WSOP Ontario has come out of the gate strong, showing very ambitious intentions for the recently regulated Canadian market. The operator kicked things off with a WSOP Ontario Circuit Series (WSOPC), awarding 12 online rings across tournaments with ambitious guarantees.
While the entire series schedule has been quite impressive, it is the CAD $250,000-guaranteed Main Event that attracts the most attention. Featuring a buy-in of CAD $525, this is the largest-guaranteed event in the Ontario regulated market.
The Main Event will need to attract at least 500 players to meet the massive guarantee. WSOP Ontario has been running multiple Day 1 flights during the series to get as many entries as possible, but it seems this will not help avoid an overlay.
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Challenging the Competition
The WSOP Ontario app was late to the party — several operators already established footholds in the province, each vying to be among the best online poker rooms in Ontario. This explains why the operator was eager to put together a series that stands out from the competition.
Besides gold rings, the Circuit Series features CAD $2.5 million in guaranteed prizes (a bulk of which has already been distributed to the players), and the Main Event boasts a massive $250K guarantee.
BetMGM Poker Ontario (with its partners, partypoker and bwin) had a much more modest start in the province, with its inaugural series featuring CAD $500,000 in guaranteed prizes and $50,000 put aside for the Main Event.
PokerStars started things off with the Ontario Platinum Series. Offering CAD $1,000,000 in guarantees, the Main Event features a very respectable $200,000 guarantee.
But WSOP Ontario has taken things to a whole new level with its first-ever Ontario Circuit Series and the ambitious quarter-of-a-million guarantee attached to the Main Event.
Great Value for the Players
Ambitious guarantees have not exactly panned out for the operator, at least not in purely financial terms. Several tournaments had overlays over 10%, and one tournament came over 20% short of meeting its guarantee.
For the Main Event, it seems on pace for a significant overlay as well. According to the last numbers we collected, the tournament was almost $70K short, but there is still some time for players to get involved and help close the gap.
This may seem like a less-than-desirable start, but it is likely WSOP Ontario expected some overlays for its very first series and took the relatively small loss in exchange for creating some hype and attracting players. The operator has already announced three Ontario bracelet events, so they seem utterly undeterred by a bit of a slower start.
All that being said, the WSOP Ontario Circuit Series Main Event offers excellent value for the players, and it is the one you should look to get involved with. A significant overlay seems assured.
Of course, the $525 entry may be steep for many players’ bankrolls, but that is what satellites are for. There are many qualifiers available to the client so that players can get their seats in the tournament for a fraction of the cost.
Grab your WSOP Ontario Download and get involved in the best-value tournament in the market!
