Whereas the majority of online poker sites have rescheduled their feature Sunday tournaments for New Year´s Day, BetOnline Poker will be hosting its monthly $100,000 guaranteed feature tournament on New Year´s Eve – with the likely outcome there will be plenty of value available for players who cash in the tournament.
On the last Sunday of every month, BetOnline Poker hosts a feature tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. Due to a comprehensive satellite program and a Steps promotion starting at freeroll level, the $109.00 tournament is usually well supported and often meets its guarantee. This coming Sunday – New Year´s Eve – it could be very different.
Rather than reschedule its feature tournament to a date on which the maximum number of players are available, BetOnline Poker has kept the event in its regular Sunday slot. This Sunday, on New Year´s Eve, the majority of players will be away from their computers and likely too busy revelling to log into their accounts via the BetOnline Poker mobile platform.
The expected outcome is a significant overlay – offering plenty of value for players who cash in the event. For the winner, the extra value could amount to as much as $10,000; while players further down the pay table could pick up at least 30% more than if the tournament did not have its guarantee. Evidence from this week´s qualifiers shows there is plenty of value in the satellites for the event as well.
BetOnline´s New Year´s Eve $100K GTD Event
BetOnline Poker´s $100K GTD event gets underway at 7:00pm (all times ET). Players start with 3,000 chips and a gentle blind structure starting at 10/20. Late registration is open for five levels (50 minutes) and players are allowed to make an unlimited number of re-buys (3,000 chips) up until the end of level 6, when the opportunity exists to buy an add-on (6,000 chips) for a further $109.00.
Whereas there might be time to wrap up the tournament and head out to a party if you are playing from California (which is three hours behind ET), the event will likely not be popular with players on the Eastern Seaboard or from Europe; where the 7:00pm start time equates to 11:00pm in London and midnight elsewhere in Western Europe. This has already been reflected in the satellites to the event.
This Week´s Satellites have been Poorly Supported
BetOnline runs a comprehensive satellite schedule to support its monthly $100 GTD tournaments. There are six $11.00 buy-in satellites every day plus a $33.00 buy-in satellite each evening, plus last minute satellites scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. So far this week, qualifying for the target event via these satellites has been a piece of cake.
On Wednesday, for example, the $11.00 buy-in satellite at 8:00am attracted just five players by the time late registration closed. Two seats for the $100K GTD event were up for grabs and, within an hour, the two seats had been won – after only one re-buy. That´s $218.00 in prizes for a satellite that only collected $66.00 in entry fees. That indicates the level of overlay players can expect on Sunday.
The Steps Promotion has Also Been Poorly Supported
By this stage of the month – with only four days to go until the target event – the Steps promotion is usually buzzing. Players can climb the four stages of the Steps 6-Max Sit & Go promotion by entering levels with buy-ins of $0.24, $0.67, $3.66 or $19.99 and winning their seat for pennies on the dollar. However, this week, the Sit & Go games – even at the lower levels – have failed to get started.
This may change when tomorrow´s freeroll step gets underway. The game starts at 7:30pm and awards the top thirty players with an entry to a Step 1 Sit & Go. My feeling is that players winning a Step 1 Sit & Go ticket will be better off waiting until the end of January to use it, as although there will be a handful of Step 1 games running after the freeroll, the higher levels may not run at all before Sunday.
Will You Start the New Year with Expected Value?
If you have nowhere to go on Sunday night, you could do worse than play in BetOnline Poker´s $100K GTD tournament. The event is almost certain to overlay significantly and, with a smaller field to play against, the likelihood of cashing is much better than normal. Furthermore, rather than wait until Sunday to visit the site, I recommend you visit as soon as possible in order to take advantage of the easier opportunities to qualify for the target event.
If you do not yet have an account with the site, make sure you [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/betonline-poker/”]follow the instructions in my BetOnline review[/geolink] when making your first deposit. As explained in the review, players funding their accounts with the BetOnline Poker promo code “[bonuscode room=”betonlinepoker”][/bonuscode]” are eligible for a 200% bonus on their first deposits rather than the regular 100% bonus up to $2,500. That´s nearly as much expected value as you could get when you cash in BetOnline Poker´s New Year´s Eve $100K GTD event.
