World Poker Tour Announces WPT Japan

The World Poker Tour has joined forces with the Japan Poker Union Corporation and has scheduled a tour stop for Tokyo on November 23-26, marking the first time ever that the WPT will host an event on Japanese soil.

The new WPT Japan will consist of four tournaments, with qualifiers for the events to be played at local poker venues. But before you pack your bags for the Land of the Rising Sun, be forewarned that the November events will not offer prize pools in the traditional sense.

A New Chapter

The prizes available at WPT Japan events are limited to packages to future WPT tournaments at other locations. The reason for this is the gambling industry in Japan remains in a state of flux, but may someday achieve permanence with regard to legality.

Therefore, the WPT Japan Main Event champion can expect to be rewarded with a package to the Season XVII WPT Main Tour event in Beijing, as well as another WPT event somewhere in the Asia-Pacific.

“The World Poker Tour is the perfect brand to help launch a new chapter for poker in our country," said Japan Poker Union Corporation rep Yabuuchi Nobuhiro. "We look forward to hosting players from all over at WPT Japan and showcasing all that this great region has to offer.”

WPT Japan tournaments will also be part of the WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year leaderboard, with a $15,000 package to any WPT Main Tour, WPTDeepStacks, or WPT500 up for grabs. PoY runners-up will also benefit via a $3,500 buy-in to the Season XVII WPT Beijing Main Event for 2nd place, while the 3rd place PoY finisher will get one entry to the WPTDeepStacks Main Event and another to the WPT500.

The Big Picture

"The Japanese poker market is a flourishing one that deserves to be showcased on a global stage such as the World Poker Tour," stated WPT CEO Adam Pliska.

Should gambling legislation progress in Japan, we can likely expect regular tour stops by the WPT and others. However, you have to crawl before you can walk and the WPT is doing exactly that by staging a poker festival absent of prize pools under a customary payout scheme.