November will see the World Poker Tour come back to Tokyo for the WPT Japan, co-hosted by the Japan eSports Union.

The WPT has committed to a 100,000,000 ($671,244) guarantee for the 5,000 ($34) buy-in event.

The WPT Japan will play out in a hybrid OnLive format. This means that players can enter multiple online Day 1s on WPT Global with the Day 1 survivors then coming together for the live portion of the tournament at the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building Triangle Square in Tokyo starting on November 23.

The live phase will play down to a winner over three days. Players can also max late reg directly into the live phase.

Among the first players to sign up for direct live event entry was WPT Ambassador Phil Ivey.

Phil Ivey To Attend

Ivey will be playing the event as part of his ambassadorial duties, making this one of the cheapest ways you can play with the poker legend. Usually only seen at high-roller tournaments and high-stakes cash games, Ivey was among the first players to cough up the 5,000 buy-in for the live event.

Ivey said of the event that he was looking forward to playing in WPT Japan." Ivey also added that he believed the “record prize pool” would bring in “solid competition.”

The WPT also claims that Ivey will be joined by several other celebrity players. The exact names are still to be confirmed.

JeSU Is Our Co-Host

As part of an effort to promote poker in Japan, the WPT has partnered with the Japanese Esports Union (JeSU).

JeSU was set up in 2018 with the goal of professionalizing the Japanese esports industry and growing the Japanese esports community.

The WPT is also working with Hiroyuki Irie, from Samurai Partners Co, Ltd, who is in charge of overseeing the WPT Japan. Irie expressed a cautious hope that events like the WPT would help grow poker in Japan.

In managing the WPT domestic tournament this time," Irie said. “I am working to spread poker culture through various unprecedented initiatives.

The Japanese poker market has plenty of room to grow, the country currently has very limited legalization of gambling. However, the Japanese government has shown signs of expanding legalization, even going so far as to grant licenses to build several integrated casino resorts throughout the country.

New OnLive Format

OnLive seems to be a term the poker world needs to get used to, with several major tournament series adopting the format for individual events this year. Players have the option of playing a Day 1 of online poker or max late registering directly into Day 2 (the first live day of the tourney).

The final 15% of players from each Day 1 flight will have their stacks carried overwith the natural chipping-up processinto the live stage of the game.

The buy-in of 5,000 is the same for both live and online options. However, online players can also take advantage of online qualifiers to win their way in for as little as 1,000 ($6.71).

These qualifiers run daily at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Japanese Standard Time starting from November 18.

Enter the WPT Japan On WPT Global?

To play in a WPT Japan online Day 1 or to enter the online qualifier tournaments, you will need to download WPT Global and sign up for an account.

When you do so through PokerNews, you can take advantage of a generous 100% matched deposit bonus worth up to $1,200. You will also receive some tournament tickets based on how much you deposit.

The full bonus package options are as follows:

Once signed up, you can then play WPT Japan qualifiers and Day 1s. You can also gain access to PokerNews exclusive freerolls by joining the PokerNews discord to get the weekly freeroll passwords.

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