New Jersey continues to be a leader in regulated online poker and the WPT is thrilled to partner with BetMGM.
Borgata NJ and BetMGM has got together with the World Poker Tour (WPT) to host a massive $1 million guaranteed event for players in New Jersey.
The $3500 WPT Borgata Online Poker Open Main Event is a three-day event starting on September 19. The tournament will run on the partypoker US network in NJ, comprising three poker rooms: BetMGM NJ, Borgata NJ, and partypoker NJ.
It is certainly an ambitious proposal. That headline figure of $1 million equals the highest guarantee for regulated online poker in US history—and that was achieved in WSOP’s shared liquidity pool of New Jersey and Nevada, with the added incentive of a bracelet for the winner. Even PokerStars is yet to run a tournament of that size in the USA.
However, the event does have a pedigree. It is usually held in-person, at the Borgata Casino, Atlantic City but—as Covid continues to wreak havoc with live events the world over—the operator has erred on the side of caution and decided to run the tournament online.
The event has been running since 2003 and usually pulls in a large field. In addition to the prize money, the winner will also get their hands on The Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, which was named in honour of the legendary poker player and commentator, who passed away last year.
- One of the first regulated sites, Borgata has earned its reputation with the players over the years
- Nice no deposit offer: Get $20 in freeplay as soon as you open your Borgata Poker account
- Double your money: big 100% up to $600 deposit bonus available on your first deposit
- Good selection of cash games and tournaments across all stakes
Operators Confident After Previous Successes
The reputation of the tournament should help attract the required numbers to match the guarantee. Plus, BetMGM and WPT do have experience of spreading such a large tournament: they previously held $1 million guaranteed event in December 2020, which easily surpassed that figure, generating $1,260,000.
Angelica Hael, VP of Global Tour Management for the World Poker Tour, was upbeat about the upcoming event: “New Jersey continues to be a leader in regulated online poker and the WPT is thrilled to partner with BetMGM.”
Hael continued, “This event follows-up on the three incredible series held in 2020 and we are confident this series will continue pushing our partnership to new heights.”
Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, echoed these sentiments, saying, “The WPT Online Borgata Poker Open, powered by partypoker US Network, marks the return of the Sexton Cup to New Jersey.”
“We are very happy that WPT’s strategic move in online tournaments has been bolstered by one of the longest and most prestigious casinos on the tour.”
Get in for Cheap, or Even Free
A couple of feeder events are already up in the lobby: a $320 satellite scheduled for September 18, and a $50,000 freeroll tournament with 10 Main Event tickets up for grabs, plus plenty of other prizes—paying out all the way down to $215th place.
As the name suggests, The Borgata Open Main Event, is just the flagship contest of an entire online festival—namely, the September edition of the partypoker US Network Online Series.
The series has run almost monthly throughout 2021, and the August edition generated over $250,000 in prizes.
Nevertheless, many of the events missed their guarantees, and with a single event promising four times that total, it will be interesting to see how the numbers stack up this time around. Aside from the $1 miilion set aside for the Main Event, the series promises over $200,000 in prizes with a wide assortment of buy-ins, from $20 all the way up to $535.
The partypoker US Network Online Series runs between September 12 and 18. The WPT Borgata Online Poker Open takes place from September 19 to 21.
