The World Poker Tour (WPT) announced yesterday that it will introduce a series of worldwide tournaments branded with the WPT name.
After hearing requests from players who wanted to participate in a WPT-style event, but didn’t quite have the bankroll for a $10,000 tournament, the Tour has responded by creating two circuits, the WPT Regional Series and the WPT National Series. The Regional Series events will take place in the United States, while the National Series will be held in Europe. Currently, there are two events scheduled in the U.S. and one in Europe, with potentially more to come.
The first WPT Regional Series Event will be the Seminole Hard Rock Fall Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. This tournament will run from November 19th to 22nd and have a $5,000 buy-in. The next WPT Regional Series Event will run almost simultaneously from November 20th and 21st, the Hollywood Fall Classic at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. This tournament will have a $1,500 buy-in, with an additional $100 in juice.
The first tournament on the National Series will be in February 2011, the EFOP Diamond Championship at Aviation Club de France in Paris, France. That event has a €5,000 buy-in.
While these tournaments are backed by the WPT, they will not give players any points towards the Tour’s Player of the Year race, a WPT bracelet, or a buy-in for the WPT Championship in April. The tournaments have been created to give players the opportunity to play in a WPT sanctioned event at a smaller cost and earn the prestige of winning a WPT title. In essence, the WPT, through these two new series of tournaments, is creating a situation much like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has done with its Circuit events.
The WPT had an official stop in March during the Season 8 tour schedule at the Hollywood Casino, which drew 143 players and crowned Carlos Mortensen as the champion. The Aviation Club in Paris was one of the top stops in the early years of the WPT for the Rendezvous a Paris event. After the tournament was shut down for a few years due to French gaming laws, it was resurrected this May. 247 players showed up for the tournament, with noted Danish pro Theo Jorgensen capturing the championship. The addition of a National Series event continues the warm relationship between the WPT and the Aviation Club.
It is possible that the WPT is attempting to judge the temperature of poker through the Regional Series event in Florida. The WPT will be making its first ever trip to the Hard Rock in Florida come April 2011 for a full-fledged $10,000 buy-in tournament, the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown. The November tournament could be a way for the WPT to gauge what type of success it will have.
While these three events are the only ones that have been announced, officials are stating there will be many more to come in 2011. The announcement explained that the WPT is looking for “partners for Regional and National events (that will) ensure players a professional and high quality experience worthy of the WPT name.”
