2021 seemed like a new year for live poker as clubs began to reopen here and there amidst the continuing global health crisis. Successful yet much smaller live festivals in a number of countries were also welcomed by local players considering the situation. With about the whole of 2020’s events canceled or postponed for a better date, poker players around the globe rejoiced as major operators such as the World Poker Tour released the tentative schedule for the coming year. Regardless of its set dates, the tournaments were still up for adjustment depending on the current state of the community.
Another postponed event: WPT Asia-Pacific Championship
Poker within the Asia-Pacific region has grown tremendously in recent years with bigger and bigger festivals seen year after year. With the Covid-19 crisis striking unexpectedly, the excitement hit a roadblock as live poker temporarily ceased operations. However, after nearly a year into the unfortunate situation, live poker is slowly recovering with strict health and safety protocols in place.
With WPT having revealed its tentative schedule for the Asia-Pacific leg for this first half of the year, the entertainment brand essentially had a total of four events in mind with the WPT Asia-Pacific Championship being the last event on the schedule.
Initially scheduled for May 5-18, 2021, the announcement came yesterday that the awaited event will be postponed to a later date.
As seen on the official WPT Cambodia website, the post read, “Connaissance Management has elected to postpone the third of our three WPT Season XVIII events, originally scheduled to take place at NagaWorld during May 2021, due to the Covid-19 situation.”
“Details of future WPT events at NagaWorld will be released in the future, as we continue to monitor the situation and travel environment.”, it added.
WPT Live Event Specialist Danny McDonagh at the same time informed the player base via social media saying, “No WPT at NagaWorld in May. Let’s hope international travel opens up by the end of 2021.”
The multiple restrictions and requirements for international travel are huge considerations in setting a viable date. When players inquired whether WPTDeepStacks Gold Coast will push through, McDonagh replied mentioning, “the best chance for WPT events in Asia Pac are the countries not relying on international travel for a decent field so fingers crossed!” McDonagh followed the reply with further announcements on the other events to be made within the next two weeks.
Given the border trends across countries, the decision was not surprising to many and was taken lightly by the brand’s eager followers. As the virus remains an imminent threat to date, safety remains to be the top priority of these operators. Undeniably, players at the same time continue to crave for the normalcy the poker world once had with high hopes that the situation will return as soon as possible.
