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.

World Poker Tour launches the ClubWPT $1,000,000 Bonus, giving ClubWPT VIP members a chance to win a million dollar bonus for winning a WPT Main Tour event. The buy-in for each tournament can vary depending on which World Poker Tour series you would like to enter. The cost of buying into a competition from the main tour ranges from $3,500-$20,000. The WPT offers cheaper tournaments at their Deep Stacks and 500 tours.

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.

Play Wpt Poker Free

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

Play Online Poker for Real Cash Prizes – US Players Accepted

• • 5,000 Gold Coins

    On Sign Up

  • Global Poker - US Players Accepted Review

    Overall Grade A

    • Games B+
    • Support A
    • Banking A+
    • Signup Bonus A

Season XVII of the World Poker Tour is going to look like no season ever before it. As part of the WPT’s partnership with Esports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Casino & Hotel, all televised final tables are moving to the original home of the World Poker Tour.

According to WPT CEO Adam Pliska and VP of Global Tour Management Angelica Hael, the number of final tables taking place at Esports Arena Las Vegas is nine: eight Main Tour events, plus the season-ending Tournament of Champions.

These events were not formally confirmed by the WPT at Saturday’s media summit at Luxor. All properties who are in line to have their final tables hosted at Esports Arena Las Vegas are pending state and Nevada Gaming License approval.

After final tables are reached, tournaments will be placed on a hiatus between the end of play at the host property and the final table in Las Vegas. The estimate is three to six weeks between play. Per the WPT, the goal is to have spans of final tables play out consecutively over a single week.

“It’s no secret that the home of global poker is here in Las Vegas,” said Hael. “In many respects, it makes perfect sense to move WPT final tables of televised events to be here. The move aims not to just take WPT to new heights, but to also elevate the game of poker as a whole. It is going to be a location where we can celebrate and honor our industry-leading events and also elevate the experience of our champions.”

New home for the WPT

Wpt Club Poker Log In

Esports Arena Las Vegas is the modern hub for gaming, and now poker, on the Las Vegas strip. WPT’s parent company, Ourgame, owns multiple eSports arenas across the globe and opened Esports Arena Las Vegas in March 2018. Luxor is also an MGM Resorts property. MGM and the WPT are partners dating back to Season I.

Spectators are treated to a premier viewing experience for poker upon entering Esports Arena Las Vegas. The stage is a size that rivals Broadway with the production to match. 50-foot tall LED screens with the WPT logo stands behind the table with cyan lights scattered across the stage.

Players enter the arena through the ‘Hype Tunnel.’ A hallway striped with fluorescent lighting that conjures images of Blade Runner 2049.

The over $20 million investment to build Esports Arena Las Vegas reflects in the live action should do the same in the television episodes for Season XVII.

Pliska reflected this sentiment.

“The amazing blessing of this is it not only guarantees you’ll see this show for [up to] 15 more years, it looks better,” Pliska said. “There’s no question, it’s a sport. We’ve said it’s a sport and now we have the venue for it.”

Hael alluded comparing Esports Arena Las Vegas potentially being the iconic location for poker in a similar way to what Madison Square Garden is for basketball.

Break equals exposure

A goal of the World Poker Tour with their new playground is to boost the presence of their final tablists. During the break between tournament play at the host property and the final table, the projection is to give all six players a profile usually reserved for just the champion of the event.

“We are dedicated to promoting players going into this event because we know that their story needs to be told,” WPT Marketing Manager Donnie Peters said.

Season-long storylines for the major events are condensed into just a few weeks of poker. The Player of the Year race switches in a span of days instead of a yearlong grind to the finish line.

Revamped schedule for Season XVII

“Our entire schedule has changed,” WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage said. “Because of this change, we’ve had to rearrange our entire schedule. Not only is it going to be a big change for the poker players, it’s going to be a change for us.”

All WPT Main Tour events in Season XVII that are going to be televised, are on hold to start until at least the end of the year.

The Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City, NJ has long been a televised event on the WPT every September. The event is a candidate to be live streamed in Season XVII. This year’s Borgata Poker Open runs from September 16-21.

Season XVII opens at the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, CA in with the $5,000 buy-in WPT Gardens Poker Festival. The event runs July 21-26. The casino first hosted the WPT in 2017 when the WPT500 Los Angeles tournament played.

WPT Choctaw returns August 3-7 in Durant, OK. The Season XVI edition was the first North American stop of the campaign and drew 924 entrants.

The Bicycle Hotel and Casino is not a Main Tour stop for the 2018 portion of the schedule. Legends of Poker is, for now, WPT500 Los Angeles with a $1 million guarantee starting August 18 and concluding on August 27.

Other familiar tour stops back on the schedule for 2018 are WPT Maryland (September 21-25), WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble (October 19-23), and the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic (December 10-15).

Season XVII WPT Schedule for 2018

Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour/Flickr