Main Tour Schedule Our marquee international tournaments where winners enter the illustrious Champions Club™ and have their name etched on the coveted Champions Cup™. World Series Of Poker.
With two events left in Florida and Las Vegas this year, the World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced most of the second half of its Season XVII.
The 10 stops begin in January at California’sGardens Casino and end in June at the Tournament of Champions at Las Vegas’s Aria.
Partnership with partypoker
The WPT recently announced a four-year partnership with partypokerLive in August to team up on tournaments held in Canada and Europe.
The released dates include seven stops in North America and three international events. The WPT also announced a second visit to the Choctaw in Durant, Okla., though an event at the Los Angeles Poker Classic has not been announced.
However, more stops may be added at a later date. Three internationalstops include:
- Sochi, Russia: Jan. 21-27
- Barcelona, Spain: March 10-17
- Nottingham, U.K.: April 7-14
All three dates had been announced previously as part of the deal with partypoker and also feature WPT500 and WPTDeepStacks tournaments, targeting players of all bankroll levels.
Beyond the Choctaw, WPT players and fans will recognize other tour stops.
In January, the WPT returns to AtlanticCity for the Borgata Winter Poker Open. The property has been a longtime venue for the tour and draws players from across the U.S.
In February, the WPT heads to the great white north for the FallsviewPokerClassic in NiagaraFalls, Canada.
In March, players converge on the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif., and then head to the Choctaw in May.
The tour closes out its season in Las Vegas with the Aria Summer Championship to be held May 27-31 and then the Tournament of Champions— now sponsored by BaccaratCrystal— set for June 1-3.
Enjoy all the bells and wells
Along with announcing those venues and dates, the tour also outlined four events that will feature its new process for filming the finaltable for broadcast.
The remainingsix players at the Gardens, Borgata, Choctaw and Aria events will return for the final table, which will be played and filmed for TV at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas at the Luxor Hotel & Casino.
Travelaccommodation and hotel stay will be provided.
“The World Poker Tour is proud to announce more events to our growing season 17 WPT main tour calendar,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said.
“In addition to the great events on the schedule, the WPT looks forward to the first of this season’s final tables to be played at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Hotel & Casino.”
WPT has partnered with MGM to make use of the Esports Arena, which has completebroadcast capabilities.
The arena can be used for esports events as well as poker final table. The facility was first used last year for the final table at the Tournament of Champions and the $25,000 Bellagio High Roller.
The two-level arena offers fans a chance to experience a WPT final table first-hand and features a complete bar and restaurant, an owner’s box for partying and hanging out with friends, and numerous other amenities.
“Our players and casino partners deserve the brightest spotlight poker has to offer and what better way to give them that than inside the new official home of poker at the HyperX Esports Arena,” said Angelica Hael, WPT vice president of global tour management.
“The WPT is excited to work with our Esports Arena final tablists to provide a true superstarVIPexperience.”
For a complete look at the WPT schedule, click here.
Lead image courtesy of WPT/Flickr
WPT record field
Alex Foxen won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event at the Bellagio over the weekend, the first WPT title of his poker career. For the victory, Foxen won nearly $1.7 million and a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
the field grew to 1,035, a record for a $10,000 event on the World Poker Tour
The Five Diamond is one of the few remaining $10,000 buy-in tournaments on the World Poker Tour. With unlimited re-entries permitted until the start of Level 12, the field grew to 1,035, a record for a $10,000 event on the World Poker Tour. The prize pool just eclipsed $10 million.
Flush with success early
Foxen entered the six-handed final table on Sunday second in chips with 9.750 million. Danny Park led with 11.100 million. The most important hand of the final table doesn’t often come early, but in this case, it may have.
That hand elevated Foxen into the chip lead with 14.125 million chips. Park was still in solid shape, but saw his stack plummet to 8.025 million after having just been over 12 million.
Foxen never relinquished the lead.
Dominant finish
Going into heads-up play, Foxen held a significant chip edge over Toby Joyce, 29.500 million to 11.900 million. Joyce would likely need a double-up to get back into contention, but he never got it. Foxen pulled away further; it took only nine hands to sew up the tournament.
Joyce needed four time extensions to think it over before finally calling all-in for his last 4.500 million
On the final hand, Foxen limped pre-flop and Joyce checked to see a flop of J♣-5♠-3♦. Joyce checked, but when Foxen bet 400,000, Joyce check-raised to 1.100 million. Undeterred, Foxen re-raised to 2 million and Joyce slowed down, just calling. The turn was the K♣. Joyce checked, so Foxen put him to the test, moving all-in for many millions more chips than Joyce had in front of him. Joyce needed four time extensions to think it over before finally calling all-in for his last 4.500 million.
Donald Maloney
Joyce had J♥-9♣, good for second pair, but Foxen had A♣-J♠, giving him the same second pair but the top kicker. The river was of no use to either player, giving the pot to Foxen, along with his first WPT title.
Momentous for year and career
Alex Foxen had come close to winning the WPT Five Diamond Poker Classic two years ago, finishing as the runner-up to Ryan Tosoc. That made this victory even more satisfying than it might have otherwise been.
“It’s surreal – it’s kind of hard to put into words,” he told WPT.com afterward. “It feels amazing. The last time I got to this spot I was a little bit disappointed in how I played heads-up. It’s just incredible to get the opportunity again and be fortunate enough to pull out the win.”
World Poker Tour 2019 Cast
He added that this is the biggest win he has had so far in his career and that it feels “amazing” because of both the size and quality of the field.
Wpt Poker Tournament Results
With the win, Foxen also moved into the lead for the Global Poker Index Player of the Year. As there is just one week left in 2019, he likely has the honor wrapped up. Foxen won the GPI POY in 2018 and would become the first player ever to do it back-to-back.