Key Takeaways
- The GGPoker World Festival 2024 generated a record $331 million prize pool with 5.5 million entrants.
- The event surpassed its own record to become the largest online tournament series in history.
- The series was nearly as large as the WSOP 2022 live series, which paid out $346 million.
Over 1500 tournaments, over 5 million tournament entries and prize money of one-third of a billion: After six weeks of action, the GGPoker World Festival (GGWF), has come to an end.
By every metric, the series has been a success, exceeding guarantees, breaking records, and drawing unprecedented participation from players around the world.
According to data provided by GGPoker to pokerfuse, there were 5.5 million entries across the festival, and a jaw-dropping $331.41 million was paid out in prize money, eclipsing its guarantees by 25%.
It not only surpassed its own record for the largest online tournament series but also became one of the largest tournament series of all time, second only to the WSOP live series.
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GGWF 2024 Stats
- Guaranteed Prize Pool: $264.4M
- Prize Money Awarded: $331.41M
- Tournaments: 1623
- Tournament Entrants: 5,155,782
- Avg Prize Pool Per Tournament: $204,196
- Avg Entrants: 3177
While PokerStars’ SCOOP has traditionally been the biggest highlight of the spring poker season, over the past couple of years, GGPoker has taken that spotlight. This year, it further upped the ante, announcing a jaw-dropping $250 million guaranteed series.
Of course, the series was supported by thousands of tournaments and heaps of Day 1s for major events. It is also worth noting that the usual tournament schedule on GGPoker already promises approximately $120 million a month as standard. With GGWF spanning over a month, the regular tournament guarantees would have spread over something like $150 million over 37 days. This means the tournament series adds at least $100 million more to what is regularly scheduled.
With GGPoker already offering $120 million in monthly guarantees, achieving a $250 million guarantee and ultimately awarding over $330 million is quite astounding.
In comparison, the same series in 2023 awarded $239.1 million across 1022 tournaments, drawing over 3 million entries. Last year, the average prize pool per tournament was $233,995, with an average of 2977 entries per event. The $1500 Main Event in 2023 produced an $8.8 million prize pool.
This year, with 1623 tournaments, the series produced $331.4 million in total prizes — nearly $100 million more than the previous edition. Despite the increased number of events, the average prize pool per tournament decreased to $204,196, which was expected. However, the $1500 Main Event saw a substantial increase, with a prize pool of $10.7 million. The average number of entrants per tournament also rose to 3177.
GGWF 2023 vs 2024
| 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Prize Pool Awarded | $239.1M | $331.41M |
| Total Number of Tournaments | 1022 | 1623 |
| Total Entrants | 3,042,228 | 5,155,782 |
| Main Event Prize Pool | $8.8M | $10.7M |
| Avg Prize Pool Per Tournament | $233,995 | $204,196 |
| Avg Entrants | 2977 | 3177 |
The biggest prize pool came in the $10,300 Super MILLION$ World Festival boasting $10 million in guarantees. The event drew 1107 runners across all its Day 1 flights, producing just north of $11 million.
PokerStars, GGPoker’s main competitor, also held its iconic SCOOP during the same period and awarded $90 million in prize money across 384 tournaments. This resulted in an average prize pool of $235,551 and an average of 3324 entrants per event, both figures slightly better than GGPoker’s averages. However, in absolute numbers, GGPoker’s total prize money far exceeds SCOOP’s figures by nearly 4 times.
Such a series is massive by any measure. Just a few years ago, a series awarding $100 million was considered highly ambitious. When the operator debuted GGWF last year with a $200 million guaranteed series, it seemed they had reached their peak. But with this year’s announcement and successful execution of a $250 million guaranteed series, their ambition appears limitless. GGPoker has established itself as a trailblazer, being the first to host an online series with guarantees of $150 million, $200 million, and now $250 million.
Top Five Largest Online Tournament Series
| Year | Event | Operator | Prize Pool Awarded | Total Gtd | Tournaments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | GGPoker World Festival (GGWF) | GGPoker | $331M | $264M | 1623 |
| 2023 | GGPoker World Festival (GGWF) | GGPoker | $239M | $200M | 1022 |
| 2020 | Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) | PokerStars | $185M | $135M | 371 |
| 2022 | GGPoker Online Championship (GGOC) | GGPoker | $178M | $150M | 426 |
| 2021 | GGPoker Spring Festival (GGSF) | GGPoker | $176M | $150M | 335 |
In absolute numbers, GG’s series is nearly comparable to the WSOP 2022 live series, which paid out $346 million, and surpasses all WSOP editions held prior to 2022. While the two series are very different — WSOP typically hosts fewer than 100 events, whereas the GG festival boasts over 1000 tournaments and accommodates players from around the globe — it still gives an idea of the scale.
However, questions will inevitably arise about whether GGPoker can sustain this growth and maintain $250 million guarantees next year. For now, the operator plans to follow GGWF with another edition of microFestival and a Bounty Hunter Series, both set to feature larger guarantees than previous iterations, pokerfuse has been told.