Huge reductions in tournament guarantees
PartyPoker claims that it offers over $10 million a month in guaranteed tournaments, but there have been huge ongoing reductions since June. For example, the $300,000 Guaranteed Sunday that ran today has been reduced by $50,000 or 17% to only $250K starting next Sunday. The following is a list of SOME of the guaranteed tournaments that have been drastically reduced.
- $50,000 Gtd Friday Special reduced by $10K or 20% to only $40K.
- $50,000 Guaranteed Saturday reduced by $5K or 10% to only $45K.
- $35,000 Gtd Monday-Thursday reduced by $5K or 14% to only $30K. I have won first place in a $35K Gtd, but have rarely played it since the $5K reduction.
- $15,000 Gtd (16:00 ET Daily, $55 buy-in) reduced by $5K or 33% to only $10K.
- $12,000 Gtd (14:00 Mon. - Sat., $109) reduced by $2K or 17% to only $10K.
- $12,000 Gtd Speed (17:00 excl. Fri. & Sun., $120) reduced by $2K or 17% to only $10K.
- $12,000 Gtd (19:00, $109) reduced by $2K or 17% to only $10K.
- $10K Gtd Rebuy (14:15) had the buy-in increased from $22 to $33 rebuys. Some players mistakenly registered not knowing that the buy-in and every rebuy was now 50% more expensive!
- $10K Gtd Speed Rebuy (12:30) also had the rebuys increased by 50% from $2R to $3R.
- $10,000 Gtd Rebuy (10:00, $33R) reduced by $2K or 20% to only $8K.
- $10,000 Gtd Rebuy (17:30 excl. Sat., $55R) reduced by 50% to $5K ($33R).
- $10,000 Gtd Speed Rebuy (16:15, $11R) reduced by $2K or 20% to only $8K.
- $10,000 Gtd Rebuy (16:30, $9R) reduced by $5K or 50% to $5K.
- $7,000 Gtd (14:10, $9R) reduced by $2K or 29% to $5K.
...
- $50,000 Gtd Friday Special reduced by $10K or 20% to only $40K.
- $50,000 Guaranteed Saturday reduced by $5K or 10% to only $45K.
- $35,000 Gtd Monday-Thursday reduced by $5K or 14% to only $30K. I have won first place in a $35K Gtd, but have rarely played it since the $5K reduction.
- $15,000 Gtd (16:00 ET Daily, $55 buy-in) reduced by $5K or 33% to only $10K.
- $12,000 Gtd (14:00 Mon. - Sat., $109) reduced by $2K or 17% to only $10K.
- $12,000 Gtd Speed (17:00 excl. Fri. & Sun., $120) reduced by $2K or 17% to only $10K.
- $12,000 Gtd (19:00, $109) reduced by $2K or 17% to only $10K.
- $10K Gtd Rebuy (14:15) had the buy-in increased from $22 to $33 rebuys. Some players mistakenly registered not knowing that the buy-in and every rebuy was now 50% more expensive!
- $10K Gtd Speed Rebuy (12:30) also had the rebuys increased by 50% from $2R to $3R.
- $10,000 Gtd Rebuy (10:00, $33R) reduced by $2K or 20% to only $8K.
- $10,000 Gtd Rebuy (17:30 excl. Sat., $55R) reduced by 50% to $5K ($33R).
- $10,000 Gtd Speed Rebuy (16:15, $11R) reduced by $2K or 20% to only $8K.
- $10,000 Gtd Rebuy (16:30, $9R) reduced by $5K or 50% to $5K.
- $7,000 Gtd (14:10, $9R) reduced by $2K or 29% to $5K.
...
Comments
You gotta play elsewhere, party tournies suck!
