WRGPT Reopens Registration for Its Email Poker Marathon
The volunteer-run tournament predates online poker, and Kevin 'Kevmath' Mathers is set to play again.
WRGPT.org has reopened free registration for the World Rec.Gambling Poker Tournament, a play-by-email event that will run through the rest of 2026 and continue into 2027. The site describes it as the oldest free-to-play email poker tournament, reopening 35 years after it first began.
The tournament is volunteer-run and charges no entry fee. Every move is handled by email, with an automated dealer sending each player hole cards and a table layout. Players can use basic actions like betting and folding, and the format also allows more complex conditional instructions.
A single hand can take a day or several days, players have up to four hours to act, and the event itself often takes about a year to complete. The setup also includes an optional sit-out feature for people who need time off for family holidays or work trips.
According to PokerStrategy, Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers is set to take part again, and he has been playing since 2004. He called the format “so old school.”
The event dates back to 1991, before online poker existed. In a 2017 look at the tournament, PokerNews said the concept came from creator Will Hyde’s interest in postal chess, later automated by Ron Duursma, with Ken Anderson and David Widder handling administration and rulings.
That same report showed how the field has swung over time. Anderson first played in 1993, when the tournament had 195 players. The first automated event in 1992 drew about 130, and the field peaked at 1,314 entries in 2006 after the poker boom.
By 2017, participation had settled around 600 entries after ballooning into the thousands in the boom years. Anderson said nostalgia was a big part of why it kept going, comparing the appeal to vinyl, and said the tournament would continue as long as enough people wanted to play.
