This week marks the final full week in the life of WPTPoker.com, whose impending closure was announced last week. The World Poker Tour-branded site is one of seven member rooms on partypoker’s network.
The death of WPTPoker marks what can only be described as a failed opportunity. It would almost seem a given that an online poker room connected to one of the most recognizable and valuable brands in poker would succeed, but that simply was not the case. Rather than push the site to the forefront, owner bwin.party did almost nothing to promote it. ClubWPT.com, the World Poker Tour’s subscription based, “play chip” online poker room, seemed to be marketed more heavily. It is not the worst thing in the world that partypoker was still the dominant brand on the network – after all, it has been a major name in the industry for more than a decade – but it seems like management just thought that putting “WPT” before “Poker” was going to set hearts a flutter.
And so it ends with a whimper. WPTPoker.com will close on Wednesday, June 3rd, as “bwin.party has made the decision to focus our online poker efforts entirely on our lead brands: partypoker and bwin poker.”
Players can still login to their WPTPoker accounts for three months after June 3rd to withdraw any funds. There have traditionally been caps on the amount of money players can pull out, but in this case, those caps have been lifted. In a bit of news that has already infuriated the site’s customer base, though, the withdrawal fees will still be in place, despite this being a forced cash out.
