Started by Steve Lipscomb, The World Poker Tour (or WPT for short) is a series of poker tournaments that takes place all over the world, but the majority of the tournaments are held in the U.S. At each location, there are a series of smaller tournaments that culminate in a big no-limit Hold'em main event. The final tables of these main events are what you see on TV.
World Poker Tour on Television:
The World Poker Tour TV shows debuted in 2002 on the Travel Channel. Each 2-hour show showed the final 6 players competing for first prize. What made this show unique when it debuted was the use of "hole cams" that allowed viewers to see what each player had -- and that one feature changed the way people viewed poker and led to the poker boom. In 2008, new episodes aired on Game Show Network instead of the Travel Channel, but the next season in 2009 will be on Fox Sports.
World Poker Tour Hosts:
The hosts of the WPT show have always been poker player Mike Sexton and Vince van Patten. The female co-host was originally Shana Hiatt, who hosted the first three seasons. Later hosts included Courtney Friel, Sabina Gadecki, and Layla Kayleigh.
World Poker Tour Championship:
At the end of each season, the WPT holds a $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event that include all the winners of previous WPT main events and many more poker pros and hopefuls.
It is held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
World Poker Tour Champions:
The winners of the big WPT championship are:
* 2003: Alan Goehring
* 2004: Martin De Knijff
* 2005: Tuan Le
* 2006: Joe Bartholdi
* 2007: Carlos Mortensen
* 2008: David Chiu
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