Coast to Coast Poker Championships
April 28, 2008
Coast to Coast Poker Championships
A major new big buy-in land poker tournament for Canada is shaping up in the World Poker Tour’s just announced Coast to Coast Poker Championship, which will feature high stakes poker action in an East vs. West competition at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, B.C, on May 5-13.
Featuring Brad ‘Yukon’ Booth & Gavin Smith ~ May 5th – 13th, 2008
Registration opens Saturday March 15th, 2008 at 12:00PM. Space is limited, so register early. Don’t miss out on your chance to be a part of a Canadian 1st!
The Coast to Coast Poker Championships will feature seven (7) poker tournaments over nine (9) days, including a massive Super Satellite, No Limit Texas Hold’em, Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha and Special Mother’s Day Team Play No Limit Hold’em tournament.
Event #1 – May 5th, 2008
- $500 ($460+$40) No Limit Texas Hold’em
- 550 player max – Single Day Event
Event #2 – May 6th, 2008
- $220 ($200+$20) C2C Super Satellite
- Awards one (1) $4,000 C2C package for every 20 entries
- Each package consists of entry to Events 3 & 4
Event #3 – May 7th, 8th: Final Table May 11th, 2008
- $1,000 ($920+$80) No Limit Texas Hold’em with Bounties
- Receive $50 for every player you eliminate and $1,000 for special guest players
- 500 player maximum – 3 Day Event
Event #4 – MAIN EVENT
- May 9th, 10th, 11th, 2008 Final Table May 11th, 2008
- $3,000 ($2,800+$200) No Limit Texas Hold’em
- 3 Day Event – Limited Field
Event #5 – May 11th, 2008
- $200 ($125+$15+$60) Mother’s Day No Limit Texas Hold’em and Brunch
Team Play event - Mothers play odd levels and partners play even levels
- All registered teams will receive 2 Special Mother’s Day Brunch tickets
- 200 team maximum – Single Day Event
Event #6 – May 12th, 2008
- $300 ($270+$30) Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha
- 300 player max – Single Day Event
Event #7 – May 13th, 2008
- $300 ($270+$30) No Limit Texas Hold’em
- 300 player max – Single Day event
*Please note: 2% of prize pools withheld for tournament staff (excluding May 6th Super Satellite)*
World Poker Tour
January 13, 2008
The World Poker Tour (Abbreviated WPT) is a series of international poker tournaments featuring most of the world’s professional players. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises (WPTE), the firm that controls the World Poker Tour.
Introduction
The World Poker Tour is a collection of Texas hold ‘em poker tournaments held internationally, but mainly in the United States. The television show has led to a boom in the table game across American homes, in local casino poker rooms and online. The key sponsors of the tour are casinos and online poker sites. The show, which is syndicated internationally, is co-hosted by World Series of Poker winner Mike Sexton, and actor Vince Van Patten. Shana Hiatt served as the show host and sideline reporter in its first three seasons. Courtney Friel took over the host role for the fourth season, and Sabina Gadecki for the fifth. Layla Kayleigh began serving as hostess in season six.
Background
The tour had its debut season in the latter part of 2002 and early part of 2003, climaxing with the WPT Championship in April 2003 at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first season aired on the Travel Channel on American cable television in the spring of 2003. The show made its network debut on February 1, 2004 on NBC with a special “Battle Of Champions” tournament, which aired against CBS coverage of the Super Bowl XXXVIII pre-game show. The Travel Channel aired the first five seasons of the Tour. In April 2007, WPTE announced that the series would move to GSN for its sixth season in the spring of 2008.
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Commentary
The show’s hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten give the impression that all of their commentary is recorded live as the tournament happens, and they have occasionally interacted with the players during the game. However, their comments about hole cards are recorded after the tournament takes place because state gaming regulations prohibit them from observing a live feed of the “hole card cameras”. Consequently, the broadcast audio is a mix of the live recording, and commentary recorded in post-production.
