The World Poker Tour (WPT) recently announced that it had partnered with Allied Sports – European division, ELC Gaming to launch a special poker-esports event during the WPTDeepStacks series which takes place at the Holland Casino in Valkenburg, Netherlands during October.

The WPTDeepStacks series runs from October 9 to 15 and is expected to attract some of the top European poker players. The WPT has decided to experiment with eSports, given the fact that in the last few years, thousands of poker players have expressed interest in esports games and many esports gamers have also wanted to learn more about the game of poker.

Poker-Esports Merge In Holland

This will be the first time that a live esports event will be held during a WPT series in the Netherlands and tournament organizers worldwide will be interested in seeing the response. Should the esports event turn out to be a great success, other poker tournament organizers across the world could also start experimenting with hosting esports games during their poker tournaments.

ELC Gaming will use ‘Big Betty’, its 18 wheel mobile sports arena which will be located just outside the Holland Casino to run multiple events that will give both fans and players the opportunity to win a seat at the numerous poker events or the esports competition. The company will organize special daily esports battles between local universities and the winners will receive additional prizes. There will also be a casual gaming lounge and an interactive virtual reality experience for those willing to see how esports actually works.

Ourgame International Pioneering Change

Adam Pliska, the chief executive officer of the WPT stated that it was inevitable to see a crossover between poker and esports as both industries had so many similarities. The WPT hopes that its players will enjoy the experience of having an esports tournament feature during a WPT live poker festival. The WPT and ELC Gaming are both owned by parent company Ourgame International.

Ourgame International stated that it was the right time to merge the two mindsports as they had great potential and by collaborating both companies could mutually benefit from the partnership. The company is looking to host a number of special and unique gaming events across the world and will continue to listen to player feedback to ensure that they have a great overall gaming experience.

Leon Groenewoud, the chief operating officer of ELC Gaming stated that they were happy to work with the WPT and Holland Casino for hosting this unique gaming experience. Groenewoud remains confident that players will respond well to this first ever cross-over event and states that this partnership will continue to benefit players, business partners and fans.

The WPTDeepStacks series will have its regular list of exciting events and feature a €1,100 Main Event which runs from October 12 to 15. Poker players will also be able to qualify for the WPTDeepStacks series in the Netherlands via online qualifiers which are being hosted on the WPT website.

Tags: ELC Gaming, esports, Holland Casino, Netherlands, Ourgame International, World Poker Tour

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 1st, 2017 at 6:37 am and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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