Big Action At WPT's World Champs 2006

Published: Friday, April 14, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

BIG ACTION AT WPT'S WORLD CHAMPS 2006

Up to $15 million prize pool and 600 players for one of the major poker events of the year

This year's World Poker Tour championships tournament final taking place next week is the biggest and most lucrative ever, according to an announcement this week from the organisers, WPT Enterprises.

The event will field some 600 players at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to compete for a total prize pool of $12-$15 million and especially that first place prize of $3.5 million and two runner-up payouts of over $1 million each. And this year the No-Limit Hold'em event will host the largest ever gathering of WPT millionaires when the star-studded drama plays out between April 18-24, 2006.

The organisers say they expect to host a roster of top pros, many of whom have won millions at WPT events. Players scheduled to participate include Antonio Esfandiari, Steve-Paul Ambrose, Michael Gracz, Erick Lindgren, Alan Goehring, Martin de Knijff, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Nick Schulman, John Stolzmann, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Carlos Mortensen, Freddy Deeb, Ming Ly, Hasan Habib, Barry Greenstein, Nam Le, Al Ardebili, Hoyt Corkins, Eric Brenes, Tony Licastro, Patrik Antonius, Rehne Pedersen and Mel Judah.

Defending champion Tuan Le, who won $2.8 million in 2005 will be there to see if he can repeat his truimph, whilst Paul Maxfield, who placed second in 2005 is also expected to be at the final.

"The challenge for these players and all the WPT champions is to show that that they are not a one hit wonder," says Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO of WPT Enterprises, Inc. "There's a lot of pressure on these guys. They have to fight through the toughest field in poker with a veritable bulls-eye on their backs."