The World Poker Tour is in the midst of a press release spree. The announcements have been coming regularly, as the team takes Season XX to a new level.
Just last week, we reported that the World Poker Tour added a main tour stop in Las Vegas this summer. The WPT Venetian will take place July 12-17 with a $4M guarantee. That followed an announcement from the previous week that the crew will return to Australia, first for a WPT Prime in June and then for a main tour WPT Australia stop in September – both at the Star Gold Coast.
Now, there is yet another stop on the main tour for Season XX, this time to the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa in September.
And today, the World Poker Tour announced that Steve Aoki is no longer the sole WPT ambassador. Brad Owen becomes the second person on the team and will bring a new vibe to World Poker Tour stops.
Tampa in September
Florida is definitely a favorite place for WPT tournaments. Season XX started there with the Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. April brought the tour back there for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Now, the action will return to the Sunshine State in September.
The difference is that this tournament will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, Florida. They held the previous Tampa tournament last year and celebrated a massive field with a $3.7M prize pool.
WPT CEO Adam Pliska noted, “Feedback from players has been overwhelmingly positive, and this year’s event promises to be one of the most popular events of the season.”
The full festival will start August 25 and run through September 6. The WPT Tampa Main Event will be a $3,500 buy-in tournament set for September 2-7. There will be two starting flights and a guarantee that has yet to be determined.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1516828062725287941?s=20&t=Atp4esRHWienN3unkrH15w
As a reminder of what’s on tap, here are the three stops currently on the WPT main tour schedule:
Season XX
Festival Dates
Main Event Info
WPT Choctaw
Apr 28 - May 16
$3,800 buy-in, 2 flights, $1M GTD (May 13-16)
WPT Venetian Las Vegas
Jul 7-17
$5K buy-in, 3 flights, $4M GTD (Jul 12-17)
WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa
Aug 25 - Sep 7
$3,500 buy-in, 2 flights, (Sep 2-7)
Hello, Brad Owen
Many people know the name Brad Owen. He is one of the most popular vloggers in poker, his YouTube channel boasting of 601K subscribers and more than 127.5M views. Owen took another big step in poker earlier this year when he announced a partnership with Andrew Neeme and Doug Polk to invest in the Lodge Poker Club in Texas.
Now, Owen is taking on another role, that of WPT Ambassador.
The World Poker Tour announced the deal this week. The team now consists of Steve Aoki and Brad Owen, the latter seemingly prepared to play a larger role in the scheme of things. Owen will attend various WPT events, of course, but he will also create exclusive content for the WPT and work with its partners to promote the game.
Owen’s first tour stop as an ambassador will be at WPT Choctaw in Durant, Oklahoma. As part of his contribution, he will host a meet-up cash game – something for which he has become famous – for anyone wanting to play on May 12.
Further, Owen will be using his Twitter account to offer several giveaways in the coming weeks and months. First up will be the chance to win one of two WPT Choctaw Main Event seats, and then two WPT Prime Main Event seats for any $1,500 buy-in event will be given away.
Owen expressed his excitement at joining the WPT team. “I’ve been looking forward to making this the next big step in my poker journey,” he said, “and I believe our partnership will help us both continue to grow the game of poker.”
CEO Pliska added that Owen is one of the “most impactful forces in the community and the game as of late.” He continued, “His genuine approach to sharing the game of poker has reached an incredible amount of fans, and WPT is fortunate to be joining forces with him.”
https://twitter.com/TheBradOwen/status/1519037060702740482?s=20&t=Atp4esRHWienN3unkrH15w
