Online poker had an interesting weekend as partypoker was finishing up its US Online Network PKO Series. The new series offered players plenty of options to compete in Progressive Knockout events, including the Main Event. This was the big draw for players as there were qualifier events all week long. Unfortunately, the event was subject to a software glitch from the beginning, so adjustments had to be made by the online poker room.
Details of the Glitch
On Sunday night, the Phase Multi-Flight Main Event was set to begin. This event had a guaranteed prize pool of $75,000 and had a direct buy-in of $320. However, players could take part in qualifier flights for just $35. The qualifiers took place all week long leading up to the big event.
Once the time arrived for the event to begin, a software glitch occurred. This prevented the late registration period from taking place so only 79 players were able to log in to compete. Once the problem was noticed by party, players had already been competing for quite some time.
Officials of partypoker US decided to continue the tournament as is and they had to pony up funds for the overlay. Because the player pool was so low, only $27,604 was up for grabs. The guarantee was of course, $75,000, so party had to provide the difference. On top of that, the payout structure remained the same and some players were already out of the event. Even so, they were given a minimum payout of $218.
In the end, it was pay4medsch00l who earned the first place prize. It would take almost seven hours of six-handed play for the title to finally be won. The player earned just over $13,500 for his efforts. Players in New Jersey could enjoy the event via partypoker US, BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker.
PKO Series Details
The PKO series in the US for party was quite successful. A total of eight events took place with players able to win prize money as well as bounties for taking out their competitors. The Main Event offered the largest prize pool of the series, while Event #8 was the next in line, providing just over $20,000. The remaining events ranged in prize money from $10,000 to $16,200.
Overall, the buy-ins were relatively low, with players having $109, $215 and $320 buy-ins to compete. Party made it easy for players to log in and sign up for an event as well as earn seats via lower buy-in options.
This series as well as many others hosted in New Jersey have helped the state to see a nice turnaround when it comes to online poker revenues. The state has been quite successful over the past few months as players are choosing to play online poker more than ever before. Each month, series such as this have helped the Garden State bring in $3 to $4 million or more in revenues. It will be interesting to see the July and August totals with this and other events having taken place at major online poker rooms.
