The World Poker Tour (WPT) continues to take advantage of the current surge in online traffic by bringing its brand-new online series to a country that is home to a booming online poker industry – India.
WPT Online India will take place on November 5-22, guaranteeing INR 135 million ($1.838 million) in total prize money, which will be awarded across 154 events. The festival will run in partnership with India’s largest online poker site, Adda52.com.
The 18-day festival will culminate in the Main Event which comes with a buy-in of INR 11,000 ($150), and INR 25 million ($338,527) in guarantees. The event features a total of ten starting flights which will kick off on November 11.
The Main Event winner will take home the much-coveted $5,000 WPT Passport which will serve as a ticket to any live WPT event across the globe, once the live poker tournament scene gets back on track. Apart from that, the champion will also walk away with a prestigious Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Titanium timepiece valued at $10,400. That’s on top of the first-place cash prize that the winner will receive for taking down the tournament.
Leaderboard
WPT Online India also features a Mega Player of the Series Leaderboard, which will give away INR 2.5 million ($33,853) in extra prizes, INR 1 million ($13,541) of that will go towards the overall winner. The leaderboard promo covers 29 out of the 154 events on the schedule.
Mike Sexton Tribute Event
The series includes a special event dedicated to the memory of poker legend and long-time WPT commentator Mike Sexton, who lost his battle with prostate cancer in September.
The tribute event, which takes place on the final day of the festival, has a buy-in of INR 11,000, with all proceeds going towards Poker Gives, a non-profit organization originally founded by Sexton, Linda Johnson, Lisa Tenner, and Jan Fisher. It is the Poker Fundraising Division of Vegas Connected, Inc. Poker Gives’ services include extending help to military families, supporting youth programs, as well as helping the homeless and less fortunate in the community.
Exciting Partnership
WPT CEO Adam Pliska said the upcoming series falls in line with their aim of bolstering their overall online strategy, at a time when a lot of players are turning to online sites to continue to play, while the live tournament scene remains essentially closed due to health and safety concerns.
The WPT said they were happy to partner with Adda52 and reach the growing Indian online poker market.
