Circumstances surrounding live poker have changed quite a bit, but the poker industry has shown once again its willingness to change and adapt. Organizers of many major land-based poker tournaments (including the World Series of Poker) have moved their events online where they have kept going strong. The World Poker Tour is following that pattern.
In cooperation with partypoker New Jersey, Borgata is staging its first-ever WPT event to fully take place online. Featuring a guaranteed prize pool in excess of $275,000 across 10 separate events, the WPT Online Borgata Series will kick off on Sunday, September 13, and will last for a full week jam-packed with action and big prizes.
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WPT Online Borgata Series in New Jersey Features Various Event Formats
With 10 different tournaments scattered across eight days, the WPT Online Series offers something for everyone, at least as far as NLHE fans are concerned. This time around, organizers have decided to go with just Hold’em tournaments and keep things simple.
That said, there is a variety of different formats on offer, from straight-up freezouts to progressive KOs (PKOs), so the series definitely does not lack color. Some of the highlight tournaments include:
- WPT #1 – the opening event taking place on Sunday, September 13, featuring a $215 buy-in and a $100,000 guarantee
- WPT #4 – a heads up tournament with a buy-in of $535 on September 19
- WPT #8 – $30,000 guaranteed PKO with a $215 buy-in
- partypoker NJ WPT Main Event on September 20 featuring a $1060 buy-in
Players can register for and participate in all WPT online events through the partypoker US network, BorgataPoker, or betMGM NJ. All three clients offer access to the same exact schedule and everyone will play together in the tournaments.
Special Discount for the HU Event
The heads-up event on September 19 is clearly targeted at players who consider themselves proficient in this format. Namely, the tournament is capped at just 32 entries and the organizer is looking to fill all the seats before the deadline. So, as a special incentive, all players who register before September 16 will receive the tournament fee ($35) back once the event concludes.
No Guarantee for the WPT Online Borgata Series Main Event
Looking at the schedule, one thing that does stick out is the fact the Main Event features no guaranteed prize pool. Perhaps the organizers just aren’t sure how much interest they will be able to generate given the fairly high buy-in and they opted for no guarantee at all instead of advertising a conservative number.
Although the $1060 buy-in for the WPT online Main Event is quite high, players can get their seat at a discounted rate through Phase events. These Phase events cost only $109 to participate and are similar to satellites but aren’t exactly the same.
Once Phase events are completed (at the end of level 22), all remaining players will advance to Phase 2 of the Main Event. Unlike satellites where players enter the target event with a standard starting chip stack, those players that gain entry through a Phase 1 event will start play with the number of chips they carry over from Phase 1.
The final table play of the WPT Online Main Event will be streamed live as well, so poker fans from around the globe will be able to follow the action as it unfolds, and enjoy some top-quality poker. Things around the world may have changed, but the poker industry is certainly doing its best to stay ahead of the curve and keep players and fans as happy and as content as possible.
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WPT and partypoker Forging a New Tradition
When the whole poker world came to a virtual stop due to the coronavirus pandemic, players and tournament organizers alike found themselves in a very difficult spot. The World Poker Tour was one of the first organizations to accept the new reality and come up with a solution.
Back in May, WPT and partypoker joined forces to launch the inaugural online World Poker Tour featuring more than $35,000,000 in guarantees. The WPT Online Championship event featured a buy-in of $3200, and a staggering $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. In the end, the tournament attracted 2,130 entrants, shattering the guarantee by almost $1.4 million.
In June, the WPT brought its online events to the US with its first-ever WPT Online Poker Open on partypoker NJ network in New Jersey with $300,00 in guaranteed prize pools.
In July the WPT World Online Championships kicked off on partypoker with a whopping $100 million guaranteed. The series has been extended and is still running in the .com market with a new scheduled end date of September 24.
In an exclusive interview with pokerfuse, WPT CEO Adam Pliska made it clear that the WPT views its online events as being just as prestigious as its land-based events.
While things are bound to get back to their normal state at one point or another, the WPT has set the foundations for a new tradition – one that entails online events and makes tournament poker more accessible to players around the world. Given the success thus far, the WPT Online could become a regular feature even when live poker is back on track.
WPT Online Borgata Series Schedule
| Day | Date | Time | Event | Total BuyIn | BuyIn | Fee | Bounty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 9/13/20 | 5:00 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #1: SUNDAY $100K GTD NLH | $215.00 | $200.00 | $15.00 | |
| Monday | 9/14/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #2: $10K GTD NLH R+A | $109.00 | $100.00 | $9.00 | |
| Tuesday | 9/15/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #3: $30K GTD 8-MAX FREEZEOUT | $320.00 | $300.00 | $20.00 | |
| Wednesday | 9/16/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #4: $20K GTD NLH | $215.00 | $200.00 | $15.00 | |
| Thursday | 9/17/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #5: $25K GTD PROGRESSIVE KNOCKOUT – BOUNTY | $535.00 | $250.00 | $35.00 | $250.00 |
| Friday | 9/18/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #6: $20K GTD SIX-MAX NLH | $215.00 | $200.00 | $15.00 | |
| Saturday | 9/19/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #7: HEADS UP – 32 MAX BRACKET | $535.00 | $500.00 | $35.00 | |
| Saturday | 9/19/20 | 7:30 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #8: $30K GTD PROGRESSIVE KNOCKOUT – BOUNTY | $320.00 | $150.00 | $20.00 | $150.00 |
| Sunday | 9/20/20 | 5:00 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES PHASE 2 – $1060 Buy-In Main Event powered by partypoker US Network | $1,060.00 | $1,000.00 | $60.00 | |
| Sunday | 9/20/20 | 8:00 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #9: $20K GTD TURBO PROGRESSIVE KNOCKOUT – BOUNTY | $215.00 | $125.00 | $15.00 | $75.00 |
| Monday | 9/21/20 | 7:00 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES PHASE 2 – DAY 2 LIVE STREAMED FINAL TABLE | ||||
| Monday | 9/21/20 | 8:00 PM | WPT ONLINE BORGATA SERIES #10: $20K GTD TURBO PROGRESSIVE KNOCKOUT – BOUNTY | $215.00 | $100.00 | $15.00 | $100.00 |
