Press Release
Rotterdam, 13 November 2014
Today, Bridge Big announced that they are hosting the 1st World Cup of Online Bridge. Total prize money for the event is set at €25,000 with €8,000 (i.e. 10,000 USD) for the winner.
The grand final of the event will be held on 1 February 2015 on www.bridgebig.com and is open to all players. It will be possible to enter the final directly or through qualifier tournaments with entry fees of €14 or €70. The qualification tournaments have started today and will run until January 31st.
Players can register and pay for these tournaments on www.bridgebig.com. Bridge Big is a young company that has the mission to revitalise bridge. They offer online individual bridge for real money stakes. Each player bids according to a standard system using 5-card major and 2-over-1 game forcing. Hosting the World Cup fits right into their strategy of creating exciting events for bridge players that will in turn attract new players to the sport.
For more information about the tournament please visit:
http://blog.bridgebig.com/blog/worldcup2015.
To keep up to date with the latest news follow Bridge Big on Facebook or contact Bob Drijver at bob@bridgebig.com for more information.
Bridge Big
During the latest World Championships we witnessed an interview by the WBF with Alejandro Bianchedi from Argentina. He described the situation of professional bridge in South America: “we have some good pairs that don’t have many opportunities to go out because we don’t have many sponsors”. World champion Norberto Bocchi also agrees that “Bridge should be a sport open to anyone, and not a business opportunity for few”.
We couldn’t agree more. The chances to gain a world title should not depend on a player’s wealth or contacts. In an ideal world it would only depend on bridge abilities. At Bridge Big we want to make exciting/serious bridge accessible to players worldwide. With that in mind we decided to host the 1st World Cup of Online Bridge! This event is the biggest online tournament the world has ever seen and we’ll give it a €25,000 prize pool.
The grand final of the event is an online knockout tournament to be held on February 1st 2015. You can register to the final directly for €350 or qualify through step tournaments that start at €14.