The World Poker Tour has a plethora of events on the horizon this coming month, starting with the WPT National in Montreal, Quebec. At the start of Wednesday’s action, 44 players remained with two days of play left.
Day One began on August 19 with the first of six flights. There were 817 players registered. First place will pay $80,000. The top 44 are paid with a $1,500 minimum cash. The tournament is held at Playground Poker Club and has a $400,000 guarantee.
WPT Legends of Poker
August 27 is the start of one of the top World Poker Tour events of the year: the WPT Legends of Poker. This events takes place in Los Angeles at The Bicycle Club Hotel & Casino, home of one of the top poker rooms in the state.
The final table in this $4,000 buy-in tournament is set for September 1. It will be televised at a later date on Fox Sports, hosted as always by Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten. Many of the game’s best players are expected to descend upon Southern California for this tournament.
Mike Shariati was the winner in last year’s tournament for $675,942. He defeated the legendary Freddy Deeb heads-up for the title. Shariati had quite a run during WPT Season 14. He also finished 2nd in the $10,000 buy-in LA Poker Classic for $656,540. Dietrich Fast, a top high stakes pro, won that event for $1 million.
WPT Borgata Poker Open
The Borgata in Atlantic City is the biggest and most popular poker room in the city. It’s also home to the highest stakes tournaments in town.
On September 18, the WPT Borgata Poker Open will kick off. The buy-in is $3,500 and the WPT is guaranteeing a prize pool of at least $3 million. This one will also be televised at a later date on Fox Sports.
There were 1,027 entrants in this tournament last year. David Paredes took it down for $723,227. The Massachusetts resident has over $2 million in lifetime live tournament winnings, including a few cashes in WPT events since his Borgata title.
Paredes is a tough out in this tournament. In 2014 at Borgata, he was the runner-up for $499,549. There won’t be many players who hope to see him at their table in September.
The champ had to earn his victory last year. The final table was stacked with top pros such as Maurice Hawkins, Jean Gaspard, and 3rd place finisher Joe Kuether. Matt Affleck, Darren Elias, Jonathan Little, Jonathan Duhamel, Shannon Shorr, and Nick Schulman all made deep runs. This year’s edition will likely feature another talented field.
