The WPT Descends Upon Reno for the World Poker Challenge

After a short break following the Bay 101 Shooting Star, the World Poker Tour will arrive in Reno, Nevada for the World Poker Challenge. It will likely be the final WPT event held in Reno, as the tournament is not on next year’s schedule.

The $7,500 buy-in main event will take place March 25th through the 28th at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. This year the buy-in was increased from the previous amount of $5,000. Players will start with 15,000 in tourney chips and each level will be sixty minutes in length. Cards will be in the air at 12:00pm PST.

Last year’s WPC produced a field of 475 players which yielded a prize pool of nearly $2.3 million. The final 45 players were all guaranteed at least $6,835, with the eventual champion taking home a check for $683,473. Many notable pros went deep in last year’s event, and some of the big names that were still in contention with two tables remaining included: J.C. Tran, J.C. Alvarado, David Pham, Mark Seif, Danny Wong, Kirk Morrison, Erick Lindgren, Joe Sebok, Greg Mueller and David Levi. The penultimate day of the tourney ended when Brent Bibby busted in 7th place ($91,130). Here’s how the final table finished (payouts included):

J.C. Tran came into the final table with about 900k in chips but quickly built a monster stack.  He took down a pot of nearly 250k when he flopped the nut straight on the first hand of play.  Two hands later, Tran eliminated Danny Wong (Q-Q vs. A-Q), and the win catapulted him in to a commanding chip lead.  In the final hand, Tran busted J.C. Alvarado when his 10-10 held up against Alvarado’s A-6.  After numerous final tables (and a second place finish at the 2007 LAPC), the World Poker Challenge win earned Tran his first WPT title.

Stay tuned to PokerRoad.com starting Tuesday for new episodes of “PokerRoad Radio” direct from the World Poker Challenge (I can’t guarantee anything, but I suspect there might be a bowling prop bet or two on the show as well).

Preview by LA Mike