The World Series of Poker has been quite active in its new market, Ontario, where it went live in partnership with GGPoker last month. Immediately after the WSOP Ontario app went live, it launched an Ontario-only Online Circuit Series, highlighted by a dozen gold ring events.
To follow our record-breaking Ontario launch, we’re celebrating the largest prize pool ever in Ontario with the first WSOP Ontario online bracelet series.
Now, the operator has announced that Ontario players will also have their own bracelet series. pokerfuse was the first to break this news, and it has officially been confirmed that there will be “three bonus bracelet events” taking place on October 23 and October 30.
“Winning authentic WSOP gold bracelets is one big reason to play on the licensed and regulated WSOP.ca site in Ontario,” said World Series of Poker Executive Director Ty Stewart in a recent press release. “We’re expecting these tournaments will be some of the biggest of the year. Therefore, it’s a great way to celebrate a highly successful launch.”
The first of the three events is the BIG 150 Ontario MILLION$ — a CAD $150 buy-in promising CAD $100,000 in prize money. Its Day 1s have already begun, and the final day will run on October 23.
Event #2 is another flight tournament but structured as a bounty format played in the Pot-Limit Omaha variant. It also promises the same prize money but with a buy-in of CAD $210. Day 1s have also kicked off for this event, and the final day will take place on October 30.
The final bracelet event is the GGMasters Online Championship with an entry fee of $1050. Like in the dot-com market, the tournament will play as a freezeout and guarantee $250,000 in prize money.
These three bracelets will be accompanied by dozens of side events — all sporting guarantees.
The operator says that the online bracelets for Ontario players will serve as the last of the bracelets for this year’s WSOP Online campaign. This year, over a hundred online bracelets have already been awarded on GGPoker and WSOP platforms.
As seen in the global dot-com market, participants will have to provide their real names at the time of registration. Once players reach the final table in any of the three bracelet events, their real names will be revealed on the table. All those who get in the money will have their real identities displayed following the tournament’s conclusion.
Daniel Negreanu, multiple WSOP gold bracelet winner and the Global Ambassador of GGPoker, is undoubtedly excited about this news as Ontario is his native place.
“Three WSOP bracelets will be won this month by Ontario-based players, and I’m thrilled to be the one to reveal this exciting news,” said six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, GGPoker Global Ambassador. “Poker is in a great place right now in my home province, and it’s so cool that Ontarian players can play for a WSOP bracelet from home; what a way to end WSOP Online 2022!”
WSOP on Top in Ontario
WSOP set its foot in the regulated Ontario online poker market on September 30. It entered the market late, becoming the sixth real money Ontario online poker room to go live and the fourth network after 888poker Ontario, BetMGM Poker Ontario (sharing its player pool with partypoker and bwin), and PokerStars Ontario.
It also marks WSOP’s first market launch outside of the US in many years. And its launch has undoubtedly gone well. As reported exclusively by pokerfuse, WSOP Ontario is leading the market in cash game rankings. According to figures tracked by GameIntel and available on the Poker Industry PRO platform, the room is currently averaging 338 concurrent cash game seats based on a seven-day moving average.
This is more than enough to beat its rival PokerStars Ontario, which is sitting in the second position with 231 seats. BetMGM, which briefly tasted the pole position, is at number three with an average of 134 seats. Meanwhile, 888poker — the first room to go live in the market is sitting in the rear, reporting an average of 40 cash game seats.
Ontario Circuit Ring Events Produce Over $1 Million in Prize Money
WSOP Ontario wasted no time in hosting its first-ever Circuit series. As is typical with any circuit series, there were 12 ring events and dozens of side events, promising over CAD $2.5 million in guarantees — the largest-guaranteed series in the brief history of the regulated Ontario poker market.
The series did well for the most part, with the ring events generating $1.2 million in prize money, averaging just north of $100k per event. However, not every tournament met its target, as the operator had slapped ambitious guarantees.
For instance, the Housewarming NLH with a buy-in of $50 and a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000 attracted massive 1938 entries. And yet, despite a huge turnout, the tournament fell short by nearly $11,000, providing decent value to players.
The HUNDRED STACK NLH, a $100 buy-in with the same $100,000 guaranteed prize money, saw a field size of 924 runners, but missed its target by $15,000.
But one tournament that did not miss its guarantee was the Main Event. Despite guaranteeing record-setting prize money of $250,000, the tournament had no problem avoiding the overlay. It exceeded expectations, pulling a crowd of 590 runners to create a prize pool of $295,000.
It currently holds the title of the largest tournament in terms of the total prize pool in the Ontario regulated market.
Given how the Circuit series has fared, the prestigious bracelets are expected to do even better and possibly create more records.
“To follow our record-breaking Ontario launch, we’re celebrating the largest prize pool ever in Ontario with the first WSOP Ontario online bracelet series,” the fine print on the WSOP.ca website states.
The WSOP 2022 Ontario Online Bracelet Series runs from October 23 to October 30. Learn more about Ontario’s newest and hottest poker room in our detailed WSOP Ontario Review.
