With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic harshly affecting the live poker scene, gaming organizers are turning to their online platform partners to ease players’ demands. The current situation has resulted in numerous live festivals for the upcoming months to be cancelled or postponed indefinitely. As the reported confirmed cases of the virus continuously remain increasing, there is no definite period on when this global outbreak would cease to exist. For now, international professionals are faced with limited choices to enhance their skills and resume their tournament grinds.
Partypoker and Poker Central Partner to Create Poker Masters Online Series
To cope with ongoing circumstances, Poker Central has announced its most recent transition into the online field, presenting the debut of Poker Masters Online in partnership with online platform, partypoker. The coveted series will consist of 30 high roller events with buy-ins ranging from $10,300 to as high as $51,000 and is scheduled to take place from April 12-26, 2020.
The Main Event will serve as the highlight of the entire series, running as the finale to be held on the last day, April 26, 2020. Boasting a huge buy-in of $51,000, the event will post an incredible guarantee of $2 million in prize pool winnings. With two weeks of high stakes action to take place, the total guarantee posted has reached over $15 million in cash prizes to be won. The Poker Masters Online champion will also receive $50,000 and will be awarded a Poker Masters purple jacket.
Partypoker Managing Director, Tom Waters, said: “We are pleased to be able to give players the chance to continue doing what they love and play the tournament in online format. The Poker Masters brand carries significant weight in the poker community and we believe this innovative online format will be appealing for fans and players alike.”
Sam Simmons, Poker Central President, also added “We know partypoker is the right landing spot for our tournament brand to evolve into a new format. We value this partnership as a way to bring the poker community together in these uncertain times.”
With partypoker being one of the pioneers and most recognized poker brands in the industry, organizers are confident that the series will turn out favorably in providing a competitive field for its clientele. The prestigious online platform has previously partnered with Poker Central, hosting multiple successful festivals including the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Tour, Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas and Super High Roller Bowl Russia.
Full schedule at the end of the article
One More Partnership with Live Event Organizer for Partypoker
In relation to current affairs, partypoker has found itself running on full schedule, partnering with a couple organizers to host its series in this realm of contagion and quarantine. Another cancelled festival was the 2020 Irish Poker Open originally scheduled to take place from April 6-13, 2020 at Citywest Hotel, Dublin, Ireland. The longest-running poker festival in Europe would supposedly celebrate its 40th anniversary this year but was met with unfortunate circumstances.
To rescue the eager players from disappointment, Partypoker has stepped in to provide an online edition featuring a massive €1 million guaranteed prize pool for its Main Event. The online 2020 Irish Poker Open is scheduled to run from April 6-12, 2020 hosting a total of 22 events within the 7-day period.
Jp McCann from the organizing party said in a statement, “Since our announcement last week regarding the postponement of the Irish Open 2020, considerable efforts have been made to find an alternative date to run the Irish Open 2020. However, as the uncertainty surrounding live poker events continues, we feel that the best decision to take at this point is to cancel the live festival for 2020.”
“We would like to thank partypoker for taking the initiative to help ensure Europe’s oldest-running poker festival goes ahead during these very challenging times. We hope to see you for the first time ever on the virtual tables for the 40th anniversary of the Irish Open.”
Tom Waters, the managing director for partypoker, also added, “We are delighted to be associated with Europe’s oldest poker festival. The Irish Open is a truly unique event and following the disappointment of its cancellation this year, an online Irish Open festival looks a perfect fit for both event organizers and partypoker.”
Following the two festivals above is the first WPT Online Series which is scheduled to run from May 10-26, 2020 on the same platform. The long-awaited series will consist of 10 events to generate a whopping $15 million in combined guarantees. The WPT Online Championship will serve as the main feature with a buy-in of $3,200 and a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million. As with other WPT Main Events, the champion will have his or her name immortalized on the Champion’s Cup and also earn a ticket to the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions.
| Date | Time EDT | Time UK | Event | GTE | Buy-in |
| Sun 12-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #01: $500K Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sun 12-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #02: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Mon 13-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #03: $500K Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Mon 13-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #04: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Tue 14-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #05: $500K Gtd [PLO, 6-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Tue 14-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #06: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Wed 15-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #07: $500K Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Wed 15-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #08: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Thu 16-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #09: $500K Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Thu 16-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #10: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Fri 17-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #11: $500K Gtd [PLO, 6-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Fri 17-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #12: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sat 18-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #13: $500K Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sat 18-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #14: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sun 19-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #15: $500K Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sun 19-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #16: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Mon 20-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #17: $500K Gtd [PLO, 6-Max] | $500,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Mon 20-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #18: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Tue 21-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #19: $1M Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $1,000,000 | $ 25,500 |
| Tue 21-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #20: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Wed 22-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #21: $1M Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $1,000,000 | $ 25,500 |
| Wed 22-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #22: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Thu 23-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #23: $1M Gtd [PLO, 6-Max] | $1,000,000 | $ 25,500 |
| Thu 23-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #24: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Fri 24-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #25: $1M Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $1,000,000 | $ 25,500 |
| Fri 24-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #26: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sat 25-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #27: $1M Gtd [NLH, 8-Max] | $1,000,000 | $ 25,500 |
| Sat 25-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #28: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
| Sun 26-Apr-20 | 13:00 | 18:00 | Poker Masters #29: $2M Gtd [NLH, 8-Max, MAIN EVENT] | $2,000,000 | $ 51,000 |
| Sun 26-Apr-20 | 16:00 | 21:00 | Poker Masters #30: $250K Gtd [NLH, 6-Max] | $250,000 | $ 10,300 |
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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