Mandalay
Bay Joins WPT Roster
The World Poker Tour announced
today that Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
in Las Vegas has joined its roster of host casinos
for a new event that will be staged as the second
stop of the Season V calendar. The Mandalay
Bay Poker Championship, to be held June 4 -
8, will become the next big event on the WPT's
storied 17-stop tour which features exciting
poker action at some of the most beautiful,
elegant and highly regarded resorts and card
rooms around the globe. In Season V, the WPT
is expected to surpass its Quarter Billion Dollar
mark in prize money!
Steve
Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT Enterprises,
Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) said, "This continues
to build our solid relationship with the MGM
MIRAGE family of destination resort casinos."
We have scored a trifecta with Mandalay Bay,
The Mirage and Bellagio, the best Las Vegas
has to offer."
Mandalay
Bay Resort & Casino is a luscious tropical-themed
resort. The site's 3,644 rooms and suites include
424 accommodations managed by Four Seasons Hotels
and Resorts. The property also has a House of
Blues restaurant, concert hall and more than
100 House of Blues-themed rooms, decorated in
the unique style for which House of Blues has
become famous. Mandalay Bay earned the prestigious
AAA Four Diamond Award, and offers two AAA Four
Diamond restaurants, Aureole and 3950. The Mandalay
Bay Convention Center brings the total meeting
space to nearly 1.5 million square feet and
is the largest convention center on the Las
Vegas Strip. Mandalay Bay's brands include:
THEhotel, an all-suite hotel featuring 1,117
luxurious one-bedroom suites and Mandalay Place,
a collection of 41 unique boutiques and restaurants.
Mandalay Bay is a wholly owned subsidiary of
MGM MIRAGE, which also owns and operates The
Mirage and Bellagio, two additional Las Vegas
WPT casino partners.
In
other new developments, Foxwoods Resort Casino,
after staging some of the largest events in
WPT history, will extend its involvement with
the tour by hosting a new spring event, to complement
its fall World Poker Finals. The Foxwoods' Poker
Classic will be filmed as part of Season IV
April 6-9.
The
Foxwoods' Poker Classic will replace the PartyPoker
Million on the WPT calendar. After several great
seasons together in which the WPT helped build
international awareness for these now prominent
online sites, the WPT will bid adieu to both
PartyPoker and Ultimate Bet.
Explained
Lipscomb: "We've had a great run with both
companies, but the circumstances have changed
since we elected to launch WPTonline.com, our
own international gaming website. Although they
will no longer be on the tour, we continue to
explore future opportunities with both of these
organizations."
In
announcing the WPT's full Season V calendar,
poker players may now begin planning their tournament
schedules and their shot at the $100 million
prize money up for grabs on the World Poker
Tour -- a tour with the slogan "Anyone
can play; Anyone can win." In just four
years, the WPT has transformed poker into a
career destination for touring pros, just like
players on the PGA, while also enabling newcomers
to get a piece of the estimated $200 million
prize money offered over the WPT's four seasons
of riveting play. With the announcement of the
tour dates, the satellite contact information
will also be accessible on the newly re-launched
websit.
World
Poker Tour will once again feature events in
Paris and a stellar lineup of U.S. destinations.
Season V begins and ends in Las Vegas, initially
with The Mirage Poker Showdown May 14, 2006
at The Mirage and concludes April 27, 2007 at
Bellagio for the exciting and much heralded
WPT World Championship.
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