One thing Pokerstars is known for is calculating its risk when it comes to its tournament. Whether it is live or online, They actually have the machinery to ensure there is no overlay, and they are very conservative in their guarantees.
However, this time around, they might have miscalculated and bitten more than they can chew.
The Blowout
The Blowout series is the latest big tournament of PokerStars, Running from December 27, 2020, to January 17, 2020. It is a series of events that has an overall guarantee of 60 million USD.
Every Sunday, Pokerstars will play host to a $5,000,000 guaranteed Big Blowout event. With a buy-in of 109 USD, the guaranteed tournament needed 50,000 entrants to cover the guarantee. However, the Event attracted only 37,673 runners (25,505 unique players and 12,168 re-entries) that led to an overlay of a jaw-dropping $1,232,700. (as reported by pokerfuse.com)
The overlay makes it the largest overlay in the history of online poker, beating its own record of $1,205,000.
Pokerstars’ 12th anniversary Sunday Million held back in 2018, was the previous record holder.
The top 5 biggest overlays.
Although it is the biggest overlay in online history. The biggest overlay is still on a live scene.
Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, a live tournament held in 2014 which fell short of its $10 million guaranteed by a massive $2.5 million.
| Year | Operator/Organizer | Live/Online | Overlay | Guarantee | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open | Live | $2.5M | $10M | $5,300 |
| 2020 | PokerStars The Big Blowout | Online | $1.23M | $5M | $109 |
| 2018 | PokerStars Sunday Million Anniversary Edition | Online | $1.2M | $10M | $215 |
| 2018 | partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Main Event | Live | $925,000 | $10M | $5,300 |
| 2012 | Partouche Poker Tour | Live | €700,000 | €5M | €8,500 |
What it could possibly mean for Pokerstars
Pokerstars was doing great since the start of the year. The pandemic which forces people to stay at home did help push people to join their online tournaments.
However, The series is quite ambitious. It needed 50,000 entrants to cover the event. There are four additional mega-events, each featuring $5 million in guarantees. The buy-in escalates each week, starting at a $109 price point and then subsequently going up to $215, $530, and $1050.
The shortfall could increase further as three more $5 million guaranteed events are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.
Effects on other online sites
2020 is about to end. Things are changing quite fast.
Initially, when most countries locked their doors due to the pandemic, Online poker sites grew. However, when you consider that a lot of people have lost their jobs and have no job still. Sooner or later, the effects will be felt by online poker sites as well.
Poker sites need recreational players. There is a big percentage of recreational players that plays only with their spare money. With the competition going fiercer. Sooner or later some sites will feel the brunt.
The bright side
Yes, the market may look to be shrinking. But it is actually not.
Temporarily, people will allocate funds for what is needed hence joining poker tournaments may not be on their priority list.
However, there is already a vaccine and people are starting to work again.
There are also other poker sites now competing for the same market.
Making Big tournament alone may not be the key to attract the players right now. Taking a big risk in a guaranteed tournament may not be the best way to attract poker players as your competitor is ready to match that guarantee easily.
It may not be time to take a big risk, but a time to make your brand stand out. The call for creating an innovative concept to attract new players may be the key.
As the saying goes “poker players don’t die, they re-buy”
There is still a huge untapped market out there. It might be the best time to reach out to them.
Stay safe and see you soon poker playas!
