This article first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of World Gaming magazine.
The World Poker Tour is set to make its first foray into China with the announcement of the inaugural WPT National China Tournament.
Outside of Macau, poker in China suffers from a lack of exposure and with the exception of the China Poker Carnival (CPC) events, which have been running since 2008, there have been no major poker tournaments in mainland China.
All this is about to change and the World Poker Tour (WPT), one of the world’s most recognizable televised high stakes tournament poker brands, has announced its intention to run China’s first-ever WPT endorsed event – the WPT National China Tournament – in Sanya, arguably China’s most fashionable beach resort destination.
“WPT National China Tournament Sanya demonstrates the exploding popularity of WPT National and Regional events, which provide players around the world with the opportunity to compete in affordable, world-class poker tournaments,” said WPT CEO Steve Heller.
The tournament will run from 14 to 17 December 2012 at the spectacular MGM Grand Sanya Resort on Hainan Island, the location for last year’s China Poker Carnival. The arrival of the WPT in mainland China is a quantifiable milestone in the development and growth of tournament poker in the region and marks the first occasion a major foreign poker tour has run an event within China’s borders.
“We are very excited about the potential of this tournament as there are thousands of players in China who aren’t able to play in large tournaments such as this without having to deal with the expense and hassle of traveling out of the country. WPT National China Tournament Sanya is filling a void in the Chinese poker community, and we hope this will be the first of many similar events World Poker Tour will hold in China in coming seasons,” Heller added.
Qualification for the four-day event will be available to Chinese players via WPT’s China partner Beijing OurGame Limited, the country’s largest online play money game platform (pw.lianzhong.com). Online satellites are running from 29 September, though players can also qualify through off-line satellite tournaments held at local poker clubs throughout China. Information about live satellite tournaments can be found at wpt.lianzhong.com. Competition looks set to be fierce and organizers believe over 60,000 Chinese players will compete for the 500 Main Event seats on offer.
There is no direct buy-in and international players may participate via invitation only, meaning players from outside of China interested in playing this event must contact the World Poker Tour.
