Immediately after the WPT Legends of Poker at The Bike in Los Angeles wraps, the World Poker Tour will head east to Florida for the $3,500 buy-in Seminole Hard Rock Tampa event, which runs September 3-7.
Legends of Poker, a $5,200 buy-in tournament from August 27 to September 1, is the start of a barrage of major WPT events throughout the rest of the year.
Second up is the trip to Tampa, followed by a trip to the Land Down Under (Australia) September 23, the highly-anticipated return of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio in Las Vegas starting October 19, a November 25 visit to South Florida and the Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open, before the historic $15 million guaranteed WPT World Championship at Wynn in Las Vegas December 12.
Expect a Large Field
The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa is the highlight event in a series that runs from August 25 to September 7, and is certain to bring out a massive crowd. Tournament poker in Florida has been booming like never before since the pandemic, and the World Poker Tour events in the Sunshine State have been no exception.
The no-limit hold'em tournament begins Friday, September 2 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino with a Day 1a flight. On the following day, the second starting session runs, and then all remaining players will return to the casino September 4. Play will continue daily until the six-player final table on September 7 with a winner to be crowned before the end of the night.
Each player will start with 50,000 chips in the $1 million guaranteed tournament. Speaking of that guarantee, if recent history is any indication, any hope for an overlay will be squashed before Day 1b even begins.
Will Altman Continue his Florida WPT Mastery?
Brian Altman, who beat 1,165 entries to win $613,225 in June 2021, is the defending champion of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa.
Not only did Altman win down in Tampa last year, he has been crushing it in Florida for quite some time. The Massachusetts native has three World Poker Tour titles, all in Sunshine State, including two since 2020. If he were to take down WPT Tampa for the second time, he'd join Darren Elias as the only four-time WPT champions.
At the recently completed 2022 World Series of Poker, Altman won his first bracelet in a $400 buy-in no-limit hold'em online event at WSOP.com, a $110,662 score.
Altman, the World Poker Tour Player of the Year during the 2019-2021 season, is one of many of the game's top players who will likely be in attendance come Labor Day Weekend in Central Florida.
