WPT Championship Starts Today

Last April, a guy named Joe Bartholdi walked into the Bellagio and took a seat among the 600-plus players who also paid or won their way into the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship. A week later, he left the casino a rich man after winning it.

Tomorrow, the fifth $25,000 WPT Championship begins at noon at the Bellagio, and if the success of the preliminary events gives any indication, the first-place prize will easily surpass the $3.7 million Bartholdi won last year.

Here's a list of the past WPT champions. The number of entrants is in parentheses.

• 2003 Allen Goehring, $1 million (111)
• 2004 Martin de Kniff, $2.7 (343)
• 2005 Tuan Le, $2.8 million (452)
• 2006 Joe Bartholdi, $3.7 million (605)

The preliminary events to this year's Bellagio's Five Star World Poker Classic have consistently attracted huge fields and the winner of each event also won a $25,000 seat to the championship. All WPT champions also receive a seat.

Tomorrow's championship is the country's second most expensive tournament. It's only surpassed by the World Series of Poker's $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event, which had its debut last year.

The WPT celebrates a milestone with this year's championship. The final table, which will be aired sometime in August, will be the last episode filmed for the Travel Channel. The show is moving to GSN starting January of 2008. It is also the show's 100th episode, which is an important milestone for any television show to reach.

"We couldn't ask for a more fitting way to celebrate these incredible milestones," said Steve Lipscomb, president, founder, and CEO of WPT. "Bellagio is a key charter member who helped us launch the World Poker Tour and create a global phenomenon. To come full circle back to where it all started and film the biggest event of the year, shoot our 100th episode, and conclude our fifth season, it's just truly amazing."

Last night, the WPT celebrated its championship by inviting many players to Light, Bellagio's chic nightclub. Some of the players spotted included Todd Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Clonie Gowen, Evelyn Ng, Hoyt Corkins, and WPT announcer Mike Sexton.

The final table will take place next Friday, and all the action, as well as video updates of the tourney, can be found here at CardPlayer.com. Click here to view the live updates page and click here for Card Player TV.

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