WBT Champions Tour
WBT Champions Cup
World Bridge Tour (WBT) is proud to introduce the third edition of the WBT Champions Tour in February 2023. The WBT Champions Tour has been created for bridge players at the highest level and for people who enjoy kibitzing top- level bridge.
WBT will arrange all events for the 3rd WBT Champions Tour. Last year we introduced a hybrid Tour consisting of both online and live events with great success. A total of 29 teams participated in one or more events and we made a total pay-out to winning teams for a total of 111 000 €. Team Scorway, captained by Steve Levinson, had a great run for the entire season and won the Tour by a huge margin on the second placed Team De Botton and third placed Team Moran. The hybrid tour concept proved to be a success. In the final event WBT Masters Copenhagen teams jumped up and down in the rankings, and thousands of euros were at stake to the very end. The players realised that the concept made every single board, including those played online, matter a lot- exactly what we aimed for introducing the concept. We are very proud of how fairly the game was played in previous editions showing that many share WBT’s vision about a fair game with zero tolerance for cheating and bad behaviour. By joining forces, we have all committed to the rules and regulations within the World Bridge Tour.
World Bridge Holding (WBH) will in 2023 arrange 6 online tournaments and 2 face-to-face tournaments. The online tournaments are open for registration to all players approved for playing in the WBT Champions Tour (Champions Cup). The live events, WBT Masters Sopot and WBT Masters Copenhagen will be by invitation only with a maximum number of invitations issued limited to maximum 20 teams. Teams at the top of the rankings can expect to be invited to the WBT Masters events.
The 2023 edition of the WBT Champions Tour is based on a big loss for WBH. We invest in the bridge community trying to increase the global bridge interest- to succeed we need your support on our way. WBT will award money prizes in WBT Masters Sopot (70 000 €), WBT Masters Copenhagen (70 000 €) and for the final rankings of the WBT Champions Tour 2023 (200 000 €) An amazing total amount of 340 000 € to fight for- what more could be asked for?
World Bridge Holding AS will continue to work on commercialising the World Bridge Tour with a clear strategy of providing both live streaming with world class commentators as well as making a product prepared for tele broadcasting. We are proud to announce that we will launch a new bridge platform suitable for the above purposes in 1st quarter 2023. All WBT Champions Tour 2023 events will take place on our own platform.
It will be entertaining for the spectators to follow the WBT Champions Tour 2023. All tables can be watched “live”, so you can log in and kibitz any player you like. We will publish extensive results and rankings, plus a lot of new exciting statistics and features.
Tournament types in the WBT Champions Tour
- 3 days online events
- 4 days online events
- 5 days online events
- WBT Masters (face-to-face events)
Entry
- WBT has the right to approve/disapprove teams, players and/or pairs to play in WBT sanctioned tournaments. The captain (Team Owner) may approach WBT directly for clarifications.
- All players must apply for a WBT membership to become an approved player in the WBT.
- Among WBT approved teams the captain (Team Owner) may only select players approved by WBT.
- A captain (Team Owner) approved by WBT is pre-qualified for all the online tournaments given that her/his team only consists of WBT approved players.
- A captain (Team Owner) has the right to enter a WBT tournament given there are still available spots in the tournament.
- All players with approved and non-suspended WBT membership are entitled to play.
- WBT kindly requests players not to apply for WBT membership unless they are committed to following the This Is How We Play rules of WBT.
Entry Rights
- All players approved to play in the WBT Champions Tour (previously Cup) with a non-suspended WBT membership are entitled to participate in the online events.
- All the players on the team are required to hold a non- suspended WBT membership.
- A team has the right to enter a WBT tournament given there are still available spots in the tournament.
- WBT Masters have restricted entries.
- WBT kindly requests players not to apply for WBT membership unless they are committed to following the This Is How We Play rules of WBT.
Awards & Ranking Points
WBT awards WBT Points for all competitions in WBT Champions Tour. WBT Points will be awarded to the team captain (Team Owner) and can’t be transferred to a new team.
