Casino mogul created the World Poker Tour Lyle Berman and TV Producer Steve Lipscomb. The mission statement of the WPT is to establish Poker as a significant televised mainstream sport by broadcasting Top Poker Tournaments around the world under the premier brand of the World Poker Tour. With over 50 million Poker Players in the US and another 100 million around the world, they knew there would be great interest in a televised Poker Tournament if it could be produced in a way that would be entertaining and unique.

Whether you are a serious Poker Player, a casual Player, or simply an interested viewer, there is many funs to be had in watching the best Poker Players in the world go at it in a high-stakes game at the top level.

This Tour gives us a ticket to a special event, a hand-picked final table with five of the best poker players on the scene plus one additional player, a lucky amateur who got his spot through a WPT sweepstakes. The result is a very entertaining Tournament in which every participant is interesting to watch, and that features some great hard-hitting play from beginning to end.

The Tour has been one of the greatest things that could have ever happened to Poker. Poker isn't exactly unpopular in America, but only until recently has it become the stuff of front page news getting articles in Salon, The New York Times and Wall Street Weekly to name a few. Not bad for a Poker show on the Travel Channel. It seems no matter where I go these days, someone is getting into poker because of the Tour or at least knows about the  Tour. To know Poker is to be in the "in" today.

The World Poker tour is composed of two different aspects. On one hand, it is an elite high stakes Texas Holdem tournament drawing both amateurs as well as Poker professions. On the other hand, it is a television show on the Travel Channel, intended to hit a massive target audience of novice Poker Players. Both the Tournament side and the television side of the event are equally impressive.

The World Poker Tour is a series of 15 Texas Holdem Tournaments, 12 of which are aired on the Travel Channel. The World Poker Tour Tournaments are held around the world, in places spanning from Costa Rica, to Los Angeles, to France, with the WPT Championship tournament being held at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.