By David Richardson

09/13/2008

                The World Poker Tour continues on at the Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City this weekend.  It’s just one of 14 stops in this year’s tour but the Borgata had made sure it will stand out among the other tournaments.  Just how you ask?  By filling the seats of the live action tournament with satellite tournament winners.

                For many players it’s the price of admission that keeps them out of big money tournaments and the Borgata is no exception.  The WPT Championship event has a $10,000 buy-in which is in line with many other tournaments of similar proportions.  But it’s not the tournament host that’s pocketing most of that cash.  Exactly $9,600 of the $10K buy-in goes towards the prize pool which has a guarantee of $5 million this year with $1.4 million of that going to the winner.

                So if players want a chance at the big money tournaments and the huge payouts that come with them, they either have to cough up the cash or win a satellite qualifier tournament.  Satellite tournaments in which the top prize is a seat in a larger tournament have become popularized by online poker rooms that offer them left and right.  And a good idea hasn’t been lost on the Borgata.

                The Borgata has been running a series of single table satellite qualifiers for a seat at the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event.  As a result WPT founder-CEO Steve Lipscomb has stated its expected that 40 to 60 percent of those entering the event will have gotten there through a satellite tournament.

                Their reasons for running such an aggressive satellite series was definitely influenced by the WPT which prides itself on being a poker tour that amateurs have a real shot at.  But their intentions could also have been swayed by the fact that the 5 day tournament is going to be televised on the Fox Sports Net.  As we’ve already discussed in previous articles other WPT high buy-in tournaments this year have had trouble filling seats which might not look so good televised to the masses.  But the Borgata has ensured that when the cameras are rolling there will be plenty of players to supply action at their tournament.

The Championship event starts Sunday so begin your road trip to Atlantic City now.  For more information on what happening, who’s going to be there and more check out Borgata’s website www.theborgata.com.