WPT Global has announced it has moved Days 2 and 3 of its unique "$1 for $1,000,000" tournament from the second half of August to the beginning of October in what the site acknowledges is a continuing attempt to draw more traffic to the site. Designed as a loss leader, the $1 for $1,000,000 offering promises just that: a chance to win a share of a guaranteed $1 million prize pool for as little as a single $1 buy-in.
The original plan for the event was to offer 11 opening-day flights that led into a Day 2 / Day 3 conclusion on August 22 and 23. The 11 Day 1 flights were later expanded to 26, and now, with the ending days moved back by six weeks to October 1 and 2, dozens more Day 1 flights are likely to be added. The $1 for $1 Million tourney, which WPT Global often shortens to "1-1M", is a prominent component of WPT Global's ongoing Summer Festival.
Already-qualified Day 2 players receive bonus main event entry
To compensate players who had already qualified for the August 22 Day 2 in the 1-1M event for the inconvenience of the changed dates, WPT Global has announced that each player who has already moved on to Day 2 will receive a free entry into the Summer Festival Main Event, worth $330. Prior to two starting flights scheduled for today, just 88 players had qualified for Day 2 play.
An announcement by WPT Global about the final two days of the 1-1M being moved to October offers these two reasons for the change. As WPT Global detailed:
- To give as many players as possible the chance to join the event, and fight for their share of the unprecedented $1million prize pool.
- To release upgrades to our product that will improve the customer experience for everybody playing on WPT Global, especially those playing this event.
WPT Global stridently denied that the move was made to avoid an overlay, since a huge overlay was always part of the event's plan. "[S]ome will jump to the conclusion that we are postponing the event to avoid an overlay," the site's announcement asserted. "That is simply not the case. We have designed this event with a guaranteed overlay of over $900,000, and even if thousands of additional players now join the event because of the new schedule, at a buy-in of only $1 it will not make a material difference to the cost."
Featured image source: WPT Global
