World Poker Tour World Championship Moving to Borgata in Atlantic City in 2014
The World Poker Tour made a major announcement during Day 2 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open on Tuesday. Starting this season (Season XII), the prestigious $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour World Championship will take place outside of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, moving to the Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. The event will take place in May 2014.
“We’re very pleased to name Borgata — now home to four of the five biggest tournaments in WPT history — the host of the Season XII WPT World Championship,” said WPT President Adam Pliska. “With Borgata’s well-deserved reputation for running world-class tournaments and providing unparalleled service to its players, we believe this venue is perfectly suited to host our season-culminating event. We look forward to working with the team at Borgata to bring the WPT World Championship to new heights.”
The first 11 seasons of the WPT have culminated with the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Attendance for the event had declined every year since 2007 when Carlos Mortensen defeated a field of 639 to win $3,970,415. Only 146 participated in last season's event, with Chino Rheem defeating Erick Lindgren heads-up for the title and $1,150,279. That was the smallest turnout and prize since Alan Goehring topped a field of 111 in Season 1 (2003).
Other former champions of the event include Marvin Rettenmaier, Scott Seiver, David Williams, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, and David Chiu.
The World Poker Tour also announced PartyPoker as the official sponsor of the Season XII WPT World Championship.
“The partnership of WPT, PartyPoker, and Borgata brings together three of the most respected names in poker, and we look forward to making the World Championship more impressive than ever before.” Pliska said.
Added Joe Lupo, Borgata Senior Vice President of Operations, “We are extremely pleased to be growing our long-standing relationship with the World Poker Tour and to be expanding our relationship with PartyPoker, especially as we look to launch Borgatapoker.com. Adding the WPT World Championship sponsored by PartyPoker is a welcome addition and an important new chapter in the history of this illustrious tournament.”
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