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PTWPT Teams Up With ELC Gaming To Launch First Ever Poker & eSports Event
Poker players in Europe were looking forward to the World Poker Tour (WPT) visiting the Netherlands in October as the WPT had put together a one week long exciting poker festival. The WPTDeepStacks series is taking place at the Holland Casino in Valkenburg and will run from October 9-15. The highlight of the event was expected to be the €1,100 Main Event which starts on October 12 and finishes on October 15.
However another event is also generating a lot of excitement in both the poker and esports industries. The WPT announced that it had teamed up with Allied Sports’s European Arm, ELC Gaming to host its first ever integrated poker and eSports event during the WPTDeepStacks series. Ourgame International, the parent company of Allied Sports and the WPT said that it given the growing popularity of the esports industry and the similarities between esports and poker it was just a matter of time before the two came together.
For the last few years, the esports industry has generated a significant amount of interest with the younger generation of poker players who have been happy to crossover and use their skills playing eSports. eSports operators have released a number of first-person shooter (FPS) games and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games that require a gaming strategy and quick decision making, which is some of the key skills that poker players rely on.
The crossover has also been evident as esports gamers have also started learning how to play poker. This unique event hosted by the WPT is expected to further bridge the gap and provide players from both industries with a better and improved gaming experience.
In a statement, Frank Ng, CEO of Ourgame International said
This is an inspiring time in both poker and esports, the two mindsports that have only begun to realize their enormous collaboration potential. With prominent businesses in poker and esports, Ourgame is uniquely positioned to raise the bar with a new breed of events across the globe to give all of our players more of what they want
WPT CEO Adam Pliska was also excited to partner with ELC Gaming and launch its first collaborative event at the WPTDeepStacks series. Pliska said that the company decided to choose one of its popular WPT Live poker festivals to introduce this collaborative event as it would enable the company to quickly measure its success based on real time player feedback and reactions.
