The World Poker Tour’s subscription-based online poker room, ClubWPT, recently awarded its two millionth dollar of prize money. It has been one of the staples in the industry since its launch by the World Poker Tour (WPT), a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.
In a 2008 calendar year that saw other subscription-based rooms like Zozos, Fleet Street Games, and Duplicate Poker fall by the wayside, ClubWPT has thrived. The site offers $100,000 in cash and tournaments every month, including both Poker and Elimination Blackjack. The WPT has leveraged its own relationships in order to give ClubWPT members several unique opportunities. For example, ClubWPT tournaments can be found on Fox Sports Net. Ten six-handed tournaments have hit the airwaves in total, with contestants winning their way in from the room.
In October, Duplicate Poker closed its doors due to the “global financial crisis,” according to a statement posted on its website at the time. Several weeks prior to the closure, the company registered its 250,000th member. Duplicate Poker created its niche by dealing players seated in the same position at different tables the same cards. Each was graded against each other depending on how many chips they generated in comparison to others seated at the same position.
On October 31st, Fleet Street Games shut its doors. The site, which was owned by a former PokerStars executive, continued to run PokerSchoolOnline, referring Fleet Street Games customers to cash in their bankrolls in order to fund subscriptions the poker training site. In December, Zosoz, another subscription-based online poker room, ceased operations as well. Zosoz cited “circumstances beyond our control” as the primary reason for the stoppage of business.
On Sunday, the WPT will debut its seventh season on Fox Sports Net during the network’s nation-wide programming slot. Air times vary by market, so interested viewers are encouraged to check their local listings for details. A “Channel Finder” is slated to be launched on the WPT’s website in the next few weeks in order to assist fans in finding both ClubWPT and WPT programming. On Christmas Day, all ten episodes of ClubWPT aired on Fox Sports Net as part of a marathon.
Members of ClubWPT can take advantage of satellites into WPT and World Series of Poker tournaments. Members also receive online access to Bluff Magazine as well as the Las Vegas Advisor. Live Chat customer service is available for members, as is e-mail correspondence. The software resembles that used by Ultimate Bet and the CEREUS poker network.
A monthly $20,000 tournament is the staple of ClubWPT and was last held on December 30th. Satellites for the January installment run at 1:30am, 8:00am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, and 11:45pm daily. The top ten finishers in each of the satellites move on to the final $20,000 event. Tournaments with a $1,000 prize pool occur every single day at 9:00pm ET. On Saturdays, an extra tournament is added in at 3:00pm ET. $500 Elimination Blackjack tournaments take place on Saturday nights at 8:15pm ET and a variety of other real money tournaments are available.
WPT stock, which is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol “WPTE,” closed down $0.0460 on Friday to $0.3840. Its 52 week range has seen it waver between $0.15 and $2.00. According to Yahoo Finance, its market cap is about $8 million. In a filing to the NASDAQ Stock Exchange on December 29th, the WPT announced that it had eliminated the position of Executive Vice President. Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb will assume these responsibilities. A press release stated that the move was due to the “ongoing restructuring efforts” at WPT Enterprises.
Its live tournament series will next travel to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi for the Southern Poker Championship on January 14th through 17th. The Biloxi stop features both a $10,000 WPT Main Event as well as a $5,150 Pot Limit Omaha Championship.
