The world is slowly getting back to normal after the global corona virus pandemic caused a massive lockdown that disrupted day to day life and brought multiple businesses and industries to a standstill. One of the industries that suffered the most is the casino industry.
The closure of casinos all around the world automatically resulted in live poker operators suspending their tours. The top poker operators were able to switch to online poker and keep their players busy. However, millions of poker players are eager to return to the live poker circuit and are looking to see which poker operator will lead the way.
WPT Plans Return In Asia 
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is right up there with the biggest and most popular live poker operators in the world. The WPT under the leadership of CEO Adam Pliska teamed up with partypoker during the shutdown and has run a number of successful online poker festivals – one of which was the WPT Online Series.
The WPT is keen to get back to live poker action but Pliska knows that it will be tough to do in America as things stand. A number of poker rooms in the country reopened with strict regulations but did not have a lot of success because a few of them were forced to close down due to a spike in COVID-19 cases while other poker rooms were unable to bring in as many players as before due to the restrictions.
This is why the WPT is looking to make its return to the live poker tournament scene by re-launching operations in Asia. The WPT has strengthened its brand value in Asia during the last couple of years and has a found a lot of success in the Asian continent. There is no indication as to which Asian country will play hosts to the first relaunched WPT live poker tournament. However, if one were to take a wild guess, it could be the Philippines.
Once the WPT launches live poker in Asia, it will then turn its attention to Europe. Kings Casino in Rozvadov which has the biggest online poker room in Europe has opened for business and so have a number of other casinos in other EU nations. The WPT will keep the United States last on its list of live poker relaunches, as current conditions and regulations make it difficult to plan and proceed with a live poker schedule.
Pliska confirmed that the WPT is doing everything it can to get back to live poker action. However, their hands are tied when it comes to America as travel restrictions and lockdown measures make it difficult to plan a large WPT poker festival.
WPT World Online Championships
The WPT is making up for the loss of live poker action by putting together some mammoth online poker festivals. The current online poker festival that players will be eager to participate in is the WPT World Online Championships which has over $100 million in guaranteed prize money waiting to be won.
The WPT has partnered with partypoker for this event and will make some tweaks to the format to give the online poker edition as much of a live poker feel as possible. One of these tweaks will require players to use their real names instead of online poker handles.
Pliska is very pleased with the partnership with partypoker and the success of these major online poker events. He confirmed that even when the WPT returns to live poker action, the company will continue to work with partypoker to host these massive online poker festivals.
The WPT has felt the impact of the coronavirus lockdown but Pliska confirmed that the operator is in a strong position financially because of their business model where they have diversified interests. Poker pros who are missing WPT live poker action, should check out some of the WPT online poker action.