partypoker LIVE has announced plans to organise a €1m GTD €2,200 buy-in Nordic Poker Championships as part of the annual poker festivities in Prague, Czech Republic.
#7 of Mike Sexton’s ten-point plan when he joined partypoker as Chairman was to develop partypoker LIVE to become the largest live poker tour in the world.
It seems, when you drill down into the nitty gritty of that plan, expanding their reach into the niche tours is a significant milestone.
Yesterday, partypoker LIVE announced plans to host the 2017 Nordic Poker Championships. It’s a move that’s aligned with the signing of the Norwegian duo of Johnny Lodden and Thomas Udness to help promote the brand in the Nordic regions.
Both Lodden and Udness signed for partypoker after a serving for PokerStars. PokerStars themselves have made previous head roads into the Nordic markets, most notably in 2016 when the PokerStars live arm Global Poker Tours Ltd organised the Norwegian Championships.
The 2017 Nordic Poker Championships is a restricted event. Only players holding a Nordic passport, or can prove residential status in a Nordic country, can participate.
And they will have to travel.
“Due to regulatory restrictions that govern live poker events in the Nordics, we decided to run the Nordic Poker Championships in Prague this year,” partypoker Managing Director, Tom Waters, told me this morning. “We are considering alternative options for future years but have no concrete plans at this stage. Prague is a beautiful city and will provide a fitting location for the debut of the Nordic Poker Championships. We are hopeful that the Nordic players will make the short flight to Prague for what promises to be a great festive event.”
The event takes place 14-18 December, making Prague the smart choice, as PokerStars will be in town for their PokerStars Championship 7-18 December, meaning Nordic players will be as bountiful as worms on topsoil in the rain.
The 2017 Nordic Poker Championship is a €2,200 buy-in event with a €1m Guarantee. The Grandior Hotel Prague will act as host. partypoker has already begun hosting online qualifiers for the event. Flights are not included in the package, but the first 50 who win a seat will have their flight costs taken care of, so get cracking.
There will be two starting flights on Fri 15 Dec, Day 2 16 Dec, Day 3 17 Dec, and partypoker will crown a winner Monday 18 December.
partypoker LIVE President John Duthie said: “Prague is such a great place to be in December – great festive atmosphere – and the influx of hundreds of Nordic players is certainly going to add to that. Nordic players are not just excellent at poker, but are also pretty good at partying so this will certainly be a fun event.”
If I was a betting man, I would put a few bob on partypoker LIVE following up this announcement with a partypoker LIVE Prague event sometime in December.
