Coverage of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic Tournament that started today at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas and continues through December 18th will begin tomorrow since I had to be out of Vegas today. J. Santos and I drove to LA today so I could see my cardiologist for a follow up from some problems I had earlier this year. I am most happy to report that everything is great and I am almost back to normal. My doctors in Los Angeles have taken great care of me and repaired and returned me to a healthy life, something I now cherish. Some of them read the blog so I wish to thank them for their great skill, respect and compassion; attributes that are often missing in today’s world of medicine. Thanks, from the bottom of my now normal heart, to all the med guys and gals in Santa Monica.

Returning to Las Vegas this evening I noted unusually light traffic on the Interstate from LA to Vegas. We are in a slow period following Thanksgiving; but the volume of visitors will steadily increase right up to our busiest day, New Year’s Eve. If you are planning to ring in the New Year’s here in the city of entertainment it would be a good idea to make plans and reservations now. The town will fill very quickly.

The National Finals Rodeo is in town and kicks off on Wednesday. The event runs through December 12th. The rodeo always brings the hat and boot crowd to the poker tables so the games are plentiful and the action is fast. One of our friends, a local poker room regular, refers to the cowboy poker players as “the cat-fish in the hat.”

The Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a WPT sanctioned event, runs November 30 through December 18th and is a magnet for all the professional poker players. A great time to visit Vegas and experience the decidedly western atmosphere from the rodeo influence and then take a stroll through the Bellagio’s Five Diamond Tournament area to see almost every known poker star on the planet. Better yet, enter one of the events and match your game with the people you see playing poker on TV every week. I will be there with the camera recording all the action close up and personal.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Thanksgiving I tried Tofurkey. My host’s sister, Tara, is a vegetarian and great fun, too. I must admit I do not like the idea of recreating the meat taste and texture for vegetarian food but anything is better than funding the meat industry. The two of us then finished first and second in a game of scrabble; then repeated the placings in a new casino board game that we were beta testing. So, go veggie for brain power.

If you go to the Hard Rock and your drink is a long time coming blame our Flipchipro. He has found his calling in life. Photographing cocktail waitresses. I took a nice shot of waitress Robyn but she has green boobs! (Caused by the lighting I hope).

As for the poker, Max Pescatori was caught by Harry Karazian fishing for an inside straight. Harry left with a full basket ($16,097) whilst the darling of both the Hispanic and Italian communities, Max, left with $3,540. After Max very kindly bought us dinner on Friday he gave the waitress a $100 bill. She said, "Do you need change?" That would have been a $70 tip!

If Mike Paulle had arrived earlier we may have been spared the large number of mistakes from the commentator. Gems like, "She has king high. In fact she has a straight." "Steve is out in fifth, no sixth. In fact, he has it covered." Matt Savage, your job is safe.

I was informed that plans are to open a 12 table poker room in the Hard Rock casino as soon as possible. The Hard Rock is strictly a weekend casino frequented by new money Californicators. The local rocks may not like the Rock.

Posted by at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saluting the Lord Admiral
Its not often I run across “wow” content on the Internet, but Sean of Lord Admiral has a weekly podcast poker radio show that is production quality and filled with some great content, including Vegas poker room reviews in the November 21st installment. Sean’s blog and site are good, but the radio program is jewel.

This week has a Vegas trip report from Hank and things to be thankful from CJ. Chris Halverson’s blog has a new look and he is now ranked 9th in the OIC competition. BuyitinVegas has a great post on what a string bet is and betting for value has a cool post on making the most of his table image. Finally, Al Can’t Hang has a post that includes his tourny strategy for the upcoming blogger event… but I think he’s bluffing.

The Holiday Blogger's Tournament is rapidly approaching (less than two weeks!), so I am reviewing and practicing all things poker.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Hot Tex II at the Hard Rock is now over and we have a winner. Harry Karazian and Ian Kalman decided to split the first and second place money after Steve Novak went out in third. They each took home $16,097. Harry Karazian was declared the winner and received the first place trophy since he was the chip leader while Ian received the second place trophy. Steve Novak wins $10,935 for his third place finish. The two remaining professional player at the final table was the Italian Pirate, Max Pescatori, who finished fifth and collected $3540, while James van Alstyne received $2075 for sixth. Mai No was the last remaining female in the tournament, finishing fourth and winning $7290. The event was well run by Tournamnet Director Dave Lamb. The dealers and floor people did a great job during the tournament. Another Poker Tournament is in the planning stages and will be scheduled for sometime in the first quarter of 2005.

