WPT's online deepstack event on 888poker kicks off

The World Poker Tour's recently renewed partnership with 888.com has borne fruit with another edition of WPTDeepstacks online. This edition has taken the nominal location of London. However, anyone with access to the 888poker international platform should in principle be able to enter the event.

The full title for the series is the 2021 888poker WPTDeepStacks London Online. It kicked off with the $200,000 guaranteed Opening Event this morning, with a buy-in of $525 and 293 entries.

Some quick mental arithmetic has the event leaving 888.com holding the bag to the tune of ~$50,000 worth of overlay. With a total of $3,000,000 in guarantees for the series, 888 might be in for a real sweat during this series, even more so than the players. It wouldn't be the first time this year that an optimistic TD overplayed his hand.

However, that overlay was great news for "Korpisoturi2" from Finland, who turned their $525 buy-in into $40,540 over the course of a day's play.

This will be 888poker's second collaboration with the WPT this year.

Angelica Hael is the WPT Vice President of Global Tour Management. In a recent press release, she told journalists that "the World Poker Tour is excited to partner with 888poker again to give players around the globe the opportunity to take down a WPTDeepStacks title."

Between now and the Main Event final table on December 21, 2021, there will be 28 events. These events sport buy-ins ranging from as low as $33 to a $5,200 super high roller event.

The final table of the Opening Event was live-streamed on Twitch.

The final tables of the four additional highlights of the schedule will also be live-streamed. These events will be Event #9: $525 PKO, Event #11: $2,100 High Roller, Event #17: $888 Crazy8s, Event #25: $200,000 GTD Big Shot, and the Main Event.

The Main Event will cost $1,050 to enter. Players will have plenty of bites at the apple, with ten Day 1s (A-J) scheduled to start from December 5.

The WPT tweeted at the start of the Opening Event: "The #WPTDeepStacks Online @888poker is now live with Event 1: $200K Opening Event. Tune in to http://twitch.tv/888pokerTV to watch the Cards up final table!"

Lucky 888

Earlier this year, the partnership with 888poker was briefly up in the air.

The WPT sold to Element Partners LLC earlier this year, and so all bets were off as far as renewals go. But whatever the new owners asked 888.com to cough up for the license, 888 seems to have been willing to pay.

It makes sense, the series went well last time and the deal serves both 888 and the WPT well.

Amit Berkovich, the head of 888poker, told the press: "We're delighted to partner with WPT to launch another WPTDeepStacks series. Responding to the ever-changing needs of our players, the festival provides the prestige and the feel of the live circuit on the mobile or laptop and gives a shot of poker glory to casual and professional players alike."

888 also rolled out Dominik Nitsche, one of 888poker's sponsored pros, to tout for the series.

"This will be another fabulous festival for 888poker and WPT," Dominik Nitsche said, fresh off his WSOP run. "The beauty of events like this is that they provide a genuine opportunity for casual players to win big starting from one cent buy-ins, all from the comfort of their own home. With an increasing number of online poker players emerging over the last year, I'm looking forward to witnessing the exhilarating action and the next WPTDS champion emerge."

At 888poker's previous WPTDS event earlier in the year, 1,087 players bought into the Main Event. That put the total prize pool at $1,087,000. The guarantee on the upcoming Main Event is $1 million.

Hopefully, today's overlay will prove to be just an expensive form of accidental marketing. If not, it won't take much of a fall-off in attendance from the last time around for this series to get very expensive for 888poker. It'll be just in time for Christmas bonuses too.

WPTDeepstacks Online London Event #1: $525 Opening Event complete final table results

Featured image source: Flickr