It was a busy week for the World Poker Tour (WPT) with a tournament taking place in Malta as well as one of the biggest WPT events of the year taking place at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. The WPT Borgata Poker Open has a top prize of over $800,000.
In addition to the tournaments, on Thursday the WPT announced they will be hosting their first tournament in China in December. This stop in China could very well be the start of a nice circuit of events aimed at the up and coming Asian poker market. So get ready for a WPT update chock-full of details!
WPT Malta
The World Poker Tour Malta (the tour’s second trip to the Island nation) saw 169 total entries, down from last year’s tournament which saw 240 entrants that was eventually won by 2011 November Niner Matt Giannetti, who picked-up his first major win as he prepped for the WSOP Main Event final table. This year the first-prize came in at €120,000, which was won by Yorane Kerignard, who has made three EPT final tables in his career, but picked-up his first major title in Malta.
Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:
Yorane Kerignard – $182,292
Jackson Genovesi – $108,024
Alessio Isaia – $68,981
Hui Chen Kuo – $51,409
Zeljko Krizan – $38,425
Sampo Ryynanen – $30,556
WPT Borgata Poker Open Final Table Set
After 1,175 eliminations the final six players are set to compete for the over $800k first-place prize at the Borgata Poker Open Main Event on Friday. Among the final six players are several well-known poker pros like WSOP bracelet winner David Diaz, former WPT Champion Steve Brecher, and Tyler Patterson. This final table is sure to be fun to watch and we will bring you up to date as soon as we have a winner.
Here is a look at the chip counts for the final table participants:
Matthew Burnitz – 9,000,000
David Diaz – 7,150,000
Steve Brecher – 5,755,000
Tyler Patterson – 5,260,000
Ben Hamnett – 4,720,000
Ofir Mor – 3,600,000
Here is a look at the final table payouts for the WPT Borgata Poker Open:
1st place: $818,847
2nd place: $488,850
3rd place: $298,950
4th place: $250,065
5th place: $206,821
6th place: $167,337
WPT China
As I mentioned in the opening, on Thursday the WPT also announced a WPT event will be taking place in China from China from December 14th through the 17th, 2012. The WPT National China tournament will take place at the MGM Grand Sanya Resort in Sanya, Hainan Island, where the WPT has partnered with Bejiing Ourgame LTD, which will host satellites to the tournament. Bejjing Ourgame CEO Frank Ng stated, “Texas hold’em is blooming in China and a total of more than 60,000 Chinese players will be competing in this tournament for the 500 final-round seats.”
This will mark the first major tournament in Mainland China, and could lead to another poker boom across Asia if the WPT can gain a foothold in the fledgling markets of China, Korea, and even India.
For more information on the World Poker Tour you can head over to their website at www.worldpokertour.com