Reception
The drawing power of the WPT and most other poker tournaments is that anyone who can pay the “buy-in” (an amount ranging from $2,500 to $25,000) or win a “satellite” tournament is able to compete against the top professional players, such as Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, or the top 2004 tournament money and multi-WPT tournament winner, Daniel Negreanu.
Fans of the show find it interesting because of technical innovations such as the ability to see the players’ hole cards through a small camera in front of them on the poker table (an innovation first seen on the UK program Late Night Poker). With the success of the show, special programs, such as the “Hollywood Home Game” (featuring celebrities playing for charity) and “Ladies Night” (featuring six top women players) were developed.
In 2004, the World Poker Tour created a Walk of Fame, inducting poker legends Doyle Brunson and Gus Hansen as well as actor James Garner.
Now in its fifth season of broadcast, it still remains among the highest rated television programs on cable. It airs Wednesdays on the Travel Channel. The first three seasons of WPT are also available on NTSC DVD. (The second season DVD set features audio commentary by several of the players. The third season is only available in a “Best Of” format, featuring just half of the episodes.) CITY TV airs the WPT on Sundays at 4pm ET in Canada with a rebroadcast at Midnight (or shortly after depending on the length of their Sunday Night Movie. The series will move to Monday nights when it moves to GSN in 2008.
A series of spin-off tournaments, titled the Professional Poker Tour, began filming in 2004. Broadcast of the series was delayed, in part because of a dispute with the Travel Channel over rights. In the fall of 2005, WPTE announced that “a cable channel” (believed to be ESPN) had withdrawn from bidding for the PPT series, and that WPTE was negotiating with the Travel Channel to air the series. On January 30, 2006, WPTE and the Travel Channel announced that they had dismissed all open lawsuits. The series began regular broadcast July 5, 2006, but was suspended after one season as WPTE couldn’t find a television home for a second season.
Sherman Act lawsuit
On July 19, 2006, seven poker professionals sued WPTE, alleging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the California Cartwright Act, and intentional interference with contract (Complaint and Response). The professionals (Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Joe Hachem, Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer, and Greg Raymer) allege that WPTE’s standard release forms, required for participation in WPTE events, are anti-competitive and designed to interfere with their contractual obligations to other companies. The anti-competition claim is based on the fact that WPTE’s contracts with the casinos that host its tournaments bar those casinos (and other casinos owned by the same parent companies) from hosting non-WPTE poker events. The claim of interference with contract is based on the releases’ claim to perpetual rights to the players’ likenesses for any use WPTE wishes. The players claim that this would put them in violation of other contracts (such as Ferguson’s Activision Games contract or several players’ contracts with online poker sites).
European Poker Tour
January 10, 2008
The European Poker Tour (EPT) began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold ‘em popularity. It is a series of televised poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT).
In seasons 1-3, the most significant difference between the competing poker tours was the buy-in and its effect on the prize pool, with the EPT featuring buy-ins about half the size of the WPT. This changed in season 4 when the buy-in for most EPT events was increased to €8,000. (Due to increased popularity and lack of space in participating casinos). At 2007 exchange rates, this is approximately equal to the US$10,000 which is the buy-in for most WPT events.
Furthermore, the final table is made up of 8 players, as opposed to the 6 player final tables popularised by the WPT.
The EPT is sponsored by PokerStars and taped by Sunset + Vine for television broadcast across Europe.
The tour was created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. Duthie commentates for the show, alongside Colin Murray. The show was first hosted by Caroline Flack, then joined by Natalie Pinkham. Season 4 of the show is hosted by Kara Scott
WPT launches ladies tour
January 10, 2008
The WPT announced today it is launching an official WPT ladies league and No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament circuit, the WPT Ladies.
“Women are a rising force in poker,” said Robyn Moder, WPT Studios executive vice president. “By bringing a WPT ladies league and tour stops to top gaming destinations across the U.S., we hope to support and perpetuate the evolution of the sport and recognition of the women who play.”
