This week’s overview of the licensed Nevada online poker market has much to discuss, including WSOP.com’s online satellite schedule for the World Series of Poker and a new poker variant soon to be offered on Ultimate Poker.
We’ll delve into both of these narratives and examine the outcomes from Nevada’s Sunday Majors. Additionally, we’ll analyze the most recent traffic statistics in the state and keep you updated on the latest speculation about potential additions to UP and WSOP.com in 2014.
The WSOP.com Scoop: World Series of Poker satellites now running
Online poker players in Nevada can now access a comprehensive World Series of Poker Main Event satellite schedule at WSOP.com, which, when considered, isn’t all that surprising.
Every Saturday, WSOP.com will hold a satellite with a $215 buy-in where at least one Main Event seat is guaranteed to be available. Additionally, the site is planning to organize what is dubbed as the WSOP 25 Seat Main Event Scramble on July 5th. In this event, a minimum of 25 seats for the Main Event will be awarded.
Click here for more information about WSOP.com’s satellites to the WSOP Main Event, including how to qualify for these satellites for as little as $1.
Current estimates suggest that WSOP.com in Nevada will send at least 50 players to the WSOP Main Event through online satellites. If WSOP.com in New Jersey matches this, it’s likely they will send approximately twice as many due to their larger player pool. This would result in at least 100 US poker players participating in the Main Event, thanks to legal online poker in the United States.
The Ultimate Poker Scoop: Two Street Holdem
Ultimate Poker is set to reveal its newest invention, a fresh poker format named Two Street Holdem, in the upcoming days. The expected launch of the test/beta version of Two Street Holdem is on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, from 7 PM to 11 PM, and will continue on February 15th and 16th from 1 PM to 5 PM.
An exclusive testing period is scheduled for February 10th, and it’s by invite only. John Mehaffey from www.USPoker.com will be present. A write-up about the event can be expected on the site on February 11th.
As suggested by its name, the game will include just two rounds of betting. The first occurs preflop, with the second and last betting round taking place after all five community cards have been dealt.
Two reasons justify the game encouraging some very relaxed pre-flop play:
- Larger blinds and antes will be featured in Two Street Holdem.
- Only the very worst hands become unplayable when 72% of your cards are revealed on the flop.
In this blog post at Ultimate Poker, the game’s creator, Chris Danek, provides a comprehensive overview of the game.
Weekly Guaranteed Tournaments in Nevada
WSOP.com Sunday $15K Guaranteed
The biggest tournament of the week on WSOP.com, the $215 buy-in, $15k Guaranteed, easily surpassed its guarantee, with the final prize-pool reaching over $20,000 due to the 103 entries.
Here are the final table payouts from the tournament:
- Butters has a value of $5,768.00, ValueTown is worth $3,337.80, BeTheLight is valued at $1,915.80, Kudos88 is worth $1,503.80, Legume has a value of $1,297.80, R8RH8R is worth $1,091.80, mnbass1 is valued at $865.20, GrnSmoothie is worth $576.80, and Mikelos has a value of $432.60.
A pair of $10K Guarantee tournaments at Ultimate Poker
At Ultimate Poker, two $10k guaranteed tournaments with a $100 buy-in were being hosted, with rebuys and add-ons available.
Both tournaments barely exceeded their guarantees, however, the second one was more intriguing due to the presence of prominent players at the final table.
At the tournament’s final table, Dan O’Brien, ex-November Niner Phil “USCphildo” Collins, and WSOP bracelet recipient Brent “bhanks11” Hanks were featured. This is how their performance turned out:
- juantoo3fore – $2,539.24
- Rprops – $1,751.20
- Dan OBrien – $1,313.40
- AB26 – $875.60
- USCphildo – $700.48
- maddogjim – $525.36
- M. Kampmann – $437.80
- CtrlAltDel – $350.24
- BHanks11 – $262.68
Traffic trends in Nevada
This week in Nevada, the total traffic was relatively unchanged, averaging around 200 cash-game players, as reported by www.pokerscout.com, with contributions from both Ultimate Poker and WSOP.com. After a brief increase, Ultimate Poker Nevada is once again falling behind WSOP.com, which currently dominates approximately 60% of the traffic in the area.
Both sites also experience stagnant peak traffic, which can be viewed either positively or negatively. WSOP.com typically peaks between 240 and 270 players, while Ultimate Poker usually peaks between 140 and 190 players.
The word on the street
The poker community continues to anticipate the entry of more online poker rooms in Nevada. This is not because the online poker industry has the capacity to support three rooms (as the previously mentioned traffic numbers suggest it cannot), but to inject new life into what is becoming a stagnant atmosphere. This comes as New Jersey dominates the majority of the iGaming headlines.
The identities of these emerging market participants are yet to be determined. Several companies have expressed interest in launching in 2014, including Siena Casino and Z4, who are planning to introduce their HDPoker Room; South Point Poker, who once aimed to be the state’s first online poker room; and 888, who aspire to be the first site on the All American Poker Network in Nevada.