards their position on the site´s [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/changes-betonlines-sit-go-leaderboard-challenge/”]Sit & Go leaderboard competition[/geolink]. I will update this article as soon as I have an answer.
I am also hoping to find out soon if deals are allowed when the Jackpot prize is drawn. Americas Cardroom offers two deal options for its top three prize tiers and Ignition Poker has an enforced distribution of prizes for its top three prize tiers. BetOnline Poker´s Windfall games have the same number of tiers as Ignition Poker´s equivalent games, but a higher possible Jackpot prize.
| Prize Multiplier | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 2000x | 1 in 100,000 games |
| 100x | 5 in 100,000 games |
| 50x | 10 in 100,000 games |
| 10x | 102 in 100,000 games |
| x5 | 24,772 in 100,000 games |
| x2 | 75,060 in 100,000 games |
Early Feedback on Windfall Games is Positive
As the launch of BetOnline Poker´s Windfall games has been fairly subdued, you would probably only notice them if you were clicking around in the lobby looking for something different to play. Not a lot of players have tried the new games yet, so there is only a limited amount of early feedback. However what feedback there has been on poker forums so far is generally positive.
The games are reported to be soft – probably due to BetOnline players not being used to them yet – and looking at the “Recent Winners” column, there has been a fair number of 10x and 50x prizes drawn. In my own experience, I found it difficult to get a game at the $15.00 and $30.00 buy-in levels, but that might soon change as word gets around about the new Windfall Jackpot games at BetOnline Poker.
