As to be expected around this time of year, it was yet another busy week in Nevada’s poker scene. First, we witnessed 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada become the first winner since Carlos Mortensen to score a post-victory bracelet.
A day later, the always controversial (and now hairless) Dutch Boyd would join an exclusive group of three-time bracelet winners.
Yes, during the WSOP newsworthy poker stories hit the web faster then Phil Hellmuth can hurl expletives towards “idiot” players. So much so, that we’ll cheat a bit and dedicate one section solely to the happenings at the Rio.
On the online front, after a huge initial surge that saw WSOP NV become the most widely traversed regulated poker room in the U.S., things have settled down a bit. Cash-game turnouts remain impressive, but both WSOP and Ultimate Poker were forced on multiple occasions to reach into their own presumably deep pockets to account for massive tournament overlays.
We’ll delve into just how much value was to be had from playing online, check in on Ultimate Poker’s Chase the Dream promo and explore recent traffic trends in this edition of Nevada Online Poker Review.
Down at the Rio – WSOP Updates
Cada wins Event #32 – 6-Max Championship
Joe Cada silenced his naysayers by capturing his second bracelet last Monday in the $10k NLHE 6-Max Championship.
After navigating through a stacked final table featuring 2013 November Niner JC Tran, multiple bracelet winner Erick Lindgren and Max Silver, young Joe would find himself against 2012 WSOP Main Event finalist Jeremy Ausmus for the title.
Despite going into heads-up facing a chip deficit, Cada would ultimately prove that just because he got lucky a few times back in ’09 doesn’t mean his skills aren’t on par with the world’s best.
Boyd Does It Again: Wins Event #33 – $1k NLHE
Nearly five years after being charged with driving players away from the Two Plus Two forums, and four removed from his last bracelet – Dutch Boyd would capture WSOP gold for the third time in his career on Tuesday.
What’s even more impressive about the former PokerSpot.com owner’s victory is that he overcame a massive field of nearly 1,700 players en route to the title.
Danzer becomes summer’s first multiple bracelet winner
German pro George Danzer won his second $10,000 buy-in event of the series last week, both of which coming in non-Hold’em events. If that weren’t enough, he already has two more top-ten finishes, and an additional cash to his credit.
Not bad for someone most of the western poker world has never even heard of.
If Danzer runs half as well for the rest of the series, he’ll be a virtual lock to capture that elusive marker of greatness that is the award for WSOP Player of the Year.
Humberto Brenes still plays poker?
Yes! Representing the old-guard is a big way, the elder statesman of the sport is currently on target to eclipse Konstantin Puchov’s record for most cashes during a single series. To date, the always energetic Brenes has a staggering seven cashes to his credit – four off the gold standard Puchov set in 2012
Weekly Guaranteed Tournaments in Nevada
WSOP Main Event Satellite
Entries into last week’s Main Event satellite on WSOP.com were down from 65 to 55.
While we certainly expected week-over-week turnouts to rise as the Main grew closer, the presence of Father’s Day could have put a wrench in things. Poker players have dads too.
Regardless, the satellite still drew enough runners to cover its $10k guarantee and offer a $1k consolation prize to the runner-up:
1. CindrllaMan $10,000 WSOP Main Event Seat
2. jamie17 $1,000
WSOPOC Main Event – $200,000 Guaranteed
The big story this week in the online poker world was the simultaneous presence of the WSOP.com Online Championship Series Main Event in both regulated markets where WSOP.com is present (Nevada and New Jersey).
Nevada’s version would fare significantly better than its East Coast counterpart, drawing 571 runners and 155 rebuys. Unfortunately, that wasn’t saying much.
With just a $200 entry fee, the players created a prize pool of only $137,000 – a staggering $62,800 short of the minimum payout offered by WSOP.
Talk about value.
1. Peaches $48,000
2. science $25,400
3. Specialk33 $16,600
4. lvkid7 $12,600.00
5. Perry_White $10,600
6. Renoaces44 $8,600
7. The_Swede $6,400
8. FishN.chips $4,200
9. bcmclawh $2,800
Again it’s conceivable (and likely) that turnout numbers for the Main were negatively affected by the Holiday Weekend.
Ultimate Poker: $10,000 Guarantee
UP’s weekly major saw an overlay of $991. The event would draw 99 entrants, each of whom would pony up the relatively inexpensive $91 + $9 entry fee.
Results as follows:
1. MattZman $2,900
2. Kristin $2,000
3. JP $1,500
4. Shoveitrick $1,000
5. blue1974 $800
6. DatDude $600
7. Moses7 $500
8. MrBeaumont $400
9. SpewArtist $300
Ultimate Poker: Chase the Dream
For the second week in a row, Ultimate Poker’s Chase the Dream promo made me wish I was currently situated in Nevada, if only because it’s currently offering some of the highest percentage overlays in the online poker world.
Last week saw only 148 runners put up the $25 required for entry into the $15,000 guaranteed tourney. With an entry fee of a shiny red penny, that amounted to an otherworldly $11,301.48 (or 75.3 %) overlay.
1. 4BETFOLD $5,000
2. commatoast $5,000
3. ohdohno $1,500
4. upking13 $1,000
5. Cash Plays $700
6. McConnico $550
7. bansman $400
8. luckysnake $250
9. TheGameKat $150
As part of the promotion, each week’s top two finishers will be given the choice to parlay their five grand on a single hand of blackjack at the Red Rock casino in Las Vegas or take the money.
Beat the dealer and they’ll walk away with a cool $10k, lose and they’ll receive 2,500 U$ points as a consolation prize.
Ring game traffic on WSOP falls off, then stabilizes
After reaching a 7-day average peak of 149 on June 10th, volume on the WSOP NV network dipped to 140 by the 19th. That is still leaps and bounds ahead of its pre-WSOP traffic, and with a swarm of fresh faces making their way to the Rio for the Main it’s quite possible that the network will surpass the 150 marker by early-July.
Data provided by PokerFuse Pro via PokerScout.
Ultimate Poker partially compensated for WSOP’s loss, increasing its traffic margins by just over 12 % in the past week. This week withstanding, volume on UP has held relatively steady in the mid-50s since the live WSOP’s onset.
