How iPoker MTTs will improve in 2022 with Michael Bedulskis

We talk to iPoker's Tournament & Promotions Manager about the upcoming Spring Series, freezeouts, PKOs, small stakes MTTs and much more.

The new Spring series (details below) looks like a massive shot in the arm for iPoker MTTs. What, in your view, does the network need to do to compete with the bigger rooms?

Michael Bedulskis: Our goal is to change the overall sentiment towards MTTs at iPoker and show that they can be a powerful tool to attracting and retaining customers. Some of our licensees are very enthusiastic towards MTTs and for others it will require additional internal education. We hope that IPF Spring, as well as other series we have planned in the future will serve as success stories to our licensees and show them that we are able to run host competitive MTT promotions on our platform.

On top of the marquee events in the series there are actually some generous guarantees for the €20 a below levels. Is this a new area of focus?

Michael Bedulskis: The data shows that tournaments at €20-50 buy-in level are one of the best performing MTT’s that we have. This indicates a strong and loyal mid-stakes players presence on our platform.

We want to play off our strengths and build our flagship tournaments around these levels. Currently we feel comfortable offering our players generous guarantees at these levels.

For us it will be important to further expand our mid-stakes presence, while also organically building into other stakes segments, both through promotions and expansion of our daily MTT offering. Our goal is to have a comprehensive, robust offering so that players off all stakes can find something to play on our site.

Spring Series is one of such flagship MTT promotions.

I’ve noticed this at other sites, sometimes the midstakes MTT gets more runners than the equivalent low stakes one. I came to the conclusion that midstakes grinders have more mobility between sites and low stakes guys tend to stay on one site, is that accurate?

Michael Bedulskis: Mobility is one of the reasons, but in the end it all boils down to the value proposition of a given tournament.

The largest mid-stakes MTT’s in the industry get this number of runners because sites are able to sustain tournaments at a level where “putting $55, playing for 8 hours and winning amount X” in an attractive enough proposition for the players.

There are only few tournaments with similar attractiveness at lower buy-ins so players tend to just use their money in other games, such as Twister, where they feel they get more out of their buy-in.

"Every MTT series needs a narrative"

This is the first time that iPoker has offered tiered events with multiple buy-in levels for the same event. What is the value proposition here, compared to offering different formats and structures for different player types?

Michael Bedulskis: I believe that every MTT Series need to have some sort of a narrative. The challenge most operators have around a poker series is that usually most of the focus is on Sundays, and on Monday-Saturdays it’s mostly the same daily tournaments as usual. You want to be sure that your series are engaging enough for your players to visit and play on any given day, not only on Sundays.

This will also be one of the longest flagship MTT Series we ever ran. We wanted to keep players engaged through these series, and tiered events are a great way for us to offer something exciting to play every day, for all stakes levels.

There are also lots of flighted events in this series. I like them because they allow me more flexibility with my time and I don’t have to stay up till the early hours of the morning, is that sentiment shared by most players?

Michael Bedulskis: We are glad to have this mechanic at iPoker as it gives us flexibility, control and necessary tools to build exciting tournaments with large guarantees. It’s a real value proposition for a mid stakes player to have the flexibility when they play and to compete for a huge prize pool. I believe such events play well not only into any MTT Series, but also when integrated into our main schedule.

At this point we are actively testing different blind and payout structures, trying to find a sweet spot for what players want.

Flighted events will be playing an important role in both our series and main schedule.

A personal favourite event of mine will be the 25BB PKO. In my opinion PKOs should start shallow because most of the value is in winning early bounties. Is that the rationale behind this format?

Michael Bedulskis: From my past experience in the industry, what we have learned is that the players appreciated shallower starting structures. I don’t see any meaningful reason for starting PKO tournaments with 250BB deep levels. Major events can start deeper, but a vast majority of PKO’s as you correctly noted, should play shallower to really elevate the PKO element of this format.

We are testing out 25BB starting PKOs and also 65BB starting PKOs in this Spring Series. We have already added a set of new PKO structures during the Bounty Hunter Series we ran earlier this year. This is to learn how players react to such structures and in the end, to understand their preferences better.

"Players prefer re-entries with bigger prize pools"

Why are there no freezeouts at a time when they are experiencing something of a resurgence in poker?