The highest ranked teams based on WBT Points will earn their right to play in the WBT Masters events. WBT will issue Wild-Cards to remaining teams. WBT Masters events are expected to contain 16 or 20 teams.
Prize Pools
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | 25.000€ |
| 2 | 15.000€ |
| 3 | 10.000€ |
| 4 | 6.000€ |
| 5 | 5.000€ |
| 9 | 3.000€ |
| 13 | 3.000€ |
| 17 | 3.000€ |
| Total | 70.000€ |
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | 100.000€ |
| 2 | 50.000€ |
| 3 | 20.000€ |
| 4 | 12.000€ |
| 5 | 8.000€ |
| 6 | 5.000€ |
| 7 | 3.000€ |
| 8 | 2.000€ |
| Total | 200.000€ |
| Position | WBT Champions Tour- 3 days | WBT Champions Tour- 4 days | WBT Champions Tour- 5 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 120 | 160 | 200 |
| 2 | 96 | 128 | 160 |
| 3 | 77 | 102 | 128 |
| 4 | 61 | 81 | 102 |
| 5 | 49 | 65 | 81 |
| 6 | 44 | 59 | 73 |
| 7 | 40 | 53 | 67 |
| 8 | 36 | 48 | 60 |
| 9 | 34 | 45 | 57 |
| 10 | 32 | 42 | 54 |
| 11 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| 12 | 29 | 39 | 48 |
| 13 | 28 | 37 | 46 |
| 14 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| 15 | 26 | 35 | 43 |
| 16 | 25 | 33 | 42 |
| 17 | 24 | 32 | 40 |
| 18 | 23 | 31 | 38 |
| 19 | 22 | 29 | 37 |
| 20 | 21 | 28 | 35 |
| 21 | 20 | 27 | 33 |
| 22 | 19 | 25 | 31 |
| 23 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| 24 | 17 | 23 | 28 |
| 25 | 16 | 21 | 27 |
| 26 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 27 | 14 | 19 | 23 |
| 28 | 13 | 17 | 21 |
| 29 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 30 | 11 | 15 | 18 |
| 30+ | 10 | 13 | 17 |
| Position | WBT Masters Sopot |
|---|---|
| 1 | 400 |
| 2 | 320 |
| 3 | 265 |
| 4 | 204 |
| 5 | 162 |
| 6 | 146 |
| 7 | 134 |
| 8 | 120 |
| 9 | 114 |
| 10 | 108 |
| 11 | 100 |
| 12 | 96 |
| 13 | 92 |
| 14 | 90 |
| 15 | 86 |
| 16 | 84 |
| 17 | 80 |
| 18 | 76 |
| 19 | 74 |
| 20 | 70 |
| 21 | 66 |
| 22 | 62 |
| 23 | 60 |
| 24 | 56 |
| Position | WBT Masters Copenhagen |
|---|---|
| 1 | 450 |
| 2 | 360 |
| 3 | 288 |
| 4 | 230 |
| 5 | 180 |
| 6 | 165 |
| 7 | 150 |
| 8 | 135 |
| 9 | 128 |
| 10 | 122 |
| 11 | 113 |
| 12 | 108 |
| 13 | 104 |
| 14 | 100 |
| 15 | 97 |
| 16 | 94 |
| 17 | 91 |
| 18 | 88 |
| 19 | 85 |
| 20 | 82 |
| 21 | 79 |
| 22 | 76 |
| 23 | 73 |
| 24 | 70 |
Clarifications:
- If teams share a position in an event, they will split WBT Point between them equally. The Points will be rounded to the nearest full number (0,5 is Rounded up)
- If less teams than in the table, there will be no adjustments on the WBT Points awarded.
- If more teams than in the table, teams ranked lower in the rankings will be awarded an equal number if WBT Points as last position in the table.
- Special events will not be awarded WBT Points.
Other Awards:
- The winner of World Bridge Tour - Champions Tour is pre-qualified to play any WBT Masters for a period of 5 years.
- The winner of WBT Masters is pre-qualified to play any WBT Masters for a period of 2 years. If same winner as above, the runner-up will be given this award.
- These awards are given to the team Captain personally.