[toc]Swedish online poker site Unibet recently unveiled a new multi-table tournament (MTT) schedule, which will kick off on Oct. 8 2017.
The site has long been known for its cash game action and special promotions aimed at more intermediate and recreational poker players. It also had a great impact on the live poker scene over the past few years with the Unibet Open live tours.
By introducing a new online MTT schedule, it appears the site is looking to lure over some regular tournament players, particularly during their weekly Sunday grinds.
Unibet already offered tournaments. However, this new schedule provides different blind structures and a space-theme, allegedly designed around player suggestions and feedback.
New tournament structures
David Pomroy, Unibet’s Head of Poker, said:
“The new structures we’re adding will feature antes from the start and give players a much smoother transition between levels. We’re also excited to add larger prize pools in fields where players don’t have to battle against thousands of other players.”
Buy-ins for the no-limit hold’em tournaments range from €4 to €100, and vary from unlimited rebuy events to freezeouts and progressive bounty tournaments.
The biggest new event is the ‘Supernova’, which comes with a €100 entry-fee and a €20,000-guaranteed prize pool. The freezeout tournament begins at 7 p.m. on Sundays. This is the same time as other regular Sunday Major tournaments, such as the Sunday Million on PokerStars and the $150K Guaranteed Sunday [Re-Entry] on partypoker.
Why is Unibet doing this?
Pomroy said:
“As tournament players ourselves, we’ve been planning to overhaul our MTT schedule for a while but wanted to focus on software improvements first. The client is in great shape now and so it’s time we gave MTT players at Unibet and beyond something to shout about.”
Players looking to qualify online for Unibet live events will also find things easier. Satellite winners are pooled, allowing each qualifier to choose the Unibet tour they’d like to play for, according to pokernews.com.
The ‘Moving On Up’ promotion also rewards players who play a minimum amount of MTTs every week with cash game tickets. Those tickets increase in amount every week in October.
According to Pomroy, nothing is set in stone due to Unibet’s commitment to taking player feedback onboard. He added:
“As always we’ll be encouraging feedback from players and will tweak and optimize things over time. We’re also going to be aggressive with guarantees across the schedule, increasing them wherever we see increased demand.”
Darts sponsorship
Coinciding with its announcement of new MTTs, Unibet also announced a three-year sponsorship deal with the Professional Darts Corportation (PDC). Unibet is now the official sponsor of the PDC Premier League.
The 16-week 2018 Premier League takes place across:
- UK
- Ireland
- The Netherlands
- Germany
While this sponsorship is new though, Unibet already has existing darts tournaments under its name, including:
- World Grand Prix
- Champions League of Darts
- European Championships
Ebba Ljungerud, CCO of the Kindred Group (which Unibet is a part of), said:
“Darts has been one of the fastest growing sports in our sponsorship portfolio in the UK and we are extremely excited about extending our partnership with the PDC to become the new sponsor of the Premier League. We are planning on making what we already know to be a great tournament even better.”
PDC Chairman Barry Hearn added:
“We’re delighted that Unibet have furthered their association with us in their sponsorship of the Premier League for the next three years.”
