The Television Coverage of the Various Events of the World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is without a doubt one of the pillars of the poker industry. In the past few years, this major event has provided the game with the much needed boost to stay active in the minds of numerous people all over the world. It has been known for featuring some of the best tournaments of the game. It has also received enough support from the top players in poker.
Despite its humble beginnings, the World Poker Tour has emerged into one of the prime events in the game today. This is well attended by the top notch players who are in search for excellent poker competition. Since 2003, only the Travel Channel has been awarded with the rights to broadcast the different tournaments of the tour on TV. The game is somehow indebted to the World Poker Tour for its huge contributions to the popularity of poker.
There are also other television networks that serve as partners for the World Poker Tour. Aside from the Travel Channel, NBC and GSN have been airing some of the tournaments. The event is popular to the audience for its wonderful portrayal of play-by-play action-filled poker action. Here's a quick glimpse at the different main events that transpired in the past six seasons of the World Poker Tour.
In the first season of the tour, the Travel Channel was able to feature a total of 14 poker tournaments. The exciting events include the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, the Legends of Poker 2002, the Ultimate Poker Classic for amateurs, the Ultimate Poker Classic for professionals, the Costa Rica Classic, the Gold Rush, the World Poker Finals, the World Poker Open, the Euro Finals of Poker, the L.A. Poker Classic, the WPT Invitational, the PartyPoker Million II, the World Poker Challenge III, and the WPT Championship.
The second season saw three more events that were added to the roster of tournaments to be aired by the Travel Channel. This brings the total to 17 exciting events. The tournaments that were removed from last season's lineup include the Costa Rica Classic, the Gold Rush, and the Euro Finals of Poker. Meanwhile the new additions include the Grand Prix de Paris 2003, the WPT Ladies' Night I, the Borgata Open 2003, the Bad Boys of Poker, the Battle of Champions, the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure 2004, and the Bay 101 Shooting Star 2004.
In the third season, a total of 19 tournaments were shown on television. It clearly shows that the coverage is expanding. By the fourth season, the number rose to 21. In the fifth, an outstanding 22 exciting and competitive world class poker tournaments were televised by the Travel Channel under the World Poker Tour banner. The sixth season is still in the process of completion. The events will culminate at the WPT Championship at the end of the season.