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World Poker Tour
The World Poker tour is composed of two different aspects. On one hand, it is an elite high stakes Texas Hold 'em tournament drawing both amateurs as well as poker professions. On the other, it is a television show, intended to hit a massive target audience of novice poker players. Both the tournament side and the television side of the event are equally impressive and popular.
The World Poker Tour is a series of 15 Texas Hold 'em tournaments, 12 of which are televised. The World Poker Tour tournaments are held around the world, in places spanning from Costa Rica, to Los Angeles, to France, with the WPT Championship tournament being held at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
In each of the 14 tournaments preceding the WPT Championship the winner receives both a $25,000 buy in to the World Poker Tour Championship, and the grand prize for the tournament itself. Individual tournament prizes vary depending on the number of entrants. In the past the grand prize has ranged from $100,000 for smaller tournaments to $1m for the WPT Championship.
In addition to standard tournaments, each season the World Poker Tour holds a celebrity invitational tournament. This tournament pits Hollywood celebrities against poker professionals. Aside from being fun to watch, celebrities have a chance to win a large chunk of money for their favorite charity, as well as a seat at the WPT Championship tournament.
Alongside the World Poker Tour tournaments, the WPT television show provides a method for novice poker players and poker enthusiasts to watch the professionals compete. Many features of the WPT television show make it very viewer friendly - small cameras that show each players’ pocket cards, play-by-play commentary, definitions of poker lingo, and on screen displays of percentages, and how these percentages change as cards fall.
The most prominent of the World Poker Tour features is the use of small cameras to let viewers see which cards each player is holding in their hand. The World Poker Tour was the first television show to allow viewers to see these cards, and it is one of the major reasons for their success. With the cameras, you can see each player's hand, regardless of whether they fold or stay in the game until the end. Other poker shows would only display player's hands if there was a showdown.
As well as play-by-play commentary throughout the show, when someone uses any specialised poker lingo, a little box will appear on screen, defining the term. This lets novices pick up on basic poker terminology, and is an easy way for veteran poker players to find definitions for little used poker terms.
The growing popularity of the WPT can be attributed to a number of factors. The World Poker Tour draws large audiences due to its ability to draw the novice player into the game. Another huge draw of the WPT is that anyone can enter. Most of the tournaments are open to anyone with the money to buy in. If players do not have the money to spare to buy directly into a tournament, most of the World Poker Tour tournaments have satellite tournaments. This allows novice players to try their hand, potentially winning a spot in one of the WPT tournaments for as little as $10.