World Poker Tour Teams with partypoker for $15M WPT Online Series
As poker operators continue to cancel live events in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Poker Tour and partypoker have teamed up to offer an online WPT series for the first time in the 18-year history of the tour.
The WPT Online Series consists of 10 events, including a WPT Main Event with a $5,000,000 guarantee and a seat in the WPT Tournament of Champions.
“It is an honour for us to host the first ever WPT Online Series. We are always looking for ways to bring exciting, high profile MTTs to our players and the World Poker Tour is up there amongst the most prestigious brands in poker,” said Tom Waters, partypoker Managing Director. “The online festival promises to be huge and with a WPT Tournament of Champions seat on offer, it’s a really exciting opportunity for partypoker players.”
The schedule also includes a WPT500 and WPTDeepstacks event as well as a High Roller and Super High Roller event. The total guarantee across all 10 events is $15,000,000.
“WPT and partypoker are proud to break new ground for both of our brands with the first WPT Online Series festival,” said Adam Pliska, WPT CEO. “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.”
The Main Event
The Main Event, which has a $3,200 buy-in and a $5,000,000 guarantee, has five starting flights with the first three running on three consecutive Sundays, May 10, 17, 24. The final two starting flights run on Monday, May 25 include a standard structure and a turbo structure. Players who make it through a Day 1 flight will play Day 2 on Monday, May 25 with the final day scheduled for Tuesday, May 26.
Players start with 100,000 chips and levels last 20 minutes and can re-enter once per starting flight.
WPT500
One of five events with a $1,000,000 guarantee, the WPT500 just might offer the best value of the 10 events. There is a single $530 starting flight each day from May 10 until May 17. On Monday, May 18, there are two starting flights, one with a standard structure and a last chance Day 1 starting flight with a turbo structure. All survivors return to play down to a winner on Monday, May 18.
Players start with a 100,000 stack and levels are 15 minutes long each. Players can re-enter each starting flight one time.
High Roller Scene
It would be almost impossible to host a tournament series today with having some events catering to the high rollers. This series does exactly that with a $10,300 High Roller and a $25,500 Super High Roller event on the schedule.
The Super High Roller event runs on Thursday, May 21, and players start with 100,000 stack and can re-enter a single time. Levels are 15 minutes long. The High Roller starts on Sunday, May 24, and ends on Monday, May 25. Again, players are afforded a single re-entry. Starting stack is 100,000 and levels are 20 minutes long.
WPT Online Series Schedule
| Event # | Dates | Event Name | Buy-In | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 10-26 | WPT Main Event | $3,200 | $5,000,000 |
| 2 | May 10-18 | WPT500 | $530 | $1,000,000 |
| 3 | May 12 | WPT Bounty Hunter | $5,200 | $1,000,000 |
| 4 | May 14 | WPT Pot Limit Omaha | $5,200 | $500,000 |
| 5 | May 18-19 | WPT Six Max | $1,100 | $1,000,000 |
| 6 | May 19-20 | WPT Mix-Max | $5,200 | $1,000,000 |
| 7 | May 21 | WPT Super High Roller | $25,500 | $2,000,000 |
| 8 | May 21 | WPT Turbo (PKO) | $2,100 | $500,000 |
| 9 | May 24-25 | WPT High Roller | $10,300 | $2,000,000 |
| 10 | May 25-26 | WPTDeepstacks | $1,600 | $1,000,000 |
