Online poker players looking to score some World Poker Tour glory will head to partypoker over the next month. The start of this year’s WPT World Online Championships kicks off on Aug. 12 and runs through Sept 14.
A big part of partypoker’s series efforts over the last few years is getting players of all levels and bankrolls involved. That continues this month with the WPT events, offering all types of players a shot to become a WPT champion.
“After a quiet summer, like most players, I’m excited to play poker again,” Team partypoker’s Louise Butler said in a news release. “The schedule for the WPT World Online Championships looks amazing. I love that there are mini and micro versions of events so players of all bankrolls will have a chance to become a WPT champion.”
Partypoker offers big bucks in WPT openers
The World Online Championships festival is once again an official Season XIX WPT Main Tour event. Players will find buy-ins ranging from $5.50 to $25,500 with a mix of tournament structures and styles.
Fittingly, the $215 Opener and $22 Mini Opener get the series underway on Thursday. The Opener offers some nice value with a guarantee of $1 million.
Party is offering plenty of chances to enter, with several starting flights running before the final day on Aug. 23.The Mini Opener runs on the same dates and comes with a $200,000 guarantee.
A look at the Main Event
Attention turns to the WPT Main Event on Aug. 29 when the three-day event gets underway. The championship event comes with a $5 million guarantee.
Starting flights run on three consecutive Sundays and also include Sept. 5 and 12. Day 2 is set for Sept. 13 with the final table playing out on the final day of the series.
The Main Event winner scores more than the cash prize. That includes the champion getting his or her name engraved on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
The winner also receives a replica of the trophy, a Hublot watch, and entry to the WPT Champions Club.
Players can qualify for the WPT Main Event for just a single cent. Centrolls run daily, awarding at least 15 tickets to the $4.40 buy-in Phase 1.
Players passing through that stage head into the $22 buy-in Phase 2, which is followed by the $109 Phase 3. This leads into the weekly Sunday final, with at least 20 Main Event Day 1A tickets awarded.
There will also be Mini and Micro versions of the WPT Main Event. Players can buy into the Mini Main Event for $1,050 to play for a $1 million guarantee. The $109 Micro also guarantees $250,000.
The Main Event and other key events will also be streamed live on partypokerTV, the site’s Twitch channel.
Other series highlights
The WPT500 is another important event on the schedule. The $530 buy-in, two-day event begins Aug. 22 and offers a $1 million guarantee.
Starting flights run throughout the following week before the final day on Aug. 30. The $530 WPT500 Knockout also runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7. The progressive knockout (PKO) event guarantees a $1 million prize pool.
In total, players will find eight WPT championship events and here’s a look at all of those:
Dates Event Buy-in Guarantee Format
Aug 21-23 Omaha Championship $2,100 $300,000 6-Max
Aug 28-30 7-Max Championship $2,100 $1,000,000 7-Max PKO
Aug 29 – Sep 14 WPT Main Event $5,300 $5,000,000 8-Max
Aug 29-30 High Roller Championship $10,300 $1,000,000 7-Max
Sept 4-6 6-Max Championship $2,100 $1,000,000 6-Max PKO
Sept 5 Super High Roller Championship $25,500 $1,000,000 7-Max
Sept 11-13 Mix-Max Championship $2,100 $1,000,000 Mix-Max PKO
Sept 12-13 Turbo Championship $2,100 $200,000 7-Max
The $33 WPT Pro Hunt should also be a popular event and runs on Aug. 13 with a $30,000 guarantee. The PKO event features special bounties for knocking out Team partypoker pros including:
- Jaime Staples
- Courtney Gee
- Patrick Leonard
- Joao Simao
- Joni Jouhkimainen
- Isaac Haxton
The winner not only snags a nice cash prize, but also earns a WPT Main Event seat. The Pro Hunt champion also scores a specially-designed trophy to commemorate the occasion.
The tournament also donates 20% of the prize pool to the Poker Gives charity, founded by Mike Sexton.
* photo courtesy WPT
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