The New Year´s Day event at BetOnline Poker almost doubled its guarantee, implying the site could become a top destination for online poker tournaments.
BetOnline is not usually an online poker site one would associate with valuable tournaments. Its regular Sunday feature events have modest guaranteed prize pools when compared to other sites serving the US market, and during the week there are rarely any tournaments with buy-ins in excess of $27.50.
However, yesterday the site took a chance by hosting a $100,000 guaranteed New Year´s Day event with a buy-in of $215.00. The gamble paid off handsomely. 583 players bought in directly or qualified through the site´s comprehensive satellite schedule and, by the time all the re-buys and add-ons were taken into account, the total prize pool reached $193,600 – almost double its guarantee.
Because of the structure for distributing prize money at BetOnline Poker, only sixty players cashed in the event. The winner of the New Year´s Day tournament – “donkey177” – started 2017 with a $40,656 boost to his (or her) bankroll, while the players at the bottom of the payout table picked up a healthy $1,161.60 for their efforts – more than five times their buy-in.
Why Was the New Year´s Day Event so Successful?
The success of the New Year´s Day event is a little surprising because, although BetOnline had been running satellites [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/betonline-running-satellites-new-years-day-event/”]since early December[/geolink], there were no big promotions or mega-satellites feeding into the tournament. Furthermore, the number of unique entries was more than double the $20,000 guaranteed and $10,000 guaranteed tournaments that started either side of the feature event.
This – and the large number of add-ons at the end of the re-buy period – would imply that the tournament was singled out by high stakes players as a worthwhile opportunity. It would also suggest that there is a demand for more high-value tournaments at BetOnline Poker – particularly high-value tournaments with a good structure and limited late registration period.
One of the features of BetOnline´s poker tournaments is that late registration only lasts for five levels rather than five hours on some sites. This means that you don´t have the scenario where players register at the last minute and disrupt the flow of the game by shoving their short stacks every hand. It makes for a far more enjoyable game, and one that is concluded in a reasonable time (last night´s tournament took a little over 4½ hours to play).
When is the Next Big Event at BetOnline Poker?
The next “big” event at BetOnline Poker is scheduled for Sunday 29th January at 7:00pm (ET). It has a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool, a buy-in of $99.00, and follows the same structure as yesterday´s successful New Year´s Day tournament. Satellites with a buy-in of $11.00 are already running for the event on Wednesdays (two seats guaranteed) and Saturdays (four seats guaranteed).
BetOnline Poker will also be running a five-stage Steps program feeding into the $50,000 event. The Steps start at freeroll level – with the first freeroll qualifier scheduled for this coming Friday (6th January) at 8:30pm. Please note there is no late registration for the freeroll qualifier and all further stages in the Steps program are played as 6-Max Sit & Go games.
If you would like to be part of the action at BetOnline Poker, make sure you fund your account using the BetOnline poker bonus code “[bonuscode room=”betonlinepoker”]”. This will enable you to claim an exclusive first deposit bonus of 200% up to $2,500 (usually 100% up to $2,500). Full details about the bonus and the other benefits of playing at the site can be found in my [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/betonline-poker/”]BetOnline review[/geolink], or head straight to the site and start 2017 at one of the fastest growing USA friendly poker sites.
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