More live tournaments are being set to a later date given the current situation. Majority of scheduled events for the first quarter of 2020 have been greatly affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. With increasing confirmed cases day to day, multiple organizers have opted not to push through with the events in efforts to curb the spread of the virus and prioritize the safety of its staff and participants. A few months since the news of the virus blew up global headlines, no definite solution to eliminate infections has yet come to light. Unfortunately, due to this circumstance, poker enthusiasts around the world will have to wait for the situation to resolve in order for the live poker scene to return to its normal operations.
WPT Taiwan Rescheduled
As the trend of the worldwide outbreak considerably not improving, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Taiwan 2020 will once again be rescheduled for later this year. The series was originally dated to occur last March 27- April 6, 2020 but was postponed to May 14-24, 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic. Just this week, the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club), WPT’s partner venue for the series, confirmed on their Facebook page that the festival will once again be postponed for a second time and is now set to run this coming December 11-21, 2020.
CTP Club’s announcement read, “Due to the recent Covid-19 outbreak around the globe, serious consideration has been undertaken especially with most countries facing lock down and flight restrictions, meaning the attending of international players and WPT staff cannot be assured.”
WPT Taiwan initially posted a full schedule to run a total of 17 events within the 11-day period with buy-ins ranging from TWD 6,000 (~USD 198) – TWD 66,000 (~USD 2181). The highlight of the series, the Main Event has a guaranteed prize pool of TWD 8 million (~USD 264,297) and a buy-in of TWD 33,000 (~USD 1,090). Given the situation, international players who were planning to attend the series will unfortunately have to settle for later this year until the spread of the virus comes to decline or better yet, a full stop.
On a side note, live poker seems to still be relatively alive in Taipei, Taiwan with the Master Poker Series currently running at CTP Club. The event however, is only hosted for the country’s nationals with no international players able to join. To date, Taiwan has reported a total of 348 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, 50 of which have recovered.
APT Philippines 2020 Cancelled
With talks of an enhanced community quarantine extension circulating and all casinos remaining closed for the meantime, the news of Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines 2020 being cancelled was already expected by many. The internationally recognized brand announced on their website yesterday the cancellation of the series. The festival was supposedly scheduled to run from April 27- May 10, 2020, hosting a total of 25 events for the 14-day duration.
Founded in the Philippines’ capital, Manila back in 2008, the APT has gained tremendous success with their tournaments in the country for over a decade now. Many local and international players highly anticipate their events year per year. Luckily, the APT has another series lined up for September 10-21, 2020 at Resorts World, Manila with details soon to be announced.
In addition, the regional gaming operator also introduced its Asian Poker Tour 2020 Online Series on its partner platform, Natural8 this coming April 29- May 10,2020. The twelve day series will feature four major events namely the Main Event (USD 500 buy-in), Championships Event (USD 800 buy-in), Pot Limit Omaha Championships (USD 400 buy-in) and the Short Deck Championships (USD 400 buy-in) with the full schedule to follow. Similar to the brand’s live series, the winners will likewise be awarded trophies including the distinguished APT Player of the Series.
