The World Poker Tour (WPT) will cap off its season and host the Tournament of Champions (TOC) at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada during May 2018.
The WPT has also confirmed that the TOC will be aired on FSN during its Season XVI television series. The season-ending tournament is exclusively for WPT Champions Club members and has a $15,000 buy-in. Club members from previous seasons are also entitled to participate. Poker players who won Main Events at Season XVI will gain automatic entry into the season-ending TOC event.
Their special package to the TOC will include airfare to Las Vegas along with hotel accommodation. The announcement that Season XVI’s season-ender will be held in Las Vegas did not come as a surprise to many since WPT had successfully partnered with the ARIA Resort & Casino for many events in its past seasons. Season XVI is the fifth season the WPT has partnered with ARIA.
World Poker Tour
In a statement, Angelica Hael, Vice President of Global Tour Management for WPT, said
ARIA and WPT have generated more than 16,000 tournament entries and awarded more than $8.1 million in prize money in our events together over the past four seasons, and we look forward to building upon this success for a world-class poker festival at ARIA Resort & Casino
Before it became the Tournament of Champions, TOC was known as the WPT Champions from Seasons I to VII. From Seasons IX to XIII, the event was renamed as the WPT World Champions. In its earlier years, the final event used to take lace at the Bellagio and the buy-in used to be a whopping $25,000. Only in Seasons XII and XIII did the buy-in drop down to $15,000 + $400 buy-in when it was held at the Borgata.
In the first two TOCs, which were held at Hollywood’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Farid Yachou became the first “champion of champions,” taking home $381,000 plus a 2016 Corvette for Season XIV. In the 2017 edition, Daniel Weinman became the new champion and won $318,500 plus a new 2018 Audi S5 Coupe.
Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Tour, is as excited as Hael for the season-ending TOC in Vegas. He said WPT is honored to be back in the city and have ARIA as their host. Poker players, who are interested in taking part in WPT events, can head to the WPT website to get more information on Season XVI.
