For poker players the world over the moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived as the impressive International Stadiums of Poker Tour (ISPT) date is out. May 31st to June 6th 2013 at the Wembley Stadium is the date for what will see 2119 “registrated” players take part in the €20,000,000 prize pool. The concept is a weird one to say the least and has sparked fierce debate since the first announcement late last year.
This is where the first doubt flies into your mind as a photo posted on 2+2’s forums by KevMath showed that 6119 players had originally “registrated” only for the number to plummet within hours of the announcement being made. That’s far from the most amazing claim though.
Further details have emerged from Groupe Bernard Tapie and it will reputedly see 30,000 players playing online at Wembley Stadium using their tablets. This will be whittled down to 3,000 who will then take to the pitch to play on real felt tables and battle it out for the chance to win a chunk of the €20,000,000. The fact that poker tables will be set out on the pitch is bizarre to say the least.
Looking at the stadium’s schedule of events around the days mentioned, the UEFA Champions League Final is on the 25th May 2013 and then the Championship Playoff Final on the 27th May 2013. Most years the England national team play a game on the weekend the tournament takes place as well.
TO RIO AND BEYOND
We reached out to the organizers and Camille Bories, part of their editorial team, confirmed to CalvinAyre.com that Wembley have “confirmed” the first event will be there from May 31st May to June 6th 2013. In terms of the numbers mentioned above, they expect to have at least “20,000 to 30,000” but it’s where they’re planning to go in the future that perhaps most intriguing.
“ISPT wants to do one event per year, but no dates for the moment. We are interesting about big stadiums like Camp Nou in Barcelona, Maracanã in Rio, and maybe in United States when the online poker legislation will be fine,” Bories told CalvinAyre.com.
The project doesn’t lack anything in ambition and if it actually ends up taking place like they say it well then we’ll be very impressed. Just imagine it now – playing poker in front of a 90,000 all-seater stadium for the chance to bag a piece of €20,000,000. Is that all too unrealistic though?
When you dub yourselves as “The Biggest Poker Tournament Ever” and stage your inaugural tournament at the same time as the World Series of Poker many will speculate that you’re setting yourself for a fall. For now we just wait to see if the first one goes off without a hitch…or if it actually ends up happening at all.
