The WPT Asia Series Overdrive is live on WPT Global and runs from July 19 to August 30, bringing us a 43-day online poker festival built around fast tournament action, substantial guarantees and plenty of extra value for grinders.
The headline numbers are impressive:
- More than ¥200,000,000 guaranteed — approximately $28 million
- 13 WPT Rings to compete for
- Multi-flight Championship events
- Daily Missions
- ¥2,000,000 in weekly leaderboard prizes - approximately $280,000
For PokerStrategists looking to put in some tournament volume this summer, there is much more on offer than the regular prize pools alone.
Let’s break down the most important value points. No fluff and no filler - just the details that can help you get more from the series.
One of the biggest additional value drivers of the WPT Asia Series Overdrive is its ¥2,000,000 weekly leaderboard promotion.
While players compete for their share of more than ¥200,000,000 in guaranteed tournament prize money, every qualifying event can also move them up the weekly standings and unlock an additional prize.
You do not necessarily need to win a major event or play the highest buy-ins to benefit. Points are available through tournament results, early registration and even official bubble finishes.
There are three different ways to collect points during the series.
You receive points for finishing inside the designated scoring positions of an eligible tournament. The number of points depends on the event’s tier and your final position.
Winning an event awards:
- Bronze: 20 points
- Silver: 40 points
- Gold: 60 points
- Platinum: 80 points
- Diamond Medium: 200 points
- Diamond Large: 250 points
Higher-tier tournaments award substantially more points, although they will usually also feature larger buy-ins and tougher fields.
You do not need to win to make meaningful leaderboard progress. For example, finishing between sixth and tenth in a Diamond Medium event still awards 55 points.
| Placement | Diamond Large | Diamond Medium | Platinum | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 250 | 200 | 80 | 60 | 40 | 20 |
| 2nd | 190 | 120 | 56 | 42 | 28 | 14 |
| 3rd | 150 | 90 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 |
| 4th–5th | 120 | 70 | 30 | 22 | 14 | 7 |
| 6th–10th | 90 | 55 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 4 |
| 11th–20th | 70 | 40 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| 21st–30th | 60 | 30 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| 31st–40th | 50 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 2 | — |
| 41st–80th | 35 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 81st–120th | 25 | 12 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| 121st–200th | 18 | 6 | — | — | — | — |
| 201st–300th | 10 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
A little planning can immediately improve your leaderboard return. Register for an eligible tournament before it begins and you receive bonus points.
- Bronze: 1 point
- Silver: 2 points
- Gold: 3 points
- Platinum: 4 points
- Diamond Medium: 5 points
You can collect up to 30 Early Bird Points per day.
Diamond Large tournaments do not award Early Bird Points.
Nobody enjoys bubbling a poker tournament, but during the Overdrive series it can at least contribute towards your leaderboard run.
When you register before an eligible tournament begins and are eliminated during its official bubble stage, you receive additional points:
- Bronze: 3 points
- Silver: 6 points
- Gold: 8 points
- Platinum: 12 points
- Diamond Medium: 20 points
This means that even a frustrating near-cash can still produce meaningful leaderboard progress.
Diamond Large tournaments do not award Bubble Points.
| Tournament Tier | Early Bird Points | Bubble Points |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 1 | 3 |
| Silver | 2 | 6 |
| Gold | 3 | 8 |
| Platinum | 4 | 12 |
| Diamond Medium | 5 | 20 |
| Diamond Large | N/A | N/A |
A total of ¥2,000,000 will be distributed across the six weekly leaderboard races.
- Weeks 1–4: ¥300,000 awarded each week
- Weeks 5–6: ¥400,000 awarded each week
- Top 500 players paid every week
The weekly winner receives:
- Up to ¥50,000 during Weeks 1–4
- ¥65,200 during Weeks 5–6
The minimum prize is ¥100 during the first four weeks and increases to ¥200 during the final two weeks.
| Rank | ¥300,000 Prize Pool | ¥400,000 Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ¥50,000 | ¥65,200 |
| 2nd | ¥35,000 | ¥45,500 |
| 3rd | ¥24,500 | ¥32,000 |
| 4th | ¥17,000 | ¥22,500 |
| 5th | ¥12,000 | ¥16,000 |
| 6th | ¥8,400 | ¥11,000 |
| 7th | ¥6,000 | ¥8,000 |
| 8th | ¥4,200 | ¥5,500 |
| 9th | ¥3,000 | ¥4,000 |
| 10th | ¥2,400 | ¥2,800 |
| 11th–25th | ¥1,500 | ¥2,000 |
| 26th–50th | ¥1,000 | ¥1,300 |
| 51st–100th | ¥600 | ¥700 |
| 101st–300th | ¥200 | ¥250 |
| 301st–500th | ¥100 | ¥200 |
Suppose you pre-register for a Gold-tier tournament and finish third.
You receive:
- 3 Early Bird Points
- 30 Tournament Points
- 33 leaderboard points in total
Should you instead be eliminated during the official bubble stage, you receive:
- 3 Early Bird Points
- 8 Bubble Points
- 11 leaderboard points in total
The leaderboard is not simply about playing the largest possible buy-ins.
Consistently pre-registering, playing enough eligible tournaments and making regular deep runs may be more effective than relying on one expensive result.
The Early Bird and Bubble bonuses also reward active players even when individual tournaments do not go entirely according to plan.
Most importantly, the standings reset every week.
You therefore do not need to commit to grinding the full 43-day series. You can select one or more weeks that fit your schedule and make a focused attempt at reaching the top 500.
With substantial tournament guarantees, 13 WPT Rings and six separate leaderboard races, this is a strong opportunity for PokerStrategists who were already planning to play some online tournaments this summer.
Who is planning to take part - and will anyone here be making a serious run at one of the weekly leaderboards?
We will be back next week to have a closer look at the Quests, which bring additional value and the effective rake down quite a lot!