The Hot Tex II Photo Gallery should be available within a day or two. We are currently sorting, organizing and preparing the best images from the hundreds taken of the two day event.

The Hard Rock Las Vegas is one of the hottest destinations for visitors to Las Vegas. A place where you can often see television, movie and music stars as well as entertainment industry executives wandering about the casino floor. You never know who you may see there. The music is loud and the crowd is young and hip with an abundance of the beautiful people. The parking lots are filled with high-dollar, exotic rolling stock. I was somewhat surprised that the Poker Tournament was not filmed for TV. Maybe they couldn’t agree on a title for the show since the "Hard Rock’s Hot Tex II" might bring down the wrath of the network censures. This brings us to this week’s Nines list, the top nine rejected titles for poker TV shows.

Top Nine rejected titles for poker television shows.

9. Lunch Money Poker Tips, An After School Special
8. Name That Hand
7. What's My tell?
6. Brunson Knows Best
5. Malcolm in the Big Blind
4. Poker on the Orient Express
3. Everybody Loves Shoten
2. Who Wants to be a Poker Player?
1. CSI:WPPA

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Hot Tex II tournament at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is the hottest poker action in Vegas today. Eighty entrants paid $560 to play in the No-Limit Hold’em tournament with some well known professional poker players, all wearing bounty dogtags. Eliminate one of the pros and collect the tags. There was also one $500 rebuy during the first hour of play. The list of professional players included Kenna James, TJ Cloutier, Max Pescatori, Chip Jett, Kathy Liebert, Charlie Shoten, Phil Laak and Ultimate Poker Challenge Champion, James van Alstyne. The two day event ended with twenty players remaining for tomorrow's final tables. The chip leader going into tomorrow’s final two tables is Mai No with $19,700 in tournament chips followed by Harry Kaz with $14,000. Huong is one of four ladies that made it to the final day. The two remaining professional players in the mix are Max Pescatori and James van Alstyne. Max finished the day with $13,000 in tournament checks.

Tomorrow's action resumes at 7:30 pm in the Joint Night Club at the Hard Rock. The prize pool for the tournament is $60,750 and will pay nine places as follows:

1st $18,225
2nd $13,970
3rd $10935
4th $7,290
5th $3,540
6th $2,025
7th $1,870
8th $1,620
9th $1,275

We will compile and post a permanent photo gallery of the Hot Tex II. Following today’s action we had the pleasure of having a late dinner with Max Pescatori at the Pink Taco restaurant located in the Hard Rock. The Poker Prof, Foiledcoup and I enjoyed the opportunity to visit and gossip with a well known professional poker player. We discussed many poker related topics (imagine that!) including Max’s opinion that the PPT (Professional Poker Tour) is a positive first step for the poker industry. We certainly agree. Thanks Max for the great conversation and dinner.

Breaking news for the Holiday Bloggers Tournament at Sam’ Town. Tom McEvoy, 1983 WSOP Champion, is now confirmed for the event. Additionally, Max Pescatori is a strong maybe to be there on Saturday, December 11th. Max has a website so take a look.

Street talk here in Las Vegas says Doyle’s Game (Pots the size of a parking lot full of Hummers) is now in a private room at the Aladdin Hotel. We also heard that in addition to the poker table it has a crap table in case anyone gets bored and needs a break from the cards.

Posted by pokerprof at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am pleased to announce the contestants for the first Foiledcoup Fantasy Freeroll Tournament. This is the real reason the PPT has postponed their Bellagio event in January. Mormon missionaries will knock on the player’s doors at 7:00 am. I agreed to this so the programme will be televised on the BYU channel available to Cox digital customers. The players are, (with individual code of conduct):

1) MAX PESCATORI (must wear EU bandana)

2) JIM MEEHAN (To ensure constant meaningless chatter at table)

3) KARINA JETT (She must not laugh into the microphone and cover up her boobs. We don't want the Missionaries to claim asylum in Vegas like a Cuban dance troupe).

