unique selling point
There is an old phrase about cowboys…
“Don’t sit with Tottenham.”
It basically means not to do something without thinking or better yet planning ahead. I think this is especially true these days when it comes to poker. In my last article, I highlighted The Festival and the ways they are making an effort to create something different for their next poker stop in Nottingham. In partnership with Unibet Poker, Martin “Franke” von Zweibergk brings poker and casino games together in a palatable way by sporting the latter.
Brand new swiping art poker room
Another poker brand with a solid understanding of the value of a unique selling point is Merit Poker. Strong festive themes have been a feature of Merit events at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel in Kyrenia, Cyprus for many years, but now, with a brand new state of the art poker room, the operator plans to become one of the premier poker destinations in Europe.
Last November, “The Vintage Series” was a huge success with three-time World Series of Poker winner Georgios Sotiropoulos, outlasting 766 other players to take the win in the $3,300 Main Event and walk away with $384,150, the lion’s share of the prize pool. It is $2,122,440. . Now it’s the turn of the Western Series, a cowboy-themed poker extravaganza, the highlights of which will be the $500,000 Guaranteed Warm-up, $2,200 Guaranteed, $1,500,000 Main Event Guaranteed, and $5,300 Guaranteed. There will be live coverage hosted by everyone-VegasSlotsOnline news Dara O’Kearney’s team really is yours, so get ready for twelve days of live poker action.
Mediterranean poker party
When the new poker room opened in September, there were high hopes that the first major international event would be a sensation and the host venue couldn’t be happier with the fledgling Mediterranean Poker Party (MPP) and the Triton Festival of Poker, which offers a schedule of tournaments. From medium stakes all the way to nosebleeds.
The $1,100 MPP Open was first, winning a prize pool of $920,000 and Belarusian Vadzim Godzdanker was crowned champion after Alessio Ezea defeated heads-up to take home $150,000. Then it was the turn of MPP EAPT, another $1,100 buy-in that attracted 675 players, with Edward Parseghian being the last. He bested Alexander Buck to win $100,000.
As the festival progressed, the price of poker rose with a $2,200 warm-up to buy MPP and the prize pool reached $1,924,640. When the dust settled, Russia’s Arseny Karmatski prevailed, having bested Serbian Milos Skrepic to claim $310,000 and the trophy. However, the biggest event was the MPP Main Event, a $5,300 entry with a $5,000,000 guarantee. It would be an effort for the organizers, but in the end, the big 1C stadium got 1,032 participants. After five long days of play, Germany’s Hannes Giske emerged victorious, carving out a check for $543,142.
The Triton Poker introduced glitz and glamour
Triton Poker is a brand that is synonymous with quality. Big buys, big prize pools, hottest players and cutting-edge live broadcast coverage promise sparkle, shine, quality gameplay and more than a few heart-in-mouth moments. It says a lot, then, that Triton decided to come to Cyprus in September, confident his players would get the first-class experience they’re accustomed to.
The $25,000 Super Highroller drew a whopping 131 entrants, creating a prize pool of $3,275,000. In the end, it was a feather in the old-school cap as poker legend Patrik Antonius famously pulled off a win, netting an $825,000 win.
Double the price doesn’t mean half the attendance, as the $50,000 6-max Super High Roller pitted 117 runners to create a $5,850,000 prize pool. Pieter Aerts beat Sam Grafton on that score for a career best score of $1,472,000, but PokerStars’ English ambassador isn’t finished with the ride.
The next day, Grafton took his seat at the $200,000 Triton Coin Rivet Invitational – a unique format that pitted businessmen against invited poker professionals, separating the two groups at the start before combining the playing field to play with a winner. In the end, Grafton upset a final table that included Fedor Holz, Tom Vogelsang, Seth Davies, Ebony Kenny and runner-up Linus Lolliger to book the $5.5 million mark.
Hungry for a piece of poker pie
Online poker has boomed during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns and while no one would have wanted it to happen under the circumstances, this great game we have been given has been given a chance to find a new audience. Now, with these eager newcomers augmenting their existing player base, live poker has never been healthier with standard fields and standard prize pools being set on an almost daily basis somewhere in the world.
Those who nurture players, treat them well, and spoil them a little are the ones who will emerge victorious.
With operators hungry for a piece of that pie, I believe that those who care about their players, treat them well, and spoil them a bit are the ones who will emerge victorious, earning the loyalty of travel professionals and gamers vacationers. As someone who has played 100 live tournaments a year for over a decade, I know all too well what it was like to be herded like cattle to a bleak poker place and then blasted off into turbo-staged main events with outrageous trees.
A lot of live poker has shifted to this between 2015 and 2019, and my expectation is that regulators like Merit Poker will reap the benefit of a renewed focus on the player experience.
To quote another cowboy…
“If you’re getting ahead of the herd, look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there with you.”
The Merit Poker Western Series warm-up event runs from January 16-20. The main event is from January 20th to 25th. The High Roller runs January 25-27. Live broadcast coverage is free to watch on Merritt Poker YouTube Channel or the Merit Poker website.