All that happens with lowering guarantees is create a vicious cycle where less people play and the new guarantees can't be met, resulting in even lower guarantees, and so on. This is what happened when the guarantees for the $300K qualifiers were reduced, then the guarantee was "temporarily" lowered to $250K last summer supposedly because of the World Cup and WSOP, but instead the $300K never returned and now there are not enough players for even the $250K guarantee. The same thing will happen if the guarantees for the Monthly Million satellites are not brought back up - PartyPoker's $1 Million guaranteed tournament will disappear.
It seems that most players flock to the -EV gimmicks at FTP & PokerStars which have the toughest players to beat, while most of the smaller/fishier sites keep losing traffic.
Any word on if they're going to keep both platforms and merge the traffic, or is one software package going to win out?
It should bring the traffic up to levels that will bump up the guarantees, I would think.
iirc bwin = ongame
Yes Hobbes, bwin = ongame.
Basically I was looking for specifics regarding this merger, as I first heard about it ages ago and nothing has happened.
Also, wrt the PP guarantees, I've been having trouble finding up to date info, seeing as I'm in China and PP is blocked here.
Are the daily (M-Th) $30ks (that used to be $35ks) a $99 buy-in or a $162 buy-in. Did they really drop the guarantee AND up the buy-in?
- So it used to be $162 for $35k guaranteed (233 buy-ins at $150+12).
- Now it's $99 for $30k guaranteed (333 buy-ins at $90+9).
Seems like better value for your buy-in, even though the guaranteed dropped. Also, they'll need roughly 40% more runners than before to break even. Interesting change.
Looks like OnGame may be sold off.
Ongame likely to be sold | eGaming Review
Well, at least with the influx of Ongame players, their guaranteed tournaments may be back on the rise.
Nice find Hobbes.
Did the same except for small amount at BWin which looks safe, or at least as safe as any..
Just as I predicted, PartyPoker's terrible tournament changes has resulted in no more Monthly Million (MM), wiping out at least $7 million in prizes per year. I just got a BS marketing email from Party/Kara Scott.
Most of the changes are horribly negative for me, so for the first time in over 24 months, I am no longer sure where I should play poker. Many of the tournaments I played now only have a fraction of players as before, as many have left or reduced their playing like me. I have cashed out almost all of my funds out of Party.
- The daily MM qualifiers and guarantees have been greatly reduced, with over $250,000 in guarantees disappearing. For example, what used to be $70 "Monthly Million Qualifier 7 Seats Gtd" for almost $5K guarantee everyday kept getting reduced and is now only 2 seats guaranteed. :arghh:
- For rebuy tournaments, starting, rebuy and add-on chips have been reduced by 1/3 (from 3,000 to only 2K chips). This has made the WSOP and other existing rebuy tournaments unplayable.
- The Limit HE, PLO and Omaha Hi-Lo tournaments that I had +ROI have now disappeared.
Conclusion: PartyPoker's tournaments have lost most of their value, and traffic will continue to plummet.
One day I had a conversation with a pro friend from Toronto and he convinced me I was burning money not playing on Stars.
I owe him for that.
I work 60 hours plus a week. I would much rather play a small tourney than a big one, and I have cashed more on cereus than all the other networks combined. I run like poo on stars, and like SHIT on FTP, i have no desire to play an 8000 player game unless i have a big bag o weed, and alot of time on my hands. Sitting in front of the screen for 7+ plus hours when u dont even make the final table is a waste. I guess its what you like
Wasnt talking to you, sorry.
Buddy is the OP.
Ya like 4 years ago, then they went like party poker and changed everything.
I would love to play there again, as that is where I won the same mtt 3 times and my biggest poker profits were from that site, I disagree there are a lot of Canadians (again 4 years ago there was a tonne)as it is all euro money now and the exchange rate for us sucks, so instead of a 5 dollar buy in, you have to pay like over 7 bucks, but if you cash then I guess it could be good
Full Tilt seems to be making a big push recently for larger revenues in the short term. Makes you wonder what they know, that we don't.
It just worked for me, but I think it expires tonight.