4) FELICIA LEE (She must wear stilettos and have Louis Asmo as a footstool).

5) ANDY BLOCH (He must wear a hooded sweatshirt. Full Tilt logo acceptable).

6) JOE BEEVERS (He must read up on the Nevada minimum wage law).

7) ROBERT WILLIAMSON III (He must pay for the post game party in the Real World suite at the Palms).

8) BARRY GREENSTEIN (He must give all future tournament winnings to Mike Paulle and me).

9) MIKE LAING (Just to make it fair to Minneapolis Jim's side of the table.)

10) CINDY VIOLETTE (She must eat complimentary foie gras and veal sandwich).

The post game party band booked by Glenn (Felicia's husband) and myself will be a Smiths tribute band who will play, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," over and over again to all losing players.

Posted by at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The poker action in Las Vegas will heat up this holiday weekend when the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino host the annual Hot Tex No-Limit Hold’em tournament. The Hot Tex II will begin play at 7:00 pm on Friday, November 26, and the final table will be played on Saturday. The entry fee for this event is $500 + $60. A full house is expected to be at the Joint for this tournament. We will be there covering all the action and getting our trademark in-your-face player photos. Our own Pro Player, Charlie Shoten, will be in the mix. The Hard Rock has a history of providing first rate facilities and professional hosting so you should consider playing in this one. Another added attraction is the celebrities that frequent the Hard Rock and often take part in the tournaments. The number for the hotel is 702.693.5000 or call toll free at 800.473.7625. Hard Rock Vice President of Marketing, Todd Simmons, will be managing the event.

We have received more great news for everyone that will be at the December 11th Blogger’s Holiday Tournament at Sam’s Town. The 2003 WPT Battle of Champions winner, Ron Rose will be there for the event. He will be at the complimentary breakfast prior to the 1:00 pm start of the tournament. Ron is a well known professional poker player with many championships to his credit including a WSOP gold bracelet. He is also the author of one of the best Professional Poker Player biography books, “Poker Aces, The Stars of Tournament Poker.” I am getting quite excited about our little tournament and wish to thank all of our pro poker friends that have agreed to take time from their busy schedules to stop in and meet the poker blogger community. Also, without the tireless efforts of our friend and manager of Sam’s Town poker operations, Dick Gatewood, and Dr. Pauly for suggesting the event, none of this would be happening. A final note: we are already in the planning stages for the second leg of the Blogger’s Tournament Tour so keep your bags packed and start looking for travel deals to California.

We have confirmation that the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel & Resort poker room will have twenty-seven tables when the resort opens in April, 2005. We were also told it will be the most opulent, luxurious poker room that has ever existed. Considering the previous poker rooms Steve Wynn has designed, the Mirage and the Bellagio, I am looking forward to an executive preview tour prior to the public opening.

And finally, if you are following the Ted Binion Murder Trial II, the jury came back today with a not quilty verdict. Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish were convicted of murdering Ted Binion and served four years of a life sentence. Ted was the son of the late Benny Binion who was the owner of the Horseshoe Casino and founder of the WSOP tournament. The conviction was overturned by the Nevada Supreme court and the pair were granted a retrial. Today, following the juries verdict, Sandy Murphy indicated to the press that she will now seek to have the property left to her in Ted’s will returned, including the million dollar home and all the contents along with a considerable pile of cash.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With a high temp of only 45f and the overnight drizzle turning into permanent rain it was more like a Sunday in Portland than Vegas; minus the bookstores and cool locals. However, I was aching for a story and I had seen an ad in the UNLV in-house rag for a UNLV student NLHE tournament at the Golden Nugget. I don't know why, given the apathy of UNLV's student population; but, I had a good feeling about this event. Whenever I visit the fine, modern Lied Library I always see a number of students relaxing between classes with a game of online poker. Could these guys (and a few girlfriends) be tempted away from dollar beers and Sunday football or last nights take home from the Crown & Anchor?

The answer was a resounding yes, with all sixty seats taken for this inaugural UNLV bricks and mortar poker event, thanks to the efforts of Scott and Karen Morrow of Pokerpedia. Scott, a veteran casino shift manager and part time UNLV masters student, also had the help of a team of UNLV marketing students who are actually gaining credits for marketing this event.

