Last week, the World Poker Tour (WPT) partnered with Chili Poker to introduce a land-based tournament in Marrakech, Morocco. Now, the action moves north. In a press release distributed on Monday by the roving poker tour, it was revealed that the WPT has teamed up with bwin to launch WPT Venice.
The action in the storied Italian city will take place at the Casino di Venezia, which is situated on the scenic Grand Canal. The age-old city will play host to high stakes poker beginning on May 6th and running through May 10th. The final table is scheduled to be televised online at bwin’s website. WPT Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb noted in a press release, “We’re thrilled to launch our first ever brick and mortar WPT tournament offering in Italy. bwin is a strong partner with the right market position in the region. We look forward to working with them to bring this event and the WPT brand to poker players in Italy and Europe.”
bwin is one of the marquee online poker rooms on the Ongame Network. It is flanked by sites such as Best Poker, Betsafe, Betsson, EuroBet, Hollywood Poker, PokerLoco, PokerRoom, RedKings, and Stryyke. The Ongame Network is the fifth largest worldwide in terms of player volume in cash games according to traffic ranking site PokerScout.com. It currently boasts a seven-day running average of 3,150 ring game players with a 24 hour high of 6,006. Its peak volume occurs during the evening hours in Europe since the Ongame Network does not accept players from the United States.
The Main Event of WPT Venice will boast a buy-in of €4,400. Its champion will take home a commemorative bracelet as well as a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship, held every April at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of bwin, explained the company’s decision to sponsor the Venice event: “Partnering with the World Poker Tour illustrates our dedication to establishing bwin as the premier gaming destination for poker players eager to live the dream of participating in multi-million [dollar] brick and mortar poker tournaments.”
The online poker room and official tournament sponsor is dishing out $8,700 prize packages to WPT Venice. The package includes the tournament buy-in plus five nights in a five-star hotel on the lagoon. Two packages are guaranteed to be up for grabs in a series of online finals, which take place three times per week until April 26th. Starting on April 27th, one package will be given out daily. In addition, a $200,000 WPT Venice freeroll will be held on bwin. The promotion, which runs from April 20th through April 26th, uses five one-day flights to determine its winner.
Hotel recommendations given by the official WPT Venice website for players include the five-star Danieli, which will set players back €300 per night, and the Belle Epoque, a three-star hotel that charges €150 per night. The tournament will feature two starting days in order to accommodate as many players as possible. The second floor of the casino will be used for the tournament, an area that is typically reserved for “board meetings, press conferences, and fashion shows,” according to its website.
WPT Marrakech, a joint venture between the WPT and iPoker Network room Chili Poker, was announced last week and will take place in October in the African city. In addition to the €4,500 Main Event, a Ladies-only tournament and Celebrity Invitational will be part of the festivities. Poker pro Liz Lieu, who is sponsored by Chili Poker, has announced that she will be in attendance.
On March 16th, action on the WPT circuit will resume with the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament in San Jose, California. The $10,000 buy-in event awards 20,000 in starting chips to each player. Players with $5,000 bounties on their heads, dubbed “Shooting Stars,” will also take to the field. Last year, World Series of Poker bracelet winner Brandon Cantu took down the 376 player tournament, defeating Steve Sung heads-up. Also appearing at the final table were Jennifer Harman and John “The Razor” Phan. Cantu pocketed $1 million for his efforts. This year’s event will be part of the WPT’s seventh season and will air on Fox Sports Net.