Tuesday, April 24, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.
What: Fifth annual World Poker Tour Championship final table
When: 5 p.m. Friday (doors open 3 p.m., seating begins 4 p.m.)
Where: Tower Ballroom, Bellagio
Admission: Free for spectators first come, first served and as seats become available throughout play at the final table. Seating is not guaranteed.
Closed circuit: Live closed-circuit broadcast viewing will be available for overflow audience
TV: Taped for scheduled airing on the Travel Channel (Cox cable channel 66) on Aug. 8
Scotty Nguyen surveyed the scene in the Bellagio's Fontana Lounge and offered an impromptu state of the game address.
As Nguyen put it in his inimitable way : Poker's not played out yet, baby.
"Bigger than ever, baby," Nguyen said during the opening round of the fifth annual World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio, where poker's leading professionals are competing this week for a piece of a $15.49 million prize pool.
The championship tournament, which carries a $25,000 buy-in and marks the end of the fifth season of the lucrative, made-for-TV World Poker Tour, attracted a record-high field of 639 players - better than a 5 percent increase from last year's 605.
The upswing came despite a crackdown on online gambling by the U.S. government that some poker insiders thought might put a damper on big land-based tournaments. Although there's no direct affiliation, online poker had long served as an informal "underground" feeder market for major poker events in Las Vegas and other gambling destinations.
Nguyen, a veteran poker pro from Henderson who owns a World Series of Poker main event title and a World Poker Tour championship, was pleased but not surprised by the strong turnout.
"Poker can only get bigger," Nguyen said. "There are just too many people out there who are so interested in it - in playing, following it, watching it. There's no way you're going to see it get smaller."
The no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament got under way this past weekend with an opening round staggered over two days. It continues through Friday's final table, where the winner will collect the top prize of $3.97 million.
Along with the World Series of Poker's main event, the World Poker Tour Championship ranks among the biggest tournaments on poker's calendar.
"The bigger the tournament is, the more I love it," said Nguyen, the 1998 world champ who also collected $969,421 for winning last year's Gold Strike World Poker Open. "You know, baby, I never even worry about the size of the field while I'm playing. I only care about how well I'm playing against the other players at my table."
Besides defending champion Joe Bartholdi of Las Vegas, this week's field includes many of the game's most recognizable stars , including Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan and Dan Harrington .
Nguyen finished the first round of play poised to make a move toward the top of the leaderboard, he said.
"I made a couple of mistakes here and there," Nguyen said. "But I have enough chips where I could afford to make a mistake and still survive."
World Poker Tour Championship through the years:
Since its inception five years ago, each season of the World Poker Tour has culminated with the World Poker Tour Championship, a $25,000 buy-in tournament at the Bellagio. Following is a recap of each season's championship tournament:
Season 1 - April 18, 2003
Entrants: 111
Prize pool: $2.69 million
Top prize: $1.03 million
Winner: Alan Goehring, Henderson
Season 2 - April 23, 2004
Entrants: 343
Prize pool: $8.34 million
Top prize: $2.72 million
Winner: Martin de Knijff, Gothenburg, Sweden
Season 3 - April 24, 2005
Entrants: 452
Prize pool: $10.96 million
Top prize: $2.85 million
Winner: Tuan Le, Los Angeles
Season 4 - April 24, 2006
Entrants: 605
Prize pool: $14.67 million
Top prize: $3.76 million
Winner: Joe Bartholdi, Las Vegas
Season 5 - today through Friday
Entrants: 639
Prize pool: $15.49 million
Top prize: $3.97 million
Winner: to be determined
World Poker Tour Season 5 winners
Mirage Poker Showdown: Stan Weiss, Nashville, Tenn., $1.29 million
Mandalay Bay Poker Championship: Joe Tehan, Las Vegas, $1.03 million
Grand Prix de Paris: Christian Grundtvig, Denmark, $933,817
Legends of Poker: Joe Pelton, Newport Beach, Calif., $1.57 million
Borgata Poker Open: Mark Newhouse, Chapel Hill, N.C., $1.51 million
Festa al Lago: Andreas Walnum, Norway, $1.09 million
North American Poker Championship: Soren Turkewitsch, Canada, $1.22 million
World Poker Finals: Nenad Medic, Canada, $1.71 million
Five Diamond Classic: Joe Hachem, Australia, $2.18 million
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure: Ryan Daut, New Jersey, $1.53 million
World Poker Open: Bryan Sumner, Smyrna, Tenn., $913,986
Winter Poker Open: John Hennigan, Philadelphia, $1.60 million
Selected upcoming Las Vegas poker events
Through Friday: World Poker Tour Championship, Bellagio
Through May 2: World Series of Poker circuit tournament, Caesars Palace
May 19-23: World Poker Tour Mirage Poker Showdown, the Mirage
May 29-June 2: World Poker Tour Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, Mandalay Bay
May, dates TBA: Season 4 of "High Stakes Poker" no-limit cash game filmed by cable channel GSN, South Point (closed to the public)
June 1: World Series of Poker begins, Rio
June 24-28: World Series of Poker HORSE world championship, Rio
July 6-17: World Series of Poker main event, Rio
Dec. 13-18: World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Bellagio
L.A. Poker Classic: Eric Hershler, Los Angeles, $2.42 million
Shooting Star: Ted Forrest, Las Vegas, $1.12 million
World Poker Challenge: J.C. Tran, Sacramento, $683,473
Foxwoods Poker Classic: Raj Patel, Rocky Hill, Conn., $1.29 million
World Poker Tour Championship: to be decided this week
J.C. superstar
Poker pro J.C. Tran of Sacramento had the hottest hand in the tournament game heading into the World Poker Tour Championship, having made three World Poker Tour final tables this year. Tran punched his ticket for the championship tournament by winning the World Poker Challenge last month at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. Tran also made 10 final tables in prominent tournaments in 2006. He was still alive heading into Monday's second round of play at the Bellagio after an opening round divided into two separate flights that took place Saturday and Sunday.
Among Tran's major tournament scores in 2007:
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