As online poker becomes a smash hit, more virtual tournaments are beginning to crop up
May was a successful month for the World Poker Tour (WPT) and its first adventure into the online poker scene. For 29 days, there were 94 events that combined to offer $35 million worth of prize pools; however, its success blew that amount out of the water to pay a total of $52,956,050. What was most impressive is that three tournaments alone paid out almost $53 million when they crushed their guarantees. Now, the big tournament organizer is already planning its next online venture in response to its huge success.
There are two different tournaments that have appeared in the online poker site WPT has used to run its tournaments. The lobby shows a WPT World Championship Main Event and Mini Main Event, which were granted with #9 and #10 numbers, respectively. So, a larger online poker festival might be announced soon.
The World Championship Main Event comes with a $10,300 buy-in with two starting flights Day 1A and Day 1B; players are allowed to try the luck on the second day if they weren't lucky enough during the first one. The event offers a great tournament structure where blinds start at 250/500/50a and increase every 30 minutes, with each player starting with 100,000 chips.
The second event, the Mini Main Event, mirrors the Main Event in every way, except for the buy-in, which is $1050. Both events were designed to attract the best players from both the online and live poker scene. Also, the online poker site will offer several satellites and steps for those players who would like to try getting into WPT action rake-free.
