Borgata Poker Open Main Event Narrowly Misses $1 Million Guarantee

The ultra-ambitious $3500 buy-in Borgata Poker Open Main Event featuring a huge guarantee of $1,000,000 will be coming to a wrap later today, and despite the tournament narrowly missing the guarantee the organizers can definitely mark this one as a big success.

By the time the registration period was over, there were 305 entries into the tournament, bringing the prize pool to $976,000, $24,000 short of the million guarantee.

However, three operators hosting the event for New Jersey players—Borgata Poker NJ, partypoker NJ, and BetMGM Poker NJ—have collected $91,500 in rake and fees, so the total result is still the net positive for the organizers.

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Today, September 21, is the final day of the event that kicked off on September 19. There are now just eight players remaining, and they will be coming back to battle it out for the lion’s share of the prize pool.

The winner will walk away with $180,747 in cash and the $15,000 entry into the WPT Champions Land Based event. The runner-up will bank just shy of $136,000, while all remaining players are guaranteed to take home $24,625. The last player standing will also receive the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.

The $1MM guaranteed event was an ambitious project by the World Poker Tour and the partypoker US Network. Seven-figure guarantees are uncommon at international poker sites; at ring-fenced US rooms it is exceptionally rare.

Borgata Poker Open has its tradition, though: the tournament has been running since 2003, albeit in the live format. This time around, WPT decided to take things to the virtual arena because restrictions and risks related to the coronavirus pandemic still make it hard to organize major live tournaments.

The organizer banked with the fact that the tournament name would help attract players to the felt, and, as it turned out, they were not wrong.

All things considered, Borgata Poker Open Online has been a great success. Despite coming just short of making the guarantee, the partypoker US Network in the New Jersey online poker market has once again proven its strong market position.

Partypoker, BetMGM, and Borgata Conquering NJ

In August, poker sites operating under the Borgata license in New Jersey reported $800k in revenue, which was a 7% year-on-year growth. The network’s market share in the state has increased to 33% from 25% a year ago.

While the three sites are still behind WSOP NJ, which benefits from its ability to offer online bracelet events and the fact it combines players from New Jersey and Nevada, they have certainly been moving in the right direction.

At the same time, PokerStars NJ, which is the third major stakeholder in the market, has dropped to 28% market share from the previous 32%.

It seems clear the partypoker US Network has serious plans for the future and will be looking to continue on this positive trend. Just recently, the operator has signed up Darren Elias, a multiple WPT champion, to act as the brand ambassador, seeking to boost the brand awareness and bring more players onto the sites, which will likely help them get even more of a foothold in New Jersey and other regulated US markets.