Michael Bedulskis: Freezeouts are always quite a divisive topic. There hasn’t really been any conclusive evidence that players prefer a freezeout over re-entry. On contrary, from experience players would always still prefer a $10 million guaranteed event with unlimited re-entries to a $5 million guaranteed freezeout.

Poker has changed a lot over the years, but players still look at the overall GTD and first place prize as one of the main indicators to whether play an event or not.

We plan to gradually introduce Freezeouts at iPoker, through MTT promotions and minor revamps of the main schedule. We think that they can fit a niche in the overall offer, and ultimately attract a loyal group of players.

Will you be taking this same testing mentality of the daily iPoker MTT schedule?

Michael Bedulskis: Absolutely. We have already introduced a set of small improvements to the daily schedule this year, as well as added new a new tournament brand (Eliminators). There will be many more gradual changes to the schedule soon. I feel that this is the best approach to test new ideas, improve the overall offer and build up your MTT brands.

Outside daily schedule, we intend to run 3-4 big series a year. Player fatigue is actually a thing, we know players who can’t handle all these big series over and over again.

Our goal is to elevate overall MTT offer with these large series. We want to build excitement towards our series and offer something that is competitive and meaningful. We want to set a clear distinction between our Flagship series and smaller MTT oriented promotions that target specific liquidity pools.

We also have licensees with their own MTT plans that we must fit into our overall promotions plan. The Grosvenor Poker Tour for example, they have a lot of promotions around their live events, or Holland Casino with their Master Classics of Poker.

Moreover, we are also committed to run smaller-scale, tactical MTT promotions, such as Sunday Sale or small tournament series, spanning 3-5 days, where we think is applicable.

The iPoker Festival Spring Edition

Right on the heels of their Bounty Hunter Series, iPoker is bringing us another big festival schedule with a special tournament series, delivering a record prize pool of €3,000,000—the largest guarantee for a series in the network to date.

The iPoker Festival Spring Edition is running from April 29 to May 9 with almost 200 tournaments scheduled within the 11-day timeframe, including a €300,000 GTD Main Event with a buy-in of €200 as well as a €125,000 GTD Mini Main Event players can take part in for just €50.

The formats played in the series include classic Hold'em tournaments as well as PLO, PKO and Flighted events, with buy-ins ranging from €5 to €1,000, and apart from the Main Events, there are two additional tournaments scheduled that will see a six-figure prize pool of at least €100,000 being given away.

Furthermore, right before the IPF Spring takes place, iPoker has scheduled a Warm-Up edition from April 24-28, consisting of low and medium stakes tournaments, as well as IPF Spring satellites, with another €250,000 given away in 37 Warm-Up tournaments.

Free €50 ticket through IPF Missions

During the series and the Warm-Up phase, iPoker is also offering several missions that enable players to qualify for freerolls where they stand the chance to win free tickets to the IPF Spring, with a wide range of different types of missions available:

• Mini Main Event Mission: Generate at least €200 rake to get a free €50 ticket to the IPF Spring Mini Main Event.
• IPF Warm-Up Mission: Play 3 IPF Warm-Up events to get a ticket to a €1,000 freeroll taking place on April 29.
• Satellite Mission: Play 5 IPF satellites to get a ticket to a €1,000 freeroll taking place on May 10.
• Bubble Bust Mission: Bust out on the bubble in an IPF or Warm-Up event to get a ticket to a €1,000 freeroll taking place on May 10.
• KO Mission: Knock out 3 players in in an IPF or Warm-Up event to get a ticket to a €1,000 freeroll taking place on May 10.
• Day 1 Event Mission: Play any Day 1 flight in an IPF event to to get a ticket to a €2,000 freeroll taking place on May 10.
• Daily Special Event Mission: Play two IPF Daily Tiered events to to get a ticket to a €2,000 freeroll taking place on May 10.

Join the IPF Spring at iPoker

There's also a vast schedule of IPF satellites scheduled that will be available throughout the entire series, starting with the Warm-Up series from April 24 so players can qualify for a fraction of the cost with buy-ins from €0.50 to €100.

And although the guarantees might not be as high as they are in bigger rooms of the market, iPoker tournaments promise better chances to win since they are not as crowded, coupled with occasional overlays for even more value.