Get ready for an unforgettable poker festival this summer as the renowned World Poker Tour adds a new stop to its globe-spanning tour with WPT Korea. This tournament is expected to make its mark on the beautiful island of Jeju this July. Spanning over a week and with almost 20 tournaments, this will be a worthy addition to the WPT brand. With massive prize pools and amazing titles at stake, WPT Korea promises to bring together some of the most talented poker players across the world.
Running from July 15 to 24, the WPT Korea will be held in the Jeju Shinhwa World, a beautiful hotel within the picturesque island. This location has not only become famous for being a poker paradise but also a highly sought-after vacation spot. This island is famous for its stunning natural scenery like waterfalls, beaches, and volcanic landscapes. All registered poker players will have the opportunity to enjoy this as their registration also comes with a hotel room for them to stay through the 9-day event.
WPT Korea Event Details
During this festival, there are expected to be 18 tournament events in all, each one offering a considerable prize pool and intense competition. These events are expected to get started with the WPT Korea Warmup event. This event will open the tournament on July 15 and gives players a chance to test their skills and prepare for the upcoming competition. Compared to other events, the prize pool here is smaller to give more players a chance to join. But what it lacks in size it makes up for excitement as this event will hype up players for the other exciting events.
Among the most exciting and highly anticipated events of this tournament is the Alpha8 for One drop with a prize pool of ₩170,000,000 ($127,350). This is the second event of its type to happen and will run from July 23 to July 24, 2023.
This isn’t just an important poker event, the WPT Alpha8 tournament is also a charitable event for One Drop. This organization’s mission is to provide clean water, sanitation, and other basic necessities to struggling communities. To help with this mission, a portion of the buy-in fee will go to the charity and allow them to continue their mission.
The most important of these events is the Main Event Tournament on July 17. This is where players will have the chance to compete for the coveted title of WPT Korea Champion. The Main Event is expected to have a guaranteed prize pool of ₩3,400,000 as well as the event trophy and title! That prize pool is just the current guarantee, there is a good chance the prize can go up even further if more players sign up for this event.
In between these two exciting events is the High Roller starting on July 21. This event is expected to bring some of the top high-rollers across the region to compete for the massive ₩17,000,000 ($12,735 US) prize pool.
For players and fans who cannot make the trip to Jeju Island, don’t worry as you will have the chance to watch this event online. WPT Korean will stream things like the Main Event and High Roller tournament on Youtube, Twitch, and Facebook so you can watch the event as it happens.
The Jeju Shinhwa staff seems quite excited about this tournament and has released an official statement.
“Hosting the World Poker Tour gives us another opportunity to showcase our five-star amenities and amazing city. We invite poker players from around the world to join us this summer for an amazing two weeks.”
Jenny Lim, Jeju Shinhwa World Chief Marketing Officer
WPT has been growing its Asian presence recently as they have hosted tournaments in several countries in the last few months such as the WPT Prime Vietnam in May.
To get all the exciting details of what happened in this event, you can read our post on WPT Prime Vietnam Opening.