The World Poker Tour /WPT/ released a statement today that the first WPT Online Series will launch this year, on the poker platform of its partner GVC, partypoker. The release comes during times when live poker events around the globe are being cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus spread and when players would definitely prefer to switch their play online.
“WPT and partypoker are proud to break new ground for both of our brands with the first WPT Online festival. Players from around the globe can look forward to the opportunity to play in World Poker Tour events from the comfort of their homes at all buy-in levels.”
Adam Pliska, CEO, World Poker Tour
The WPT Online Series will begin May 10 and will run until May 26 and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $7 million, and will consist of three main tournaments, the WPT Online Championship, WPT500 and WPTDeepStacks.
“$7m in guarantees for WPT events alone on PartyPoker is an exciting breakthrough for our partnership, and we can’t wait to crown our first WPT Online Championship winner and see them in the WPT Tournament of Champions presented by Baccarat Crystal.”
Hermance Blum, Vice President Europe, World Poker Tour
The series main event, the WPT Online Championship, will run throughout the whole period, with the first starting flights on May 10, and will give players, for a buy-in of $3,200, the chance to compete for a piece of a prize pool of $5 million.
The WPT500 Online will run from May 10-18, with ten starting flights available and a $1 million guaranteed prize pool included in the tournament.
The series will finish with the WPTDeepStacks, a two-day tournament running May 25-26, again with a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million.
All eligible to play on the partypoker platform players can gain entry to the WPT Online Series through partypoker’s WPT Passport program.
Major Event Disruptions Around The World
The WPT Online Series announcement comes at a time when, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus around the globe, many gambling venues have been temporarily shut down and live poker events postponed or cancelled, and the online series give players a real chance to enjoy poker despite that.
Earlier this week, WPT announced it had reached an agreement with partypoker LIVE and Casino Barcelona to postpone the scheduled to begin March 27 WPT Barcelona, which will now take place later in the year.
Among the cancelled events are the WPTDeepStacks event in Maryland and the WPTDeepStacks European Championship, the latter being suspended due to the outbreak of the virus in France.
