New Jersey players get another online event
The World Poker Tour has announced the creation of the inaugural WPT Online Borgata Poker Open, running September 19-21. The $3,500 buy-in event, which can be accessed on BetMGM Poker, Borgata Poker, or partypoker NJ, will feature a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Only people physically located in New Jersey can participate.
The tournament is an actual World Poker Tour Main Event, complete with the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup awarded to the winner (or, more accurately, the winner’s name being added to the Champions Cup, but that doesn’t sound as cool). Competitors are also eligible to receive points in the World Poker Tour Player of the Year race.
“The WPT Online Borgata Poker Open, powered by partypoker US Network, marks the return of the Sexton Cup to New Jersey,” said Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour in Tuesday’s announcement. “We are very happy that WPT’s strategic move in online tournaments has been bolstered by one of the longest and most prestigious casinos on the tour.”
The Open is the highlight event of the larger partypoker US Network Online Series in New Jersey, which begins a week earlier on the same online poker network. The final table of the WPT Online Borgata Poker Open will be live streamed.
“BetMGM has found a great partner in WPT and are excited to work together again to bring another online Main Tour event to New Jersey,” said Matthew Sunderland, vice president of gaming for BetMGM. “Our last Main Tour event together was a huge success, and we look forward to offering players in New Jersey a piece of the $1 million prize pool.”
That last Main Tour event was the WPT Online Poker Open at the very end of December 2020, also, as Sunderland referenced, on the partypoker US Network in New Jersey. It also cost $3,500 to enter and drew 395 entries, generating a $1.264 million prize pool. Soheb Porbandarwala, who goes by “MyCousinVinny5” online, won the tournament and $239,820.
More online series for the WPT
The WPT also recently announced the return of the WPT World Online Championships on partypoker, a series for people outside of the United States. It begins this Friday, August 13 (perhaps playing on Friday the 13th is a bad idea) and runs through September 15.
The $5,300 Main Event, which begins August 29, has a $5 million guaranteed prize pool. There are three starting flights, one each Sunday on August 29, September 5, and September 12. Like the final table of the WPT Online Borgata Poker Open, this final table will also be live streamed.
Aside from the Main Event, one of the highlights of the schedule is the $33 Pro Hunt, a Progressive Knockout event. In addition to the bounties on each player, partypoker pros like Jaime Staples, Courtney Gee, Patrick Leonard, Joao Simao, Joni Jouhkimainen and Mikita Bodyakovskiy will also have special bounties on their heads, allowing players to win additional prizes.
