The Groupe Bernard Tapie has had their names all over the poker news lately. It began with their potential purchase of the massive online poker site, Full Tilt Poker, and now has shifted to the brand new International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT). This event will kick off at Wembley Stadium in London, England, and could potentially be one of the most impressive poker tournaments in history. The group has reported that they plan on having the event feature a mind-blowing $30 million guaranteed prize pool, and will pay out $10 million to the player who is able to beat out the field and win the final event.
The real question is how this event will be able to pay out a $30 million guaranteed prize pool. This can be answered in the fact that the Groupe Bernard Tapie is actually expecting the event to draw in between 20,000 and 30,000 players. They aren’t planning for these events to get underway too soon though, as the anticipated date for the first event is around September 2012.
One of the most interesting things about this event is how it will be laid out. It will do both online poker and live poker in the event, and players will actually play with software on electronic pads in the stadium to start with. After that, when the field is narrowed down to about 3,000 players; the event will change over to a live tournament with all of the players participating at different tables on the actual field itself. The event then goes down to the final table (which will consist of ten players), with the final table paying out an incredible $17.5 million among the ten players.
The expectation of this event (with the combination of the Groupe Bernard Tapie’s possible purchase of Full Tilt), is that they could combine the Full Tilt Poker software in some way with the ISPT events. This could be an excellent way for players to satellite their way into the ISPT as well, making the buy-in much more affordable for many players.
The information is listed on the actual ISPT website, as well as an advertisement that gives you a more in-depth look at what will go on at these massive events.