Home / Poker News September 2013 / The Poker Grapevine – WSOP.com’s First Major Tournament
The Poker Grapevine – WSOP.com’s First Major Tournament
Posted by: Jo Martin - Thu, 2013-09-26 03:46
WSOP.com’s launch this Thursday was one of the highlights of the week as far as
online poker news went. The site, which is operated by Caesars’ Interactive Entertainment under the
WSOP brand, using the 888Poker platform, was the second fully regulated real money online poker operation to be launched in Nevada, with plenty more expected to follow. Despite the hype surrounding the launch and despite the lofty expectations, the limited nature of the intra-state market weighed the launch down, resulting in some rather unimpressive numbers posted by the operation, unimpressive even in comparison to what Ultimate Poker, its sole current competitor, has been able to muster thus far.
Since its launch, the 24h peak that WSOP.com has managed was 126 players, indeed a rather paltry performance compared to Ultimate Poker’s 279 player peak. The 7-day average posted by WSOP.com also fell behind by quite a bit: their 55 player showing was no match for Ultimate Poker’s 155.
Above and beyond the actual launch, WSOP.com made headlines for hosting its first major online poker tournament. With a brand like the WSOP backing it up, the site is rightfully expected to grow into a tournament and satellite powerhouse in the future. For the time being though, they will obviously have to settle for much more modest objectives, given that only 152 players decided to cough up the $215 buy-in, in order to secure a chance for a share of the $15k guarantee. WSOP.com fell behind Ultimate Poker in this respect too: the first tournament held by UP saw 268 players register.
The WSOP.com event failed to cover its guarantee, but the resulting $1k layover wasn’t exactly a major blow to the operation. According to the WSOP’s Ty Stewart, the overlay was in fact good news, as site officials figured it would serve to draw more players into the fold.
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