Coronavirus Forces Changes to World Poker Tour Asia Schedule
The World Poker Tour has taken the extraordinary step of cancelling the Season XVIII WPT Vietnam event, due to take place next month, and postponing the inaugural WPT Taiwan Event it says due to the current uncertainty surrounding hosting events in the region.
According to World Poker Tour Live Event Specialist Danny McDonagh's Facebook page, the Coronoavirus has had serious repercussions for the World Poker Tour's Asia schedule.
This comes in the wake of Triton Poker postponing their High Roller event in Jeju, and Macau ordering all of the casinos in the Chinese-autonomous region to suspend their operations for two weeks.
According to the announcement, the World Poker Tour has taken the decision to "take a break" from upcoming events in Asia.
We have come to the conclusion that it is best for WPT to take a break from events in Asia these next three months until a clearer picture about the spread of the Corona Virus, and the ability to safely hold the events, can be determined.
Accordingly we will be cancelling our 2nd Season XVIII WPT Vietnam event and postponing the inaugural WPT Taiwan event to May 14 to 24, which will become our final event of Season XVIII counting towards Asia Pacific Player of the Year.
We once again ask for your understanding of this decision, as we feel it is better to give players some surety as to our plans now.
According to the announcement, the season-ending WPT Taiwan event will be moved to May 14 to 24.
The tour is currently in the middle of the WPT Philippines Main Event at the Okada Manila, an event which has already been affected by the worldwide health scare. The Main Event Guarantee of PHP20 Million has been reduced to PHP12 Million after the President of the Philippines released a directive temporarily banning non-Filipino citizens travelling directly from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau into the Philippines.
Full WPT Asia Pacific Season XVIII Schedule
| Dates | Event | Venue | Entries | Prizepool (USD) | Winner | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 6-11, 2019 | WPT Vietnam | Pro Poker Club (Ho Chi Minh City) | 373 | $646,512 | Hamish Crawshaw | $163,922 |
| Sept. 14-16, 2019 | WPT Japan | Hotel Gajoen (Tokyo) | 541 | WPT Passports worth $33,000 | Junheng Situ | $13,000 WPT Passport |
| Sept. 20-23, 2019 | WPT Korea | Paradise City Hotel & Resort (Incheon) | 350 | $427,927 | Tadashi Takei | $90,896 |
| Oct. 4-7, 2019 | WPT Australia | The Star Gold Coast (Broadbeach) | 658 | $996,212 | Hari Varma | $184,537 |
| Oct. 18-21, 2019 | WPT India | Deltin Royale Casino (Goa) | 630 | $463,464 | Ashish Munot | $89,576 |
| Nov. 21-25, 2019 | WPT Cambodia | Nagaworld (Samdech) | 750 | $727,500 | Brian Touglas | $131,430 |
| Feb. 14-17, 2020 | WPT Philippines | Okada (Manila) | ONGOING | |||
| March 17-21, 2020 | WPT Vietnam | Pro Poker Club (Ho Chi Minh City) | CANCELLED | |||
| April 1-5, 2020 | WPT Taiwan | Chinese Texas Hold'em Poker Association (Taipei) | POSTPONED |
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
