It’s been on the calendar for quite some time. The World Poker Tour already knew it would work with partypoker again, especially for the WPT World Online Championships that proved so successful in the summer of 2020. And it was on the Season XIX schedule even before the WPT officially announced the new season.
Speaking of the inaugural WPT World Online Championships, the series ran July 17 to September 16, 2020. Amidst a very large online poker tournament series with $100M guaranteed, there were 12 official WPT events, five of which crowned players into the WPT Champions Club and engraved their names on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
All in all, that series awarded $100,746,175 in prize money and finished with these five champions:
-Event 3: $3,200 NLHE 8-Max = 1,062 entries, $3,186,000 prize pool, Gavin Cochrane won for $540,664-Event 4: $3,200 NLHE 6-Max = 999 entries, $3M prize pool, Nick Petrangelo won for $494,550-Event 5: $3,200 NLHE Knockout = 1,035 entries, $3,105,000 prize pool, Daniel Smyth won for $204,589-Event 6: $3,200 NLHE/PLO Mix-Max = 989 entries, $3M prize pool, Andrey Kotelnikov won for $488,508-Event 9: $10,300 NLHE Main Event = 1,011 entries, $10.11M prize pool, Phil Mighall won for $1,550,298
(We recapped the first part of that series here and the second part here.)
Now, as Season XIX just finished WPT Choctaw in Oklahoma and prepares for the WPT bestbet Scramble in Florida, the World Poker Tour confirms the WPT World Online Championships. The entire schedule is not available yet, but there are dates and important information.
WPT WOC Basics
The bookend dates for the 2021 WPT World Online Championships by partypoker are August 13 and September 15. The Main Event of the series will begin on Sunday, August 29 and offer three starting flights, one on each Sunday from that date. The $5,000 + $300 buy-in will put players in contention for the $5M guaranteed prize pool. The schedule is:
$5,300 WPT WOC Main Event: August 29 – September 15-Sunday, Aug 29: Day 1A at 7:05pm ET-Sunday, Sept 5: Day 1B at 7:05pm ET-Sunday, Sept 12: Day 1C at 7:05pm ET-Monday, Sept 13: Day 2 (all surviving players combine)-Tuesday, Sept 14: Day 3 (playdown to final table)-Wednesday, Sept 15: Day 4 (livestreamed final table to a winner)
Late registration is open on the three starting flights until 11:10pm ET. Players can reenter once during each flight if they choose. They start with 200K chips with 25-minute levels.
There will be satellites running throughout the series for the Main Event, with daily offerings. Phase 1 satellites cost $4.40, Phase 2 satties cost $22, and Phase 3 satellites require $109. Partypoker will then host a phase final each Sunday for those winners to compete for 20 Main Event seats.
https://twitter.com/partypokerlive/status/1420746021521432592?s=20
WPT WOC Highlights
Most of the schedule is not yet available. However, there will be a Pro Hunt on the first day of the series. That event on Thursday, August 13 will be a $33 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with a progressive knockout (PKO) format. The winner of the tournament will receive a $5,300 Main Event seat, but bounties will include Phase 3 satellite seats for the Main Event valued at $109.
That event will feature members of the partypoker roster of players, including Patrick Leonard, Courtney Gee, Jaime Staples, Joao Simao, Joni Jouhkimainen, and Mikita Bodyakovskiy. And the WPT and partypoker will donate one-fifth (20%) of the prize pool to charity. That charity will be announced soon.
WPT CEO Adam Pliska noted that the WOC appears to be a permanent part of the WPT season lineup. “WPT Online has become a vital part of the WPT calendar of global events, and we take pride in the great online experience partypoker delivers for players,” he said.
The full schedule will post on the partypoker website when complete. Of course, we will announce those details as well.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1420797614878957571?s=20
