Season 2 of the PokerStars VR Metaverse Poker Tour officially kicked off on November 24, 2022, promising an array of exciting prizes to the winners. Players participated in the tournament via PokerStars VR, a free-to-play social casino offering a virtual reality experience to players.
PokerStars VR Metaverse Poker Tour
The first stop of the current season of the Metaverse Poker Tour was set in Macau 2050 and came with a new swag bag which was split into two – Standard and High Roller. Season 2 Stop 1 took place from November 24-27 and it received a lot of attention from the online poker community. Players have four other stops to get involved in, the details of which will be announced soon.
PokerStars VR is also bringing back the leaderboards for Season 2, which means there will be extra prizes up for grabs for the top finishers. The inaugural Metaverse Poker Tour was a huge success, attracting tens of thousands of poker and VR fans across the globe.
How to Play
To participate in the PokerStars VR Metaverse Poker Tour, you must have a VR headset. The good thing is, PokerStars VR works pretty well on the most popular VR headsets today, such as Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift. If you own one of these VR headsets, then you’re good to go.
You may also download PokerStars VR on your computer, but make sure you’re using Windows as your operating system.
BetMGM Poker announced new tournaments for all of its players in the US, promising nearly $2 million in total guarantees until the end of December. The operator already awarded nearly $1 million via the “Big Shots”, a tournament series that ran from November 13-20 in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
6-Figure Sunday
Two more tournaments are running in November and December, one of them is “6-Figure Sunday” which takes place on November 27 and then returns one more time in December.
The tournament costs $1,000 to enter and features $100,000 in guarantees. It will run in all three states, with direct satellites available for $100. Those who qualified for the Big Shots freeroll on November 26 also get the chance to secure a seat into the 6-Figure Sunday tournament on November 27.
Monster Mondays
Next up is “Monster Mondays” which is scheduled to take place every Monday from November 28 to December 31. Players in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania will compete for $3,000 in guaranteed prize money each Monday for a buy-in of only $50. The tournament allows unlimited re-entry.
The weeks ahead will be certainly busy for US online poker players, with other sites also closing out the year with big-guaranteed tournaments.
In October 2022, Unibet Poker rolled out its revamped MTT schedule which features bigger guarantees, low rake, additional bounty tournaments, as well as new features designed for recreational players. Almost a month after that, the operator is dealing with overlays, an inevitable effect of boosting tournament guarantees.
Unibet Poker Has Covered €80K in Overlays So Far
According to Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin, several tournaments with buy-ins of €25 and higher have been falling short of their targets, accounting for 85% of the overlays. The biggest overlay so far is seen in the €50 buy-in, $10K GTD Title Fight, with the operator having to cover more than €20,000 in total in this tournament alone.
The site has already spent around €80,000 of its own money for the shortfall since the updated schedule was introduced.
Unibet Poker Keen on Attracting More Players
Lappin said Unibet Poker is fully aware overlays will happen but that is not a huge concern for the operator as it also knows that offering more value will drive more players to the site.
Hence, the operator has boosted the guarantees even further despite the overlays. Among the tournaments now running with increased guaranteed prize pools are the “Title Fight”, the “Slobberknocker”, and the “Ironman”.
Check out the Unibet Poker website for the full list of MTTs with boosted guarantees.
There’s a new tournament format to enjoy on GGPoker, perfect for both poker and football fans! “Bet & Go” launched on November 20, 2022, coinciding with the opening of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
How to Enter a Bet & Go Game on GGPoker
The new Bet & Go tournaments on GGPoker are connected to upcoming live football matches across the globe. Players can take part by going to the tournament lobby and selecting a Bet & Go game.
Players have two buy-ins to choose from and the amount depends on what team they’re supporting. They’ll be given discounts based on each team’s odds of winning. Players supporting the underdogs will enjoy bigger buy-in discounts than those siding with the team highly favored to win the game.
Poker Tournament with a Twist
When the live game kicks off, each player’s team flag will be shown over their heads. A live scoreboard from the actual football match will also be displayed as the tournament progresses.
Now here’s where it gets interesting: if you laid your money on the winning team, or if the game concludes in a draw, you’ll be able to continue playing the Bet & Go tournament as normal, with the chance to reach the money.
But if the team you chose loses, you will be automatically eliminated from the tournament. The remaining players will then advance to the next round.
Rush Street Interactive (RSI) announced its intentions to get into the online poker market in North America when it acquired the Run It Once (RIO) poker room which was started by Phil Galfond. RSI completed the RIO acquisition successfully in March 2022 and went on to acquire the widely popular Poker Night In America series in August 2022.
US poker players were expecting RSI to launch online poker operations shortly after the company strengthened its poker offerings.
No Plans On When BetRivers Poker Will Go Live
RSI runs the BetRivers brand in North America offering sports betting and iGaming services in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan and Ontario. This gives RSI the opportunity to launch its BetRivers Poker in New Jersey and Michigan where online poker is legal.
RSI recently concluded its 3rd quarter discussions for 2022 but there was no clear mention of the company’s plans to launch online poker. Ontario is currently the biggest online poker market in North America and is still a very new market, making it ideal for BetRivers Poker to launch soon.
RSI confirmed that its present focus was launching sports betting in Ohio and Maryland.