WPT Moves Up Online Series and Cancels Cambodia
The past month has been a difficult one for the World Poker Tour, cancelling live tournaments throughout the world on its main tour and for WPTDeepStacks. It also cancelled some of its final table action at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas, which were to be filmed for future FOX Sports episodes. None of these decisions were easy.
They announced another tough decision today, cancelling WPT Cambodia, a destination and series for which players and executives were particularly excited.
There were some solutions waiting in the wings, though. One was the WPT Online Series by PartyPoker set up for a May run. It was something already being discussed behind the closed doors of the World Poker Tour, but when the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation (or postponement) of live events, they WPT put its first-ever online offering on fast-forward.
Now, the WPT is prepared to move up the date for that online series one week so that it starts on May 3.
WPT Main Tour Cancellations Hit Season XIX
It seemed that there could be no further cancellations of events on the WPT’s main tour since there was little left to cancel. Executives removed all regular stops on the main tour through April and May, including the WPT final tables for the WPT Gardens Poker Championship, WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, and WPT L.A. Poker Classic. Those were scheduled to film at the end of March and beginning of April at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas.
The only thing left on the main tour for Season XVIII is the WPT Tournament of Champions, which was set to kick off on May 31 at the Luxor-based arena. There were also going to be three more final tables playing out just before it – during the last week of May – but those tournaments from the Seminole Hard Rock and Choctaw casinos will have no final tables to play.
The WPT TOC remains up in the air at this time, as it is one tournament that could possibly be played with social distancing and other precautions in place. However, the Luxor will need to be open by that time, and travel must be allowed for players around the world to safely get to Las Vegas for the event.
But the cancellations are now hitting Season XIX of the World Poker Tour.
The first land-based stop of the season was supposed to be WPT Cambodia at Nagaworld, with its festival kicking off on July 15 and the WPT Cambodia Main Event starting July 21. Those events are now postponed.
https://twitter.com/CathyZhaoyuan/status/1252420491823820802?s=20
Getting the Online Series Going
Evidently, everything is in place – or close enough to it – for the WPT and PartyPoker to move up the start date for the inaugural WPT Online Series by one week. This tournament will officially kick off the WPT Season XIX.
What had been scheduled to begin on May 10 will now start on May 3.
🚨New #WPTOnline dates 🚨The series will now take place from May 3-19 on @partypoker!
Check out https://t.co/zvkOqhind0 for the latest schedule for all events including the $5 million guaranteed WPT Online Championship.
💻https://t.co/uh0Iy5RvpG pic.twitter.com/VRFlQtTZb5
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) April 18, 2020
This is the new schedule for the WPT-branded tournaments:
Event 1: WPT Online Main Event
Buy-in: $3,200
Guarantee: $5 million
Format: 1 reentry per flight
Starting days: May 3, May 10, May 17, May 18
Day 2: May 18
Final day: May 19
Event 2: WPT500
Buy-in: $530
Guarantee: $1 million
Format: 1 reentry per flight
Starting days: May 3-11
Final day: May 11
Event 3: WPT Bounty Hunter
Buy-in: $5,200
Guarantee: $1 million
Format: 1 reentry
Single day: May 15
Event 4: WPT PLO
Buy-in: $5,200
Guarantee: $500K
Format: 1 reentry
Single day: May 7
Event 5: WPT 6-Max NLHE
Buy-in: $1,100
Guarantee: $1 million
Format: 1 reentry per flight
Starting days: May 11-12
Final day: May 12
Event 6: WPT Mix-Max
Buy-in: $5,200
Guarantee: $1 million
Format: 1 reentry
Starting day: May 12
Final day: May 13
Event 7: WPT Super High Roller
Buy-in: $25,500
Guarantee: $2 million
Format: 1 reentry
Single day: May 14
Event 8: WPT Turbo PKO
Buy-in: $2,100
Guarantee: $500K
Format: unlimited reentries
Single day: May 14
Event 9: WPT High Roller
Buy-in: $10,300
Guarantee: $2 million
Format: 1 reentry
Starting day: May 17
Final day: May 18
Event 10: WPTDeepStacks
Buy-in: $1,600
Guarantee: $1 million
Format: 1 reentry per flight
Starting days: May 18-19
Final day: May 19
The full schedule is listed on the PartyPoker website, complete with every event that brings the entire series to its $30 million guarantee.
