Unibet went into this with their eyes open. We knew there would be a ton of overlay, but we really want to attract new players to the site.
Unibet Poker’s new online poker tournament schedule has been live for nearly a month. Designed from “scratch,” the refreshed MTT schedule is recreational friendly, offers more extensive guarantees, features more bounty tournaments, and games finish much earlier.
But the increase in guarantees has caused many tournaments to overlay, the operator says.
As per David Lappin, Unibet Poker’s ambassador, the €25 buy-in and higher tournaments have accounted for 85% of the overlays. The newly added daily €10,000 Title Fight carrying a buy-in of €50 has been the most generous tournament for players in terms of value, overlaying over €20,000 in total.
Since the new schedule went live, the operator has put up €80,000 to cover the guarantees.
“Unibet went into this with their eyes open,” said Lappin to pokerfuse. “We knew there would be a ton of overlay, but we really want to attract new players to the site.”
“The games are the softest online, the anonymous no-HUD feature is key, and over the past year or so, we have introduced loads of new features which have made the user interface really nice. Andy Paton has built this fantastic nightly schedule. We just want players to experience it and then decide for themselves whether they want to start putting in volume on the site. I really think they will,” Lappin added.
However, despite the continued overlays, the operator is not backing down. It has increased guarantees on half a dozen tournaments (though the increases come on Sundays only). For instance, the Title Fight, which previously guaranteed €10,000, saw a rise of 20% on Sundays. On average, the tournament has been overlaying daily from €2000 to €5000.
Another major daily tournament, the Slobberknocker, costing €100, has been boosted by 6% going up from €7500 to €8000 daily. The €10 buy-in Ironman has been upgraded from €2500 to €3000 on Sundays, representing an increase of 25%, while the Battleground with an entry fee of €25 will see a boost to its guarantee from €5000 to €6000 on Sundays.
The operator also had to adjust the guarantees for the consistently overlaying tournaments. For example, the daily Bullet costing €25 dropped to €3500 from €4000 while the €10 buy-in Cage saw a decrease of 25% in guarantees.
The changes to the guarantees came into effect on November 14.
Unibet Tournament Guarantees Changes
| Tournament | Old Gtd | New Gtd | Change | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omaha Wrap | €1,500 | €2,000 | 25.00% | Sunday Only |
| Title Fight | €10,000 | €12,500 | 20.00% | Sunday Only |
| Ironman | €2,500 | €3,000 | 16.67% | Sunday Only |
| Stack | €3,000 | €4,000 | 25.00% | Sunday Only |
| Battleground | €5,000 | €6,000 | 16.67% | Sunday Only |
| Slobberknocker | €7,500 | €8,000 | 6.25% | Daily |
| Bullet | €4,000 | €3,500 | -14.29% | Mon – Sat |
| Battleground | €5,000 | €4,500 | -11.11% | Mon – Sat |
| Cage | €2,500 | €2,000 | -25.00% | Daily |
The operator overhauled the tournament schedule last month, with the changes going into effect on October 24. The operator is billing the new program as “simplified and easier to understand” with the latest tournament convention and color mode. Despite fewer tournaments than before, the overall guarantees have increased significantly.
Per the operator, the total guaranteed prize pool has been boosted by 43.5% despite a cut of the number of tournaments by 8.5%. The operator also slashed rake on tournaments — making them the cheapest in the industry.
