Season One of Professional Poker Tour Premieres WednesdayPPT Shows How a Professional Poker Tournament Pans Out from Start to Finish |
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The day after Americans everywhere fill the sky with pyrotechnic flowers to celebrate the Fourth of July, the real fireworks are set to begin as the first season of the Professional Poker Tour premieres on the Travel Channel.
The 24-episode season is set to move right into the 9 p.m. EDT time slot July 5. It's the same spot the World Poker Tour occupied. New WPT episodes will return later in the winter. A sneak-peak of the show was aired a few months ago, and viewers got to see what it's like when nothing but pros filled with encyclopedic knowledge of the game go to battle.
The PPT differs from the WPT is several major ways. The first big difference is the PPT is not open to the public. Participants can't qualify online or simply plop $10,000 on a counter and buy their way in.
No, these players had to earn their way in. To become a card-carrying PPT member, players had to prove their poker wizardry by being successful on the tournament circuit. See below for more details about how the cards were awarded, but if you can name a professional poker player, then they will probably be seen on the PPT.
The second big difference is that players do not pay an entry fee. Each tournament is a freeroll with a $500,000 prize pool. The winner receives $200,000 and a $25,000 seat to the WPT World Championship. The prize money is put up by the producers of the PPT. The only thing the pros have to do is show up and play.
The third big difference between the PPT and the WPT is that all the tournaments (except the one at the Mirage at the end of the season) are shown in five two-hour episodes. The Mirage tournament is shown in four. The WPT more or less only showed the final six players battling at the final table of its events, cutting out the intrigue and bloodshed that went on in the days running up to the final table confrontation.
With 10 hours dedicated to each tournament, the PPT will show how a tournament takes place from start to finish. Roving cameras were on hand to catch how each player was knocked out (they'd come a-running whenever a player ended up all-in) and whenever big pots were won and lost. That means hundreds of hours of footage was shot at each location, giving poker fans a better idea how the winners of big tournaments put themselves in position to make it to the final table.
The producers took all that footage broke it down into four different episodes they called quarters (The first quarter episode shows how the first several blind levels played out, for example). The final table has an entire episode dedicated to it. There's also another twist: At the final table, players will have to think and act fast thanks to a 90-second time limit for each decision (although players may go to a "time bank" once during the final table).
The first tournament to be shown took place at Foxwoods. Its final table will be aired Aug. 2. The event at Commerce Casino airs Aug. 9, with its final table on Sept. 6. The event at Bay 101 airs Sept. 13, with its final table airing Oct. 11. The event at the Bellagio airs Oct. 18, with its final table to be aired Nov. 15. The event at the Mirage will be aired starting Nov. 22 and its final table takes place four weeks later on Dec. 13.
Card-Carrying
More than 200 players qualified to compete in the first season of the PPT. Players received cards good for one, two or three years.
Three-year cards went to: all WPT champions, anyone who made more than one final table on the WPT, players who finished first, second or third in the $25,0000 WPT championship event, the top 10 players on the WPT Player of the Year list, all winners of the World Series of Poker championship event, the top three place finishers in the 2003 or 2004 WSOP championship event, the top 10 players in the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year standings for 2002 and 2003, the 10 players in Phil Hellmuth's Champion of the Year standings for 2002 and 2003, members of the Poker Hall of Fame and members of the WPT Poker Walk of Fame.
Two-year cards went to players who finished fourth, fifth or sixth in the WPT $25,000 buy-in event or the WSOP championship event in 2003 and 2004.
One-year cards went to players selected by the advisory committee, the top 10 players in the European player standings and to the WPT commentators. In addition, eight cards went to the host casino and 10 were awarded by WPT Enterprises, which produces both the WPT and the PPT.The show's hosted by two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mark Seif and actor/poker enthusiast Matt Corboy.
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