Canada continues to attract major poker series and that once again includes the World Poker Tour coming to Montreal in May after being off the schedule for a few years.
The company recently announced that the WPT Montreal series will bring three championship events across a 14-day festival to the city’s Playground Poker Club. The announcement expands the tour’s 22nd season and builds on a long relationship with the property. Along with the three championship events, players will also find numerous other side events as well.
“It is a tremendous success to have a Playground festival back on the WPT schedule,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said. “We look forward to returning to Canada and have a lot in store with events spanning multiple World Poker Tour levels.”
Details on the Series
The announcement of the WPT series follows news that the World Series of Poker Circuit will debut at the Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto this month. That series got underway on Friday and now Canadian players have another major poker festival to circle on the calendar.
The WPT Montreal festival features an overall guarantee of $3.5 million in prize money and runs from May 9-22. The $3,500 buy-in WPT Montreal Championship highlights the series and comes with a prize pool guarantee of $2 million. That tournament is set for May 16-20.
“We’re buzzing with excitement as WPT Montreal returns to Playground!” Playground CEO Phil Sabbah said. “It’s more than just a tournament; it’s where history is made. Since our landmark inaugural event in 2012, Playground has been the backdrop for groundbreaking moments in poker, including crowning the first female champion in a WPT open event and witnessing the legendary Mike Sexton secure his first WPT Championship. Every time we come together, magic happens, and I can’t wait to see what unfolds this May.”
Along with the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, a shot at securing the WPT Prime Cup trophy is also up for grabs during the series. The $1,150 WPT Prime Montreal Championship is scheduled for May 12-17 and comes with a $1 million guarantee.
The cameras will be rolling for both the Main Tour Prime championships, with both events featuring a televised final table on May 21 and May 22. The final table action will also be streamed live on the WPT YouTube and Twitch channels.
While there have been a couple festivals over the last two years at the property in conjunction with the WPT Global online poker brand, the last WPT Main Tour event was held at the property in 2019. Geoff Hum, of Halifa, Nova Scotia, came out on top in that event for a first-place prize of $500,000. The tournament saw 1,109 entries for a $3.3 million prize pool.
That series also featured WPT500 and WPTDeepStacks (now known as WPT Prime). Ontario’s Bradley Smith took the WPT500 titles for $102,733 in an event that produced a field of 2,135 players and a $1 million prize pool. The DeepStacks event saw England’s Jack Salter grab the top spot for $151,220 after seeing the tournament bring in 596 entries for a $863,400 prize pool.
More Events to Watch Out For
The WPT500 will also be highlighted during the festival. This is the tour’s lower buy-in series with buy-ins priced at around $500. The WPT500 Championship event runs from May 9-13 and should draw in a nice player field as well.
That event is followed on May 14 by a meet-up game hosted by popular poker vlogger and WPT ambassador Brad Owen. WPT Global, which is available in Canada, will play a large role in the festival by running starting flights for the WPT500 and WPT Prime events. These flights will qualify players for a Day 2 berth to the live arena.
The online poker site will also host numerous satellites for players to win their way into all three championship events. The site is also hosting special Sunday tournaments throughout Match and April in conjunction with Playground Poker Club. Players in these events have a chance to compete for leaderboard standings with $4,000 in prizes up for grabs.
Additionally, the tour’s subscription poker site ClubWPT will send three qualifiers to compete in the $3,500 championship event. The site is available to players throughout the United States and the WPT regularly sends players from the platform to various WPT events around the world.
For more information on upcoming Canadian poker series, click here.
* All figures are in Canadian dollars.
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