WPT Bares Season 8 Schedule

With the Bellagio Cup V only three weeks away, World Poker Tour (WPT) officials have released the schedule for Season VIII. A dozen tournaments will be held, including the brand new Hollywood Poker Open, which will debut from the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

The entire series will be filmed in high-definition, providing a unique experience for viewers watching the action unfold on Fox Sports Net. The cable station returns as the television outlet for Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and the rest of the WPT broadcast crew for the second straight season. The first five seasons of the WPT aired on The Travel Channel, while Season VI could be seen on GSN. After a management change at GSN, WPT officials were left scrambling for a new media partner.

“As this great game has evolved over the years, we have seen the tour grow and develop into something truly incredible. Each year seems to top the last, from stops in exciting new venues to historical moments to breakout players to unbelievable action. We’re looking forward to seeing what the eighth season brings and then watching it broadcast in HD!,” WPT Founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb commented in a press release Wednesday.

Hollywood Casino was formerly known as Argosy and is housed outside Cincinnati. The 270,000 square foot riverboat casino on the Ohio River will host four WPT events, including the brand’s first televised tournament in the Midwest. Blue Diamond Almonds will once again sponsor WPT Live Updates, which Amanda Leatherman delivered last season.
Here’s a look at the schedule of events for WPT Season VIII, which kicks off in three weeks from Las Vegas, Nevada:

Bellagio Cup V
Bellagio (Las Vegas, NV)
July 13th to 19th, 2009
USD 15,000 + USD 400 buy-in

Legends of Poker
The Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles, CA)
August 22nd to 26th, 2009
USD 9,800 + USD 200 buy-in

Borgata Poker Open
Borgata Hotel, Casino, and Spa (Atlantic City, NJ)
September 19th to 24th, 2009
Buy-in To Be Determined

Festa al Lago
Bellagio (Las Vegas, NV)
October 20th to 26th, 2009
USD 15,000 + USD 400 buy-in

Foxwoods World Poker Finals
Foxwoods Resort Casino (Mashantucket, CT)
November 5th to 10th, 2009
USD 9,700 + USD 300 buy-in

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Bellagio (Las Vegas, NV)
December 13th to 19th, 2009
USD 15,000 + USD 400 buy-in

Southern Poker Championship
Beau Rivage (Biloxi, MS)
January 24th to 27th, 2010
USD 9,700 + USD 300 buy-in

L.A. Poker Classic
Commerce Casino (Los Angeles, CA)
February 20th to 25th, 2010
USD 9,600 + USD 400 buy-in

WPT Invitational
Commerce Casino (Los Angeles, CA)
February 27th to March 1st, 2010
Invitation Only

Bay 101 Shooting Star
Bay 101 (San Jose, CA)
March 8th to 12th, 2010
USD 9,600 + USD 400 buy-in

Hollywood Poker Open
Hollywood Casino (Lawrenceburg, IN)
March 20th to 24th, 2010
USD 9,600 + USD 400 buy-in

WPT Championship
Bellagio (Las Vegas, NV)
April 17th to 24th, 2010
USD 25,000 + USD 500 buy-in

In addition, the WPT will host two tournaments outside the United States in coming months. From August 26th through September 5th, the WPT Slovakia will take place at the Golden Vegas Casino in Brataslava. The Main Event has a price tag of GBP 4,400 and follows a deep stack structure. WPT officials are estimating a total prize pool of GBP 2.8 million, with players receiving 30,000 in starting chips and blinds of 25-50.

From September 6th to 12th, the tournament series heads to Cyprus for the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic. The event is expected to be televised regionally and carries a USD 10,300 buy-in. In June, the WPT Spanish Championship played out from Casino Barcelona. In the end, Markus Lehmann banked GBP 537,000 for his win in the annual overseas tournament, which attracted 226 entrants to the Spanish city.

William Hill To Host No Surrender UK Poker Classic

iPoker Network site William Hill has teamed up with the No Surrender Charitable Trust to bring the first ever No Surrender UK Poker Classic to life. The online event will raise money for a cancer-related social network and research institute.

The tournament is slated for Friday, June 26 and has an expected prize pool of USD 30,000. Its grand prize winner will take home a one-of-a-kind VIP trip to Las Vegas, Nevada worth USD 10,000

Organizers are gunning for 1,000 players in the online event, which will play out on the virtual felts of William Hill. A longstanding fixture in the online poker industry, William Hill is a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange, where it can be found under the symbol “WMH.” The UK Poker Classic comes with a price tag of USD 30 with USD 20 re-buys available for those finding themselves short on chips.

Its winner and a very lucky guest will jet set to Sin City in style aboard British Airways in the carrier’s luxurious Club World class. While in Las Vegas, the duo will call the Bellagio, a Strip casino, home for four nights. The venue is rich in poker lore, playing host to the annual World Poker Tour (WPT) end-of-season Championship event each April as well as the Bellagio Cup, Festa al Lago, and Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. It’s the equivalent of Ground Zero for the WPT tournament series and also hosts Bobby’s Room, the home of high-stakes cash games featuring poker’s biggest names.

“We are always looking for new ways to raise funds and keep within the spirit of the No Surrender Trust, which ultimately is to do it having fun! Jason would have loved this event. As a city trader before he contracted pancreatic cancer, he was hugely competitive and loved synergy between the city and a game like poker,” Marc Maley of the No Surrender Charitable Trust commented in a press release distributed by William Hill.

The “Jason” in question is Jason Boas, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago at the age of 33. Nevertheless, he has raised over GBP 150,000 for cancer-related causes, including research and a helpful social networking site for patients.

The tournament kicks off at 8:00 p.m. 70 per cent of the prize pool will be donated to the charity, while the remaining 30 per cent will serve as the event’s purse. In addition, William Hill will add USD 1,000. The USD 10,000 travel package is good for non-blackout dates before December 1. Travel is not permitted on Independence Day (July 3rd and 4th), Labor Day (September 7th), Columbus Day (October 12th), Veteran’s Day (November 11th), and Thanksgiving (November 26th), all major US holidays when tourists flock in droves to Las Vegas.

The iPoker Network’s weekly major is the USD 250,000 Guaranteed, which runs on Sunday nights at 19:00 UK time. The tournament sports a USD 320 buy-in and satellites start as low as USD 3.80. On Friday, the family of sites hosts a USD 150,000 guaranteed prize pool event, which comes with a USD 109 buy-in and unlimited re-buys are available. The high-stakes contest kicks off at 20:00 UK time and qualifiers start at an affordable USD 1.20. Finally, Saturday night sees the running of the USD 50,000 Guaranteed, which has a USD 109 price tag. Thee freezeout starts at 18:30 UK time and satellites begin at USD 8.80.

Players on William Hill battle with competitors from across the iPoker Network, which also includes CD Poker, Mansion Poker, Noble Poker, Paddy Power, and Titan Poker. The Network is the third largest worldwide and the biggest that does not accept players from the United States.