World Poker Tour rules

The ultimate challenge!
Take part in this "Winner takes all" challenge. Anybody can enter, making it a true open tournament for you to win the big prize!

Take part in any WPT event offered at various locations and online poker rooms, and you stand the chance of winning a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship at Bellagio, Las Vegas.
Play in any of the poker tournaments offered by the affiliated partners of the WPT.

• Check out the WPT Tournament Schedule to see which tournament is offered and what is at stake.
• Contact the participating casinos to confirm the dates of the tournaments and to obtain information on the buy-in fee and registration deadlines.
• Register with and provide payment to the host casino to reserve a seat in the tournament.
• Play in the tournament and make your way to the Final Table for a chance to win a share of the prize pool and be a part of the WPT TV show on Travel Channel.
• Contact the Poker Office at Bellagio for information and registration: (702) 693-7290
  

If you are not one of the fortunate event winners, or simply did not get around to taking part in any of them, then you can still enter the tournament by paying the $25,000 buy-in.

The details for these tournaments!
There is a "buy-in" fee, which is usually around $5,000 to $10,000 which must be made before you can play. Alternatively, you could take part in a "satellite" event, where the entry fees are a lot lower and you stand a chance of winning a "buy-in" to the WPT tournaments.

The winnings are devided up amongst the top players - usually the top 20 to 30 players will share the loot. The winner would receive between 35 to 40% of the prize pool, and the rest would be devided up amongst the runners up. The size of the prize pool would depend on how many players take part in the tournament.

After everybody has registered, the table and seat numbers are randomly drawn and asigned to each player. Everybody starts with the same number of chips and play continues until the winner ends up with all the chips. The rounds are timed, so that events do not stretch over days and to ensure that things move faster, the "blinds", or forced bets are increased as time starts running out.

As players are eliminated, tables are consolidated until there is only one table of 6 people left. This is then moved from the tournament room into the APT Arena, where the game continues in front of television cameras and a live audience.

Online poker tournaments differ in their structure since the preliminary rounds are played over the Internet, but ultimately the finalists face off in person at the WPT Final Table where the winner is crowned.