The TD was Cathy Wood, a lovely laid back person, who has worked the WSOP and whose father, Bob Thompson, is also a TD. The Golden Nugget was concerned about underage gaming; but, Scott asked them to ID all students before play commenced. Cathy told me that to move into the old tented poker room would have presented her with an in house bill of $800 which she would have had to pass on to pokerpedia.com. Instead she allotted two tables, on a busy Sunday afternoon, in the main poker room. Each table was a one hour format of 15 minute rounds with each winner going through to the six player final table. Cathy allowed for a two hour final table but this was not needed as Dan Harrington did not play. They were more like six Gus Hansens, whom I was informed, is a regular at the UNLV's tennis courts. The winner was Joe Green, whom will make his fellow students envious of his $1200 prize.

The plan now is to contact Gene Trimble at the Palms poker room with details of how well this event was received and maybe a copy of this article to show the e-media are interested. With George Maloof a UNLV graduate, he hopes the Palms will be positive to the idea; if not, Cathy Woods would welcome them back to the Golden Nugget. Scott plans to venture into Sports handicapping tournaments in the future, for students who may not feel that poker is their cup of tea.

After the tournament was over I ventured onto a deserted Fremont Street to watch the six o'clock light show. In all the rain a stiff British upper lip was needed as well as a warm cup of chai.

Posted by at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To start off this week, I noticed that it now takes almost 4 hours to go though the entire blogroll, that’s a lot of content!

PokerGrub’s blog is celebrating its first birthday giving us a year of “bad beats and bad beets." Glenn and Felicia are touring the Arizona poker rooms and have some great insight and content while Pauly and Dick stay on top of the up coming Dec 11th tourney.

In the strategy department this week I noticed a post on when to move up in limits from Poker, it’s life and a great post on the dangers of Big Slick [AK] from Betting for Value and on the philosophical side, Sound of a Suckout looks at some of the metaphysical aspects of poker in Poker and Art.

Finally, like other bloggers, I got an e-mail from the blog of confessed casino cheat, Richard Marcus. His blog is an interesting read and well worth a look.

Posted by pokerprof at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I watched Jennifer Tilley on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno a few days ago; and among other things she mentioned a new boyfriend that she never identified and remains anonymous. Jennifer did say he was a professional poker player she had met on a couple of occasions while attending Celebrity ProAm tournaments. She told an amusing story about telephone numbers and probability odds. The first time they met he gave her his phone number and she promised to call and did not. The second tournament he told her to give him her number since the odds of her calling him were only three percent while the odds of him calling her was ninety-seven percent. Apparently he did call, she answered and they are now a couple. So who is this mystery poker pro? Having been around a couple of ProAm’s with celebrity players including Jennifer I will offer one of my photographs. Of course, I don’t have any confirmation of the identity of Jennifer’s professional poker player boyfriend; but I am offering the photos anyway. You can make your on decision.

This is Thanksgiving week so I thought it is a great time to invite everyone to spend the holiday in Las Vegas. Not only will you have all the usual gaming temptations and mountains of food; but, Las Vgeas now offers world class shopping. As we have stated before the number one reason to visit Vegas is not the gambling; it is the shopping. The Las Vegas Strip shopping malls have expanded and added hundreds of new stores offering thousands of items in every price range from free to “bring your Visa card since you can’t wheelbarrow in enough money.” Whatever is your shopping pleasure you will find it in Las Vegas and what better day to start than the Friday after Thanksgiving. The shops located within the resorts at the Bellagio, Mirage, Venetian, Aladdin or the MGM are a great place to begin. The expanded Forum Shops at Caesars and the recently opened levels at the Fashion Show Mall offer a cornucopia of gift ideas and choices. What better way to work off all those calories than spending a few days hiking the miles of Vegas shopping malls.

The Nines for this week list the top reasons to spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas.

Top Nine reasons to spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas.

9. No leftover oyster, crab apple stuffing.
8. You won’t have to spend the day with a bunch of mooching, lame relatives.
7. Sports books, football and free beer.
6. Making new friends while standing in buffet line for hours.
5. All you can drink cranberry flavored shots of scotch.
4. All you can eat Circus Circus buffet’s famous turkey flavored jello.
3. Elvis impersonator chefs.
2. $1.99 mystery meat surprise.
1. Plenty of turkeys and fish.

