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The World Poker Tour

The World Poker Tour, like the WSOP and the EPT, is a part of major events in the world of poker. Thanks to a novelty brought by WPT which consisted in showing hidden cards of all players, that the game of poker became extremely popular on the television. Indeed, until the novelty came out, it was quite boring to watch poker on the television as it was difficult to understand what was actually going on on the game table. The game was also diffused late at night and broadcasted on channels of low importance.

When the project of WPT was presented for the first time, no-one really believed in its future. But only after several broadcasts on the Travel Channel, its success was phenomenal. Its innovating idea was reproduced by all other poker companies like WSOP. Today it would be impossible to imagine watching a broadcasted tournament without seeing player's cards.

The World Poker Tour had simply revolutionised the way to broadcast poker on the television and highly contributed to its planetary success.

The Principle of World Poker Tour

Main principles of the WPT stay mainly the same and do not differ from those of EPT and WSOP: qualifications via satellite tournaments and one major tournament reuniting several hundreds of players. But using a worldwide television broadcast attracted a big number of poker players who dream of becoming famous by being seen on the television. Gus Hansen became a celebrity thanks to WPT as he was the first player who won 2 titles of that tournament.
Unlike the World Series of Poker and the European Poker Tour, during the World Poker Tour only the final table with 6 finalists is being broadcasted. It brings a certain drama to the program as televiewers are witnessing players who fight for the final prize and title.
WPT is accessible to all players wishing to take part in the event through paying the inscription fee of $10,000 or by qualifying through one of its satellite tournaments proposed by a number of online poker websites.
Annually, the WPT organises a WPT Championship with a buy-in of $25,000 that bring together best players of the world. This tournament is highly appreciated by all the professionals in the domain of poker for its remarkable structure that allows players to play their best poker and to select the best player in the world.