One of the premier events in poker, the World Poker Tour World Championships swung into gear this week for the fourth time at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Vegas with 606 contestants and a massive prizepool of $15 125 000.
For the man or woman who beats 605 opponents from 40 countries in games taking place over 6 days the rewards are huge – a $3.8 million first prize. Players placed 2 to 4th stand to clean up as well, with million dollar or more individual payouts.
At a $25,500 buy-in the tournament is certainly not the cheapest around, but for prestige, prizes and media coverage it is pretty hard to beat.
“The WPT World Championship is considered the toughest tournament in the world to win if you consider the caliber of the competitors,” says Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO of WPT Enterprises, Inc. “At a cost of $25,500 to get to the table, you have to be a very accomplished poker player. You’ve either built a very solid bankroll or you’ve outlasted thousands in satellite tournaments. No doubt this final table will be a cliffhanger.”
The WPT World Championship crowns the WPT’s fourth season, bringing the total prize money for the 17 tournaments to $85,120,000. The tournaments currently airing on the Travel Channel every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. have provided the 20 newest WPT Poker Millionaires.
By the time the final table assembles on Monday, April 24, at 4 pm those 606 contestants will have been whittled down to six and from those six one will be the new champ.
Update: April 22, 2006
Going into Day 4 of the championship the field has already been reduced to 74 players, which include many well known poker names.