Players on the BetMGM Poker Ontario real money platform will soon be able to compete for its first online tournament series, pokerfuse can exclusively reveal.
While nothing has been officially announced yet, a new tab named “Ontario Poker Championships” has been added to the BetMGM Poker client, suggesting its first online tournament series is imminent.
No BetMGM poker tournaments have been deployed yet, and real money Ontario online poker players have been waiting patiently for the first to arrive. Currently, the website does not provide any details on the series apart from a “Coming Soon” teaser, so one is left to guess. But considering the series includes the “Championships” moniker, no doubt the network’s inaugural series would be an exceptionally prestigious and grand one.
BetMGM Poker was among the first online poker networks to go live in Canada’s largest province. BetMGM launched its Ontario poker platform on April 5 — just a day after the market opened up, becoming the second online poker room to set its footprint after 888poker in the newly regulated market.
- One of the biggest names in online poker
- Wide scope of cash game stakes
- Quality MTT schedule year around
Soon, BetMGM was joined by its sister brands — partypoker and bwin — sharing liquidity to form a three-skin online poker network.
The network generously welcomed new customers with decently valuable First Deposit bonuses, freerolls, and ambitious tournament guarantees. The generous guarantees in tournaments led to overlays — meaning players were greeted with more value.
The overlays continued to come, but the network did not reduce the guarantees in the initial days. As the summer approached, the network did lower the stakes.
While the network ran multiple promotions in the province, including the Half-Price Sunday promotion last weekend, the network has yet to run an online tournament series.
The online poker market is entering fall, a staple of the online poker calendar. During this time, global online poker rooms host their flagship online tournament series with huge guarantees.
The BetMGM Poker Ontario Network appears to be waiting for the right time to host its inaugural tournament series.
What to Expect from BetMGM’s Ontario Poker Championship Series?
It is hard to guess what the overall series guarantees for the Ontario Poker Championships would be, considering that the network has not run a tournament series before. BetMGM’s recent online tournament series, the Summer PKO Fest, which ran in the US markets — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — had modest guarantees ranging from $150k to $135k.
But the Ontario online poker market is much larger than any of the three US markets, as reported on Poker Industry PRO last month. The BetMGM Poker Network led the Ontario market for a couple of weeks earlier this month. Though it is no longer leading the market as PokerStars has retaken its pole position, it is not too far behind.
Per the latest cash game statistics provided by GameIntel and available on the PRO platform, BetMGM Poker Ontario is averaging over 180 concurrent cash game seats.
Going back to the US market, the BetMGM Poker US Network averages 60 to 100 concurrent seats (60 in Pennsylvania, 90 in Michigan, and 100 in New Jersey). Also, when comparing the tournaments, the Ontario MTT schedule has a broader MTT offering with a wide variety of buy-ins.
Also, because it would be a Championship series — which, as the name suggests, is expected to be quite prestigious — we expect the overall series guarantee for the upcoming Ontario Poker Championships to be around half a million.
- Trusted brand now fully licensed in Ontario, Canada
- Modern & versatile desktop platform
- Top quality mobile apps
Ontario Poker Championships — Predictions
- Likely to have around $500,000 in guaranteed prize money
- 30 to 50 individual tournaments
- Main Event to guarantee in six-figures
- Likely to run in mid-September or early October
The series will probably clash with rival PokerStars’ Ontario Championship of Online Poker (ONCOOP), which PokerStars announced when it went live in the province in late June.
The ONCOOP series will have an ambitious $2 million in guaranteed prize money and is expected to run in September or early October.
PokerStars has already hosted two tournament series in the Ontario online poker market, and 888poker is currently running one.
Learn more about BetMGM Poker Ontario real money games & tournaments in our comprehensive review »
