World Poker Tour Championship

At a recent press conference a number of exciting changes to the WPT were announced alongside the start of their Championship being held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Whilst most poker fans were watch the WSOP Main Event the World Poker Tour Championship also kicked off this week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. This WPT event is part of the Bellagio Cup VI which began last month. It is perfect timing to hold a $10,000 buy-in WPT championship event as many of the big names in poker will already have been knocked out the WSOP.

Some big names entered the WPT event including Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Andy Bloch, J.C. Tran, Freddy Deeb, Cyndy Violette, Carlos Mortensen and Tom McEvoy.

7319 players entered the WSOP main event and 4548 have already been knocked out, those with any bank role left will probably head over to the WPT championship.

At a recent press conference WPT CEO Steve Heller and WPT President Adam Pliska announced a series of exciting changes coming to the WPT this year. They will be introducing a television anchor position like other large sporting events but a move that no poker television program has made yet. It will be Kimberly Lansing an already familiar face will be filling this role. She will be providing show openings, breaks, commentary and player interview which is aimed to show us the human side of playing for high stakes.

Pliska said that, "We believe the WPT anchor represents a significant step forward in poker programming and Kimberly is a natural fit for the position. Her charisma, style, professionalism and knowledge of the sport have earned her the respect and attention of players throughout the poker community”

As well as being at every final table, commentators Mike Sexton and Vince Van Pattern will now be attending Day 1 of every U.S based WPT event. This means that they will be able to interact with fans, promote more and offer more coverage of every tournament.

They also introduced Matt Savage as WPT’s Executive Tour Director. Matt is a well known figure in the poker world and is respected for his huge amount of experience and knowledge. Matt will be liaising between casino tournament directors and the WPT trying to ensure that the needs of WPT’s casino partners are met as well as player’s needs.

Savage said, "There are so many exciting changes at the World Poker Tour and I’m looking forward to having a big role in the WPT’s continued success. This is an amazing team and I’m proud to be working with them."

They also introduced the WPT Royal Flush Girls who will be attending every tournament. They will take TV viewers backstage and add another element of glamour to the events.