A
League of Poker Titans
By
Barbara Feiner
For
Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO of the World Poker
Tour, poker is incontestably a sport, requiring
endurance, a top athlete’s competitive edge and
mental agility. Why, then, shouldn’t poker have its
own version of the Olympic Games?
Imagine it: approximately 200 of the world’s best
players, carefully selected by a special advisory
committee whose members follow strict qualification
criteria. No satellite tournaments to let an amateur
player “squeak in.” No buy-ins. Only the
international elite playing in a five-event freeroll.
Welcome
to the Professional Poker Tour (PPT), where $2.5
million is at stake in
its inaugural 2004–2005 season.
You’ll
see all of the familiar faces: Doyle Brunson, Howard
Lederer, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Phil
Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Phil Gordon, Chris Moneymaker,
Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Scotty Nguyen, Phil “The
Unabomber” Laak, Huck Seed, Layne Flack, Chip Reese,
Erik Seidel, Kathy Liebert and T.J. Cloutier, among
many others.
How,
exactly, did they make the cut?
Players
qualify for one-, two- or three-year eligibility
cards, based on past achievements. For a three-year
card during this debut season, they must meet one of
the following criteria:
·
All
World Poker Tour champions (winners of any WPT regular
season event)
·
Anyone
who made more than one final table in a particular WPT
season
·
First,
second or third place in the $25K WPT Championship
event
·
Top
10 players on the WPT Player of the Year list (Season
2)
·
All
winners of World Series of Poker $10K event
·
First,
second or third place in 2003 or 2004 World Series of
Poker $10K event
·
Top
10 players on “Card Player” Magazine’s Player of
the Year list (2002, 2003)
·
Top
10 players on Phil Hellmuth’s Champion of the Year
List (2002, 2003)
·
Member
of the WPT Poker Walk of Fame
·
Member
of the Poker Hall of Fame
For
a two-year card, players must have placed fourth,
fifth or sixth in the $25K WPT Championship event or
the $10K World Series of Poker event (2003–2004). A
one-, two- or three-year card may also be awarded to
the top 10 players on the Poker Europa List (2004),
WPT commentators and anyone the committee deems worthy
of special dispensation.
“This
qualifying process ensures that the fans will have a
chance to consistently see the most exciting, skilled
poker played by the sport’s all-stars,” Lipscomb
says. “The
PPT will be a league of poker titans.”
As
soon as a player qualifies for a PPT event, he or she
may participate. Players may also be disqualified from
competition if they fail to play in at least two of
the five first-season PPT events, don’t play in at
least 50% of the events in a WPT season, or don’t
comply with PPT rules and regulations. Qualifications
for future PPT seasons are in development
.
So far, three matches have been held. The five events, each with a
$500,000 prize pool, will conclude in May. Most are
held in conjunction with WPT events for the top
players’ convenience.
Tournament
Dates
|
Final
Table Date
(6 players)
|
Casino
|
|
Nov.
10–11, 2004
|
Nov.
19, 2004
|
Foxwoods
(
Mashantucket
,
Connecticut
)
|
|
Feb.
8–9
|
Feb.
25
|
Commerce
Casino (Los Angeles)
|
|
March
2–3
|
March
12
|
Bay
101 (
San Jose
,
California
)
|
|
April
15–16
|
April
25
|
Bellagio
(
Las Vegas
)
|
|
May
10–11
|
May
27
|
The
Mirage (
Las Vegas
)
|
“The
PPT tournaments will make terrific television,”
Lipscomb says, “and fans can expect to see many of
their favorites go head to head in pitched battles.”
__________________
About
Barbara Feiner:
Barbara Feiner is a Los Angeles-based journalist who
covers the poker world.
