World Poker Tour underway in Vegas
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is all ready to go with its World Championship Festival. What makes this more than just a little bit special? It´s the fact that it features the largest live tournament guarantee in the entire history of poker. With the festival well underway at the Wynn Las Vegas casino. WPT in Vegas will run until the 20th of December.
This year is the 20th anniversary of the WPT. As a way of celebrating. The festival is set to include more than 12 tournaments for players to get in on the action. The festival will culminate with the WPT World Championship No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament. Opening on 12th December, this requires a $10,400 buy-in. What makes this even more special is the fact that it comes with a guaranteed $15 million prize pool.
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WPT in Vegas – All about World Poker Tour events
If you´re interested in Poker besides Blackjack, and you want to take a look at all that’s going on, the good news is that the action is set to be televised. From 8th December to 12th, you’ll be able to tune in to watch the $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Championship. This comes with a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million.
The 16th of December also see the Wynn Mystery Bounty event getting started. With the final set to take place on December 19th, this event also features a $2 million guaranteed prize pool.
Also on 16th December, there will be the $1,100 buy-in WPT Ladies Championship. What’s special about this event is that it comes with the largest guarantee for an open women’s event ever. The final is set to be televised on 18th December and comes with a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000.
Adam Pliska is the WPT CEO. He has spoken of how he’s pleased to see the tournament progress. Especially seeing how women becoming more and more involved.
WPT in Vegas – An extremely busy time
It’s not just about the WPT. Over the last few months, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has also been underway. Since 1970, Las Vegas has been home to WSOP but this was the first time that it could call the Las Vegas Strip ground zero.
In 2021, the WSOP tournament was held on the strip with the casinos Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas playing hosts. This event saw over 8,000 payers taking part with them all parting with $10,000 to secure their place in the main event.
That’s the thing: if you want to get in on the action and to witness some of the very best poker ever, Las Vegas is the place to be.
More about the WPT in Vegas
When it comes to the WPT, the Main Tour is certainly the most prestigious event. This plays out for almost an entire year and comes to an end with the Tournament of Champions which takes place during late spring/early summer.
You may think that you’d have to earn your place, with skill, at the WPT. Well, from 2002 to 2015 the only criteria was that you could cough up the buy-in: a whopping $25,000. This brought in big bucks for the organizers and led to some great prize pools, but following the passing of UIGEA in 2006, the number of entrants began to fall.
To fight back and boost numbers, the WPT had a change around. The buy-in was dropped to $15,000 and you could only secure a place in the Main Tour if you’d won a WPT Main Event during that season. Ever since the buy-in was lowered, the prize money has stayed under the $500,000 mark.
WPT Player of the Year
What makes the WPT stand out from other poker tournaments? It´s the system that is in place for Player of the Year. The WPT Player of the Year Award is the one that all players strive to achieve. Why? Well, it can only be won by displaying skills across numerous tournaments and that’s what makes it the most esteemed title in the world of poker.
The Player of the Year Award came about as WTP was committed to finding a way to celebrate the very best players across their tournaments. While players may miss out on winning the biggest events, this shouldn’t mean that they’re not recognized for the performances that they put on and the level of skill that they display.
The WTP concocted a system that would ensure that the Player of the Year Award was accessible to all. This was done by creating a points-based system. Every player that manages to finish in the money gets awarded a number of points. It’s the player who finishes the tournament with the most number of points who is named Player of the Year.
If players are committed to winning the award, the WTP makes this achievable. This is done by allowing them to take part in as many events as possible. All of the events are stages so that players can get involved with as many as they want to.
What makes the WPT so popular?
Part of the reason that the WPT has always had an army of fans is the fact that it has been televised from the very start. Every season has led to the final table of the Main Event being broadcast and this has opened the WPT up to a truly mammoth audience.
The broadcasts themselves drew in the viewers as these were the first that used hole card cameras. What these cameras did was allow viewers at home to see cards being worked by the layer without other players having the same view.
The addition of hole cameras was held as revolutionary. It meant that TV viewers were no longer blind: they could see the casino game being played out from the point of view of every player and they love being able to second-guess the choices that these players may make. Add to this commentators, who are really in the know, and you have a television experience that no poker fan would want to miss.
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