It is award-winning. It is international. And it simply broke the document for the most important occasion in its historical past.
And now the WPT Prime model rolls on to Cyprus and the Chamada Status Lodge & Spa for a $2.5 million GTD pageant within the Mediterranean.
To study extra in regards to the model and why poker gamers ought to take into account a WPT Prime pageant as their subsequent poker cease, we spoke with World Poker Tour Govt Tour Director Matt Savage.
WPT Prime and the Mid-Main Market
Savage is a well-recognized face to followers of the World Poker Tour, and he is keen about every part he is concerned with on the tour. That is why he is in Cyprus at one of many latest locations on the WPT Prime, providing a $1 million assured event for a $1,100 buy-in — a worth level that Savage says is vastly essential in fashionable poker.
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“The mid-major market is not only a huge marketplace for the World Poker Tour, it is a huge marketplace for poker,” says Savage. “There’s numerous pleasure about tournaments with that dimension buy-in, a lot so you may just about discover a $1,000 buy-in event anyplace on this planet at any time!
“However to have a model like Prime with the World Poker Tour behind it can be crucial for us. That works very well for us. Plenty of the opposite 1k occasions are regional, whereas we really feel like WPT Prime is extra international — it is the World Poker Tour in spite of everything!”
Selecting the Proper Venue
For a few years, the World Poker Tour centered on its vastly standard televised Fundamental Occasions, however Savage says that because the poker surroundings has modified, the WPT has needed to adapt. These days, extra occasions are streamed than televised, and that’s mirrored within the WPT Prime Cyprus pageant.
“We’re not simply streaming the ultimate desk, however Day 2 as nicely. That is one thing we do not usually do. However we’re proud, once we come to occasions like WPT Prime Cyprus at Chamada, we’re proud to carry the WPT expertise with us.
“There’s clearly the stream and the updates, however we have additionally bought videographers and photographers. The fantastic Vanessa Dove from our Royal Flush Crew, together with WPT workers and tour administration. Different excursions do not put all of that spotlight into each cease.”
Plenty of the work behind the scenes, Savage says, is all the way down to Head of WPT Prime Cathy Zhao. Earlier this yr, she accepted the 2023 World Poker Award for Finest Mid-Main Tour alongside WPT President and CEO Adam Pliska.
“She actually focuses on ensuring that we’re not simply licensing out the WPT Prime identify, however we’re making it as a lot part of our tour as we do for our Fundamental Tour stops.”
Recommending WPT Prime to Others
Whereas Savage works to place the World in World Poker Tour, he says that poker is an effective way for gamers to see extra of the world by the locations they go to.
“Poker is nice for getting folks to go to locations that they are by no means going to go to of their lifetime if it wasn’t for poker. [WPT] Prime presents numerous alternatives for that.
“Take Chamada, for instance. It is an incredible property and so they’re actually enthusiastic about poker. Our quantity [of entrants] on Day 1a is unbelievable and we’re excited to doubtlessly crack the $1m assure, after which far more.
“That you must have a look at Prime not simply as for locals but in addition for the worldwide market. If you wish to journey and see the world, Prime’s an effective way to do it.”
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