BetMGM’s Live Poker Tournament Beats its Guarantee with Potential to Counter WSOP 888

By Scott Bowen,
Editor at online-gambling.com

Scott Bowen Editor at online-gambling.com

Scott Bowen is a casino expert and editor with many years of experience in the gambling industry. He is one of the most valuable members of our team at online-gambling.com. Bowen specializes in writing on a variety of subjects, including roulette, blackjack, video poker, sports betting, and more.

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Last updated: June 29, 2022

The first-ever live poker championship hosted by BetMGM has its prize pool hit the $1 million mark. With the success of the championship in Las Vegas, which lasted for four days, there have been speculations that BetMGM Poker NV is getting close to reality.

The Poker Championship by BetMGM premiered at the ARIA Casino from 23 – 26 June in Las Vegas, and a total of 343 (three hundred and forty-three) players were drawn. The popularity of the tournament eventually pushed the total prize pool to $1,097,600, and the top forty-four players went home with a share of the prize money.

One other thing that contributed to the popularity of the BetMGM championship was the headline it took on the ARIA Poker Classic, an extensive poker series launched on 1st June.

This Poker Championship by BetMGM becomes the second shot of the operator at running an extensive satellite campaign that runs across Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey. The first edition helped March Poker Mania which, as the name suggests, it happened in March this year.

The Series Shows the BetMGM Has the Potential to Counter WSOP/888

The live series has given BetMGM the rare opportunity to challenge the WSOP/888, which is an industry rival. Currently, the WSOP in Nevada is the only poker operator in the whole state, and the monopoly began when Ultimate Bet stopped all operations in the state in 2014.

Currently, the state is one of the four states that have signed the MSIGA – Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, which will allow online operators in New Jersey, Delaware, and Michigan to share player pools with operators in the state. Also, BetMGM is among the three operators in online poker which is being considered for the completion of the interstate play requirements.

Up to date, the only operator to be included in all the four states included in the MSIGA is the WSOP/888 Network, and among the network are 888poker NJ and WSOP New Jersey, WSOP NV, and the other three racinos using the 888poker software in Delaware.

Currently, there is a new outfit linked with the BetMGM Poker MI and the potential name of the outfit is Partypoker US Network. This outfit is also connected with a BetMGM counterpart in New Jersey, and this will see the operator form what is called BetMGM New Jersey Network and which comprises BetMGM Poker, partypoker, and Borgata Poker.

Weissman Scored Royal Flush in His Tournament Win

The winner of this edition of the Poker tournament hosted by BetMGM is Joey Weissman from New York; he went home with $224, 236. In the tournament, the professional poker player won three final knockouts, and this includes a royal flush. The second position is Paul Hoefer from Germany who won $159,152 and is the only non-US player in the top six championship winners. Noel Rodriguez from California won the third position and won a total of $104,272. The online qualifier Benji Felson from New Jersey came fifth.