ShareThe World Poker Tour has joined up with Virgin Voyages to offer a permanent world-class poker room aboard their cruise ship Scarlet Lady.
The “WPT At Sea” poker room will boast eight custom-made poker tables offering cash games, satellites and WPT Prize Package tournaments. Buy-ins will range from $80 to $320, and there will be beginner training sessions for cruise passengers new to the game.
Although poker cruises are from new, the WPT-Virgin Voyages partnership is a first-of-its-kind permanent branded cardroom, which will see the Scarlet Lady embark on 4- and 5-day cruises out of the ship’s homeport of Miami, Florida,
WPT CEO Adam Pliska was enthusiastic about the partnership, saying: “After witnessing the magic of cruise-line poker with Virgin Voyages last season, we instantly sought to establish a permanent fixture.”
He added: “Scarlet Lady provides the perfect residence for WPT at Sea, which will bring the WPT poker experience to the high seas.”
Tom McAlpin, CEO of Virgin Voyages, stated: “As a new brand with an innovative spirit, we’ve been fortunate to introduce many industry firsts, including our partnership with the World Poker Tour and WPT at Sea.”
He added: “Our adult-only, premium experience offers an incredible backdrop, not only for a great vacation, but also as an oasis for the WPT in a way never seen before.”
The $320 buy-in “WPT at Sea” Main Event will be the flagship tournament during each sailing and, depending on entries, will be looking to award a $5k WPT prize package which may be used on any future voyage or WPT event.
In another first, the WPT at Sea poker adventure is a cashless environment, with all players sporting wearable devices that affords “seamless handling of all transactions”.
On both the 4- and 5-day cruises, days when the ship is embarking or in port will see evening poker sessions from 8.30pm until closing.
Events will include:
- $60 buy-in WPT at Sea Virgin Quickie (with 12% of the field paid).
- $80 buy-in WPT at Sea Main Event Satellite (1 in 5 wins a Main Event ticket for the current cruise).
- $120 buy-in WPT at Sea Vegas Baby (possible $1100 WPT Package)
- $320 buy-in WPT at Sea Main Event (possible $5k WPT Package)
- Complimentary 20-minute No Limit Texas Hold’em lessons
- WPT at Sea Cash Games (Min. $100 buy-in)
For those who can’t get enough of the game, WPT Global – the World Poker Tour’s online poker portal – will offer passengers even more choices.
