World Poker Tour Season 1

World poker tour 2002-2003.

The World Poker Tour made its debut in the season of 2002-2003 in the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Texas Hold 'em is the preferred poker variant for this tournament, and professional (and some amateur) poker players from Sweden, Australia, Finland, USA just to name a few, joined in on this high stakes game of crafty card playing.

The World Poker Tour took the world by storm, holding events in starstruck Hollywood in sunny California and in the neon-colored casinos in Vegas; and also in gaming places in romantic Paris, and exotic Aruba and Costa Rica. Eleven major events occurred throughout the season, where world-renowned legends, movie and television celebrities, prolific veterans, and hopeful newcomers battled for a chance at poker glory. The tour also found its way to television, as the first season was televised on the Travel Channel in the United States, giving the tournament more loyal and avid fans.

Shuffle Up and Deal
The famous poker phrase was first uttered at the Bellagio Casino for the opening of the tournament with the Five Diamond World Poker Classic where Gus Hansen bested players like John Juanda, Chris Bigler, and Scotty Nguyen for the cash prize of over half a million dollars. He would again prove his poker prowess in the L.A. Poker Classic held at the Commerce Casino.

This card game makes legends and The Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles showcased the most accomplished of them all, where rivals met to impulsively challenge each other. From this game emerged the conservative Chris Karagulleyan as winner.

Poker, the People's Game
Poker can make any interested player a household name, and this brought the popular poker crowd, the A-List Hollywood stars, and the anonymous Internet hopefuls together. The World Poker Tour Invitationals is where poker pros and poker aficionados from Hollywood like Don Cheadle and Mickey Rooney meet. Layne Flack won this all-pro event. While on the more exotic location of Aruba, Internet poker site Ultimate Bet introduced amateurs to the live action game. This event proved to the world that you don't have to be a professional to claim the prize. Online player Juha Helppie was named victor against the seasoned Jennifer Harman, Scott Nguyen and Kathy Leibert, among others.

Other events of the inaugural season of the World Poker Tour included the Costa Rica Classic, the Gold Rush Tournament, the World Poker Finals, the World Poker Open, Euro Finals of Poker, PartyPoker Million II, World Poker Challenge, and finally, the World Poker Tour Championship. In the culmination of this tournament, it was Alan Goehring who surprised poker fans with his first championship. He ended up taking home a whopping million dollars and made history by taking the title of the first World Poker Tour champion .

The inaugural season of the World Poker Tournament went off to a rousing start and certainly helped poker make its mark in the history of gambling.

Last Updated ( Friday, 14 December 2007 )

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