World Poker Tour and the European division of Allied Esports, ELC Gaming have announced a partnership that will integrate poker and eSports in a competition scheduled for Holland Casino in the Netherlands during the WPTDeepStacks series running between October 9-15 in Valkenburg this year.
The schedule includes several integrated poker and eSports events supported by ELC Gaming’s 18-wheel mobile eSports arena “Big Betty,” which will be hosting events offering opportunities for players and fans to win seats into the poker tournaments and eSports competitions.
Also on offer will be an interactive virtual reality experience, a casual gaming lounge, and daily eSports battles between local universities in which players can win additional prizes.
Adam Pliska, CEO at WPT said this week that the partnership with ELC represents the “undeniable” cross-over of poker and eSports communities and interest that is increasingly evident.
“Tthe addition of a live eSports event to one of the WPT’s live poker festivals is a perfect fit to provide an even greater experience for our players,” he said.
The partnership also represents collaboration between two companies in the same parent group; both WPT and ELC are part of the Ourgame International group.
Group CEO Frank Ng said of the joint WPT-ELC effort:
“This is an inspiring time in both poker and eSports, the two mind sports that have only begun to realize their enormous collaboration potential. With prominent businesses in poker and eSports, Ourgame is uniquely positioned to raise the bar with a new breed of events across the globe.”