The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) Wembley ran with a €589,000 overlay. In October, organizers make sure not to lose so much on the next stop of the series.
As originally designed by Groupe Tapie, the first ever ISPT event at the Wembley Stadium should have been the biggest live tournament ever with 30,000 participants and a $30 million guaranteed prize pool. However, the idea of “guaranteed” prize pool was handled somewhat freely, first dropping it to €20 million and then eliminating it altogether. Eventually, €1,000,000 was offered for the winner of the tournament.
The constant changes, which were characteristic of not only the prize pool but also the entire event, caused most of the prospective players to stay away from the tournament. As a result, the gargantuan field melted down to only 761 entrants for a massive overlay of €589,000, a hefty sum to add to the prize pool.
Recently, ISPT has announced the next stop of the series: in Morocco, they offer a €90,000 guaranteed first prize for the €900 re-entry tournament. As the prize pool will remain far behind that of the Wembley stop, let alone the original concept, organizers dubbed the event as a “Silver” stop.
Of course, they aim to keep the prestige of the series, so they named the tournament ISPT Silver – Tanger Millionaire Maker; even though it is not very clear who can become a millionaire, where the winner is guaranteed €90,000. Maybe if we count it in Morocco Dirham.
To top it all, the upcoming International Stadiums Poker Tour stop will not be held in a stadium, either, but at Casino Tanger, running 30 October through 3 November.
