Third Season of the World Poker Tour, 2004-2005

After yet another successful season, the World Poker Tour franchise started a new one that promises to outdo its achievements in the past. But just like the previous two seasons, the third installment of the series featured some of the best poker tournaments in the world. These events showcase the biggest names in poker.

The third season started off at the Aviation Club de France in Paris for the Grand Prix de Paris in July 2004. The four-day event ended with Surinder Sunar taking home the pot which amounts to $679,860. After a good start, the tour went to the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Mirage Poker Showdown. The three-day event finished with Eli Elezra winning the $1,024,574 overall prize.

From August to September 2004, the World Poker Tour featured three big tournaments including the Legends of Poker tournament at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California, the Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Ultimate Poker Classic at the UltimateBet in Aruba. These three events were won by Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and Eric Brenes, respectively.

The tour strongly finished the year 2004 with another three very important tournaments including the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, the World Poker Finals at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic which was also held at the Bellagio. The events were won by Juan Carlos Mortensen, Tuan Le, and Daniel Negreanu, respectively.

The year 2005 started with a bang as the World Poker Tour featured four big tournaments in the first two months of the year including the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that was held at the elegant Atlantic Resort and Casino in Paradice Island, Bahamas. This event was topped by John Gale who took home $865,000. The other three events are the World Poker Open in Mississippi, the L.A. Poker Classic in California, and the WPT Invitational. The winners are John Stolzmann, Michael Mizrachi and Alex Brenes, respectively.

The last four tournaments featured in the third season include the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose California, the PartyPoker Million IV, the World Poker Challenge at the Reno Hilton in Nevada, and the WPT Championship at the Bellagio. These events were won by Danny Nguyen, Maciek Gracz, Arnold Spee and Tuan Le, respectively. Tuan took home the very big prize of $2,856,150 from the biggest tournament featured in the third season of the World Poker Tour.

The third season is indeed a fruitful one for the franchise as it featured 16 tournaments all-in-all in only one whole season. It lasted the previous records set by the first and second seasons. It marks a very good year for the World Poker Tour and hopefully another good one for the franchise in the 2005-2006 season.