The World Poker Tour (WPT) continues to expand globally, announcing on Monday that it has added three stops in 2011 on the continent of Europe. With the additions, there are now over 20 locations on the World Poker Tour for Season IX.
The first of the three newcomers is WPT Venice, presented by PartyPoker’s Italian offering, PartyPoker.it. Held at the Casino de Venezia, the €3,000 + €300 Main Event will run from February 3rd to February 8th. The €10,000 buy-in High-Roller Event will overlap with the Main Event, starting on February 7th and ending on February 9th.
Spring will open with WPT Vienna, hitting the Montesino in March. Like WPT Venice, the PartyPoker sponsored tour stop will feature a Main Event and a High-Roller Event. The Main Event will be a little pricier than its Venetian sibling, costing €3,200 + €300 and running from March 25th to March 29th. The High-Roller will be held from March 28th through March 30th. While the WPT’s website lists the High-Roller buy-in as “To Be Determined,” this week’s press release revealed that it will be a lofty €15,000.
Both events at WPT Venice and WPT Vienna will be televised on Fox Sports Net.
The third new stop is the first of the WPT’s new National Series. The famous Aviation Club de France will serve as host of the WPT National Series Paris, which kicks off on February 1st. There will be a number of preliminary events and satellites building up to the EFOP Diamond Championship, which will run from February 9th to February 15th. Day 1 will be split into two flights, with Day 2 starting on February 11th. The total buy-in will be €5,000. The High-Roller Event, which will span three days from February 14th to February 16th, will cost players €10,000 to enter.
At first blush, the WPT’s National Series looks essentially the same as any other tour stop. The difference is that National Series events do not offer points towards the WPT Player of the Year standings. In addition, the winner of the Main Event will not receive an entry into the $25,000 WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas at the end of the season.
World Poker Tour President Adam Pliska was understandably excited about the new tour stops, commenting in a press release, “The World Poker Tour is excited to announce these new dates in Europe. We are looking forward to returning to Venice, debuting our WPT National Series and High-Roller event in Paris, and taking the Tour to Vienna for the very first time. The future is exciting and these international events give players even more chances to compete on poker’s premiere stage.”
Currently, WPT Marrakech, presented by Chili Poker, is underway at the Casino de Marrakech. The Main Event commences on November 27th with the first of two Day 1s and concludes on November 30th.
Halfway through Season IX, Andy Frankenberger sits atop the WPT Player of the Year leaderboard with 1,900 points, thanks to two huge finishes. He won the WPT Legends of Poker in August, pocketing $750,000, and followed that up with a fifth place finish at the Festa al Lago, where he earned $161,200.
Trailing him is one of the hottest players of the past year, Dwyte Pilgrim, who won the Borgata Poker Open in September. Several other players, including Jeff Forrest, Moritz Kranich, Ilan Boujenah, Randal Flowers, Sam El Sayed, and Theo Jorgensen, are tied with Pilgrim at 1,200 points, the number of points a player wins for taking down a World Poker Tour title.
