With the poker world feeling the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, players received a bit of good news on Friday. After postponing several events, the WPT announced an online poker partnership with partypoker for the first WPT Online Series.
The series runs May 10-26 and will feature $30 million in total guarantees including $15 million across 10 headline events. The highlight will be a $3,200 WPT Online Championship with a $5 million guarantee, set to begin May 10.
The event becomes an official part of the WPT Main Tour. Like a live event, the winner will have his or her name added to the tour’s Champions Cup trophy.
“It is an honur for us to host the first ever WPT Online Series,” partypoker managing director Tom Waters said. “We are always looking for ways to bring exciting, high profile MTTs to our players and the World Poker Tour is up there amongst the most prestigious brands in poker.
Extending the WPT, partypoker partnership
The addition of the WPT Online Series comes after the WPT and partypoker have been partnering on live events in recent years. The WPT has partnered with the site on its MILLIONS events.
Partypoker also offers online qualifiers to those events. Players around the world have earned the chance to play in a WPT event.
This new series seems to come after the WPT has had to postpone or cancel several events including:
- WPT Venetian
- WPT Barcelona
- WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam
- WPTDeepStacks Championship Thunder Valley
- WPTDeepStack Maryland
The new online series brings some of that action at least to the online felt. At a time when many players are shut out of the live scene, they can now also battle for an online WPT title.
“WPT and partypoker are proud to break new ground for both of our brands with the first WPT Online Series festival,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said. “Players from around the globe can look forward to the opportunity to play in World Poker Tour events from the comfort of their homes at all buy-in levels.”
A look at the WPT Online Series schedule
Along with the championship event, there are several other interesting events and promotions for players. Those include extending the traditional WPT-branded tournaments and a host six- and seven-figure guarantees.
A WPT500 event is set for May 10-18 and features a $1 million guarantee with 10 starting flights. A WPTDeepStacks is set for May 25-26 with a $1 million guarantee. Here’s a look at the series signature events:
| Date | Buy-In | Event | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 3 | $5,000 | WPT Grand Opener | $2 million |
| May 10 | $3,200 | WPT Online Championship | $5 million |
| May 10 | $530 | WPT500 | $1 million |
| May 12 | $5,200 | Bounty Hunter NLHE | $1 million |
| May 14 | $5,200 | PLO | $500,000 |
| May 18 | $1,1000 | NLHE Six-Max | $1 million |
| May 19 | $5,200 | Mix Max | $1 million |
| May 21 | $25,500 | Super High Roller | $2 million |
| May 21 | $2,100 | Turbo PKO | $500,000 |
| May 24 | $10,300 | High Roller | $2 million |
| May 25 | $1,600 | WPTDeepStacks | $1 million |
The winner of the championship event on May 10 will also earn a $15,000 seat into the season-ending Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions.
“The online festival promises to be huge and with a WPT Tournament of Champions seat on offer, it’s a really exciting opportunity for partypoker players,” Waters said.
A full slate of satellites will be available in the weeks preceding the series.
partypoker POWERFEST Features $20 Million Guaranteed
Beyond the WPT series, partypoker players also have the opportunity for some big events beginning March 15. The PowerFest runs through March 29 with 488 tournaments and $20 guaranteed.
There is something for every level of player with buy-ins ranging from $0.55 to $25,500. There will also be a variety of game types including:
- Six-Max
- Mix-Max
- 6-4
- Freezeout
- Progressive Knockout (PKO)
The final day will see four Main Event champions crowned on March 29 with trophy hardware awarded to each winner. Here’s a look at the main events, with $1.25 million in guaranteed prize money on the line.
| Date | Buy-in | Event | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 29 | $2,100 | #141-HR: $500K Gtd [Main Event, 8-Max, PKO] | $500,000 |
| March 29 | $320 | #141-H: $500K Gtd [Main Event, 8-Max, PKO] | $500,000 |
| March 29 | $55 | P#141-M: $250K Gtd [Main Event, 8-Max, PKO] | $250,000 |
| March 29 | $5.50 | #141-L: $20K Gtd [Main Event, 8-Max, PKO] | $20,000 |