The start of the calendar year is normally very jammed for the top tournament poker professionals in the game. With the ending of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (R.I.P., old friend), however, there’s some room that opened up on the calendar. Just as quickly as it opened, that door has been slammed as Poker Central has created a new tournament poker series capped by another version of the Super High Roller Bowl.
Australian Poker Open to Run in January
The inaugural running of the Australian Poker Open will commence on January 25 at the Star Gold Coast in Queensland. The roster of events for the tournament will hold with their past national events, a group of tournaments with buy ins of at least $10,000 and a variety of No Limit Texas Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha Hold’em options. There will three $10K events, two $25K tournaments, a $50K warmup for the Main Event and the $100K Main Event.
It will all be capped off by the Super High Roller Bowl Australia. This will be a monstrous $250,000 buy in No Limit Texas Hold’em event. The Australian Poker Open and the Super High Roller Bowl Australia will be exclusively live streamed over the streaming outlet for Poker Central, PokerGO, with the Super High Roller Bowl Australia beginning on February 2.
In a change from their other High Roller series, the Australian version will be a partnership with the World Poker Tour. “Coming off the heels of the highly successful WPT Australia, the World Poker Tour is thrilled to partner with The Star Gold Coast once again as part of Super High Roller Bowl Australia and the Australian Poker Open as we expand our global partnership with Poker Central,” Angelica Hael, the Vice President of Global Tour Management for the World Poker Tour, said during the announcement of the new series.
“Creating the Australian Poker Open and Super High Roller Bowl Australia represents a key milestone for Poker Central and an important moment for our business as we further our international reach,” Sampson Simmons, the president of Poker Central, stated. “As we bring our premier high roller event brands to new players and new destinations around the globe, PokerGO subscribers continue reaping the rewards of captivating poker content featuring the world’s best players.”
But Will the Players Come?
As with any new event, there are challenges that the new Australian Poker Open and the Super High Roller Bowl Australia will face. The 2020 Aussie Millions, the largest poker tournament in the country, takes place from January 4 through January 24. To start the event in Queensland the day after the conclusion of the Aussie Millions is putting a lot on poker players to make the trek; it is a 1200-plus mile journey from the Crown Casino in Melbourne to The Star in Queensland.
The other events that Poker Central puts on with its High Roller series also have built in conveniences. The PokerGO studios serve quite well for doing the Super High Roller Bowl and the U. S. Poker Open in Las Vegas. It’s a little more difficult in jolly old England, but the Super High Roller Bowl U. K. and the British Poker Open ran last year with few difficulties.
The bottom line is will the players turn up. The Las Vegas events usually have a sizeable number of players stepping up to take part, especially since they have normally been held before the start of the World Series of Poker. The British Poker Open, in its first run in 2019, saw entry numbers ranging from 18 to 46 through its events. The £250,000 Main Event was even worse, only drawing in 12 entries for the tournament. If it turns out that this will be another series with a handful of people shifting money around, people may not bother tuning in.
