The World Poker Tour is in the midst of its Season XVIII action. And now it’s preparing for the season-ending Tournament of Champions and final tables at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas.
It all started last summer with the WPT Gardens Poker Festival in Los Angeles and traveled the country before ending 2019 with the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic. The second half of Season XVIII then kicked off back at Gardens Casino, traveled to Florida, Russia, and Atlantic City.
With only a few months left in the season, it makes sense for the World Poker Tour to announce its final tables that will take place at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas, along with the WPT Tournament of Champions that will play out there this year.
Three Delayed Final Tables
The end of this season will deliver three delayed final tables, with those two tour stops putting a hold on their final tables at six players and bringing them to Las Vegas at the end of the season.
The first of the three participating events will be WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown. Its initial five days of play are set for May 1-5 in Hollywood, Florida. The final table will then play on May 28.
The second of the delayed final tables will start with the WPT Choctaw event in Oklahoma that runs May 15-18. Its final table will play out on May 29 in Vegas.
The other will be the WPT Tournament of Champions.
Players who make the final tables of the Seminole and Choctaw events will receive sixth place prize money at their respective casinos when the final tables are set. The WPT will then award them flights and hotel accommodations in Las Vegas to play at the arena, located at the Luxor on the Strip.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1225533988976107521?s=20
Speaking of the TOC
The official name of the tournament is the $15,000 Season XVIII WPT Tournament of Champions presented by Baccarat Crystal. It will begin on May 31 and play through to the final table on June 2.
Not much is known about the setup of the TOC, with the exception of the dates and the tournament’s sponsor. The winner of the event will receive a customized Baccarat Crystal vase. The company is also the official sponsor of the winner’s toast at every televised event throughout the season.
Last year, the tournament began at ARIA on the Las Vegas Strip just after the WPT Aria Summer Championship, a big $10K buy-in that capped the season. This year, there were no tournaments scheduled at ARIA, and the TOC will not play there, either.
The WPT revealed no details about the setup of the Season XVIII tournament except that there is a $15K buy-in. For clues, we can look back at last year’s event. That was a $15K buy-in open to WPT Championship Club members. Winners from that season were gifted buy-ins with their WPT wins, but any previous winner of a WPT event could buy in for $15K with no entry fee or rake. The WPT also added $100K to the prize pool and another $50K for the winner. Other prizes included a special edition Hublot watch, custom BBO poker table, and Baccarat Crystal trophy and champagne set – all for the winner. And every player in the event received a gift bag valued at $1K.
It is unclear if any of this will be a part of this year’s TOC, but more information will likely be revealed as the event nears.
First Round of HyperX Final Tables
The action from the events mentioned so far is actually the second round of Season XVIII final tables to be played and filmed at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas. The first ones will happen March 31 to April 2.
Those events were announced at the beginning of the season and brings three final tables to Vegas at the end of next month.
The first of those events was the WPT Gardens Poker Championship that played in Southern California in early January. It ended with six players guaranteed at least $111,795 for their finishes thus far. Chance Kornuth will take the chip lead into action on March 31 in Vegas.
https://twitter.com/WPTlive/status/1216940696818503682?s=20
The second is the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, which just played out in Atlantic City last week. It reduced the field to a final table of six players, with Brian Altman looking for another WPT title after just winning his second at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in January. Each player already won $143,264 but will head to Vegas to play for the win on April 1.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1225220355377119233?s=20
The third will be the $10K buy-in WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which is scheduled to begin at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles on February 29. The final table will be determined on March 4, and those players will compete for their title on April 2 in Vegas.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1224768614483365890?s=20
FOX Sports Episodes
According to the World Poker Tour, each event filmed at the arena will be made into four one-hour episodes. This means there will be a total of 24 new shows from Season XVIII.
These episodes will come from the action filmed from March 31 to April 2 and then from May 28 to June 2 at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. Air dates will be announced much later in 2020.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1207844656492371971?s=20
Comments