BetMGM Poker has announced it is combining player pools in New Jersey and Michigan with immediate effect, hailing it as a "landmark day for its poker product."
As well as more liquidity, players will also benefit from an improved app and larger promotions, including the upcoming BetMGM Poker Online Championships, which will run from November 17 with $2,000,000 in guarantees. This is set to be its largest tournament series to date, with nightly trophy events and a series leaderboard.
BetMGM Poker Ambassador Darren Elias said, “Combining player pools will immediately elevate BetMGM Poker with more games and bigger guarantees, and BetMGM will be able to send more online qualifiers to live tournaments at MGM properties across the country. We are focused on the growth of online poker."
We spoke with Angus Nisbet, VP of Gaming at BetMGM, ahead of the announcement to get the lowdown on what players can expect.
You’re combining the player pools between your New Jersey and Michigan poker markets, which is great news for those players. You say it’s a landmark day for BetMGM Poker – can you expand on that and what it will mean for the players?
What we're doing is unique in the American poker sector. We already have three brands in New Jersey - BetMGM, Borgata, and partypoker. I think for the first time in the US space, this isn't one brand now being available across multiple states, it's actually three brands being available across multiple states.
Because if you're playing BetMGM in Michigan, you're going to be pooling with people playing Borgata and partypoker in New Jersey. That obviously makes it a more compelling proposition. Merging those player pools gives us more to play with and just makes it a better experience for those players.
It's enabled us to launch the $2 million Online Championships, which are going live with qualifiers today. $2 million in guarantees – that's a phenomenal thing.
Have you got a message to Pennsylvania-based players about potentially joining the shared liquidity pool in the future?
We'd love to. We're watching regulations.
What can players expect to see in the future?
I think the key message for poker players now is that MGM is the place to play. If you're in a resort, then you play in the resort. If you want to play online, you play at BetMGM in states where you can do that, and now, obviously, there's liquidity shared across various states.
There’s the Borgata Fall Mini Series, the National Harbor Poker Fall Festival, and the ARIA Poker Open in December. All these things are already in the calendar, and you can already qualify for all of them online.
The app has been improved. The lobby has been improved. There's more access to casino games. We actually have over 3,000 games in the library now, which is pretty extraordinary. There is a significant overlap of casino players who also love poker, and we want to be sure we are offering them the best experience and portfolio of games.
The other thing that's important with poker is that when you tie it back to the world of MGM Resorts, you can earn and redeem points within poker, and vice versa. Playing poker gives you the opportunity to earn points and then go and stay at the ARIA. We can offer someone a buy-in to a tournament plus a hotel stay on the Strip, plus free tickets to Cirque du Soleil; again, it's something that only BetMGM can do. I think it raises the profile of poker within the business.
You've got ambitious plans, which is great to hear as a poker player.
The reality is we've got to be the best game in town. We've got to have the best tournaments that are available. We've got to have the best ambassadors.
We've got some fantastic ambassadors that we continue to work with. You know, Darren Elias has been huge for us, and he's amazing. And we're going to have more ambassadors focusing on poker as we go forward.
We've got to have the best prize pools. We've got to work out what our equivalent of a World Series bracelet is. Poker comes first. But how do we really leverage the world of MGM and entertainment to really take that to the next level? I think it's a very, very exciting time for poker.
