One of the iconic World Poker Tour (WPT) occasions in historical past is lower than two weeks away from returning for the primary time since COVID.
The $5,300 buy-in WPT Bay 101 Taking pictures Star Championship at Bay 101 On line casino in San Jose, California, will kick off Oct. 24. Further sequence occasions on the fashionable NorCal card room will begin Oct. 17, starting with the $600 Taking pictures Star Opener, a no-limit maintain’em match with two Day 1 beginning flights. However the spotlight of the sequence is the occasion so many WPT grinders have been ready for for the reason that pre-COVID period.
WPT Again at Bay 101
The Bay 101 Taking pictures Star Championship is a novel occasion, during which every beginning desk could have a minimum of one “Taking pictures Star,” a participant designated as a bounty. Knocking out a Taking pictures Star is value $2,500, including some incentive to a match that all the time attracts a big subject.
World Poker Tour workers chooses the Taking pictures Stars earlier than the match begins, and they search out gamers who’re well-known or have some character.
This 12 months’s checklist of Taking pictures Stars consists of Lily Kiletto, Xuan Liu, Kenna James, poker growth crusher Erick Lindgren, Chip Chief Teaching founder Probability Kornuth, content material creator Nikki Limo, old-school grinder Greg “FBT” Mueller, 2025 World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Major Occasion remaining tablist Adam Hendrix, WPT champions Matt Salsberg and David “ODB” Baker, PokerGO commentator Jeff Platt, the participant answerable for the largest controversy on the 2025 WSOP, Jesse Yaginuma, amongst others.
The checklist of bounties options some WPT Champions Membership members, WSOP champions, high-stakes crushers, proficient content material creators, and among the prime execs within the early days of the World Poker Tour.
The WPT Bay 101 Taking pictures Star Championship was one of many circle-your-calendar main occasions on the WPT schedule annually earlier than the pandemic. Phil Gordon, a retired poker professional who was a distinguished determine on televised poker video games within the 2000s, was the primary Bay 101 Taking pictures Star champion in 2004. He received the match for $360,000, defeating Chris Moneymaker heads-up simply months after Moneymaker famously received the 2003 WSOP Major Occasion.
Ted Forrest (2007), Brandon Cantu (2008), and Stefan Schillhabel (2016) are among the many previous champions.
Bay 101 On line casino has hosted 15 WPT occasions, offering many memorable moments, with extra to return later this month. This 12 months’s match runs from Oct. 24 to twenty-eight.
WPT Bay 101 Taking pictures Star Schedule
*Pictures courtesy WPT
