The World Poker Tour (WPT) made two significant announcements yesterday and not only was China at the centre of both – they also both happened to take us by surprise.
The big one, of course, was the acquisition of the WPT by Chinese social gaming company Ourgame Holdings for US$35 million in what looks to be a terrific deal for the WPT’s former owners bwin.party. Ourgame and the WPT have worked together in running WPT National Sanya since 2012 and only last year announced a partnership which saw Ourgame hold exclusive rights to run and promote WPT events in Asia. They also provide a huge platform from which the WPT can build on its efforts to expand in the social media space, as WPT President Adam Pliska told us in a lengthy interview in the Nov/Dec 2014 issue of WGM.
While the timing of the announcement caught many off-guard, it was another comment that we found particularly interesting yesterday with Pliska stating in an interview with PokerNews that WPT Sanya would go ahead in 2015.
It was less than three months ago that the APPT Nanjing Millions was shut down by police and organizers arrested, which naturally had most in the poker community assuming the dream of live poker in China had been shut down with it.
WPT President Adam Pliska
“We’ll continue our events in Sanya,” Pliska told PokerNews. “The massive amounts of people that will now have social gaming in Asia and China that is branded with the World Poker Tour is amazing. This is one of those markets where people are enthusiastic, and it’s one of those markets where people are very enthusiastic about social gaming. We’ll be able to get critical mass, which is really tough, because they have platform that allows a big degree to get it.”
Pliska also outlined potential plans for other events to be held in Mainland China in the future. Will it happen? Can it happen? Time will tell and we’ll be fascinated to see how it all plays out. WPT National Sanya 2015 is scheduled to run from 28 October to 3 November!
