Yorky Pud

“Your life can change in one second. The second you win the biggest poker event ever.” That is the punchline accompanying a video that is currently doing the rounds on poker forums around the world and has been tweeted and retweeted scores of times over the weekend.

This “biggest poker event ever” is meant to be taking place between May 10-12 at Wembley Stadium in London and has a supposed guaranteed prizepool of $30,000,000 but there are a few facts that do not seem to add up and forgive me for being sceptical but I think it is some sort of elaborate hoax or publicity stunt by International Stadiums Poker Tour. The video can be seen below.

*Super Turbo or Super High Roller?

The first thing that does not add up is the fact the company is guaranteeing $30,000,000 but the tournament is only going to run for two days. When you take into consideration that this years World Series of Poker Main Event had a prizepool of $64,531,000 and took 12 days of play to reach the final table. Either this new tournament is either going to have a ridiculously fast structure or is going to have to charge at least $100,000 or maybe more so that they can complete it within two days.

On the matter of entry fees, nowhere on the website does it mention the buy-in or where and when players can register for this tournament. Not to mention that the guarantee is $30,000,000. Why would they quote a prizepool in US dollars and not Great British pounds or the Euro? It just does not make sense at all.

Also, along with lack of buy-in information there are actually no details at all regarding the format of the event. The video seems to suggest players sat in the stands at Wembley Stadium playing poker on laptops (or watching poker on terminals) with a live final table in the centre of the pitch, but would that and could that work, especially considering the lack of power points around the seats at the stadium.

As you have seen, the video invites players to register but the only active parts of the website are the video and a Facebook “Like” button that does not actually link to a Facebook page.

*Wembley Stadium Deny Tournament Is Taking Place

But the biggest indication this will never happen is that a phone call to the stadium just five minutes before I typed this article out was answered by a receptionist who has never heard of International Stadiums Poker Tour and none of the facilities at Wembley have been booked for those dates.

Ironically, or maybe not, the man behind the potential purchase of the stricken former online poker giant that is Full Tilt Poker, Bernard Tapie, holds a 30% stake in International Stadiums Poker Tour. He revealed in an interview that once he has resurrected Full Tilt Poker he will only hold a 5-10% stake in the business but he will be passing this onto International Stadiums Poker Tour. Something does not quite add up and until I see something that suggests it is not a hoax I will be treating as just that.