The registration to the 2021 WSOP online at GGPoker is in its final stretch. There are a few more bracelet awards to be won as the series comes to an end. Yet, the operator did not get the $20,000,000 guaranteed prize, falling short by over $500,000.
Last year, GGPoker took the opportunity to hold the first-ever Online World Series of Poker. The coronavirus pandemic halted most live poker action, leading to the birth of most online poker events. That is where the $25 million guaranteed Main Event by GGPoker came to be.
This year, the poker operator decided to go with a more achievable guarantee of $20 million, considering there are more live poker actions to go to. But, by the time the registration for the Main Event was over, the event’s guarantee was short of over $500,000.
Good Turnout But Below Expectation
The buy-in for the main event is $5000. This is a large amount for an online event. Last year, GGPoker had 5802 entries, a number that was easily achievable because most people in the world were at home, leading to more players registering for the event.
This year, GGPoker scheduled 24 starting flights for the Main Event, with players allowed to reenter three times. As the clock ticked down, it was evident that there would not be enough players to meet the guaranteed prize. In fact, it seemed like there would be an overlay of over $1 million.
To curb the situation, the poker operator added three more starting flights to get a total of 27. This addition helped reduce the overlay.
The number of players increased to 4092, 29 percent less than that of the 2020s. The total prize pool amounted to $19,437,000. Although this amount is still good for participants, it is not for GGPoker, which has to go back to its pocket to cover the remaining amount.
The WSOP 2021 Is Mainly a Success
Failing to get $20 million in guaranteed prizes from buy-ins looks like a failure on the GGPoker part. But, that is further from the truth. The main event is the only contest in the schedule that did not produce the expected guaranteed prize. Most other tourneys, including the $25,000 Super High Roller, produced the expected guarantee and exceeded it.
The event had over $4,000,000 from entry fees and rake, which is enough to cover the difference for the Main Event.
Yet, this is something a poker operator hopes for. There are a few more matches on the schedule. Some of the big ones include the $500 The Closer and $210 WSOP Bounty Double. Both are likely to produce $2,000,000 in prize money.
Yet, it is not a surprise that GGPoker did not meet the guarantee for the Main Event. For starters, the operator released the schedule late, leaving prospective players not enough time to qualify for the Main Event through satellites. Moreover, reaching a $20 million guarantee was an overstretch, but GGPoker managed to get most of the amount.
Yet, failing to get to the goal is not a reason for GGPoker to stop hosting similar events. In fact, you can expect a similar schedule in 2022.
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