The World Poker Tour’s season-ending festival is moving to Las Vegas in 2018. The WPT recently announced that its sixteenth season would conclude at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The upcoming series will be highlighted by the WPT Tournament of Champions and a new $10,000 buy-in main event- WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, which has been named after the Poker Hall of Famer and 1978 WSOP Main Event winner- Bobby Baldwin, who is the president and COO of Aria.
The WPT Tournament of Champions Festival will run between 17th to 26th May. It kicks off with a $10,000 buy-in NLH event, which will be followed by the four $25,000 high roller events (starting on18th, 19th, 22th, and 23th May) and a $100,000 super high roller running from 24th to 25th May.
The WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic $10,000 buy-in Main Event will start on 20th May and continue until a winner is crowned on 23rd May. The winner of the event will qualify for the WPT Tournament of Champions, which begins on 24th May and lasts for three days with its final table to be filmed on very special stage at the new Esports Arena Las Vegas at the nearby Luxor hotel and Casino.
Talking about this development, Sean McCormack, director of poker operations for Aria, said “Aria takes great pride in being the host of the Season XVI WPT Tournament of Champions,”.. “We have developed a tremendous festival of events, highlighted by the premiere of the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, and are excited to welcome the biggest names in poker to Las Vegas in May.”
“The World Poker Tour is thrilled to bring the illustrious WPT Tournament of Champions to the luxurious Aria, as we close out a historic Season XVI,” said CEO of the World Poker Tour Adam Pliska. “The WPT Tournament of Champions is our most prized event, and the winner will join Farid Yachou and Daniel Weinman as a _WPT Tournament of Champions winner. We look forward to returning to Las Vegas, the birthplace of the WPT and the global home of poker, to crown this season’s champion of champions.”