As the date approaches for the first rendition of this version of the World Poker Tour’s Tournament of Champions, the tour officially announced on Tuesday that more prizes had been added to the awards that will be handed out in the event.
Monster, the official headphones and speakers of the WPT, announced that they would be awarding everyone who makes the six handed final table of the Tournament of Champions their special Monster SoundStage, a high-definition wireless home music system that is made for multi-room usage. This type of system normally retails for nearly $500, making it a nice prize for anyone to receive. The big news, however, is in what Monster will award the eventual victor of the Tournament of Champions.
When the tournament is completed and one man (sorry ladies…no woman has ever won an event on the WPT Main Tour) is holding all the chips, Monster will also present that player with a 2016 Chevrolet Corvette. The base price on the 2016 ‘Vette is $55,400, making the entire prize pool (more on this in a second) worth an additional $250,000 to those who take part in the event. It’s all a way to say “thank you” to the WPT for a great relationship, according to the CEO of Monster.
“The World Poker Tour has been a tremendous partner for the past two years, showcasing Monster’s high-performance headphones and speakers to thousands of poker players and millions of television viewers around the world,” said Head Monster (Chief Executive Officer) Noel Lee. “With so many Monsterous WPT Champions planning to compete in the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions, we knew that a 2016 Corvette was the perfect first-place prize to celebrate this great accomplishment.”
WPT President Adam Pliska was also happy with the additions to the prize pool. “We are incredibly thankful for Head Monster Noel Lee and his amazing team, who remain extraordinary partners and continue to add significant value to the WPT Champions’ Club,” Pliska stated during the announcement. “For more than two years our champions have enjoyed industry-leading headphones and speakers from Monster, and now the winner of the newly-branded Monster WPT Tournament of Champions will drive off in 2016 Corvette courtesy of Monster, befitting the champion of champions.”
In addition to these new prizes announced by Monster, the eventual champion will also receive some other nice additions. An extra $100,000 cash on top of whatever is generated by the prize pool is a start, as are a specially created Hublot watch (another sponsor of the WPT), a premium poker table from BBO Poker Tables, an Aurae Solid Gold MasterCard, a pair of Monster Gold Headphones, a seat at the next Tiger’s Poker Night (with golfer Tiger Woods, naturally) and a round of golf at Shadow Creek Golf Course with WPT executive tournament director Matt Savage and two friends. Through offering these prizes, the WPT is hoping to draw a crowd to their Tournament of Champions event.
For those that haven’t kept track, the month of April the WPT will basically set up shop in Florida with a host of tournaments set to take place. Beginning on April 15, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown will take place, with the $3500 buy-in event a prelude of sorts for the bigger events coming up. On April 17, the $10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale will begin, which will be the final chance that a player will have to earn WPT Player of the Year points for Season XIV and/or their way into the final event that is on the schedule for the WPT in the Sunshine State.
The Monster WPT Tournament of Champions (as it is now known) will begin on April 22 with some very special caveats in place. The tournament is only open to the 227 (unless someone repeats, it will be 229) players who have won an event on the Main Tour for the WPT and those players then have to pony up a $15,000 buy-in to enter the event. The tournament is supposed to replace the traditional WPT World Championship, which had suffered from a drop in participation over the years despite a change in venue (from the Bellagio in Las Vegas to the Borgata in Atlantic City; some say it needs to change back) and a reduction in the buy-in (from $25,000 to $15,000). There is a huge question as to whether the players will come to the event, however, because of scheduling (the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final will begin on April 30 in Monte Carlo, but there is plenty of preliminary action that already has players drooling).
The new additions to the prize pool are quite nice, but will they draw out some players who were “on the fence” over the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions? We’ll have to wait and see when the play begins later this month.