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I met Chedy Hampson from BeatingPoker.com at the Hard Rock's first Hot Tex tournament. We talked and he reminded me of the ALL IN guys at the WSOP. Young, business minded and with some money to back his ideas. He asked if I could write (I was taking photos at the Hard Rock), I replied negative. I finally remembered to look up his site today. He offers writers $50 for a 1000-2000 word article; but, he has standards. I quote, "Every ellipses should be three dots or four dots. Never two never five. All numbers should be spelled out"

To read articles by Daniel Negreanu, Andy Bloch and Joe Awada requires an annual $59 subscription. I would have to go to the UNLV media class before I could submit anything to Chad. Thats not a bad idea as I read that the classes are 75% female (Sorry, that's seventy five per cent).

Thats why I love the owners of this site, the Smiths. If I say you interview O'Neil Longson (who is deaf) whilst I interview Evelyn Ng or Karina Jett they are pleased with the deal! The only rules they sent me were the log-in to the site's movabletype.

Yes, The Smiths and I are "Hand in Glove."

Posted by at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The WPT's tournament stop at the World’s Largest Casino, Foxwoods, is now over and the winner is Tuan Le. He becomes the latest new WPT millionaire and a half. The inaugural event of the PPT (Professional Poker Tour) is scheduled to be played at Foxwoods today, Friday November 19th. The six players at the final table with with their chip count are John Juanda (CA) $436000, Jen Harman (NV) $302000, Chris Bigler (Switzerland) $226000, Ron Rose (OH) $198000, Dan Harrington (CA) $145000 and Casey Kastle (IL) $34000. We received a comment on the previous article, Matusow Luck, from noted professional player and Microsoft guru, Richard Brodie, that WPT President Steve Lipscomb announced the cancellation without explanation of the Bellagio and Mirage PPT events. Richard has great read about the Foxwoods’ PPT event on his blog, Lion Tales.

The cancellation of the two PPT tournaments will make it more difficult for players on the one year qualified list to play in the two mandatory events for requalification. After today’s PPT event there will not be another PPT tourney until February at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

We received news that Doug Dalton, Director of Poker Operations at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, had a heart attack last week. The good news is he is recovering quite nicely and should be back managing the poker operations at the hotel before the start of the Five Diamonds Tournament. All of us here at LasVegasVegas wish him a speedy recovery. Under Doug’s direction the Bellagio has the finest poker room in the world with some of the highest stakes poker games found anywhere. You will always find well known pros playing at the tables in the Bellagio’s Poker Room.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I notice Mike Matusow is on the 1 year list of players eligible to participate in the PPT Freerolls. To requalify players must play in at least 2 of the first year freerolls. Someone has a sense of humour. Maybe Karina Jett and Max Pescatori do not see the funny side as they are not invited to play. I noticed subs were played at Foxwoods (Andy Glazer hagiographer Wendeen Eolis was one). So, Karina and Max, just be there on the day.

In my last blog, "No Free(Roll) Lunch," I wrote about the 9 day wait for the final table players. This pattern is repeated in all the PPT freerolls. The final table for the Bellagio PPT event is Dec 20th. European players remember this when booking your flights.

As soon as I logged onto the computer my eyes were telling me "Oh no not again." I promise a computer free Thanksgiving Day followed by 2 days in the Joint. No, I am not doing an in-house Matusow interview. It is the 2nd annual Hot Tex Tournament at the Hard Rock. That will be followed by 3 weeks at the Bellagio "Can you spare $5.50 for a latte?" With a bloggers tournament at Sam's Town somewhere in the mix; its a good thing we have prolific blogger, Charlie Shoten, on board to help!

The final results from Foxwoods' WPT Championship are in and the winner is Tuan Le of Los Angeles, California taking home $1,549,588 first place money and a $25,000 seat in the April season Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Temp Hutter of Charlottesville, Virginia received $973,256 for second and the always popular Humberto Brenes of San Jose, Costa Rica takes the third place prize of $636,930. The next stop for the WPT will be the Five Diamonds Tournament at the Bellagio starting November 27th.

