The Summer Warm-Up Series at BetRivers Poker is officially in the books, and the numbers are in. Over the course of two weeks, the series saw a total of 68 tournaments, and it ended up awarding just over $524,000, a bit more than the original $500,000 promise.
Summer Warm-Up was designed to fit every budget, with buy-ins starting at just $10 and going all the way up to $500. There were also different satellites running around the clock, giving players a chance to qualify for more expensive events at a big discount.
All of this resulted in quite a successful online tournament series that generated quite a bit of interest in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia — the four states where BetRivers Poker currently operates. Although some tournaments featured small overlays, the operator should be quite happy with the overall results.
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The Summer Warm-Up Series Quick Summary
- Total events: 68
- Guaranteed prize pool: $500,000
- Total entries: 11,249
- Prize money paid out: $524,201
- Main event prize pool: $40,000
- Main event entries: 174
Looking at the numbers, the series attracted over 11,000 entries across the board, which is a very respectable turnout. As mentioned, some events didn’t quite meet their guarantees, resulting in overlays and added value for participating players, but this came as no surprise.
BetRivers Poker has shown time and time again that it’s ready to go the extra mile for its players, and instead of taking a conservative route with its Summer Warm-Up series, the operator accepted a calculated risk, ready to cover any shortfalls.
The most significant of those shortfalls transpired in the $200 Main Event. The tournament attracted 174 entries, so even with the rake, BetRivers had to make up just over $5,000 to cover the $40,000 guarantee. The winner, ‘JtpIsBack,’ pocketed $8,200.
That amount was the second-highest paid to a winner of a single event. The highest first-place amount was won in the $500 Super High Roller. That tournament saw 48 total entries, with $9,000 awarded to the winner.
The $7,000 GTD Mini Main came with a much more affordable buy-in of $20, resulting in 347 total entries. With the rake added to the mix, BetRivers essentially broke even on this one.
One tournament that seemingly hit that sweet spot with the players was actually the $100 Series Starter. That one came with a $20,000 guarantee and ended up with 226 entries, creating a prize pool of $21,000. The winner, ‘Shiraz007,’ pocketed just over $4,000.
On a broader level, it looks like players prefer deeper structures, as almost all events with the ‘deep’ prefix hit and exceeded their guarantees. This seems to be the case across the board, regardless of the buy-in level.
Tournament Action at BetRivers Poker Nicely Ticking Along
The Summer Warm-Up Series is another win for BetRivers Poker. Even though the operator had to make up prize guarantees out of pocket in a few events, a strong turnout across all buy-ins shows that there is plenty of interest.
The Summer Warm-Up Series followed the recently-concluded Spring Championship Series, which broke records and saw the Main Event become the largest tournament hosted on the site (in terms of prize pool).
Also, it is safe to assume that the operator will use the information gathered from the Warm-Up series to continue improving its offering and creating one-off tournaments and tournament series that players want to see and participate in.
Right from the start, BetRivers Poker has had its finger on the poker community’s pulse, tweaking and adjusting things along the way, and so far, this approach has served them well.
