Yet another tournament series drew to a conclusion at BetMGM, as the End Boss Poker Series saw its last events all play out this weekend.
The series managed to meet most of its expectations, with the Main Event in all three states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan — exceeding the guaranteed prize pools.
As expected, the End Boss Series events in New Jersey had the highest attendance, with the NJ Main Event having 179 entries who created a $179,000 prize pool, the biggest chunk of which went to Shankar Pillai who won the Main Event title.
The End Boss Poker Series saw a serious increase in overall prize pools compared to recent series held by BetMGM, such as the recent BetMGM Online Series that was last held in September.
With all events in all three states now concluded, let’s take a look at how the operator did in each of the states and who the lucky winners were this time around.
New Jersey draws biggest attendance
Even before the End Boss Series started, it was clear that the New Jersey version would have the biggest overall prize pool, with the Main Event alone guaranteeing $150,000 to the winners.
Not only does BetMGM have the highest number of players among the three sites, but some extra hype was created about the Series in NJ this time around with BetMGM brand ambassador Darren Elias scheduled to play the events.
Elias did enter the End Boss Series and managed to get a third-place finish in Event #5 for $5,600, which was basically enough to salvage his entire Series.
On the other hand, several of the End Boss Series champions managed to take home five-figure payouts, with the biggest prize going to Main Event winner Shankar “burgerssss” Pillai, who claimed $42,942 for his efforts.
New Jersey End Boss Events #2, #3 and #5 did not manage to meet the expected number of players, which caused BetMGM to have to add money into the prize pool, which was to be expected as online poker across the US is still in its early marketing stages.
Here are the full results of the End Boss Poker Series in New Jersey, along with the total prize pools of all events and their winners:
| Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | 1st Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: $535 No-Limit Hold’em | 89 | $44,500 | “Cholie” | $13,906 |
| Event #2: $215 Pot-Limit Omaha | 76 | $20,000 | “gary_kos” | $6,566 |
| Event #3: $320 8-Max PKO Bounty | 58 | $25,000 | “Cshmncs” | $8,517 |
| Event #4: $215 Freezeout 8-Max NLH | 77 | $15,400 | “stiltwalk1974” | $5,055 |
| Event #5: $535 Saturday 6-Max NL RE | 68 | $40,000 | “ZenRead” | $11,770 |
| Event #6: $1,060 Main Event | 179 | $179,000 | Shankar “burgerssss” Pillai | $42,942 |
| Event #7: $215 Second Chance 8-Max | 170 | $34,000 | “Alex “Hashtag_Hashtag” Rocha” | $8,156 |
“Do_psychedelics” triumphant in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania edition of the End Boss Series ended similarly to the one in New Jersey, with the Main Event and several of the other tournaments meeting their guarantees, but four of them falling short of the expected number of players.
The Main Event drew in 123 players, which was enough to break the $100,000 guarantee that BetMGM had set for the event. Out of the 123 players who paid the $1,050 entry fee, it was Do_psychedelics who dominated over the field, eventually taking home the $28,290 first-place prize.
The small fields in the Pennsylvania Series meant that no other players would be taking home five figures, with Event #5 coming the closest, paying $8,963 to the winner, “Grand River 570.”
The table below depicts the full rundown of the End Boss Events in Pennsylvania, their prize pools, and champions:
| Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | 1st Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: $535 No-Limit Hold’em | 65 | $32,500 | “TwinSpin” | $8,557 |
| Event #2: $215 Pot-Limit Omaha | 52 | $15,000 | “moontime” | $4,481 |
| Event #3: $320 8-Max PKO Bounty | 44 | $20,000 | “ZetaPoker” | $5,008 |
| Event #4: $215 Freezeout 8-Max NLH | 29 | $10,000 | “Tbb1798” | $3,324 |
| Event #5: $535 Saturday 6-Max NL RE | 54 | $30,000 | “Grand River 570” | $8,963 |
| Event #6: $1,060 Main Event | 123 | $123,000 | “Do_psychedelics” | $28,290 |
| Event #7: $215 Second Chance 8-Max | 95 | $20,000 | “gravytrain” | $4,800 |
Double champions crowned in Michigan
Michigan was the last of the three states in which the End Boss Series was hosted, with the same schedule of seven events as the other two states.
The guaranteed prize pools in Michigan were more similar to the ones in Pennsylvania that New Jersey, and the Main Event drew in the lowest number of 113 players, which was still enough to shatter the $100,000 guarantee.
The Main Event was won by Corey “C0rgasm231” Paggeot, who took home $23,138 for his efforts and with that won the biggest single prize of the Series in Michigan.
That said, it was another player by the screenname of “georgejanssen” who stole the show by winning both Events #3 and #7 for a grand total of more than $11,000, and a place in history as the first ever double champion of the series.
Here is a full rundown of the End Boss tournaments in the state of Michigan and their champions:
| Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | 1st Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: $535 No-Limit Hold’em | 62 | $31,000 | “JBird401” | $8,162 |
| Event #2: $215 Pot-Limit Omaha | 69 | $15,000 | “ALLforOne1forALL” | $3,949 |
| Event #3: $320 8-Max PKO Bounty | 60 | $20,000 | “georgejanssen” | $5,773 |
| Event #4: $215 Freezeout 8-Max NLH | 53 | $10,600 | “Cuz1455” | $3,167 |
| Event #5: $535 Saturday 6-Max NL RE | 68 | $34,000 | “Vmendi123” | $12,954 |
| Event #6: $1,060 Main Event | 113 | $113,000 | Corey “C0rgasm231” Paggeot | $23,138 |
| Event #7: $215 Second Chance 8-Max | 123 | $24,600 | georgejanssen | $5,658 |
