It would appear that the poker industry at large is finally starting to fully recognize the important role content creators play in making the game more popular. Just days after GGPoker had announced its Vlogger Program initiative, World Poker Tour is throwing its hat into the ring with the launch of WPT Wildcard.
According to the press release from the company, WPT Wildcard is a new brand and format that focuses primarily on the fans of the game, designed in a content creator-friendly way.
The new format has been built with social media in mind, catering to short-form content and streaming, and looking to increase community engagement levels. The very first WPT Wildcard events are set to take place this October during the inaugural WPT Prime Lodge festival in Austin, Texas.
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Taking Viewing Experience to a New Level
The core idea of the WPT Wildcard brand is to make poker content more engaging and appealing to a wider audience. Thus, the first few events will see a few interesting twists and turns that you don’t come across at your everyday poker table.
First on the menu is the Heart Attack Poker cash game stream, scheduled for October 8. The game will feature a mix of WPT ambassadors and popular poker content creators, and all of them will be strapped to hear monitors for the entire duration of the session. Players will need to try and maintain their composure like never before, as every beat will be visible not only to viewers at home but to their opponents as well.
On October 12, there will be the $300 Mystery Bounty Wildcard event. This is an open tournament, so everyone is welcome to join. However, be prepared for some surprises, as the event will feature various power-ups and penalties, such as:
- Immunity — void any hand you’re involved in
- Re-spawn — get back into the tournament with an average stack after busting
- Run It Twice
- Win the Button
- Stack Swap — forcing you to trade your stack with the shortest stack at the table
- Bounty Forfeit — lose all your bounties
These twists and turns are sure to make the tournament much more exciting, but they’ll also help creators come up with fun videos that their audience will enjoy. It is certainly a big step up from usual tournament scenarios.
In the words of Adam Pliska, WPT CEO: “This revolutionary series breaks the mold of traditional poker, blending competition and entertainment in ways fans will never expect.”
Is Poker Revolution Coming?
For a long time now, poker hasn’t really changed. While we’ve seen an occasional new format added to the mix, the game has mostly remained the same. This makes things challenging for creators, as they struggle to find new ways to frame increasingly similar situations in different and entertaining ways.
This, in turn, can lead to their audience losing interest and moving on to other types of content, especially if they are not hardcore fans of the game.
The WPT Wildcard concept addresses these challenges head-on, aiming to introduce new and unexpected elements to the traditional format. We’ll have to wait and see how things play out in practice, but the whole idea certainly seems very promising.
While it may not appeal to poker purists, the “gamification” of poker could help broaden the content’s scope, attracting a large number of new viewers, which is extremely important in the long run.
