WPT Adds to Summer Las Vegas Tournament Poker Scene With Venetian Stop; Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Dates Also Announced
Players looking for even more poker in Las Vegas this summer received some welcome news on Tuesday. The World Poker Tour announced another stop on the tour’s 20th anniversary season with the $5,000 WPT Venetian beginning July 12.
The tournament comes with a $4 million guarantee, the largest ever for a WPT event at the Venetian. The event adds to an already packed summer schedule in Las Vegas.
“We look forward to continuing to build upon our storied history of premier tournament poker at the Venetian Resort this summer,” tour CEO Adam Pliska said in a news release. “I am confident that players will be impressed by our joint efforts with the Venetian to make this event bigger and better than ever.”
In other WPT news, the tour also announced a stop at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa in Florida later this year.
More WPT action on tap at Venetian
Beyond the championship event, players will find additional WPT events from July 7-17 as part of the Venetian DeepStack Championship Poker Series. That action begins with a one-day $1,100 buy-in event.
Other notable tournaments include a $2,400 three-day event beginning July 8. Another single-day $1,100 tournament follows on July 11.
Participants in all WPT events in the DeepStack Championship Series are eligible for the WPT Player of the Festival leaderboard. The winner earns a $1,100 WPT Passport, which can be used in other WPT events.
“We’ve created another exciting summer for poker players at The Venetian Resort,” Venetian tournament director Tommy LaRosa said. “The DeepStack Championship Poker Series is a must-play series every summer and adding four WPT events furthers our commitment to offering our players as many options as possible when planning their summers in Las Vegas.”
The most recent WPT Venetian tournament ran in July 2021. The $5,000 Main Event approached 1,200 entries for a prize pool of over $5.5 million. Chad Eveslage of Muncie, Indiana, scored the title for $910,370.
Since the first Main Tour stop at the property in 2019, WPT events have cleared millions of dollars in prize pools. WPT’s $5,000 events in March and July of 2021 cleared $4 million and $5 million prize pools, respectively.
Beyond traditional satellites at the property, players can qualify for the WPT Venetian at ClubWPT. This is the tour’s subscription online poker site, which will award two $7,000 Main Event packages in April.
Even more Vegas poker at Venetian this summer
The WPT adds to a hearty DeepStack Series running May 2 – July 31 for three straight months of poker action. The WPT now becomes a major part of that.
The tour’s addition only adds even more Vegas poker action this summer. With the World Series of Poker wrapping up July 21, the WPT Venetian offers another opportunity for a nice score for players exiting the Main Event, which runs July 3-16.
The entire DeepStack Series features buy-ins from $300 to $10,000 with mostly No Limit Hold’em events. A few Omaha tournaments are also on the schedule.
Players will find plenty of six-and seven-figure guarantees with two Mid-States Poker Tour events also playing out. The first of those, a $1,600 NLHE, starts on June 6 with a $2 million guarantee. A $1,100 NLHE is then set for June 16 with a $1.5 million guarantee.
The Venetian’s $1,600 DeepStack championship also runs June 29 – July 3 with $1.5 million guaranteed. For a complete look at the series, see USPoker’s Summer Tournament Guide.
Tour also heading back to Florida
Along with a return to the Venetian, the tour also announced another event heading to Seminole Hard Rock Tampa.
The event marks the seventh time the property has hosted a tour event. The series runs Aug. 25 – Sept. 6 with the $3,500 main event set for Sept. 2-7.
“We are pleased to be continuing the successful tradition of WPT events at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa,” Pliska said. “Feedback from players has been overwhelmingly positive and this year’s event promises to be one of the most popular events of the season.”
In June, the Tampa championship prize pool topped $3.7 million and broke multiple records for a Seminole event. Brian Altman took the top spot for his third WPT title.
This event also features a Player of the Festival leaderboard, with a $1,100 WPT Prime Passport on the line.
“Our players have always shown enthusiasm for WPT events,” Seminole Tampa director of poker Pablo Perez said. “It is going to be an exciting summer of poker here in Tampa, and players should look forward to the release of the full tournament schedule.”