A lot to look forward to
It's sort of a dead time of year for the poker world, with not much going on. But once that calendar changes to 2005, there will be a lot to look forward to, including the biggest heads-up match ever.
Who is it, you ask? Doyle Brunson vs. Phil Hellmuth? Gus Hansen vs. Daniel Negreanu? Howard Lederer vs. Annie Duke? Nope. This is bigger than any of those. It's ... WSOP vs. WPT.
Following the success of the WPT, the WSOP is kicking off the WSOP Circuit this year, stretching what had been one tournament into six. That will correct one of the significant advantages the WPT has held over the WSOP, which is the ability to have a lot more fresh content, since there are so many more event.
And the battle gets started in a big way. The WSOP Circuit's first event, to be held at Harrah's Atlantic City, is scheduled to take place at pretty much the same time as the Jack Binion World Poker Open, a WPT event, at the Horseshoe in Tunica. Common sense says that the big names cannot play both at the same time. Thankfully, the WSOP event will end nearly a week before the beginning of the main event in Tunica, so the pros will have the opportunity to play both. But I think it's a given that the preliminary events in Tunica will suffer from a lack of big names. That's a shame, because I really enjoy following the action of the prelims. The same thing happens in March, when WSOP Circuit at the Rio is scheduled for the same time as the World Poker Challenge at the Reno Hilton. Again, the WSOP ends prior to the beginning of the main event in Reno.
I hope this is not a sign of Harrah's strategy with the WSOP. I hope they are not deliberately trying to sabotage the WPT by scheduling events at the same time. There's reason to think they are not, because the calendar is only so big and the events are so large that there is probably no way to avoid some overlap. But I think poker is big enough to accommodate two tours, so I hope that in the future there is more of an effort made to avoid such conflicts.
Another thing that has me concerned is how ESPN will adjust its coverage with the emergence of the circuit. I thought the addition of the preliminary events this past year was fantastic. I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch seven card stud, Omaha and razz. But with the circuit this year, will they go back to showing just the main events? I certainly hope not.
OK, I said above that there is room in the poker world for two tours, but what about three? Got an interesting press release today about a "Poker Tour International." At first glance, I wasn't too impressed, just figuring it was someone else trying to cash in on the poker phenomenon. But upon closer inspection, there are certainly some big names attached to this enterprise. Party Poker is involved, so there could be some new tournament qualifers appearing soon. At any rate, it doesn't look to be a challenge to the WPT or WSOP, since the events are all in Central and South America. Here's the details:
Who is it, you ask? Doyle Brunson vs. Phil Hellmuth? Gus Hansen vs. Daniel Negreanu? Howard Lederer vs. Annie Duke? Nope. This is bigger than any of those. It's ... WSOP vs. WPT.
Following the success of the WPT, the WSOP is kicking off the WSOP Circuit this year, stretching what had been one tournament into six. That will correct one of the significant advantages the WPT has held over the WSOP, which is the ability to have a lot more fresh content, since there are so many more event.
And the battle gets started in a big way. The WSOP Circuit's first event, to be held at Harrah's Atlantic City, is scheduled to take place at pretty much the same time as the Jack Binion World Poker Open, a WPT event, at the Horseshoe in Tunica. Common sense says that the big names cannot play both at the same time. Thankfully, the WSOP event will end nearly a week before the beginning of the main event in Tunica, so the pros will have the opportunity to play both. But I think it's a given that the preliminary events in Tunica will suffer from a lack of big names. That's a shame, because I really enjoy following the action of the prelims. The same thing happens in March, when WSOP Circuit at the Rio is scheduled for the same time as the World Poker Challenge at the Reno Hilton. Again, the WSOP ends prior to the beginning of the main event in Reno.
I hope this is not a sign of Harrah's strategy with the WSOP. I hope they are not deliberately trying to sabotage the WPT by scheduling events at the same time. There's reason to think they are not, because the calendar is only so big and the events are so large that there is probably no way to avoid some overlap. But I think poker is big enough to accommodate two tours, so I hope that in the future there is more of an effort made to avoid such conflicts.
Another thing that has me concerned is how ESPN will adjust its coverage with the emergence of the circuit. I thought the addition of the preliminary events this past year was fantastic. I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch seven card stud, Omaha and razz. But with the circuit this year, will they go back to showing just the main events? I certainly hope not.
Yet another tour?
OK, I said above that there is room in the poker world for two tours, but what about three? Got an interesting press release today about a "Poker Tour International." At first glance, I wasn't too impressed, just figuring it was someone else trying to cash in on the poker phenomenon. But upon closer inspection, there are certainly some big names attached to this enterprise. Party Poker is involved, so there could be some new tournament qualifers appearing soon. At any rate, it doesn't look to be a challenge to the WPT or WSOP, since the events are all in Central and South America. Here's the details:
Poker Tour International ''PTI'' Announces 2005 First Quarter Tournaments
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 28, 2004--Poker Tour International (PTI), announces the first quarter Texas Hold'em Poker tournaments for 2005. Dates are as follows: February 7-13, 2005 -- Isle of Capri Casino, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas; March 12-16, 2005 -- Circa's Hispanola Resort and Casino, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and April 13-18, 2005 -- Norwegian Cruise Caribbean Spirit Ship. Rates for the trips, including buy-ins, travel, and accommodations, run $2,999. Re-buys are available at $500. Winnings include $250,000-$500,000 (depending on number of participants), seats to other PTI tournaments, and seats to the Semi Annual Multi Million Dollar Classic Finals.
PTI production team includes Pro Players Lee Watkinson, who has won $1,453,573 from final tables this year alone and rated #1 in the World by Bluff Magazine; Ted Lawson, winner of this year's Las Vegas Omaha World Poker Series; "Unabomber" Phil Laak, winner of the WPT Invitation 2004; Humberto Brenes, known as "godfather of Costa Rican Players"; regular at final tables Steve Kates, partner of Royal Oasis Casino; and Tournament Organizer Burt Kravette. Together, the PTI team has set plans in motion for a series of multimedia poker events in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America sponsored in part by PartyPoker.com.
"PTI is a mid-range tournament series specifically designed for the guy next door to win big next to pro players," says Kates. Satellite tournaments for winners to win all expense paid trips will be held on PartyPoker.com.
To participate, contact PTI at 1-866-79-POKER, 1-877-38-POKER, or 305-933-5256.
Upcoming tournaments in the Poker Tour International are scheduled for Puerto Rico and St. Kitts.
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