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Under The Lights: WPT Swings Through Asia and New York

By Paul Seaton It’s been the busiest of months for the World Poker Tour for some time. With the team arriving in Japan, Borgata and even at Bloomingdale’s, there were a range of prizes on offer at the felt for players of all levels, from Baccarat Crystal to WPT Passport Dollars and even six-figure sums…

Matt Clark
Oct 1, 2019

By Paul Seaton

It’s been the busiest of months for the World Poker Tour for some time. With the team arriving in Japan, Borgata and even at Bloomingdale’s, there were a range of prizes on offer at the felt for players of all levels, from Baccarat Crystal to WPT Passport Dollars and even six-figure sums for the top six players at the Borgata Poker Open, there were – quite literally – winners everywhere. Let’s catch up with the action Under the Lights.

WPT Family Take a Bite of The Big Apple

On September 12th, Tony Dunst and Lynn Gilmartin were at Bloomingdale on 59th Street as the WPT family traveled to the Big Apple itself, New York City. Tony and Lynn were there at the flagship Bloomingdale’s store to celebrate with Baccarat Crystal, awarding some stunning creations to the poker players who were successful at the felt of a very special event. Also in attendance were WPT Champion Andy Frankenberger, Rounders writer Brian Koppelman, and basketball star D’Angelo Russell.

Borgata Ending Prompts Savage Question

After a fantastic five days at the felt in Borgata, Donald Maloney became the Borgata Poker Open champion, winning $616,186.

After a huge 1,156 bought into the $3,500-entry event, Maloney overcame Dave Farah and Victor Ramdin at a final table full of quality.

If you’d like to watch the highlights of the final table, check them out right here:

Following the final table finish that saw the top three players effectively flip for the WPT title – in particular, heads-up opponents Maloney and Uke Dauti – Tournament Director Matt Savage tweeted about what fans and player think of deals… and he got a huge number of responses:

After so many responses, everyone who did have their say will be overjoyed with the response for Savage, who reminded everyone just how much the WPT care about player and fan feedback.

Dunst is Feeling Grrrreat!

Tony Dunst is many things; a great poker player, a WSOP bracelet winner and a huge part of the on-screen talent on the World Poker Tour. But what he isn’t is a giant cartoon tiger who is all little too passionate about how terrific his bowl of cereal tastes. Don’t tell Tony the catchphrase, he’s liable to get Frosty.

Getting in the Swing of Things

The WPT Asia Swing saw the World Poker Tour arrive in Japan for a superb event, with Junheng Situ winning WPT Japan and taking home a WPT Passport worth $13,000 as well as the trophy and 100 points towards his assault on the Asia Swing leaderboard. Result!

You can read all about the event’s dramatic conclusion right here.

Van Patten’s Vegas Movie hots the Silver Screen

Vince Van Patten’s long-awaited film ‘7 Days to Vegas’ release finally took place, with a host of poker players such as Phil Hellmuth at the glamorous premiere.

The film centers around two prop bettors and their adventures in gambling. Far from showing the dark side of gambling, Van Patten’s mission was to show how much fun it can be with the right people around you, and the two main characters end up having to walk the 280-mile trip to Las Vegas in – you’ve guessed it – seven days.

With the epic road trip minus the car but with some big laughs and one very, very big bet. With half of the movie based on true-to-life events, Van Patten just won’t say which half!

One fan of the movie’s ‘hustle’ was popular player Jonathan Little.

Who knows where the WPT family will be next month? One thing is for sure – we’ll bring you the glitz and glamour from Under the Lights.

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