The World Poker Tour (WPT) announced Wednesday that for the first time, the Tour will be making a trip to Japan. Partnering with the Japan Poker Union Corporation, the World Poker Tour will launch the new WPT Japan in Tokyo November 23rd through November 26th.
“The Japan Poker Union Corporation is very pleased to partner with the World Poker Tour on this brand new event, WPT Japan,” Japan Poker Union Corporation’s representative, Yabuuchi Nobuhiro, said in a press release. “The World Poker Tour is the perfect brand to help launch a new chapter for poker in our country, and we look forward to hosting players from all over at WPT Japan and showcasing all that this great region has to offer.”
There will be just four events at WPT Japan, which makes sense, as the WPT likely wants to test the market before getting too ambitious. Qualifiers for the tournaments will be held at local poker clubs.
Interestingly, it looks like these events might actually be freerolls. Normally, when the WPT issues a press release about a new tour stop or even just one hyping the return to a location that has been on the schedule for years, some mention is made of what the buy-ins will be to the events, or at least to the stop’s championship event. In this press release, there is no such discussion of buy-ins. It is possible that they just haven’t been set yet, though one would expect the WPT to explain this in the announcement. Admittedly, I don’t know much of anything about Japanese gambling laws, but perhaps the reason for no buy-ins could lie there.
Further evidence of the tournaments being sans buy-in is that the WPT states, “Prizes for all WPT Japan events will consist of packages to future WPT events. The WPT Japan Main Event winner will receive a package to both the Season XVII WPT Main Tour event in Beijing, plus another WPT event of their choice in the Asia-Pacific region.”
If there were buy-ins, there would almost certainly be cash prizes and if there were no cash prizes, there would be an explanation as to why.
Participants in the WPT Japan tournaments will also earn points toward the WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year leader board. The winner of the POY race will get a $15,000 prize package for any WPT event in the Asia-Pacific region, including complimentary accommodation.
“The World Poker Tour is honored to partner with the Japan Poker Union Corporation for this momentous occasion, not only the history of the World Poker Tour, but for our industry,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “Japan is a truly spectacular place, and the Japanese poker market is a flourishing one that deserves to be showcased on a global stage such as the World Poker Tour. Having spent a considerable amount of time in Japan, I strongly encourage poker players of all levels from around the world to come to Japan and experience first hand everything this beautiful region has to offer.”
