While the weather in Canada in November is often decidedly wintery, it is still technically autumn according to the calendar, and PokerStars Ontario is trying to warm things up with its Fall Fest. More than $500k is guaranteed in prizes across the poker festival, running through late November, on the Ontario online poker client.
Starting on November 19, PokerStars’ Fall Fest hits Canada’s newest real-money online poker market with mid-range buy-ins and fat guarantees. The Ontario series mirrors similar series running on the US PokerStars clients in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Despite a larger market than any of the three US jurisdictions, players on PokerStars Ontario will have to settle for about half the guarantee of the biggest US series. The PA version of Fall Fest came with a USD $1 million guarantee, while the Canadian version in Ontario will guarantee about $550k Canadian.
Once the exchange is considered, the Ontario version of the Fall Fest comes in at around the same size as New Jersey or Michigan. NJ has $400k USD guaranteed, while MI put $500k on the table, and $550k Canadian translates to about $410k USD at current exchange rates, putting Ontario on par with the Garden State.
Harvest Bountiful Prizes in PokerStars Ontario’s Fall Fest
There may already be mountains of snow across Canada, but technically speaking, November still falls within autumn on the calendar. It is an excellent time to stay inside in the Great White North as temperatures plunge and the snow piles up, and what better way to pass the time than firing up some online poker tournaments?
Fall Fest is already underway on PokerStars Ontario, with the first games in the series running on November 19. The action continues through November 28, with nearly half the scheduled events featuring various knockout formats. Among the bounty formats on offer during the series will be:
- Total KO: Entire buy-in goes to bounty
- Big KO: 75% of the buy-in goes to bounty
- Short 40: Players start the game with just 40 big blinds
There are 57 games on the schedule for the Fall Fest Series, with 27 being some form of bounty poker. After the first day of Fall Fest action, it seems that Ontarians are more than happy to stay inside to play online poker.
Six tournaments were already played on the festival’s opening day, and every one of them went past the guarantee. The opening event of the series, a progressive KO named Fall Fest 2 (Fall Fest 1 is a phased event that runs throughout the series), did more than just break the guarantee — it more than doubled it.
With $3k guaranteed for the $20 game, the opening event drew 343 entries for a prize pool of over $6200, 108% of the guaranteed money. The worst-performing game on opening day was Fall Fest 3, a $100 game billed as the Kickoff, but it still saw 131 entries for a prize pool that capped the guarantee, albeit just barely.
Going by the first-day performance alone, the series looks like it will be an enormous success. It recorded over 1,100 entries on opening day and averaged over $7500 for prize pools. That was more than $1500 higher than the predicted average of around $6k on Day 1.
2022 Fall Fest Summary Results
| Games So Far: | 6 |
| Total Gtd: | $36,200 |
| Total Collected: | $45,873.70 |
| Total Entries: | 1163 |
| Avg % Increase: | 41.87% |
| Avg Prize Pool: | $7645.62 |
| Avg Gtd: | $6033 |
2022 Fall Fest Detailed Results So Far
| Tournament | Buy-In | Guarantee | Entries | Collected | % over Gtd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall Fest 2 | $20 | $3000 | 343 | $6242.60 | 108.09% |
| Fall Fest 3 | $100 | $12,000 | 131 | $12,025.80 | 0.21% |
| Fall Fest 4 | $20 | $3300 | 246 | $4477.20 | 35.67% |
| Fall Fest 5 | $200 | $12,000 | 82 | $15293.00 | 27.44% |
| Fall Fest 6 | $50 | $4500 | 125 | $5687.50 | 26.39% |
| Fall Fest 7 | $10 | $1400 | 236 | $2147.60 | 53.40% |
More Sizzling Fall Fest Action
Fall Fest is just getting underway in Ontario, and some big games are in the pipes. Among the aptly themed events still to come is The Furnace, a slow-structured game with 15-20 minute blind levels that will keep the heat on for hours. Among the other autumn-themed tournaments on the schedule are The Harvest and The Feast.
Some Featured Games from PokerStars ON Fall Fest 2022
- The Grind — A PKO tournament running on November 23, promising $18,000 for a buy-in of $200. Players receive 50,000 starting stacks, and blind levels range from 6 to 10 minutes.
- The Furnace — Copycat of The Grind offering the same guarantees and the same buy-in. The difference is the blind structure, with levels increasing every 15 minutes initially and slowing down further to 20 minutes at the later stage. It runs on November 25.
- The Brawl — Yet another PKO tournament, guaranteeing $10,000 and costing $100. Blind levels range from 8 to 10 minutes, and players can re-enter up to five times.
- The Feast — The Main Event of the series. Boasting $75,000 in guaranteed prize money for a buy-in of $200. It is structured as a 2-day event, with blinds remaining at 15 minutes. The level increases to 20 minutes once nine players remain.
There is still a lot of money to be won in the coming days on PokerStars Ontario. The $75k guaranteed Feast Main Event promises to be a massive capper for the series. For players with deeper pockets, the $50k guaranteed $1k High Roller on the final Sunday of the series will also be juicy.
Besides these marquee events, there are several other high-value tournaments on the Fall Fest horizon. In the coming days, there are three $25k guaranteed games plus a $32k guaranteed event with buy-ins ranging from $50 to $500.
There are still more than $500k in guarantees to be won in PokerStars Ontario’s Fall Fest Series. The hot autumn action continues for another week, through November 28, giving Ontarians the perfect excuse to stay inside out of the cold “autumn” weather.
Fire up the PokerStars Ontario App, get cozy, and get into some hot poker action, or head to our Ontario Online Poker Reviews to find more ways to entertain yourself while you hibernate for the next several months.
