Borgata Poker and partypoker NJ are bringing back the Garden State Super Series (GSSS) for its Spring 2018 outing—marking the eighth time the series has run in New Jersey.
The return of New Jersey’s iconic tournament series will have a mix of events with buy-ins starting at $55, topping out at $1060 for the High Roller event.
$365,000 is guaranteed over the 8-day schedule, spread across 17 events. There will also be a $100,000 Main Event, like last year.
There are plenty of re-entry events peppered throughout the schedule, so if players get knocked out of tournaments, they will be able to buy their way back into the events.
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No limit Hold’em six-max, turbo and bounty events make up the bulk of the schedule, but a PLO tournament has been thrown into the mix for good measure along with a high roller and of course the Main Event. The Main Event remains at a $320 buy-in with $100,000 guaranteed.
Compared to GSSS’s outing a year ago, Borgata has increased the total guaranteed prize pool by $95,000.
However, with three more events on the schedule, the average guarantee per tournament has dipped fractionally to $21,476. This can be put down to the network’s 2017 strategy that saw Borgata/partypoker offer fewer yet more prestigious events rather than dozens of smaller events as seen in previous years, a move that has produced a more streamlined effect.
In addition to prize money, Borgata is offering free entry into the Main Event for the top three finishers of the first thirteen events. This means 39 free tickets will be up for grabs, or in other words, $12,000 in added value has been added to the series guarantees.
What other online poker tournament series are happening in New Jersey this month?
888/WSOP and PokerStars NJ have also added bumper spring promotions to the schedule this year.
The fast-paced Turbo Series from PokerStars, formally known as the Turbo Championship of Online Poker or TCOOP is currently running until March 4. It finishes up just before the start of the GSSS, marking the first time it has been seen in the NJ market. There are 28 events spread across twelve days with $250,000 in guaranteed money on the line.
Buy-ins to the Turbo Series start at $15. In addition, satellites and qualifiers give players a chance to win their way into the tournaments for less. There is a mix of Turbo and Hyper-Turbo game formats as well as No Limit Hold’em and PLO games.
This is not the first time PokerStars has run a big-ticket online tournament series in New Jersey, The Turbo Series is the tenth tournament series run in the market in just under two years.
888/WSOP’s New Jersey Poker Classic, which guaranteed $800,000 over 57 events, has just finished. Like last year, there was a $100,000 guaranteed Main Event. The majority of the New Jersey Poker Classic’s schedule was comprised of No Limit Hold’em events with a mix of re-buys, turbo and freezeout type tournaments.
New Jersey
Back in October the state of New Jersey announced that it reached an agreement to share online poker liquidity with Nevada and Delaware which already share their igaming liquidity. It will mean operators licensed in multiple states will be able to allow players in those states to compete against each other and for common prize pools.
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“Pooling players with Nevada and Delaware will enhance annual revenue growth, attract new consumers, and create opportunities for players and Internet gaming operators,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stated at the time. “This agreement marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for online gaming, and we look forward to working with our partners in Nevada and Delaware in this endeavor.”
The addition of New Jersey to the pool could prompt the partypoker network—Borgata Poker—to seek a presence in Nevada. Though the Nevada market is small in terms of population, it is a popular destination for poker players, especially during the summer months when thousands descend on Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker.
WSOP.com and 888 also share player liquidity within the currently segregated New Jersey market, and because it is the only other poker network in the US outside of New Jersey, they stand to be the first to benefit from the new agreement while other operators may have a longer road ahead.
The Spring 2018 Garden State Super Series runs March 18- 25.
