It was yet another record Sunday for online poker operators as tournament prize pools reached new highs.
The biggest guaranteed tournament of the week and PokerStars' longest-running online poker tournament, the Sunday Million, was the star performer of the weekend.
The tournament with its new guaranteed prize pool of $2.5 million brought in 34,077 entrants to take its prize pool to $3.4 million —a record for the tournament with a $109 buy-in. This also makes it the second week in a row that the tournament exceeded $3 million paid out to players.
Partypoker did equally well this past Sunday with three of its online poker tournaments exceeding seven-figure prize pools.
The $215 buy-in partypoker MILLION that concluded yesterday attracted over 6500 entrants throughout the week to swell its prize pool to $1.3 million. The same tournament had been struggling to meet its seven-figure guarantee for months.
Fast-growing online poker network, GGPoker, had over $3 million up for grabs on Sunday thanks to the $50 million guaranteed Good Game Series which the operator has been running for the past week.
GGPoker’s marquee tournament, GGMasters, boasting an ambitious $500,000 in guaranteed prize money, drew its second-largest turnout ever after 3203 players joined the virtual felt. However, the tournament fell short of its guarantee, creating an overlay of nearly $60,000 and once again turning out to be a great value for the players.
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PokerStars Sunday Million Enjoys Another Record Turnout
One of the tournaments that have seen incredible growth over the past few weeks is PokerStars’ longest and oldest running tournament, the Sunday Million.
Usually generating prize pools in the neighborhood of $1 million, the tournament is now seeing prize pools three times as large.
Last Sunday, the tournament drew 34,077 entries (25,163 unique players and 8914 re-entries) to build a record prize pool of $3.4 million for a regular Sunday Million. The week prior, the tournament attracted over 31,000 entries to generate a $3.1 million prize pool which was a record itself.
If the tournament continues to perform this way, PokerStars could very well increase its guarantee to $3 million for the upcoming Sunday Million on April 19.
Partypoker Awards Multiple Seven-Figure Prize Pools
Partypoker has significantly increased its online tournament activity, hosting three online tournament series concurrently — something that has perhaps been never done before by any operator.
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Powerfest, which initially had a $20 million guarantee, now guarantees $60 million and has been extended until April 19. A majority of the Powerfest tournaments have exceeded their guarantees, including the $5200 Big Game tournament that generated a $1.2 million prize pool, exceeding its $1 million guarantee by 21%.
The opening event of Poker Masters Online, a $25,500 buy-in event with a $1 million guarantee, attracted 55 total entries for a total prize pool of $1.375 million.
The $215 buy-in partypoker MILLION gathered over 6500 entries for a prize pool of $1.3 million. The tournament is now on a five-week streak of covering its seven-figure guarantee.
US Markets Continue to Generate Big Prize Pools
Similarly strong performances were also seen in the US regulated markets.
PokerStars PA is currently hosting its flagship spring series in Pennsylvania (PASCOOP – Pennsylvania Spring Championship Of Online Poker) while PokerStars NJ is hosting (NJSCOOP) in New Jersey.
For more information about PokerStars Pennsylvania, check out our comprehensive FAQ page for PokerStars PA.
All of the PASCOOP events except for one exceeded their guarantees. The Sunday Special SE with $50,000 guaranteed saw 422 entries for a total prize pool of $78,492. Jennifer Shahade, the operator’s main ambassador in Pennsylvania, took down the event after a three-way deal for a payout of over $11,000.
In total, the PASCOOP events on Sunday paid out over $260,000.
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NJSCOOP events also had a great outing with every tournament meeting or exceeding its guarantee. The Sunday Special SE attracted 231 entries for a total prize pool of $64,680.
Elsewhere, the combined network of WSOP/888 had a big day too. The $100,000 guaranteed Sunday Special Edition as part of the operator’s ongoing Spring Online Championships series, smashed its guarantee by 2.5 times. The tournament received 834 total entries for a prize pool of $250,200.
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On the partypoker US network, its Spring Poker Open series concluded last night. The $100,000 guaranteed Phase event created the biggest prize pool, generating over $120,000.
