Big Overlays Continue in WPN Million Dollar Sundays

The Winning Poker Network is holding $250 + $15 Million Dollar Sunday tournaments with $1,000,001 guarantees every week of the first three months of the year just like we told you they would. After monitoring the first three 2018 MDS events, we noticed that they were overlaying considerably, and we're here to report today that this trend continued throughout February as well. In fact, none of the Million Dollar Sunday MTTs in 2018 so far has achieved sufficient participation to surpass the guaranteed amount through $250 buyins alone although one of them did beat the $1,000,001 figure if we include the money paid in $15 fees.

The Numbers

Before discussing this matter any further, let's go over some hard data that illustrates what we're talking about. The table below contains information on how many people entered each MDS event, the prize pool created from buyins alone, the overlay before tourney fees are considered, the fees collected, and the final overlay amount after we apply the fees to the prize pool.

Any hopes that the WPN might have had that the MDS would see continuous growth in the New Year have thus far proven illusory. Indeed, the best-performing of these tournaments was the first one on Jan. 7, and the four highest overlays have occurred in the four most recent events.

What This Means for Players

The steady addition of extra money to top off the prize pools is undoubtedly not what the network had in mind when it dreamed up these tournaments. Yet, the poker room's loss is the average player's gain.

Playing the MDS is a sensible decision if you're concerned about enhancing your return on investment (ROI). Working with the buyin and fee figures for the tournament, we can see that the average ROI without any overlays would be (-$15 average profit/$265 investment) = about negative 5.7%. Using the average results for the MDS events that have already concluded in 2018, we see that the average ROI is much higher: ((($1,000,001/3,452) - $265) average profit/$265 investment) = around 9.3%.

The field increased its average ROI by 15% instantly through the effects of the supplemental dollars contributed by the network! Add this 15% gift on to your normal returns, and your bottom line should improve accordingly.

WPN's Philosophy

The Winning Poker Network has decided to let these overlays keep happening week after week. The latest installment of the OSS Cub3d Series began Feb. 25, but even the hype surrounding the $15 million up for grabs wasn't enough to forestall an overlay in the Million Dollar Sunday running that same day.

While some online poker operators would probably quickly cut the guaranteed prize amount to stop hemorrhaging cash, this isn't the way the WPN thinks. We need only reflect back on the first few $1 million tournaments on the network to see that this is the case. These events cost $500 + $40 to enter, and the first seven of them, beginning in February 2015, had consecutive shortfalls in the total sums paid by participants. However, the eighth one met its target, and all subsequent MDS events generated prize pools in excess of $1 million until this new series of them commenced on Jan. 7, 2018.

The differences between back then and now are that the MDS is now a weekly fixture rather than a special occasion and that the cost of registering has decreased from $540 to just $265. It's taking some time for the market to adjust to these circumstances, but the network would not have launched such an ambitious program of million-dollar tourneys if it had not felt that its initial outlays would turn out to be justified in the long run.

Pick up Your Share of the Free Cash!

Until the Million Dollar Sunday MTTs grow into their guarantees, the Winning Poker Network is the place to be to scoop up the extra money being thrown into them – but only if you actually take a seat in these events. We highly recommend the leading WPN brand, Americas Cardroom. If offers new players a 100% up to $1,000 deposit bonus that clears at a 20% effective rakeback rate. Furthermore, anyone making a deposit will get a complimentary $50 credit added to his or her real money balance. Read our Americas Cardroom poker review for signup instructions and other details about the site. If you seek an alternate WPN skin, then you may wish to consider BlackChip Poker, True Poker, PokerHost, or Ya Poker (non-US).