Posted by at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The WPBT Holiday Tournament scheduled for Saturday, December 11th, is shaping up to be a mixed gathering of poker bloggers and professional poker players. Charlie Shoten came to town yesterday and stopped by to discuss the event with Sam’s Town poker operations manager, Dick Gatewood and The Poker Prof. During the meeting it was proposed to offer a complimentary continental breakfast at 10:00 am on the day of the tournament for everyone to have an opportunity to meet everyone else and chat with the professional players. Charlie indicated he may bring a few additional professional players whom will already be in town for the Five Diamonds Tournament at the Bellagio. Tom McEvoy, 1983 WSOP Champion and author of eleven poker books, will probably be at the event. The lucky players that eliminate a pro will collect whatever bounty is offered for that player. The tournament will be a No-limit Hold’em affair with a fifty dollar buy-in. We currently have seating for thirty players with a possible option to add another table and bring the total to forty entrants. Dick is busy searching for some outside funds to add to the prize pool. Our own contributor and art director, J Santos, is offering some of his original artwork, framed “Muck It” cartoons, as bounties for selected players, including a special cartoon for the player that eliminatesFelicia Lee. You can get all the blogger tournament updates and sign up for the event by visiting Dr. Pauley’s website, Tao of Poker. Additional information and the details for room reservations are found on Dick’s website, Call, Raise or Muck It.

This event promises to be a great opportunity for the Internet poker blogger world to meet some of the poker stars from the live tournament circuit for a little social fun. A collection of web-scribes read by thousands of readers have signed up for the tournament. I will cover all of the events of the day from the pregame breakfast through the crowning of the first ever champion of the “Las Vegas Holiday Classic World Poker Blogger Tour Tournament.” Photos of all the action will be compiled into a permanent “Blogger Tournament Gallery.” Special room rates at Sam’s Town are available by calling the direct line to the poker room, (702) 454-8092 or 1-800 897-8696 (DO NOT ASK FOR RESERVATIONS), ask for Dick Gatewood. On a final note, Boy Genius over at Random Thoughts and Thoroughbred Selections is offering a morning line for some of the players registered for the tournament.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Early this morning another piece of Las Vegas history was reduced to a pile of rubble when the final remaining building from the old Desert Inn was imploded. The 2:30 am event knocked down the building to make way for a second hotel tower for the Wynn Resort. I watched the precision pyrotechnics drop the structure floor by floor on TV from the comfort of my house, avoiding the huge, thick cloud of choking dust. I was there for the first implosion and it required a number of trips to my allergist before I could again breathe without the wheeze. Today I hiked down the strip to the DI site for photos of the pile of rubble. I continue to get e-mails telling me the new Wynn Resort’s poker room will not have a hundred tables, in fact, two people don’t believe it will have a poker room; while most think it will have less with thirty or forty tables. One person is sure it will be more, he says closer to one hundred fifty tables. I will locate a source close to the project for an interview and hopefully learn the actual size of the room, if it has been determined.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The World Poker Tour™ (WPT) is currently in Connecticut at the Foxwoods Casino for its scheduled seventh stop of a 16 tournament 2004 season. This year marks the third season of the WPT series and the first since the World Poker Tour has gone public (NASDAQ: WPTE). The popularity of the WPT events and players continues to set records for the number of fans, entrants and prize money. The WPT is creating a new poker millionaire a month, much to the delight of players and fans alike. The final table for the Foxwoods’ World Poker Finals will be played on Wednesday, November 17th, when the five day event will determine a 2004 Champion. The prize pool for the $10,000 Championship No-Limit Hold’em event is $6,765,000 (a new record), with the winner taking home a cool $1,530,243 and a $25,000 seat in the WPT season finale in April, 2005. This year’s event will pay a record sixty places. The 2004 WPT series has already reached an accumulated prize pool of $25 million, representing an increase of $12 million over the same number of stops in last year’s tour. This is a testament to the growing popularity of the WPT, the highest rated TV series ever on The Travel channel. The WPT Series airs on Wednesday night at 9 pm ET/PT and is considered by its fans to be the gold standard of televised tournament poker.

The first day of this year’s final event at Foxwoods saw many recognizable professional players including Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Greg Raymer, Howard Lederer, Phil “Unabomber” Laak,