BetMGM Poker will start the new year with a brand new Winter Poker Championship Series, pokerfuse can reveal. The tournament series will run simultaneously across its three US states — New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania from January 12 to 22, 2023.
New Jersey’s version is the largest of the three, promising over $700,000 in guaranteed prizes, while Pennsylvania & Michigan online poker players will be competing for over $600,000. The three series put up almost $2 million in total guaranteed prizes.
With three separate series in the line-up, this crushes any hopes of BetMGM launching US multi-state online poker and combining Michigan with New Jersey in January.
PokerStars is the only operator with the green light to launch shared liquidity online poker between Michigan and New Jersey. The two separate platforms will combine on New Year’s Day, and PokerStars will become the second operator in the US to offer online poker across state lines.
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- Combined player pools in Michigan and New Jersey
Winter Poker Championship Kicks Off 2023 in Style
Scheduled to run over eleven days starting January 12, the BetMGM Winter Poker Championship Series will feature nearly identical schedules comprising 24 events in each state but with slight tweaks to the guarantees.
For instance, the Main Event in New Jersey sports $175,000 in prize money, while the Michigan and Pennsylvania series come with $150,000 in guaranteed prize money. The buy-in remains the same, with players needing to pay $1000 to enter the tournament.
BetMGM Winter Poker Championship Series Comparison
| Main Event Gtd ($1000 Buy-In) | High Roller Gtd ($2500 Buy-In) | Total Gtd | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | $175,000 | $100,000 | $700K+ |
| Michigan | $150,000 | $50,000 | $600K+ |
| Pennsylvania | $150,000 | $50,000 | $600K+ |
Progressive Knockouts (PKOs) make up the bulk of the schedule, while freezeouts, PLO, and High Roller events fill up the remainder of the schedule. Each series has multiple special Trophy events awarding Championship Trophies to the winners. In total, there are 39 Trophy Championship events across three series.
To promote the series, each Trophy event features an Early Bird Registration promotion, which has become a tradition on the site. In this promo, all players that register before the start of the tournament receive 100% of the fee they paid to enter the tournament.
Additionally, all those participating in the $100 buy-in event will qualify for the Winter Poker Championship Pick-a-Card promotion, where they have a daily chance to win a $1000 Main Event ticket.
Buy-ins across the three series start at $100 and go up to $2500.
However, before the Winter Championship Series kicks off, the operator has also lined up the New Year’s Knockout Series. The series is relatively small, taking place over the last weekend of 2022, encompassing seven events with total guarantees of $100,000 in each of the three states.
As the name suggests, the New Year’s Knockout Series features PKOs and a freeroll from December 28 to January 1.
Shared Liquidity Will Have to Wait
While the Championship Series should excite tournament players, the bad news is that MI & NJ players will have to wait longer before competing in the same player pool.
Indeed, as of December 28, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) announced that only PokerStars has been approved to launch interstate online poker, while competitors WSOP and BetMGM have yet to be authorized.
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However, players should not be too disappointed as BetMGM Poker US has made some moves that could suggest that the operator is readying itself for shared liquidity. It recently upgraded its New Jersey online poker platform to be in line with Michigan’s. The launch of SPINS in New Jersey followed the software upgrade and aligned the game offerings with Michigan’s.
It is still possible that BetMGM Poker could combine NJ & MI pools in late January, but it is now clear that PokerStars will be the first operator to combine the two states while other operators will lag by at least a few more weeks.
The New Year’s Knockout Series on December 28 and will run through January 1, 2023. The Winter Poker Championship Series will follow, starting on January 12 and ending on January 22.
Looking for somewhere to play? Here’s where to find the best online poker in Michigan.
