After partnering with Chili Poker to start a new land-based tournament in Marrakech last week, WPT is now moving north to Italy. In a press release this Monday, WPT has announced that it is teaming up with bwin to launch WPT Venice. Bwin is one of the marquee web poker rooms that are part of the Ongame Network. For those who don’t know, the Ongame Network is the 5th largest network in the world in terms of player volume in real money games (as per the ratings in the ranking site PokerScout.com).

According to current projections, the action will happen in Casino di Venezia, located on the scenic Grand Canal. The old heritage city will host a high stake poker between May 6th and 13th, with the final table being an online televised event in bwin’s website. After finalizing the deal, a thrilled WPT Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb said "We’re thrilled to launch our first ever brick and mortar WPT tournament offering in Italy. bwin is a strong partner with the right market position in the region. We look forward to working with them to bring this event and the WPT brand to poker players in Italy and Europe.”

The main event of WPT has a buy-in of €4,400. The eventual champion would take home a commemorative bracelet, plus a whooping $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship, an event held in Bellagio in Las Vegas, come every April. Reasoning his company’s decision to act as a sponsor for the Venice event, Co-CEO of bwin, Manfred Bodner said "Partnering with the World Poker Tour illustrates our dedication to establishing bwin as the premier gaming destination for poker players eager to live the dream of participating in multi-million [dollar] brick and mortar poker tournaments."

For players, the new partnership offers a windfall of prizes and offers to them. The official sponsor and the online poker room are offering $8,700 worth prize packages to WPT Venice. This includes the tournament buy-in plus five nights in a five-star hotel in the lagoon, plus one package daily and two packages in the online finals thrice a week. The hotel recommendations given by the WPT portal include the €300 per night five-star Danieli, and three-star hotel Belle Epoque, where a nights stay costs €150.

Anticipating heavy rush, organizers have decided to give the tournament two starting days, in order to accommodate more players. The second floor, where press conferences and board meetings are usually held, will be used for the tournament, as per the portal.