The World Poker Tour dropped another tournament from its already-trimmed Season 7 schedule, and it just happens to be a player favorite – the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Even players who hate Atlantic City love the Borgata, and while the other event stayed on the schedule in September, the January tourney is no longer a WPT event.
A press release from the Borgata noted that the main event is now a $3,000 buy-in, reduced from the going WPT rate of $10,000. Thus, the drop from the WPT schedule could have been a result of indicators that player turnout would be low. Economy? Damn right.
Almost all major tournaments, with the exception of the WSOP main event, have been lower in 2008, the most sad embarrassing obvious was the 2008 U.S. Poker Championships in September that only brought 52 players to the $10K main event, as compared to 164 players in 2007 and 261 players in 2006. Turns out that when the lights and cameras go away, not to mention people\’s IRAs, stocks, and day jobs, people are less willing to plunk down $10K for a poker tourney.
So, if you want a WPT title, you won\’t be getting it at the Borgata next month. There are other choices, however, like the Five Diamond event coming up at Bellagio, which will cost you a mere $15K to enter. The rest of the revised WPT Season 7 schedule can be viewed by clicking this handy link below:
Dear Friend of WPT,
Below please find the updated World Poker Tour Season VII tournament schedule for 2009. We will be kicking off the post-holiday season with the following listed tournaments.
1. Southern Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS
a. January 14th – 17th, 2009
b. 12pm Start Time
c. January 17th Final Table2. Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, CA
a. February 21st – 26th, 2009
b. 12pm Start Time
c. February 26th Final Table3. The WPT Celebrity Invitational at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, CA
a. February 28th – March 2nd, 2009
b. TBA
c. March 2nd Final Table4. Bay 101 Shooting Star at Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, CA
a. March 16th – 20th, 2009
b. 10:45am Start Time
c. March 20th Final Table5. Foxwoods Poker Classic at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT
a. April 4th – 9th, 2009
b. 12pm Start Time
c. April 9th Final Table6. WPT World Championship in Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV
a. April 18th – 25th, 2009
b. 12pm Start Time
c. April 25th Final Table