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PartyPoker Relaunches MTT Schedule and Bans More Bots

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
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The announcements from PartyPoker have been coming at a quick pace over the last few months. The online poker operator seems to be on a roll with everything from software updates to revived and new tournaments, all with PartyPoker spokesperson and partner Rob Yong at the helm.

October saw the rollout of cash game antes and the addition of more high-stakes MTTs, as well as the return of tournament dollars and the return of the PartyPoker MILLION Sunday tournament. And when the latter didn’t make a comeback as planned due to a technical error, PartyPoker apologized, reimbursed many players, and tried it again.

Among the latest information from PartyPoker, there are schedule changes and more bot bans.

New MTT Schedule

The latest iteration of the MTT special was introduced to make it easier for players to find what they seek. All tournaments will fall into one of two categories: Daily Specials or Annual Series.

Daily Specials will include everything from Bounty Hunter tournaments to the PartyPoker MILLION Sunday event, regularly scheduled high rollers, turbos, Grind tournaments, and Phased events.

On the other hand, all of the series events – most of them held on an annual or bi-annual basis – will be listed under the Annual Series banner. This will include POWERFEST, MILLIONS Online, Monster Series, KO Series, and Omaha Series.

Other MTT Changes

This week’s post about MTTs also included changes that players will see in the details of their tournaments. Per player input and expert opinions, PartyPoker is improving the tournaments with earlier finish times that don’t negatively affect the quality of the events.

For example, the PartyPoker MILLION is one that was changed to accommodate recreational players who have work or family commitments on Monday mornings. Last weekend’s MILLION finished at 3:23 CET, which is equivalent to 9:23pm ET. The time is approximately seven hours prior to those on other major online poker sites.

MILLIONS Online Underway

Speaking of MILLIONS, the annual MILLIONS Online tournament is now underway.

The massive event was solidified earlier this year when it was announced that it would require $10,300 buy-ins and offer a $20 million prize pool guarantee. The buy-in was double that of the 2018 MILLIONS Online, but the guarantee remained the same.

Action started on December 1 with Day 1A online. A total of 709 players participated in that first of four starting days. And when all was said and done, there were 115 players who ended the day with chips.

The rest of the starting flights are as follows:

–Day 1B:  Sunday, Dec. 8 at 21:30 CET

–Day 1C:  Monday, Dec. 9 at 14:00 CET

–Day 1D:  Monday, Dec. 9 at 18:00 CET (turbo edition)

All players surviving their first “day” of play then return to the tables at 21:30 CET on Monday, December 9 to play on. The final day of action begins at 21:30 on Tuesday, December 10.

Numerous satellites opportunities remain available to win a seat to the MILLIONS Online, some as low as $22. The biggest satellite will take place at 18:00 CET on December 8, a $1K buy-in satellite with 50 seats guaranteed, each worth $10,300.

In addition, the MILLIONS Online offers three other tournaments:

–Event 2 on Sunday, Dec. 8:  $25K buy-in NLHE Super High Roller with $1M GTD

–Event 3 on Sunday, Dec. 8:  $5K buy-in PLO with $500K GTD

–Event 4 on Monday, Dec. 9:  $5K buy-in NLHE Finale with $1M GTD

The full schedule, starting chips, satellites, and other information can be found on the PartyPoker LIVE event page for the MILLIONS Online.

Continuation of Bot Bans

When we last checked in with the bot crackdown headed up by the Poker Fraud Team at PartyPoker, the September numbers were out. And they were low.

Only 16 bot accounts were detected in September – 13 from the dot-com market and three from the EU. That resulted in $9,338 and €3,368 being confiscated from those now-closed accounts and returned to players affected by that action.

The numbers for October were higher. PartyPoker revealed that a total of 57 bot-driven accounts were closed during that month. Fifty of those accounts were dot-com-related, resulting in the seizure of $13,976 in funds that will be redistributed to victims. And in the dot-EU market, there were seven accounts consisting of €1,490 seized.

Some thought that the low September numbers indicated a dent in the bot problem, that many were no longer trying to run bots on PartyPoker. However, the increase in bots found in October shows that they continue to try no matter the consequences.

 

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