Kimberly Lansing Will Be Traveling Less this Year
The World Poker Tour released its schedule for Season VII and unlike Kirstie Alley on Jenny Craig, the televised tour has slimmed down, with just 14 tournaments set to be televised, a significant decrease from last season's 21.
The events that were dropped from the WPT schedule include two Las Vegas tournaments (Mirage Poker Showdown and Mandalay Bay Poker Championship), the Ladies Night invitational, the WPT Spanish Championship, the World Poker Challenge in Reno, the World Poker Open in Tunica and the WTP event in Turks and Caicos which if we haven't mentioned before, its capital city is called Cockburn Town (read about our trip there back in '96 here).
The official word from Steve Lipscomb:
"Industry trends and player feedback were instrumental in creating the schedule, which focuses on marquis events to drive increased field sizes, riches prize pools and more media coverage for players. The schedule also gives players more opportunity to participate in satellites and other events and allows the WPT and the Casino partners to focus on bigger promotional opportunities around each event."
The short of it is, with the EPT doing really well over in Europe and more and more tournaments and tours entering the market in Asia, South America and the Caribbean, it simply isn't possible for the WPT to draw the requisite fields and big name players needed for a 20-event season. The even shorter of it is profitability.
By the way, we haven't asked whether WCP fave Kimberly Lansing will be back for Season VII, but considering that Lansing and Layla Kayleigh are the best things that have happened to the WPT since Shana Hiatt lounged around in her bikini on a sailboat in the Caribbean, we hope she returns. Check out our video interview with Kimberly here.
After the jump, the complete WPT Season VII Schedule . .
Bellagio Cup IV - Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV - July 11- 17, 2008
Legends of Poker - The Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles, CA - Aug 23 – 28, 2008
Borgata Poker Open - Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ - Sept 14 – 18, 2008
North American Poker Championship - Fallsview Niagara Falls, Canada - Oct 10 – 16, 2008
Festa Al Lago - Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV - October 20 – 25, 2008
World Poker Finals - Foxwoods Resort Casino Mashantucket, CT - Nov 5 – 11, 2008
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond - World Poker Classic Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV - Dec 13 – 19, 2008
Gulf Coast Poker Championship - Beau Rivage, Biloxi, MS - Jan 16 - 19, 2008
Borgata Poker Classic - Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ - Jan 25 – 29, 2009
L.A. Poker Classic - Commerce Casino Los Angeles, CA - Feb 28 – March 5, 2009
WPT Celebrity Invitational - Commerce Casino Los Angeles, CA - Mar 7 – Mar 9, 2009
Bay 101 Shooting Star - Bay 101, San Jose, CA - Mar 16 – 20, 2009
Foxwoods Poker Classic - Foxwoods Resort Casino - Apr 4 – 9, 2009
WPT World Championship - Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV - Apr 18 – 25, 2009
Where is part II? I love reading you guys.Always VERY entertaining.
Posted by: Rob | February 20, 2008 at 03:39 PM