Speed of play is one of the driving forces behind innovation in poker. It’s why we have fast-fold poker variants and lottery sit & go’s online, and why mystery bounty tournaments and shot clocks are increasingly popular when playing live.
People these days just don’t like to wait — for their opponent, for their next hand, or to make the money.
Flip and go tournaments even all-but-bypass the entire pre-bubble phase of a tourney, handing that part over to blind luck and speeding the more fortunate players straight to the business end of the tournament.
Not ‘proper poker’? Tell that to the World Series of Poker, who awarded a gold bracelet to Chance Kornuth in 2025 for winning its Flip & Go event.
But not everyone is in such a hurry.
And if you’re the type who prefers to take their time, we’ve got a great recommendation for you: the World Rec.Gambling Poker Tournament, also known as the WRGPT.
Registration is open now and the first hand will be dealt this fall, but don’t expect to see a winner declared until next summer.
What’s the ROI on a time investment?
Let’s get one thing out of the way straight off the bat: the tournament has no fees, and no prizes. It’s played purely for fun and the love of the game.
And I wasn’t kidding when I said it was slow. In the WRGPT players make their moves using email, the height of technology… in 1991. That means a single hand can take days, and the tournament itself can last up to a year.
The tournament format is giving more 'vintage vibes' than a game of 5-card stud.The 2026/27 edition is the 36th annual running of the event, which started back in — yep — 1991. There was no online poker, no hole card cams, poker was a rarity on TV and you’d be more likely to find someone using solvents in a casino than solvers.
The very first WRGPT was organized and run by volunteers, out of a garage in Cupertino, California. Every card was dealt by hand by the event’s founder Will Hyde, and circulated manually to each of the 30 registered players via email. The tournament lasted for 366 days, from September 1, 1991 to September 2, 1992.
It grew, and just like the wider global game it experienced a boom in the late 2000s, peaking with 1,314 entrants in 2006/7. The most recent tournament, which ended in July, drew 356 runners. These days hands aren’t hand-dealt, the system is better automated, and hosting takes place in the cloud.
But the pace of play is unchanged. Players still send through each decision by email, just as they always have done; a move that respects the traditions of the event’s 35-year past and marks the unique pace and spirit of the tourney.
'I'm not playing poker, I'm working.'
How does it work?
The unusual format throws up plenty of questions, such as:
- How do I know it’s my turn to act?
- How long do I have before I time out?
- What happens if I go on vacation?
Don’t worry, they’ve thought about these things, and even have a ‘vacation’ feature that sits you out for up to 14 days at a time.
The WRGPT website — itself something of a throwback to times past — has detailed FAQs to address these and other questions. It also explains the formatting requirements of emails, how to register, how to specify your actions and some advanced betting features that involve if/then logic.
If you’re interested in playing, you can check out the full game manual. It’s a no-frills affair and fairly lengthy, but if this idea sounds up your street you’re probably not the sort to grumble about spending a little longer than usual getting to grips with the finer points.
Is this tournament worth playing?
As with any poker tourney, that entirely depends on you.
A number of asynchronous poker — and poker-adjacent — games have come and gone over the years, usually based within mobile apps. I myself have clocked up some 600+ hands of turn-based OFC using the Upper Hand app, and have fond memories of various other similar games that have since fallen by the wayside.
They’re fun distractions, but these games tend to take hours or days, not months. I’m not sure I personally have the endurance to remain engaged for a year — blame the attention economy — but I can certainly see why others would enjoy this.
The format has the feel of postal chess, a way for people to play together at distance before the Internet.It has the feel of postal chess, with all the nostalgia and romance of the pre-Internet era that comes with that. A period when it feels like we all had more time, more attention and fewer distractions from the things we enjoyed.
Plenty of players complain that they’re looking for something different in the poker space. If that sounds familiar then perhaps your best new option, paradoxically, is something old.
Registration for the 2026/27 WRGPT is open now. Click here to sign up.
Images courtesy of Brett Jordan/Solen Feyissa/Janet Gambold/LithiumFlash/Unsplash.
