The GPI Meets: The Caribbean Poker Tour’s Leon Groenewoud

If you’re looking for a way to escape the dreary weather conditions in Europe this Novemeber then the Caribbean Poker Tour and the iPoker Network has the answer.

Capitalising on the poker community’s love of playing poker in the sun, the CPT has been designed to give low and mid stakes grinders a chance to play poker in Punta Cana and St. Maarten  between November 8 and 24.

Ahead of the inaugural CPT we caught up with one of the event’s organisers, Leon Groenewoud, to find out exactly what players can expect.

Could you briefly explain what the Caribbean Poker Tour is:

The Caribbean Poker Tour is the holiday of a lifetime with poker included. This is the time to take your friends and family with you and they will love it!

Obviously the PCA is one of the most famous poker events held in the Caribbean, what makes the CPT different?

The major difference is that our attendees do not need any money for food and drink as the resorts we chose are all-inclusive. Alongside that, our packages include adventure vouchers for all activities and at least 2 tournament buy-ins.

Most players will travel from Europe and it can be frustrating to bust out on the first day of play without the bankroll to pay any other events, so we’ve addressed that by giving players least 2 shots as well as a host of activities.

Why is the event taking place on two different islands?

For two reasons: First of all there are so many beautiful places in the Caribbean that we just had to have two destinations instead of one. Secondly, by having two venues we are able to split the tour and cater to players who may only want to attend for seven or ten days instead of the full 17 day experience.

What sort of tournaments will be on offer when the players arrive?

There is a wide variety of different buy-ins to suit all kind of players. The main tournaments on offer will be No Limit Hold’em, but we haven’t forgotten the PLO fans. Also, we are thinking about adding some extras like an Open Face Chinese tournament.

Tobias Reinkemeier has a tournament named after him. Did he have a hand in creating the tournament and do you expect a number of high profile players to attend the CPT?

Lucky Number 7 High Roller is solely created by Tobias Reinkemeier. Because he is an experienced High Roller player, we gave him free reign to design a tournament that would appeal to his peers.

Overall the CPT will mainly consist of satellite winners, but the High Roller and WPT Caribbean Tour events will likely feature a host of recognisable players. Indeed, we’ve already had a lot of positive reaction from the high stakes community and expect a number of them to attend.

Many organisers are now focusing on providing an all-round experience at these sorts of events, what other activities will be on offer for players at the CPT aside from poker?

Besides Skiing, we pretty much offer every fun activity that exists. Package owners have adventure vouchers included and can choose from activities like swimming with dolphins, scuba diving, deep-sea fishing, golf, horse-riding and much more.

How can players qualify for the event and what types of packages are available. Are they ways people can qualify without grinding a satellite?

People can qualify on the whole iPoker network and additionally on Win2Day if they live in Belgium.

There are 3 different packages with 3 separate finals that take place every week on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. On top of this, live qualifiers have already started in Austria, Germany and Belgium, and more countries will be doing the same in the coming weeks.

We’ve also tried to introduce something a little bit different for those that don’t play poker. To give these people an “easier” way to get a package, we’ve created a “Crazy Video Contest”.

The premise of the contest is simple: One €4,000 Punta Cana Package will be awarded to the person who films a funny video and gets the most votes from people in the poker community.

Are there plans to run more CPT events in the future?

We are working full time on the first one to be as good as it can be and would like to establish the Caribbean Poker Tour for the next 50 years.

We do have plans to extend it, but we want firstly want to make the first event as much of a success as possible and then work with our most important critics, the players, to see how we can make things even better.

Finally, if you could give one reason why players should try to qualify for the CPT, what would it be?

This question reminds me of the time when a guy yelling “WHY Phil, WHY?” when Phil Hellmuth entered the WSOP dressed up as Ceasar, so I will go with the same answer Phil gave: “Why not?”

The Caribbean Poker Tour take place between November 8 and November 24 and you can keep up with the latest news via the event’s official Facebook page.