ClubWPT.com: Online poker alternative site

May 3rd, 2011 by Hayley Mather

ClubWPT.com: Online poker alternative site

Many Bay Area onlinepoker players who are still reeling from the federal government’s move to shutter the four largest onlinepoker sites serving U.S. customers have set their sights on viable online alternatives. One option: a new offering from the World Poker Tour, ClubWPT.com.

The site is a subscriptionbased onlinepoker room. Players pay $19.95 a month and compete for cash, prizes and seats in WPT events. Because the site takes on a sweepstakes format (instead of a straightup wagering format), it is legal. Steve Heller, CEO of the WPT, says this distinguishes it from other legal poker alternatives that offer competition for pretend prizes and incentives that don’t actually exist.

“ClubWPT.com offers real poker players a chance for real poker because something’s at stake,” he says. “If something’s not at stake, it’s not real poker.”

According to Heller, the club works much like the lottery: Members pay their monthly fee to play for prizes. Beyond the monthly subscription fee, players can’t lose any money because they don’t wager anything.

Last month, for instance, a player won a seat in the WPT Hollywood Poker Open through ClubWPT.com. The player who hails from central Mississippi played well enough to make the televised final table against the likes of eighttime WSOP winner Erik Seidel and 2010 Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Tom Marchese.

Not bad for $20 a month.

It’s not clear how many local players have flocked to this particular site in recent weeks, but Justin Simon, a spokesman for the WPT, says the model is drawing players from all over the country.

One benefit of ClubWPT.com is how the site handles payouts. Online players have been hesitant to move to sites such as DoylesRoom.com or Cake Poker because of questions regarding the paymentprocessing services those sites use. At ClubWPT.com, however, winnings are sent through the WPT’s own checkwriting service. Once a player claims his or her prize and goes through the verification process, the player is sent a check.

A downside to the new approach: For those players accustomed to the adrenaline rush of highstakes, noholdsbarred, NoLimit online cash games, very little of the ClubWPT.com experience feels the same.

Furthermore, if you have trouble sitting still, this game and really online poker in general is not for you.

The bottom line is that ClubWPT.com is a great diversion for most players, but really isn’t an option for topechelon online poker players who grind out sixfigure months. Considering how much money many Bay Area gamblers were investing in onlinepoker, it certainly can’t hurt to try this new approach.

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