The International Stadium Poker Tour was announced back in October 2011, originally to take place in May 2012. After a year’s delay, removal of the original €20,000,000 guarantee (claimed as a “misunderstanding”) and numerous failures with the online “Day 1s,” leading UK Poker Room, Dusk to Dawn have stepped in and are now running the event.
I bumped into DTD’s Director of poker, Simon Trumper, at the Bar upstairs at the PokerStars EPT in London, and we had a chat about the future of the event.
Simon explained that Dusk to Dawn put on festival sized events every weekend, and have considerable experience in putting on large events (They do hold the record for the biggest live poker event in the UK, when they hosted UKIPT Nottingham last year, where 1,625 players got seated).
Simon was also able to confirm to me that the plan was still to hold the main event on the actual pitch of Wembley Stadium, and will be under cover. However, in a nod to the fantastic English weather, a back up is planned indoors, and the event can be switched to the back up in the conference centre if the weather makes playing on the pitch a bad idea. Further online Day 1s are going to be held on the Dusk to Dawn online site, and in addition, some Day 1s are going to happen live at the Nottingham venue.
The marketing strategy is also going to be amended, and recreational players are going to be targeted, with the chance to play on the hallowed turf of Wembley being a key to this. Simon also hinted that this may be people’s only opportunity to do this, and players attracted by this should grab it with both hands.
The most important change is that Dusk to Dawn have guaranteed a €1 Million 1st place prize, which will relax a lot of the players previously concerned, and makes the event a seriously attractive prospect for a lot more players. The 1st place prize will be 20% of the prize pool, and will be topped up to €1 Million if required. You can see more about the payouts and the structure at the Dusk to Dawn ISPT page.
With day 1’s costing €270+€30 online or live, and the opportunity to buy into day 2 for €2700+€300 this event is within the bank roll of most players for Day 1, and professionals will be attracted by the guaranteed 1st place, and can easily afford the buy in for Day 2.
This seems to be a win/win situation for Dusk to Dawn, as regardless if the event makes them any money, they will gain a massive amount of good will from the poker community. After the previous lack of direction from the ISPT, the strong experienced hand of Dusk to Dawn is a welcome addition to this ambitiously planned event.