Borgata Poker Open’s $3,500 Buy-in Looks to Attract Huge FieldBorgata Thinking Outside the Box for its Main Event |
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In these tenuous economic times, some people are hesitant to shell out $10,000 for a poker tournament, especially one without the mystique of a World Series bracelet. But $3,500? Now that’s an amount that the casual poker player might just be willing to put up.
The Borgata Poker Open recently announced that its main event would feature a $3,500 buy-in as opposed to the standard $10,000 buy-in that has been the norm over the years for World Poker Tour events. Tournament organizers are hoping the new buy-in will bring in a slew of casual players, and the initial feedback from the poker community has been supportive of the move.
“I really think the Borgata strives to give its customers value, and I don’t think all places do that,” said Roy Winston, who won nearly $1.6 million for his 2007 Borgata Poker Open championship win. “This move shows that the Borgata really caters to the player.”
The switch to a $3,500 tournament comes at a time when other WPT destinations have had to accept smaller fields with its more expensive buy-ins. In 2009, the Bellagio Cup attracted just 264 players with a $15,400 buy-in, the WPT Spanish Championship featured 172 players with a €5,300 buy-in, and the Foxwoods Poker Classic welcomed 259 players with its $10,000 main event.
This Borgata event, which is the most affordable WPT event in the United States since the tour’s first season which began in 2002, is very likely going to attract more than 1,000 players.
Ray Stefanelli, the director of poker marketing at the Borgata, said that the Atlantic City casino decided to make the switch because of the great turnout they had experienced with that buy-in amount at its other events.
“We actually conducted several tournaments over the past year around that price point,” said Stefanelli, highlighted by the Borgata Winter Open main event, which attracted 1,017 players — and that tournament was a non-televised event.
With additional exposure from the WPT, Stefanelli says that they’re hoping to attract more than 1,000 players once again in this time around. Winston, in his recent Card Player blog about the tournament, said that he expects the tournament to seat more than 1,200 players.
The 2009 Borgata Poker Open main event has a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million.
“I think this could be a great direction for poker,” said Winston. “More players in a main event with a smaller buy-in, makes sense. It will attract more players to take a shot.”
Winston (pictured right) further explained that players may occasionally take a single shot at a $10,000 buy-in event and then if they don’t cash, that’s it. For $3,500 events, players may be more inclined to give it a few shots and could invest more money into the poker community in the long run.
Stefanelli expects the tournament series, which runs Sept. 9-24 with the main event beginning on Sept. 19, to attract not only poker veterans but a lot of casual players as well.
“We thought the best thing for poker would be to provide a very intriguing buy-in that will attract not only poker pros, but locals,” said Stefanelli, who said he’s aware of all the options that poker players have today, from competing live events even to PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker series. He said that competition encourages them to make the Borgata as accommodating as possible.
The tournament series will also feature a heads-up event, as well as a six-handed event.
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