The World Poker Tour wraps up its fourth season with the grand finale being hosted at the Bellagio Hotel Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Bellagio's 2006 Fourth Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic kicks off April 5 with two-day no-limit hold'em tournaments, including a seniors event and "a last chance to qualify" supersatellite. On April 18, the $25,000 championship will begin, with the final table filming on April 24.
One-table qualifiers will run day and night, throughout the course of the each scheduled event, for the next day's tournament.
"Bellagio is excited to host the WPT World Championship for the fourth consecutive year as the grand finale of the Five Star World Poker Classic," said Doug Dalton, director of poker operations at Bellagio. "The number of participants increases every tournament and the prize pools continue to set new highs. We are proud to be part of this phenomenon."
Tuan Le will return to defend last year's WPT Championship title, which included a bracelet, the trophy, a silver platter, and, of course, the money. Le outlasted a field of 452 players to reach the exciting up-and-down final table. Le, who was severely short-stacked, rebounded to survive blinds, bluffs, and fate and won $2,856,150. Second-place finisher Paul Maxfield took home nearly $1.7 million.
This season, the WPT qualified over a dozen champions, including Grand Prix de Paris winner Roland De Wolfe. Other slotted participants include Mirage Poker Showdown winner Gavin Smith, Legends champion Alex Kahaner, Borgata Poker Open's Al Ardebili, UltimateBet's Aruba winner Freddie Deeb, Foxwoods winner Nick Schulman, Bellagio Five Diamond's Rehne Pedersen, PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure winner Steve Paul-Ambrose, Gold Strike's Scotty "The Prince" Nguyen, L.A. Poker Classic's Alan Goehring, Borgata's, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrach, Bay 101's Nam Le, and this years to-be-announced WPC and Foxwoos champions.
Click here for the 2006 Fourth Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic schedule of events.
