The World Poker Tour debuted in 2002 and is now arguably the mainstay of the Texas Hold 'Em
poker calendar, although the World Series Of poker is a more diverse and consequently bigger poker tournament
(view sites with WSOP qualifiers).
That said, it is worth noting that in 2008, WPTE who run the World Poker Tour have cut down the number of events to 14 losing the following in the process: the Mirage Poker Showdown, the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, the Ladies Night invitational, the Turks and Caicos Poker Classic, the WPT Spanish Championship, the World Poker Challenge, and the World Poker Open. This means that all bar one of the WPT poker tournaments (held in Niagara Falls in Canada) are now going to be held within the USA.
With the popularity of online poker, a number of poker rooms offer satellite tournaments to players where the successful ones can qualify for the WPT main events, held in various locations around the world, but with the "main event" being the Las Vegas WPT tournament. Players who are not fortunate enough to win one of the qualifiers can still buy a seat in the World Poker Tour...from anywhere between $2,500 and $25,000 - though obviously winning a satellite is the way to go! For many it offers a chance to go head to head with some of the big poker stars such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Helmuth or the legendary and multiple-WPT winner, Daniel Negreanu.
If you want to receive invites to the WPT online qualifiers for 2008 to gain you entry to the World Poker Tour proper or the European equivalent, the European Poker Tour (EPT), then it helps if you have an account at one of the online poker rooms that runs satellite tournaments! Below are a list of the best online poker rooms with the WPT qualifiers on their schedule. More detail on each can be found in our poker reviews section.
The organisers of the WPT have their own poker room on the Cryptologic Network so it would be quite something if they didn't run WPT qualifiers! Clearly a popular poker room and competition is strong. World Poker Tour review »
» Visit World Poker Tour »
An excellent room on the very popular and busy iPoker Network with satellites to the WPT Bahamas and the European Poker Tour (EPT). No USA players accepted. Titan Poker review »
» Visit the Titan Poker site »
One of the lesser known poker rooms (compared to some of the other names below) which means arguably less competition in the tournaments! Runs on the Boss Media poker network and runs qualifiers for the WPT Barcelona event along with the EPT Bahamas event. 24h Poker review »
» Visit 24h Poker Room »
No surprise that arguably the best Poker room on the Net is in on the WPT. Runs nearly all the WPT and EPT qualifiers, takes ePassporte Visa too (USA take note) and has more tournaments, satellites and feeders than anywhere else. But obviously this means you have some serious competition! Runs on it's own high-traffic network. PokerStars review »
» Click here to visit the PokerStars site »
A well known poker room - currently pretty trendy - and a high traffic proprietary network. Has lots of tournaments and qualifiers in fact, including the WSOCP and Aussie Millions, the WPT (obviously!) and the 1 Million Guaranteed. Maybe that's why it's so popular now! Full Tilt Poker review »
» Visit Full Tilt Poker »
A very popular poker room on the Cryptologic Network with loads of qualifiers and satellites beside the WPT. Try out for the EPT, the GCSOP and the Caribbean Poker Classic as well as the feeder for the World Poker Tour. Interpoker review »
» Visit InterPoker »
Another, slightly lesser known but still busy, Cryptologic room running EPT and WPT feeders along with Crypto's Caribbean Poker Classic. What our reviewer called a bit of a "hidden gem". Parbet Poker review »
» Visit Parbet Poker »
Bodog Poker runs on it's own poker room software and network and has less traffic than many other networks, so MTTs tend to be slow to populate, although still has a pretty strong base of loyal players. It has a popular online sportsbook and casino and offers a few WPT and WSOP qualifiers. Bodog Poker review »
» Visit Bodog Poker »
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