The inaugural season of the WPTL tour begins Jan. 20 at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City.
World Series of Poker
December 28, 2007
The World Series of Poker is the largest set of poker tournaments in the world. It is held annually in Las Vegas, lasting just over a month. A bracelet is awarded to the winner of each of the fifty-plus events which include all the major varieties of poker. The series culminates with the $10,000 no-limit hold’em “Main Event”, which in recent years has attracted entry fields numbering in the thousands, with the victor receiving a multi-million dollar prize.
The original World Series of Poker was started in 1968 by Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas, at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno and was an invitational event. This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington who went on to place in the top ten of the World Series of Poker Main Event eight times, a record that still stands as of 2007. The set of tournaments that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve into was the brainchild of Las Vegas casino owner and poker player Benny Binion, as well as his two sons Jack and Ted.
The Binion family nurtured not only the WSOP, but poker in general. Prior to the 1970s, poker was not found at many casinos because of the difficulty of keeping cheaters out. Through better security techniques as well as the Binion’s tireless promotion through events like the WSOP, poker became a very popular game.
In 1970, the first WSOP at Binion’s Horseshoe took place as a series of cash games that included five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud, and Texas hold ‘em. The format for the Main Event as a freeze-out Texas hold ‘em game came the next year. The winner in 1970, Johnny Moss, was elected by his peers as the first World Champion of Poker and received a silver cup as a prize.
From 1971 on, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. In 1973 a new event, Five-card stud, was added to the main event of no limit Texas hold ‘em. Since then new events have been added and removed. In 2006 there were 45 events at the WSOP, covering the majority of poker variants. Currently, Texas hold ‘Em, Omaha hold ‘em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants (if any) are played. H.O.R.S.E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S.H.O.E. has been played in the past, and returned in 2007. Other events played in the past include Chinese poker, Five card stud, and many others. Each event winner gets a coveted gold bracelet as well as the grand prize money, which by tradition is paid in cash brought in cardboard boxes.
Phil Hellmuth has the most bracelets with eleven. Runners-up Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan have each won ten bracelets. Doyle’s son, Todd Brunson, won a bracelet in a $2,500 Omaha Eight-or-better event in 2005, making them the first and only father/son combo to win at least one event at the WSOP. Also, celebrities Patrick Bruel, Jan Vang Sørensen and Jennifer Tilly have won WSOP bracelets in 1998, 2002 and 2005 respectively.
The number of participants in the WSOP has grown almost every year, and in recent years the growth has exploded. In 2000 there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. In the main event alone, the number of participants grew from 839 in 2003 to 8,773 in 2006. This was known as the “Moneymaker Effect”, named after unknown rookie Chris Moneymaker, who won the main event after having qualified for just $39 through a satellite tournament. Much of this growth can also be attributed to the WSOP airing on ESPN and the World Poker Tour being shown on the Travel Channel, along with other televised series, as well as the boom of online poker.
Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee (a percentage between 6% and 10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increases with more players. In the 2005 main event $52,818,610 (US) in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with $7.5 million to first prize.
World Poker Tour - North American Poker Championship - Day 2
October 31, 2007
Day 2 of the World Poker Tour’s North American Poker Championship has drawn to a close.
A total of 504 players entered the tournament, each contributing their $10,000 buy-in to generate a prize pool of almost $5 Million. First place in this event will take down an impressive $1,361,724!
Only 232 players remained in the tournament as Day 2 got under way, the first day of play in which all remaining players in the tournament were seated at the same time.
Andy Goetsch and Rohin Malhotra Bring Diverse Business Experience to Expand WPT Business
October 31, 2007
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Supporting the company’s strategic growth and diversification of its management team, WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WPTE - News) announced today that it will welcome two additions to the company. Former Vice President of Poker Software Development for CryptoLogic, Andy Goetsch joins WPT as Executive Vice President of Online Gaming, while Rohin Malhotra brings a vast knowledge of television networks, production, and distribution to his role as Managing Director - International Sales & Marketing.
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