Online poker series features $4M in guarantees
WSOP.com is trying to maintain momentum for online poker while players are cooped up at home.
The major legal online poker operator in Nevada is hosting the 100-event Spring Online Championships tournament series with more than $4 million in guarantees. Warm-up events started Wednesday, and the first official event will be held Sunday.
The series’ $525 buy-in Main Event will be held on the final day of the series, May 3. Buy-ins range from $10 to $1,000.
Players must be in Nevada, Delaware or New Jersey (the states that have legalized online poker) to participate.
Online poker traffic has spiked with casinos closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. WSOP.com reported that its 18-event Online Super Circuit series in March set a record for the site with a total of 11,786 entries. The series more than tripled its prize pool guarantees and ended up awarding more than $3.9 million.
Matt Stout earned Casino Championship honors for the series after winning two events and cashing six times overall to collect $122,389.
Seth Palansky, vice president of corporate communications for the WSOP, said the success of the Online Super Circuit spurred officials to put together the Spring Online Championships.
The fate of the flagship World Series of Poker, scheduled to start May 26 at the Rio Convention Center, remains up in the air amid the pandemic. Palansky said in March that officials would likely wait until May before making a decision on whether the WSOP will be held as scheduled.
Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.
