Although they might have failed in their attempts to purchase the shuttered Full Tilt Poker, the French investment company Groupe Bernard Tapie is moving on with their plans for one of the largest poker tournaments ever, albeit at a later date than they imagined.
The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) was slated to have their inaugural tournament in Wembley Stadium in London, the United Kingdom, between August and October of 2012. The tournament, which would feature a €600 buy in, would have originally played out through online satellites before determining the final 30,000 players. At that point, the plan was to have the survivors meet at the hallowed grounds of Wembley and continue the tournament, playing through tablet computers in the stands. Once the field was worked down to a manageable 3000 or so, the players would then hit the pitch at Wembley to play out the remainder of the tournament.
Many were intrigued by the concept of the ISPT but, without an online poker room to provide the satellites for the tournament, finding the requisite number of players was thought to be a challenge. This was allegedly the reasoning for the pursuit by Groupe Bernard Tapie to purchase Full Tilt Poker over the last half of 2011 and into this year. With those plans now scuttled due to the inability for Groupe Bernard Tapie to work out a deal with the U. S. Department of Justice for the purchase of the site, the organization is now faced with the challenge of moving forward with the ISPT without an online operation to funnel the players.
According to an interview with CardPlayer Magazine, the ISPT will be postponing their new endeavor until May 31, 2013. All of the potential of the tournament, such as player numbers and the plans for playing down to a champion, are still expected, with a prize pool estimated to be around €20 million and first place expected to pay out somewhere in the neighborhood of around €10 million. “We hope that this event will be fondly remembered by the participants and that it breaks all records,” Laurent Tapie stated to CardPlayer.
While they are moving forward, there are several areas for concern. The website for the inaugural tournament, ispt.com, features very little information for potential players. For many of the tabs on the site, all that is listed is a method for registering your name and e-mail address which will allow the ISPT to notify players “when registration opens.” Other critical bits, such as potential partners for the tournament series and hotel options for players, also do not list any such offerings.
There are also the logistical pitfalls that may derail the ISPT before it even gets off the ground. Without the online satellites to provide players, reaching the 30K mark of players might be unattainable (rumors are that Groupe Bernard Tapie, having failed in procuring Full Tilt, might be looking to create their own online site). Furthermore, having players inside a football stadium such as Wembley presents computer server issues, not to mention the factor of the elements in the United Kingdom during the month of May (for example, today’s high is expected to be 61° with a 50% chance of rain in London, not necessarily the type of weather you want to do much in, including poker).
For now, however, those issues and many others can be tabled. Over the span of the remainder of this year, it will be interesting to see if Groupe Bernard Tapie can pull off the audacious task of bringing the International Stadiums Poker Tour to life and usher in what might be a new era of poker tournaments for the world.
