With its 20-year anniversary season wrapping up, the World Poker Tour (WPT) is looking ahead to 2023 and announced a new partnership with France’s TexaPoker “to present a strong offering of WPT Prime festivals in Western Europe.”
The two-year partnership with TexaPoker, a French tournament operator that was founded in 2008, pledges three poker series each year in 2023 and 2024. The announcement comes on the tail end of a successful 20th anniversary for WPT that will culminate with the upcoming $15 million guaranteed WPT World Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas.
“Even amidst an incredible 20th-anniversary season, we are preparing for our progression into 2023,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said in a press release. “Partnering with TexaPoker provides us with a wonderful opportunity to return the WPT brand to the French market.”
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Tournaments in France and Italy
WPT Prime will kick off the Season XXI live tour schedule on Jan. 22 with a festival series at Club Circus Paris in France, which will feature the €1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Paris Main Event running Feb. 1-5.
Later in the year, WPT Prime Sanremo will take place at Casinò di Sanremo in Sanremo, Italy from June 5-11. The casino, which is located near the southwestern border of France, is the same venue that hosted a 2018 WPTDeepStacks event.
The final of the three tournaments will be WPT Prime Aix-en-Provence at Pasino Grand in Aix-en-Provence, France, which will take place Oct. 9-15.
For both WPT Prime Paris and WPT Prime Aix-en-Provence, PMU.fr will run online satellite tournaments to give French players a chance to win seats into the $1,100 buy-in championship events.
“Eleven years after my first WPT partnership, I am very pleased and proud to work with this brand and to run three stops in France and Italy,” TexaPoker Chairman and CEO Apo Chantzis said in the press release.
The WPT team is currently in southern Florida for the 2022 WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO) at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where PokerNews is on-site to report on the festival action.
Some of the early winners at the RRPO include AJ Kelsall (Event #5: $600 HORSE for $13,625), Salvatore Pipitone (Event #9: $600 Limit Omaha 8 for $16,900) and Michael Newman (Event #18: $400 Deep Stack Turbo NLH for $7,136).
For more information about upcoming WPT events, visit WPT.com.
WPT/TexaPoker 2023 Schedule
| DATE | FESTIVAL | CITY | VENUE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 22-Feb. 5 | WPT Prime Paris | Paris, France | Club Circus Paris | |
| June 5-11 | WPT Prime Sanremo | Sanremo, Italy | Casinò di Sanremo | |
| Oct. 9-15 | WPT Prime Aix-en-Provence | Aix-en-Provence, France | Pasino Grand |