In a first of its kind agreement for Europe, World Poker Tour and Pokerstars are partnering up to present super-tournaments with a total investment in guaranteed prize pools of Euro 32.5 million.
Announcing the deal, WPT chief executive Adam Pliska revealed that the schedule starts with the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino between April 25 and May 5, and concludes with WPT Amsterdam May 5-13.
“For many years, PokerStars and the World Poker Tour have collaborated behind the scenes to ensure the scheduling of our major events is done in the best interest of the players,” said Pliska. “We are proud to take that collaboration a step further with the creation of the PokerStars Championship WPT MonteDam Swing.”
The announcement details four qualifying events:
* April 26-30 Euro 1,100 buy-in PokerStars National Championship Monte Carlo
* April 29-May 5 Euro 5,300 buy-in PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Event
* May 5-8 Euro 1,500 buy-in WPT DeepStacks Amsterdam
* May 9-13 Euro 3,300 buy-in WPT Amsterdam Main Event
These will reward top-five finishers with a variety of valuable tournament packages, but a range of other smaller rewards is also available, tying in with online competitions and satellites.
Ed Stuchly, the director of live events at Pokerstars, echoed Pliska in emphasising that the joint project has been designed to benefit players competing at both PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo and WPT Amsterdam.
He added that the tournaments offer a total of 80 different events with a wide range of buy-ins and formats.
“This exciting partnership allows players a natural transition from one world-class festival to another, and we encourage our players to head to WPT Amsterdam following their time in Monte Carlo,” Stuchly said.
The project is expected to attract thousands of players to the various events or the satellites surrounding them, including some of the world’s leading professional players.