Professional Poker Tour

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The Professional Poker Tour (PPT) is a series of televised poker tournaments, spinning off from the World Poker Tour (WPT) television series. It bills itself as the first professional poker league, and is limited to players who have established themselves on the World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker, or major participation on the poker circuit.

Matt Corboy is the lead commentator, with poker pro Mark Seif as color commentator and Kaye Han as floor reporter. The first season, taped in 2005, began airing regularly on July 5, 2006.

1 Television Format
2 Qualifying
- 2.1 First Season Qualifiers
- 2.2 Second Season Qualifiers
3 Second Season Tournaments
4 Results
5 External links

[edit] Television Format

Events will be telecast across five shows each. The first four shows are labeled as quarters, from 1st Quarter to 4th Quarter, reflecting early-round play in the event. The final six-player table is the fifth show of the cycle.

[edit] Qualifying

Although entry into the tournaments is free, only certain players can compete in them.

[edit] First Season Qualifiers

[edit] 3 year entry

All WPT winners
Any player that made more than one WPT final table in a single season
Top three places in WPT Championship
Top ten places on WPT Season 2 Player of the Year list
All previous winners of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event
Top three places in 2003 and 2004 WSOP Main Event
Top ten places on CardPlayer Player of the Year list
Top ten places on Phil Hellmuth Jr Champion of the Year list
Members of the World Poker Tour Walk of Fame
Members of the Poker Hall of Fame

[edit] 2 year entry

Fourth, fifth and sixth place finish in WPT Championship
Fourth, fifth and sixth place finish in WSOP Main Event during 2003 or 2004

[edit] 1, 2 or 3 year entry

Players selected by the PPT Advisory Committee
Top ten places on Poker Europa List for 2004
WPT commentators

[edit] Second Season Qualifiers

Because the second season will be played 18 months after the first, the qualifier lists reflect major results of the 2005 and 2006 poker seasons.

[edit] 3 year entry

All WPT event champions from all 4 seasons
Anyone who made more than one WPT Season 4 final table
Top three finishers in the 2005 (Season 3) and 2006 (Season 4) WPT Championship
Top ten players on the 2005 and 2006 WPT Player of the Year Points Lists
Top three finishers in the 2005 and 2006 WSOP Main Events
Top 10 players in each of these 2005 Player of the Year lists:
- Card Player Magazine
- PokerPages.com
- BLUFF Magazine
- ALL-IN Magazine
Inductees into the WPT Poker Walk of Fame
Inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame
PPT tournament winners
Participants in 2 or more PPT final tables in one season

[edit] 2 year entry

Fourth through sixth place finishers in the 2005 and 2006 WPT Championships
Fourth through sixth place finishers in the 2005 and 2006 WSOP Main Events
Any PPT Season 1 3-year cardholder who didn't otherwise qualify

[edit] 1 year entry

Top 20 players on 2005 European Poker List
Anyone who played 13 WPT main events in 2005 or 2006
One-time PPT final table participants
Any PPT Season 1 2-year cardholder who didn't otherwise qualify
WPT announcers Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and Linda Johnson

WPT Enterprises may also qualify other participants at their discretion. In addition, each event has 12 exemptions shared between the host casino and WPTE.

PPT has withdrawn entry from otherwise-qualified players who didn't play at least 2 of the 5 PPT Season 1 events and didn't play at least half of the WPT Season 3 and 4 events. Among the well-known players who have been excluded from PPT Season 2 under this rule are Johnny Chan, Sam Farha, Phil Gordon, Chris Moneymaker, and Amarillo Slim.

[edit] Second Season Tournaments

On August 8, 2006, WPT Enterprises announced that the first tournament of the second season of the PPT, at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, had been postponed from September 2006 to a date to be determined. At the time of the postponement, PPT did not have a contract for television coverage of the second season. WPT Enterprises announced on September 28, 2006 that the Foxwoods and Bellagio tournaments have also been postponed. While there was no announcement, a tournament scheduled for the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles in February 2007 never took place.

[edit] Results

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Season	Event	Winner	Prize	Other Finalists
1	World Poker Finals	John Juanda	$225,000	Chris Bigler Ron Rose Dan Harrington Jennifer Harman Casey Kastle
1	LA Poker Classic	Erick Lindgren	$225,000	Chris Bigler Daniel Negreanu Dennis Waterman Asher Derei Allen Krell
1	Bay 101	Tom McEvoy	$225,000	Marsha Waggoner Alfredo "Toto" Leonidas Casey Kastle Paul Magriel Hoyt Corkins
1	3rd Annual Five Star World Poker Classic	Lee Markholt	$225,000	Barry Shulman Doyle Brunson Chris Bjorin Dan Heimiller Erick Lindgren
1	Mirage Poker Showdown	Ted Forrest	$225,000	Randy Jensen David Levi Tom Franklin Chris Tsiprailidis Blair Rodman