Season Four of the World Poker Tour, 2005-2006

The fourth season of the World Poker Tour adds another fruitful year to the short but rich history of the tour. This season marks another milestone as a record of 17 poker tournaments are featured in only a single season. As the prestige of the event continues to rise, so does the number of players who want to be part of the world of poker. This season was packed with fun and exciting events.

The exciting fourth season started off with the Mirage Poker Showdown that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, from May 23 to 26, 2005. The grand prize of the tournament eventually went to Gavin Smith, who brought home a total $1,128,278.

The next four tournaments between July and September 2005 took place in different places including the Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club de France, the Legends of Poker tournament at the Bicycle Casino in California, the Borgota Poker Open in New Jersey, and the Ultimate Poker Classic at the UltimateBet in Aruba. These events were won by Roland de Wolfe, Alex Kahaner, Al Ardebili, and Freddy Deeb, respectively.

Another three tournaments were held to round out the year 2005 including the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the World Poker Finals at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic that was also held at the Bellagio. These events were won by Minh Ly, Nick Schulman and Rehne Pedersen, respectively.

The first two months of the year 2006 was the busiest for the World Poker Tour as it held six different poker tournaments in such a short time. They include the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in Bahamas, the World Poker Open in Mississippi, the Borgata Winter Poker Open in New Jersey, the L.A. Poker Classic, the WPT Invitational and the Bay 101 Shooting Star in California. The winners of these events are Steve Paul-Ambrose, Scotty Nguyen, Michael Mizrachi, Alan Goehring, Barry Greenstein and Nam Le.

As the fourth season nears its end, the three final tournaments were held between March and April 2006. The final three events are the World Poker Challenge at the Reno Hilton in Nevada, the Foxwoods Poker Classic in Connecticut, and the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winners were Michael Simon, Annand Ramdin and Joe Bartholdi.

The fourth season ended with a bang as Bartholdi was declared the ultimate champion of the World Poker Tour. According to sources, he took home a glittering $3,734,665. This season also marks another era for the tour as more new players try to enter the tour, indicating a lot of promise for the future of poker.