World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the final table of each tournament.
The most prominent of World Poker Tour events belong to the WPT Main Tour. The WPT Main Tour focuses on the buy-in range of $3,500–$25,000, and winners of official WPT Main Tour events are awarded a membership to the WPT Champions Club. The WPT Champions Cup is the trophy awarded to all winners of WPT Main Tour events, and champions have their names engraved on the Cup.
History
The World Poker Tour was started in 2002 in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises, Inc..Winners on the World Poker Tour are awarded a bracelet, inspired by a similar bracelet by the World Series of Poker. While the champions of the first six seasons did not initially receive bracelets, they were awarded them at a special event at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on April 21, 2008. The bracelets are crafted from titanium and diamond by Tiffany and Company.
In November 2009, PartyGaming announced its acquisition of the World Poker Tour for $12.3 million. In 2011, PartyGaming merged with bwin to form bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.
In December 2014, World Poker Tour announced an alliance with Ourgame, agreeing to license products and services on an exclusive basis in more than a dozen countries across Asia. In addition, Ourgame received the rights to use the WPT logo and trademark exclusively in Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Korea, Nepal, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam and operate on pokermonster.com.
In June 2015, The World Poker Tour announced that bwin.party sold the company to Ourgame International Holdings Ltd. for a price of $35 million in cash.
In 2021 the World Poker Tour was sold to Element Partners for $105 million.
Sherman Act lawsuit
In July 2006, seven poker professionals sued WPTE, alleging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the California Cartwright Act, and intentional interference with contract. The professionals alleged that WPTE's standard release forms, required for participation in WPTE events, were anti-competitive and designed to interfere with their contractual obligations to other companies. The anti-competition claim was based on the fact that WPTE's contracts with the casinos that host its tournaments barred those casinos from hosting non-WPTE poker events. The claim of interference with contract was based on the releases' claim to perpetual rights to the players' likenesses for any use WPTE wished. The players claimed that this would put them in violation of other contracts.Hachem and Raymer dropped out of the lawsuit before its eventual settlement.
In April 2008, WPT Enterprises, Inc. settled with the five players remaining in the lawsuit. Chris Ferguson said about the settlement, "We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used. We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events."
Television
The year-round WPT television show has broadcast globally in more than 150 countries and territories, and is currently producing its 21st season, which airs on FanDuel Sports Network in the United States. In August 2016, the World Poker Tour and Fox Sports announced a five-year deal to see Fox Sports broadcast the WPT through Season 19.The WPT television show currently features commentary and analysis by Tony Dunst and Vince Van Patten. Dunst joined the World Poker Tour as host of the WPT Raw Deal during Season 9 after winning the role through an open casting competition. Following the retirement of Mike Sexton from the WPT commentary booth after 15 years, Dunst was elevated into the role alongside Van Patten.
Joining Dunst and Van Patten for all WPT televised broadcasts is anchor Lynn Gilmartin. Gilmartin's role focuses on hosting and presenting the show, as well as offering intimate interviews and sideline reporting. Gilmartin assumed the anchor role for Season 12 and remains the current anchor.
Prior to Gilmartin, Shana Hiatt served as the show host and sideline reporter in its first three seasons. Courtney Friel took over the host role for the fourth season, and Sabina Gadecki for the fifth. Layla Kayleigh and Kimberly Lansing began serving as hostesses in Season VI. Poker player and reporter Amanda Leatherman was the host for Season VII while Lansing was on maternity leave. Lansing returned as the anchor for Season 9 through 11.
The first season aired on the Travel Channel on American cable television in the spring of 2003. The show made its network debut on February 1, 2004, on NBC with a special "Battle of Champions" tournament, which aired against CBS coverage of the Super Bowl XXXVIII pre-game show. The Travel Channel aired the first five seasons of the Tour. In April 2007, WPTE announced that the series would move to GSN for its sixth season in the spring of 2008. 'The first WPT tournament to air on GSN, the Mirage Poker Showdown, debuted on March 24, 2008. In July 2008, WPTE announced that the series would move to Fox Sports Regional Networks for its seventh season.
Following the November 2009 acquisition of the World Poker Tour by PartyGaming plc, the new owners added a second series of televised WPT events under their PartyPoker brand name. This series has, to date, focused on televising the European stops of the WPT. Mike Sexton continues to provide commentary, though he is partnered with Denmark-based American commentator Jesse May rather than Vince Van Patten. The role of female show host and sideline reporter has been served by a number of personalities, often from the country where the event is held. One exception is Canadian born poker player Kara Scott, who has served as host for a number of the PartyPoker branded telecasts of these European WPT events.
The show's hosts, Tony Dunst and Vince Van Patten, sit at a booth near the final table, providing commentary and occasionally interacting with the players during the game. However, their specific comments about hole cards are recorded after the tournament takes place because gaming regulations prohibit them from observing a live feed of the "hole card cameras" while on the set. These cameras, built into the table, allow viewers to see the face-down hole cards dealt to each player.
In 2014, the World Poker Tour launched a high roller tournament series, WPT Alpha8, broadcasting on Fox Sports 1. The series originally featured commentary and analysis by Ali Nejad and Olivier Busquet, with Gilmartin serving as anchor. In later seasons, Vince Van Patten and Tony Dunst replaced Nejad and Busquet, while Lynn Gilmartin continued to serve as anchor.
The first three seasons of WPT are available on NTSC DVD.
In February 2019, WPT announced a deal with BT Sport to broadcast season XV of WPT. The deal expands WPT coverage to the UK and Ireland. During season XV, former WPT television commentator Mike Sexton won his first WPT event.
In March 2019, WPT announced a deal with TV Azteca to bring WPT assets to Latin America.
Other Tours
Professional Poker Tour
A series of spin-off tournaments, titled the Professional Poker Tour, began filming in 2004. Broadcast of the series was delayed, which was partly due to a dispute with the Travel Channel over rights. In the fall of 2005, WPTE announced that "a cable channel" had withdrawn from bidding for the PPT series, and that WPTE was negotiating with the Travel Channel to air the series. On January 30, 2006, WPTE and the Travel Channel announced that they had dismissed all open lawsuits. The series began regular broadcast July 5, 2006, but was suspended after one season as WPTE couldn't find a television home for a second season.ClubWPT
In 2008, the WPT launched a new product called ClubWPT. It is a subscription-based club where members can pay a monthly fee to play in tournaments that award over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month.PlayWPT
In 2016, WPT launched a new social casino platform called PlayWPT, offering poker and slots.With PlayWPT Poker, players can participate in ring games, tournaments, and sit-n-gos, and players can represent themselves at the table with avatars animated emojis. PlayWPT is available on desktop and mobile.
WPT Player of the Year
While the winner of the season-ending WPT World Championship is deemed that season's WPT Champion, the WPT also determines a Player of the Year to recognize the player who achieves consistent high finishes in WPT events throughout the entire season.The Player of the Year is determined by a points system, with the player who earns the most points each season being named the WPT Player of the Year. The season-ending WPT World Championship is a points-earning event for the Player of the Year calculation.
Through the end of Season 9, no player has been named WPT Player of the Year and also captured the WPT Championship. The closest to date is Season 7 WPT Player of the Year Bertrand Grospellier, who finished 3rd in that season's WPT Championship.
In the first eight seasons of the World Poker Tour, only four players have finished in the money at least once. These players are Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel, Mark Seif, and Surinder Sunar.
| Season | Years | WPT Player of the Year | Wins |
| 1 | 2002–2003 |  Points systemDuring the first 8 seasons, only the 6 players at the final table in each Open event, plus the last player eliminated before the final table, earned points as follows:
|