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Poker Legend Draws 312 Players to
Tournament with More Than $3 Million
Total Prize Money; WPT Honors Doyle
Brunson with Addition of 16th Tour
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In
a show of respect for all-time poker
great Doyle Brunson, hundreds of Texas
Holdem players made an appointment with
the WORLD POKER TOUR(TM) and its new
tournament honoring the man who
memorialized the 10-2 poker hand. The
inaugural event started Tuesday at
Bellagio, Las Vegas. One of the most
venerable names in poker, Brunson
captured his first of nine World
Champion bracelets in 1976 and his first
WORLD POKER TOUR win less than two
months ago. The Doyle Brunson North
American Poker Championship attracted
312 players, driving the total prize
pool to $3,026,400 on the sixth stop of
the acclaimed WORLD POKER TOUR. The
WORLD POKER TOUR is the highest rated
series in the history of the Travel
Channel, airing Wednesday nights at 9
p.m. ET/PT.
The
winner of this year's $10,000 buy-in
event will take home $1 million and join
Brunson at the WPT Championship when the
Tour returns to Bellagio in April 2005.
The WORLD POKER TOUR continues to
average a "poker millionaire a month" in
its 16-tournament season and in Season
Three the total prize money has already
reached $18,220,970, a $6,613,240
increase over Season Two stops to date.
The high stakes action is attracting
increasing numbers of players vying for
the prize money and fans eager to
witness the minting of a millionaire at
the WPT Final Table. Projected to reach
a total of $70 million, Season Three's
prize pool is rising with every stop on
the tour.
The
public is invited to be part of the WPT
Final Table television audience, when
the Doyle Brunson North American Poker
Championship concludes on Friday,
October 22nd. Admission is free and
seating for the filming begins at 6:30
pm in the Bellagio Sports Book. Fans are
already turning out in record numbers to
watch the tournament that has attracted
amateur and professional players alike.
Some of the most recognizable faces
playing at Tuesday's tables included Gus
Hansen, Phil Laak, Phil Ivey, Howard
Lederer, Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari,
Daniel Negreanu, and the star of his
namesake tournament -- Doyle Brunson.
The seventh stop
of the WORLD POKER TOUR'S 16-tournament
season is the World Poker Finals from
November 13-17 at Foxwoods Resort Casino
in CT, where the PROFESSIONAL POKER
TOUR(TM) (PPT) will also debut. For
complete WPT and PPT tournament
schedules and casino contacts, please
visit www.worldpokertour.com.
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