Five months after going live in the fresh real money Ontario online poker market, partypoker Ontario, alongside its partners BetMGM and bwin, has finally revealed the details surrounding its first tournament series.
As unveiled last week, the network had teased its maiden series going by the name Ontario Poker Championships, but apart from the name and a “coming soon” text, nothing else was disclosed.
Now, we know all the details — and the series certainly looks impressive.
- Trusted brand now fully licensed in Ontario, Canada
- Modern & versatile desktop platform
- Top quality mobile apps
Ontario Poker Championships Highlights:
- Marks the first online tournament series by BetMGM network in Ontario
- Runs from September 11 to 26
- Features CAD $500,000 in guaranteed prize money
- 74 events with three buy-in tiers totaling nearly 200 individual tournaments
- Buy-ins range from CAD $1.10 to CAD $530
- Main Event sports CAD $50,000 for a buy-in of CAD $109
- Nearly two dozen tournaments with guarantees in five-figures
- Satellites start at just 1 cent
- Available on the partypoker Ontario App, BetMGM Poker Ontario App, and bwin Ontario platform.
It gives us great pleasure to bring the excitement of a PartyPoker series to players in Ontario with the Ontario Poker Championships
The first-ever Ontario Poker Championships, open only to players from Ontario, guarantees CAD $500,000 in prize money. In USD, it equates to nearly $385,000. The first events of the series kick off on September 11 and the schedule is spread over two weeks.
By no means is it a small series: It comprises 74 numbered events. The majority are split into three buy-in tiers — Low, Medium and High — so the total number of individual tournaments is close to 200. This is almost as many as one would see in a big tournament series open to the global player pool.
The schedule caters to all types of tournament player — from low-stakes grinders to high-stakes players — as buy-ins start at CAD $1.10 and go up to CAD $530.
The series runs on a network known as BetMGM Ontario, with three poker rooms sharing a player pool. It comprising BetMGM Poker itself, as well as sister brands partypoker and bwin.
“It gives us great pleasure to bring the excitement of a PartyPoker series to players in Ontario with the Ontario Poker Championships,” said Steve Spindler, PartyPoker Regional Manager, Canada in a recent press release.
The schedule comprises a variety of tournament formats: Progressive Knockouts (PKOs), freezeouts, short stack turbos, deepstacks, flighted tournaments, and more. These are all structured in 6-max, 7-max, and 8-max. There are no heads-up tournaments or full ring tables supporting nine players.
The Main Event with buy-ins of CAD $5.50, $22 and $109 guarantees $5,000, $10,000 and $50,000 respectively. Each of them is structured as a flight tournament, featuring multiple Day 1s.
Other standout events include the Weekender, also structured as a phased tournament with multiple day 1s. The guarantees for this type of tournament range from CAD $1000 to $15,000. Satellites are already deployed on the poker client, starting at just 1 cent.
“With at least 16 starting flights for all versions of the Main Event, chances to qualify from $0.01 and a mix of formats on the schedule, this should be the perfect opening series for players to enjoy. I look forward to seeing our Ontario players at the tables,” Spindler stated.
The first day sets the tone for the nearly 200-tournament schedule. Over CAD $50,000 is guaranteed spread across 12 tournaments. Day 1s for the Main Event also kicks off on this day.
A CAD $1000 guaranteed Super Freeroll is also scheduled at the end of the opening day. No further details are available as to who can take part in this freeroll.
The Ontario Poker Championships runs from September 11 to 26, overlapping partially with rival PokerStars’ Bounty Builder Series (BBS) guaranteeing CAD $1 million. The BBS in Ontario runs from September 4 to 19.
No tournament series has been announced by 888poker, another network that operates in Canada’s largest province, to run over this period. The network recently hosted a modest ChampionChip series catering to low-stakes players.
The fourth distinct online poker room, WSOP, is yet to launch but is expected to enter the market soon. WSOP.CA will be powered by GGPoker’s world-class software — so players can expect increased competition between Ontario online poker apps over the coming weeks.
Learn more about one of Ontario’s hottest new poker rooms in our complete partypoker Ontario Review.
