(Image: WPT)
The World Poker Tour (WPT) has just announced that it will be following up its 2014 WPT500 at the Aria with another, even more impressive, event this year.
Set to get underway on May 31, the 2015 version of the WPT500 will feature a guaranteed prizepool of $2 million and an entry fee of just $565.
Thanks to the overwhelming interest in last year’s event at the Aria, the organizers have decided to play around with the format in order to give players even more value throughout the summer.
In 2014 the tournament boasted a $1 million guarantee, but by the time 3,599 entries had been collected the prizepool swelled to just over $1.8 million.
Buoyed by this success, the WPT’s President, Adam Pliska, has authorized the injection of an additional $1 million to the prizepool.
WPT Upping the Ante
In addition to offering a seven-figure guarantee for a buy-in of just $565, the WPT has also scheduled ten opening flights which will kick off on May 31 and span June and July. The idea behind this format is to offer players already in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) plenty of opportunities to get in on the action.
“In order to create more value for the thousands of players who will flock to Sin City in the coming months, we have doubled the previous guarantee and scheduled more starting flights across three different weekends,” explained Pliska.
After the conclusion of the tenth opening flight (Day 1J) on July 5, the tournament will move onto Day 2 (also on July 5) before the final table commences on July 6.
For those with an eye on this summer’s poker activities in Las Vegas, July 5 will be significant as it’s also the first day of the WSOP Main Event. Although the scheduling should create a minimum amount of conflict, it will certainly put the two tournament organizations up against each other on that day.
More Opportunities to Win a Seat
As well as offering players in Las Vegas a chance to win a share of $2 million for a paltry $565, the WPT500 event will be run in conjunction with partypoker.
That means players across Europe and in the US can win one of 40+ packages for the event via their computer. For players in New Jersey, this opportunity is the second official satellite to an event in Las Vegas in a matter of weeks.
At the end of March, the WSOP announced that all of its official satellites would be hosted by 888poker in Europe and WSOP.com in New Jersey.
That move has left a number of operators needing a way to fill a gap in their MTT rosters and this move by the WPT and partypoker appears to be a way to entice players to ante-up online for an event that isn’t connected to the WSOP.
