US Online Poker MTT Profit | Loss Report (December 2013)
US online poker room multi-table tournament profits and losses, indicating a room's strength or relative weakness in maintaining player traffic and MTT offerings.
In this report, ProfRB.com compiles monthly data on all US-facing online poker rooms in terms of whether or not their multi-table tournament schedule produces a profit, or a loss of money. This report includes US-facing online poker rooms Bovada (Bodog Network), Carbon Poker (Merge Network), ACR Poker (Winning Poker Network), Intertops and Juicy Stakes (Revolution Network), Pokerhost and Full Flush Poker (Equity Poker Network), and BetOnline Poker (Chico Network). Note: BetOnline debuted in our July 2014 report, while the Equity Poker Network debuted in our May/June 2014 report.
Every US-facing network offers its players a daily MTT schedule - we track tournaments from guarantees of $1,000 to $5,000 and higher - and we take player totals from these tournaments to determine if the room or network makes or loses money on each event. While common thought in the online gaming world is that tournaments are mostly 'loss leaders' and a miniscule portion of a gaming company's overall bottom line, you can tell by the data presented below just how strong (or not as strong) these rooms and networks are at attracting players to their sites.
A couple of notes before we dig into the numbers. The figures we report do not include freeroll or tournament ticket entries into these MTT's, so the numbers you see below are what we call "precise estimates". To see each individual US-facing online poker room's tournament schedule, full results, the amount of overlays they produce, prize pools, and more, check out our MTT Overlay and Player Traffic reports here.
DECEMBER 2013 PROFIT | LOSS REPORT
Monday through Friday schedule (21 days)
Nov 1st: +$9,652
Nov 4-8th: +$45,930
Nov 11-15th: +$42,154
Nov 18-22nd: +$46,394
Nov 25-29th: +$38,488
Gain | Loss (vs Oct): +$2,247 (two less work week days in November, two daily "power play" MTT's added)
Saturday and Sunday schedule (9 days)
Saturdays (Nov 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th): +$57,369 (one more Saturday in November, two Saturday "power play" MTT's added)
Sundays (Nov 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th): +$139,837 (three normal Sunday MTT's did not run due to "power play" promotion)
Gain | Loss (vs Oct): +$33,166
Special Tournaments
Golden Spade Poker Open Championship Series (Nov 1st through Nov 3rd): +$32,146
Power Play Sunday Results (Nov 17th and Nov 24th): +$9,143
GRAND TOTAL (November): +$421,113 in profit (up $14,258 from Oct)
Bovada continues to show why they are a strong option for US players with a meaty MTT schedule ripe with soft players and big fields. Overlays across the board are light and infrequent, meaning Bovada is reaping the benefits of an approach that is working in spades. Consistency is their key - other than some minor tweaking, their MTT schedule both during the week and on the weekend has stayed the same over the past few months. Players grow to depend on consistent offerings, and Bovada leads the way in this regard in terms of US-facing operators. Enjoying a healthy bump in profits from their Golden Spade Poker Open Championship Series and their ongoing Power Play MTT promotion , Bovada cleared north of $421,000 in profit during the month of November on their $5k GTD or higher MTT schedule. It may not seem like much in terms of how much money is made overall by the company - but it is clearly a sign of strength and continued durability. If it ain't broke, why fix it?
If you're interested in taking advantage of Bovada's soft fields and large MTT offerings, consider signing up with Professional Rakeback!
Monday through Friday schedule (21 days)
Nov 1st: +$5,741
Nov 4-8th: +$13,161
Nov 11-15th: +$6,603
Nov 18-22nd: +$17,236
Nov 25-29th: +$3,920
Gain | Loss (vs Oct): -$61,199 (two less work week days in November)
Saturday and Sunday schedule (9 days)
Saturdays (Nov 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th): +$6,476 (one more Saturday in November)
Sundays (Nov 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th): +$15,379
Gain | Loss (vs Oct): -$40,662
Special Tournaments
Carbon | Aced Poker Online Poker Series (Nov 3rd through Nov 17th): +$14,343
GRAND TOTAL (November): +$82,859 in profit (down $87,518 from Oct)
Merge enjoyed a sizeable profit difference in the month of September thanks to the Poker Maximus VI series - and their profits from October were roughly in line with profits made in September when you set aside the PMVI results. However, November saw a clear difference with the network clearing only half of what they earned last month. The Carbon OPS series was mostly considered a flop, with half of the events featuring overlays totaling over $93,000. The bottom line, though, is that Merge is in a continual process of retooling their MTT offerings and during this transition, they seem willing to burden some temporary profit fluctuations compared to other rival networks and poker rooms.
If you're interested in playing on Merge Network skins Carbon Poker, Aced Poker, and/or Pokerhost (independent cashier system), be sure to contact us!
Monday through Friday schedule (21 days)
Nov 1st: +1,448
Nov 4-8th: +$2,533
Nov 11-15th: -$8,247
Nov 18-22nd: +$1,517
Nov 25-29th: +$2,935
Gain | Loss (vs Oct): +$4,068 (two less work week days in November)
Saturday and Sunday schedule (8 days)
Saturdays (Nov 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th): +$5,713 (one more Saturday in November)
Sundays (Nov 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th): +$16,322
Gain | Loss (vs Oct): +$2,769
Special Tournaments
High Five MTT Series (Nov 20th through Nov 24th): +$16,206
GRAND TOTAL (November): +$22,221 in profit (up $7,118 from Oct)
The Winning Poker Network wasn't able to build off of a decently profitable September in terms of their $5k GTD or higher MTT schedule in October. One of the key reasons was issues with their servers, which seems to have been addressed and fixed for the future. November saw solid improvement across the tournament board, including a solid turnout for their 5-day High Five MTT series. A small increase in profit from October signals that WPN is still an online poker network on the rise - and we will continue to monitor their progress in the weeks and months ahead.
If you're interested in playing on ProfRB.com recommended Winning Poker Network skins ACR Poker, Black Chip Poker, and/or True Poker, be sure to contact your friends at Professional Rakeback!
As stated last month, the Revolution Network is still picking up the pieces in terms of their MTT schedule after Lock basically destroyed it with their well-documented shenanigans. We have begun to track small GTD tournaments in an effort to track their progress as they slowly, but surely, begin to rebuild. Until their offerings become more consistent and closer monetarily to the other $5k GTD's or higher that we use to track other rooms and networks, we will obviously not have much of a profit | loss analysis to offer.