Followers of the Professional Poker Tour (PPT) will soon be tuning
in to the excitement of this Steve Lipscomb organized tournament.
The PPT is part of the poker projects handled by Lipscomb's World
Poker Enterprises, and will fire up on the 9th of November at
Foxwoods Resort Casino.
WPT has now published its list of eligible players, with the final
count at around the 200 mark. The list includes some of the top names
in world poker, with many champions from tournaments including the
World Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker and European Poker competition.
The PPT differs from the WPT in that only those who qualify are able
to play. Participation is by invite to the most successful poker players
on the circuit.
The criteria for eligibility includes: having won or reaching a final
table at APT event or championship; by ranking in the top ten point
leader table in the WPT Player-of-the-Year rankings; by becoming a
member of the Poker hall of Fame; securing a spot on either CardPlayer
Magazine’s Card Player of the Year Top 10 list, or Poker Europa’s
Top 10; or by winning or placing highly in the US$10,000 buy in event
at the World Series of Poker.
President of WPT Enterprises, Steve Lipscomb, explained the strict
rules regarding entry to the PPT: "This qualifying process
ensures that the huge television audience will have a chance to consistently
see the most exciting, skilled poker played by the sport's All-Stars.
The PPT will be a league of poker Titans."
The names of those qualifying include: Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer,
Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Phil
Gordon, Men 'The Master' Nguyen, Chris Moneymaker, Antonio Esfandiari,
Bobby Baldwin, Daniel Negreanu, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, Jennifer Harman,
David 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Samy Farah, Mel Judah, Scotty Nguyen, Erick
Lindgren, Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak, Huck Seed, Tom McEvoy, Layne
Flack, Carlos Mortensen, Chip Reese, Erick Seidel, Lyle Berman, Kathy
Liebert, T. J. Cloutier, Ted Forrest and Linda Johnson.
The event in November will mark the first year of the Professional
Poker Tour, which will feature five US$500,000 free-roll tournaments.
After Foxwoods, the tour moves to Bellagio in Las Vegas, the Goldstrike
Casino in Tunica, Commerce Casino in California and back to Las Vegas
at The Mirage. The action will be broadcast on the Travel Channel
in the US on Wednesdays at 9pm, with more television partners still
to be announced.