After four weeks of poker action in the virtual arena, the second-ever WPTDeepStacks London Online wrapped up on Tuesday, November 21. The series included 28 events over the course of 24 days and generated a total of $3,415,810 in prize money.
The most successful regions were the United Kingdom and Belarus with five winners each, while the grand finale saw Andorra-based Panxetillo walk away with the biggest prize of the series. In the two-day Main Event, Panxetillo collected $184,320 on the final day. Four Brazilians were aiming to retain the inaugural title won by “paulinhoo00” earlier in 2021 but came up short, as they claimed between second and fifth place.
The standalone festival took place on the global 888poker dot-com platform and garnered 15,660 entries across all events, for an average of 559 entries. These numbers can certainly be considered a success, as the operator was competing against other concurrent festivals on PokerStars, GGPoker, and partypoker during the busy period ahead of the Christmas holidays.
Main Event reaches guarantee amid plenty of overlays
For the second edition in a row, the flagship $1,050 Main Event surpassed the $1,000,000 guarantee, narrowly missing the chance to beat the numbers from the April 2021 series. There were 920 unique players who purchased 104 rebuys and the $1,024,000 prize pool was divided among the top 117 finishers.
Players from 14 different countries earned titles during the festival and the only two-time champion was Germany’s hacki1414. They took down Event #7 $320 6-Max and, three days later, took Event #12 $215 Mini High Roller.
The biggest single cash prize outside of the Main Event was awarded to Canada’s DosPoochies, who topped a 38-entry field in the $5,200 Super High Roller for an $80,000 parlay. It was one of the 13 scheduled tournaments that failed to reach their guarantee.
Four of the first five tournaments of the series all fell short of their guarantee. The $525 Opening Event caused the biggest single overlay of $20,500 when 293 entries and 66 rebuys were not enough to cover the $200,000 guarantee. In total, the overlays added up to $126,230, at the expense of 888poker.
Busy year of growth and expansion for the brand concludes
With the conclusion of the second WPTDeepStacks London Online, a busy year for 888poker is nearing an end only a few days ahead of Christmas. The operator started out strong after wrapping up 2020 with the XL Winter Series, following up on it with plenty of promotions. Promotional efforts in all markets were increased significantly and 888poker also rolled out the new Poker 8 software in the regional markets of Spain / Portugal and Italy in the spring.
The vastly improved software platform was also implemented when WSOP PA was launched in July. 888poker may have lost the role of official sponsor and host of exclusive $10,000 WSOP Main Event satellites to up-and-coming contender GGPoker, but it has extended its partnership with WSOP parent company Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE). The exclusive agreement between the two companies includes providing the software platform for the World Series of Poker brand, in regulated US markets, until 2026.
A rollout of the new state-of-the-art software to other already regulated states such as Nevada and New Jersey is also part of the agreement. The two brands anticipate expansion into Michigan and other states, as they step forward to legalize online poker in the months and years to come.
Another key partnership was formed with the Authentic Brands Group (ABG), the parent company of Sports Illustrated. This new alliance facilitated the entry into the very promising US sports betting market and the Sports Illustrated-branded sportsbook was launched in Colorado in September. 888 had previously identified the American market as its next big goal for expansion and has taken big steps in this journey, which is expected to gain more chapters soon.
