World Series of Poker Tournaments Begin in Asia July 19
Back in April when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) announced that they were canceling their entire tournament schedule for the foreseeable future, it was an expected but disappointing moment for poker players across the world. This month, WSOP announced a change in course and unveiled a new approach to deliver 85 online poker tournaments to players across the world.
The Asia-Pacific poker calendar has shifted online, with the full World Series of Poker schedule fulfilled across the world by local partners and online poker providers. ©ToNic-Pics/Pixabay
All of the tournaments that are held by the WSOP will be online and will be offering gold bracelets. The list of events that is being held will be extensive, and the WSOP will host the specific events for US players, with patterns in the Asia-Pacific region such as Natural8 fulfilling the online tournament provision in this part of the world. Natural8 accepts players from countries across the region, but notably excludes players from Australia, where there is an ongoing legal fight for online poker legality.
Following the decimation and cancellation of the world sports and poker calendar, the news of this poker tournament introduction will be welcomed by punters everywhere. The original 85 scheduled poker tournaments is including those available to specific regions, in total there will be 54 tournaments available for poker players residing in the Asia-Pacific region.
A Tumultuous Year for the WSOP
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world economy as governments and health authorities have scrambled to design policies that will reduce the health risk to the population. Of course, poker tournaments were some of the first scheduled events to be canceled and were quickly joined by the closing down of casinos across the world.
The Asia-Pacific region responded with speed and precision and has been widely credited with having taken extreme but necessary measures to slow the spread of the virus. Other parts of the world, notably the United States, have not responded with the same effectiveness. The casinos in Las Vegas were allowed to reopen their casinos in June, and now one month later, the situation is severe as a second-wave of COVID-19 cases sweeps Nevada.
It is really an impossible task to try and predict the direction and speed of a pandemic outbreak, and the WSOP has had to make a judgment call early based on the likelihood of international flights being permitted and the severity of the second spike in cases.
As an answer to this confusion and to offer a solution to the demand for high-quality poker tournaments, the WSOP has wisely moved the games online and have enabled regional partners to fulfill the delivery of these services at their localized platforms. For the Asia-Pacific region, the local fulfillment of online poker games will be provided by Natural8.
Tournaments in the US and Rest of the World
The WSOP is a US-based operator, legal only in Nevada and New Jersey. From July 1, the series of online poker tournaments get underway in this part of the world. Players will need to prove that they are located in these two jurisdictions, and the enforcement will be bolstered by geolocation technology. There is set to be a packed schedule of tournaments, with one per day throughout the entire month of July.
There will be a packed schedule of tournaments taking place across the Asia-Pacific region from July 19 to September 6. Countries involved in the line-up include Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan and New Zealand. The open tournaments hosted at the online platforms available to punters in these regions are expected to be incredibly popular given the real tournament calendar has been completely wiped out.
GGPoker Network will be assisting Natural8 in delivering the tournaments to the Asia-Pacific markets. Noteworthy contests taking place in this time include the August 9: $10K NLHE Heads-Up Championship (freezeout, no late reg, 128-player cap) and the August 23: $25K NLHE Poker Players Championship ($10M GTD). Following months of inaction across the global poker scene, it is fair to say that this region is ready for some action, even if it is only online poker, the stakes are high!
