A week ago, we brought you information about a new feature introduced by the WSOP. They brought us a new stop, which is called WSOP Paradise and will take place in December in the Bahamas. However, the attentive viewer must have missed one important detail.
The organizers have announced that WSOP Paradise will take place from December 3 to December 14, and that's a pretty unfortunate date. Why? If you're a poker fan and you know the dates of the various World Series by heart, you'll not have missed the fact that EPT Prague is taking place from 6.12. to 17.12., and at the same time the WPT World Championship will take place in Las Vegas from 12.12. to 20.12.
WSOP Paradise, which offers 15 bracelets and 50 million in guarantees, is a pretty strong contender here for both the EPT and WPT. However, the number of bracelets and the huge guaranteed amount are not the only problem for the EPT and WPT. WSOP Paradise will bring at least 1,000 qualifiers to the Main Event via the GG platform.
It is thus very likely that online players will also prefer GG over PS, and will try to get into the WSOP Paradise Main Event on the cheap. Although it was PS that started the qualifiers, offering players a Platinum Pass to the PSPC, this time around GG will have the upper hand thanks to the power of the GG name.
The WPT World Championship enjoyed a great deal of interest from players last year, and this year is expected to be no different. The success of the WPT was mainly due to good player service. Many players commented that it was well organised and that it was the best event they had ever played in terms of atmosphere or structure. PS also once had a reputation for great customer service, but in recent years they have been criticised by players. They've been accused of caring more about the numbers than they do about their customer's well being. However, the WSOP has also earned itself more than its share of criticism. For example, players have blamed them for the tournament structure, the rake, and they have also received a fair amount of criticism for the Main Event payout structure.
The WPT World Championship is mainly aimed at players from the USA, who will surely come to Las Vegas rather than the Bahamas or Prague, so it is not expected that WSOP Paradise will be significantly threatened by this event. However, the aforementioned EPT Prague may have a problem, as it is very popular with players from more than just Europe every year, so the announcement of WSOP Paradise is certainly the biggest problem for the EPT. Most players prefer winning a gold bracelet to winning an EPT title, and so this year most players may just move to the Bahamas.
Finally, we have to mention one more event and that is the PS Caribbean Adventure, which usually takes place at the beginning of the year also in the Bahamas. It's quite possible that players won't want to travel to the Bahamas in December, then return home for Christmas, and fly back to the Bahamas again in January. And so the news from the WSOP's workshop could jeopardize even that stop.
What do you think of the WSOP Paradise date? Will the EPT Prague suffer the most from all this or do you think it won't have a bigger negative impact? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Pokernews, Pokerstrategy, PS, WSOP, WPT, EPT
