{"id":57077,"date":"2023-10-31T18:38:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T18:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=57077"},"modified":"2023-10-31T18:38:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T18:38:42","slug":"wpt-global-world-championship-december-live-tournament-series-comparison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/wpt-global-world-championship-december-live-tournament-series-comparison\/","title":{"rendered":"WPT World Championship, WSOP Paradise & EPT Prague\u2014How December Tournament Series Compare"},"content":{"rendered":"
Seemingly out of nowhere, December has become perhaps the most competitive month for live poker tournament series. Before 2020, the European Poker Tour\u2019s stop in Prague<\/strong> was the marquee event for the month. However, things have heated up since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the industry to press pause and make a fresh start.<\/p>\n Last year, the World Poker Tour<\/strong> introduced its new World Championship<\/strong> at the Wynn Las Vegas. <\/strong>That inaugural event was an explosive success, with the main event receiving nearly double the guaranteed turnout and most side events outperforming expectations by similar or greater margins.<\/p>\n This year, the WPT World Championship is back and bigger than ever. However, it faces a new challenger in the World Series of Poker\u2019s WSOP Paradise. <\/strong>This new tournament series will take place at the Atlantis Resort <\/strong>in the Bahamas,<\/strong> the former home of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.<\/strong><\/p>\n All three occupy a similar part of the calendar, running in the first half of the month and wrapping up before Christmas:<\/p>\n Given that overlap and the thousands of miles separating the three events, most players will have to pick just one to attend.<\/p>\n How to choose between them? Here\u2019s a look at what each has to offer.<\/p>\n The World Poker Tour is a long-running brand in the live poker world, dating back to the poker boom<\/strong> years. The timing of its first season seemed prescient in retrospect, wrapping up in 2003 just as poker was about to break into the mainstream.<\/p>\n However, until recently, it didn\u2019t have a singular flagship event. Each stop was on roughly equal footing until it introduced the World Championship in 2022. This new stop takes place each December at the Wynn, whose poker room is considered one of the nicest in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n The idea proved to be a hit. The Championship event itself guaranteed $15 million <\/strong>in prizes, implying an expected field of a little over 1,500 <\/strong>players. Instead, 2,960 <\/strong>showed up, making it the biggest WPT event in history by a wide margin.<\/p>\n WPT anticipates that the second run of the series will do better still. It has upped the Championship event guarantee to $40 million<\/strong> and crafted an extensive and varied schedule of side events. Many of these also feature aggressive guarantees.<\/p>\n To ensure the sort of turnout it wants, WPT has provided numerous paths for players to qualify<\/a>, regardless of their budget. Many of these are through WPT Global<\/a>, <\/strong>a WPT-affiliated online poker site that debuted in April 2022. Sadly, it hasn\u2019t launched in the US yet but has plans to do so in the future.<\/p>\n While the WPT is a year-round series of stops, the World Series of Poker<\/strong> is best known for its eponymous two-month series over the summer in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n It is now attempting to establish a wintertime counterpoint in the Bahamas with the WSOP Paradise. However, the new series has been attracting controversy before it has even begun. Some objections relate to the venue, others to its online partner, GGPoker.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Atlantis<\/strong> is either the biggest selling point for the series or a deal-breaker, depending on who you ask. On the one hand, it\u2019s a physically beautiful resort, and there are few places you\u2019d rather be in December than the Bahamas.<\/p>\n\n
WPT World Championship<\/span><\/h2>\n
Pros<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Cons<\/span><\/h3>\n
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WSOP Paradise<\/span><\/h2>\n