Garden State players only

The World Poker Tour (WPT) and partypoker have partnered to launch another official online WPT event, appropriately called the WPT Online Poker Open. Taking place on Sunday, June 28, the tournament is exclusively for poker players in New Jersey.

Players can participate in the WPT Online Poker Open via the BorgataPoker.com, BetMGMPoker.com, or NJ.PartyPoker.com software clients. All three combine to form the partypoker network in New Jersey; players on each compete at the same tables and in the same tournaments against each other.

One need not be a resident of New Jersey to play in the Open; players simply need to be physically located within state borders while playing.

The WPT will also award the victor a Champion’s Trophy

The winner of the WPT Online Poker Open will receive, in addition to the regular prize money, an $11,000 prize package to the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio, which is the next live event on the WPT schedule that has not been postponed. The WPT will also award the victor a Champion’s Trophy and a World Poker Tour “VIP experience” in Las Vegas.

Spotlight event of larger series

The WPT Online Poker Open is a $400 buy-in event with a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. What the World Poker Tour did not mention in Wednesday’s announcement is that the tournament is the culmination of a week-long series called the partypoker US Network Online Open. The series is made up of a dozen tournaments, not counting the WPT event, spanning June 21-28.

The 12 events have a wide range of buy-ins, starting as low as $5 and climbing to $320. All but one of the tournaments is some form of No-Limit Hold’em. Total guarantees add up to $73,500.

Interspersed among the tournaments that week are $45 buy-in satellites for the WPT Online Poker Open. Each guarantees at least 10 seats into the target event. None of the satellites have been posted in the lobbies of any of the three poker rooms as of Thursday morning.

WPT Online Series boasted huge numbers

The World Poker Tour and partypoker are fresh off the WPT Online Series, a 29-day tournament series spanning the bulk of May. Designed to give players outside the United States an opportunity to compete in real WPT events after the postponement of many live Tour stops during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WPT Online Series was a rousing success by any measure.

The series fielded 111,183 entries over 94 total events, awarding nearly $53m in prize money.

the largest WPT Main Tour event in history

The $3,200, $5m guaranteed WPT Online Championship attracted 2,130 entries, making it the largest WPT Main Tour event in history. Christian Jeppsson won the tournament and $923,786.

Viktor Ustimov finished atop the WPT Online Series leaderboard, winning two events, making three final tables, and cashing 15 times.