The 24-episode season of the Professional Poker Tour (PPT) is set to begin on Wednesday, July 5th on the Travel Channel. The PPT will feature more than 200 players that have earned their way on tour through their play at events like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, or by their ranking as a top poker player. Ten hours of play will be shown for each tournament covering action from the beginning of the tournament up through the final table until a champion is crowned.
With a cash in Event #2 of the 2006 WSOP, Phil Hellmuth has replaced Men “The Master” Nguyen as the all time cash leader at the WSOP …at least for now. Phil, himself, is even unsure if he has 49 cashes or a record setting 50th so a review of the record is currently underway. The next closest players are TJ Cloutier and Berry Johnston, each with 48.
The 2006 World Series of Poker opened with the second largest tournament field in poker history. The $1,500 no-limit Texas Hold’em event had 2,776 players, making it second largest poker event behind the 5,619 players at last year’s main event. A record that will undoubtedly fall later this summer.
After a sixteen-hour final table at the WSOP Tournament of Champions, the final two players were Daniel Negreanu and WPT announcer Mike Sexton. Mike outgunned the poker giant to win first place and $1 million for his efforts. Daniel received a nice $325,000 consolation prize.
The World Poker Tour will be adding 3 additional tournaments for Season 5. These additional events will be played at Bellagio, Borgata and Foxwoods and each will mark the second event of the season for the venue. With these additions, the WPT season will increase from 18 to 21 tournaments.
