The GGMasters Overlay Edition is a peculiar and unexpected way for GGPoker to honor the anniversary of one of its most well-known brands.
Last year, on the second anniversary of the first GGMasters, the Asian operator astonished everyone with this peculiar idea. With the same $150 entry fee that the cheapest version of the event, the GG Masters, offered every Sunday, the poker club planned to offer a prize pool that was 10 times larger, $5 million. It was so obvious that supply would exceed demand – and, of course, as part of an aggressive marketing strategy – that the event was dubbed the GG Masters Overlay Edition after the anticipated outcome.
In its inaugural iteration, the room had to provide an additional $400,000 to give the tournament idea its full significance, although the media effect was well below expectations. In the 2023 edition, GGPoker thus decided to trick themselves. They increased the guarantee to 10 million dollars and insured that regardless of the tournament’s revenue, the overlay would never go below seven figures.
Ultimately, the tournament with the name overlay joins the list of global poker’s historical failures. The entries received during the first nine flights barely covered 90 percent of the prize pool, thus GGPoker had to contribute $1,082,164 to achieve the $10 million guarantee.
In other words, GGPoker has had the predicted “success” with its “failure,” and it is now the fourth event in history with the greatest overlay, leaving a paradoxical margin for, shall we say, improvement? My my, what a mess!
The greatest overlaps in history
Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open 2014 (live): $10M gtd, $2.5M overlay.
Pokerstars The Big Blowout 2020: $5 million guaranteed, $1.23 million overlay.
2018 Pokerstars Sunday Million Anniversary Edition: $10 million guaranteed, $1.2 million overlay.
GG Masters Overlay Version 2023: $10 million maximum, $1.08 million overlay.
partypoker Caribbean Poker Party 2018 (live): $10,000,000 guaranteed, $925,000 overlay.
The second day of the tournament has already passed, and fifteen players are still vying for the $806,385 grand prize that might be seized by the winner, if the glory makes him hungry and he does not want to earn less than 5,300 buy-ins.
The man with the Andorran flag, “TeQuieroGG,” who we had spotted in the lobby and wondered whether he was a member of the Armada (16th, $27,545), was the victim of the last elimination before to the virtual bagging. The current tournament chipleader and this anonymous lobby enthusiast share a flag, but the origin of the chipleader’s pseudonym “Aw4r3” is far less suspicious.
In the event that we must trace the potential origin of the player “TeQuieroGG,” we have the ITM of Ignacio Morón in the Super Million$ HR 10k$ in our possession.
Our best all-around player survived the bubble, but was never able to reach the final two tables of the event. His ultimate position was 18th, and he was awarded $21,113.
Ignacio and the other regular High Rollers in the Super Million$ have the extraordinary chance to participate in a second edition of the event this same week.
As part of the first visit of the Triton Poker Series to the nation, it will be held at the Hoiana Resort in Vietnam as part of the leap of the legendary event to the casinos. Certainly a little bit more pricey. The buy-in for the SM$ Live version is $25,000.
