The WPT Main Tour, founded by attorney and television producer Steve Lipscomb and currently privately owned, is the crown jewel of the WPT’s offerings. It offers medium to large buy-in events around the world, with the majority taking place in the United States where the World Poker Tour got its start.
The tour began in May 2002 with the
$10,000 buy-in
Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio Resort & Casino, where two legends played heads-up for the first official WPT title.
Gus Hansen made history as the first WPT champion by navigating a tough field of 146 players, including the formidable
John Juanda in the heads-up match. Hansen win a huge $556,460 top prize.
The WPT Main Tour operates mostly in the United States at prestigious venues like Wynn Las Vegas and Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Florida. It does leave America, too, such as for
WPT Australia at The Star Gold Coast. All events have been live except during the 2020 pandemic, when the WPT partnered with
partypoker (as WPT Global had yet to launch) to offer WPT
online poker tournaments.
The tour has crowned hundreds of winners over the past two decades. Each WPT poker winner is rewarded with a huge top prize and
Player of the Year points, and they earns the right to have their name engraved on the Champions Cup. The cup was renamed the
Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup in May 2020 after Champions Club member and long-time WPT commentator Mike Sexton retired. (The poker world would mourn his loss soon after when poker’s greatest ambassador passed away from prostate cancer in September 2020.)
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a leading poker brand in 2024. Explore the latest WPT news, upcoming tournaments, past winners and more here.
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