World Poker Tour(R) Goes North of the Border
LOS ANGELES, May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Bill Edler and Evelyn Ng may be the most illustrious Canadian poker players on the world stage, but come October the WORLD POKER TOUR(R) will offer a look at who else might be Canadian stars-in-the-making when the Tour inaugurates its first stop north of the border at the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort. The WPT has selected Canada's luxurious new gaming mecca, overlooking the famous Niagara Falls, as the site of its third annual North American Poker Championship, October 25-29.
The elegant Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort is the premier casino and resort facility in Canada, with 3,000 slot machines, 150 gaming tables and a dedicated poker room, a 368-room luxury hotel, a full-service spa and fitness facility, a 1,500-seat showroom, 30,000 square feet of convention, conference and meeting space, a wide selection of restaurants and boutiques and one of the most famous and spectacular views in the world.
"By staging the North American Poker Championship in this beautiful Canadian casino, we put out the welcome mat for all poker enthusiasts in Canada and truly lay down the gauntlet to see who can reign supreme on the continent," said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: WPTE) . "We are thrilled to welcome the Niagara Fallsview to the WPT family and look forward to an inspiring and exciting event that will attract players from both sides of the border."
Niagara Fallsview marks the third international location on the WPT tournament calendar for Season V, joining Paris' Aviation Club (Grand Prix de Paris) and the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas (Pokerstars' Caribbean Adventure).
"All of us at the Fallsview Casino are very excited to be working with the WPT to bring a premiere International Poker event like this to Canada," said Fallsview General Manager Steve Wolstenholme. "Our casino is ready to lay out the red carpet for the WPT, the players, and the fans as they join us here in Niagara Falls. We plan to make the Fallsview Casino Resort the home of the premiere poker events in Canada and will have some other exciting announcements to make in the coming weeks about our plans with the WPT moving forward."
Season V begins and ends in Las Vegas, kicking off at The Mirage Poker Showdown May 14, 2006 and concludes April 27, 2007 at Bellagio for the exciting and much heralded WPT World Championship.
The WPT launched the poker phenomenon when it first aired on the Travel Channel on March 30, 2003, and it continues to lead the way in developing poker as a major international sport. Viewers and aspiring tour players can log on to
http://www.worldpokertour.com/ for ways to improve their game and to get the latest WPT schedules, information and merchandise. The highest rated show ever on The Travel Channel, the WPT is now seen in more than 147 countries and territories worldwide. WORLD POKER TOUR(R) airs every Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST/PST on the Travel Channel in the U.S.
