There are only sixteen players remaining of the 606 original entries in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal Main Event as action moves into Day 4 on Wednesday. Eric Afriat is the chip leader with 2.4 million chips, the only play over the 2 million mark.

Afriat has some unfinished business at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal. In February, finished third in the WPT Playground Main Event, winning CAD $108,690 (USD $82,716). That tournament holds a special spot in poker history, as it was won by Ema Zajmovic, who became the first women ever to win an open WPT Main Event.

World Poker Tour 2017 Final Tables

Afriat does have one World Poker Tour title under his belt, as he won the 2014 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Championship Event. That victory was worth a bit over $1 million; that and his WPT Playground finish make up the bulk of his $1.83 million in career live earnings.

I will admit, I have always been a skeptic about the extra prizes awarded at major tournaments. The trophy is cool, the money is fantastic, the prestige is even wonderful, but really, who cares about a pair of overpriced headphones or a gaudy watch? Well, it’s time for me to eat crow, as apparently that watch is something Afriat has been targeting.

Speaking with WPT.com after Day 3, Afriat said he was actually a little peeved that he didn’t grab the timepiece in February:

What I want the most is the Hublot watch, because when I won their contract was signed for the following week. It was the last tournament that didn’t award the watch. They awarded it the following week, and I missed out on the watch. So the watch will be very important to me. Because a watch you can carry it around, you feel like you won something, but I can’t carry the big trophy

The final three tables, which comprised the final 27 players, played the conclusion of the event at Binion's Horseshoe. All of the Main Events that followed the 2005 event were played completely at the Rio. Consequently, this made Joe Hachem the final player to win the Main Event at the original home of the World Series of Poker. Below are the results for season 16 (XVI) of the World Poker Tour (2017–18).

You know what? That makes a lot of sense. It’s like being able to wear a World Series of Poker bracelet, except I wouldn’t be surprised if players were more willing to don the Hublot watch over the bracelet, as the watch is both cool and practical, as opposed to just being a large piece of jewelry. Personally (and not that I will ever even come remotely close to this), if I won a WSOP bracelet, I don’t think I’d wear it on a regular basis (or even an irregular basis), as I’m not a jewelry guy. A nice watch, though, I could do, plus it has a neat story behind it.

Normally, the chip leader has a significant hand or two that helped get him to the top, but Afriat said his Day 3 was mostly just a gradual build. His biggest hand was actually a loss when his opponent hit a set of Jacks against his pocket Queens.

World Poker Tour final tables have six participants. Some poker fans on social media have suggested finishing up the tournaments online. Savage says that wouldn’t be fair to the players. The final table will be a world’s first, as an ultimate heads-up duel for the World Championship, where $1 million in prize money will be on the line courtesy of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. Seat: 5 Age: 26 Hometown: London, England Despite bluffing off a large portion of his stack to Scott Blumstein on Day 7, Sinclair locked up a seat at the final table in his first Main Event.

Though only sixteen players remain, Day 4 will play down to just the six-handed final table before adjourning.

2017 World Poker Tour Montreal Main Event – Day 3 Chip Counts

1. Eric Afriat – 2,400,000
2. Curt Kohlberg – 1,804,000
3. Ryan Rivers – 1,655,000
4. Maxime Heroux – 1,623,000
5. Duff Charette – 1,583,000
6. Bradley Ellis – 1,563,000
7. Derek Wolters – 1,257,000
8. David Peters – 1,216,000
9. Alex Keating – 1,051,000
10. Brendan Ziyad Baksh – 56,000
11. Feizal Satchu – 633,000
12. Mohammad Abu-Hadbah – 627,000
13. Brady Hinnegan – 579,000
14. Patrick Quinn – 453,000
15. Justin Liberto – 451,000
16. Adam Shannon – 340,000

Season XVII of the World Poker Tour is going to look like no season ever before it. As part of the WPT’s partnership with Esports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Casino & Hotel, all televised final tables are moving to the original home of the World Poker Tour.

According to WPT CEO Adam Pliska and VP of Global Tour Management Angelica Hael, the number of final tables taking place at Esports Arena Las Vegas is nine: eight Main Tour events, plus the season-ending Tournament of Champions.

These events were not formally confirmed by the WPT at Saturday’s media summit at Luxor. All properties who are in line to have their final tables hosted at Esports Arena Las Vegas are pending state and Nevada Gaming License approval.

After final tables are reached, tournaments will be placed on a hiatus between the end of play at the host property and the final table in Las Vegas. The estimate is three to six weeks between play. Per the WPT, the goal is to have spans of final tables play out consecutively over a single week.

“It’s no secret that the home of global poker is here in Las Vegas,” said Hael. “In many respects, it makes perfect sense to move WPT final tables of televised events to be here. The move aims not to just take WPT to new heights, but to also elevate the game of poker as a whole. It is going to be a location where we can celebrate and honor our industry-leading events and also elevate the experience of our champions.”

New home for the WPT

Esports Arena Las Vegas is the modern hub for gaming, and now poker, on the Las Vegas strip. WPT’s parent company, Ourgame, owns multiple eSports arenas across the globe and opened Esports Arena Las Vegas in March 2018. Luxor is also an MGM Resorts property. MGM and the WPT are partners dating back to Season I.

Spectators are treated to a premier viewing experience for poker upon entering Esports Arena Las Vegas. The stage is a size that rivals Broadway with the production to match. 50-foot tall LED screens with the WPT logo stands behind the table with cyan lights scattered across the stage.

World Poker Tour 2017 Final Table Tennis

Players enter the arena through the ‘Hype Tunnel.’ A hallway striped with fluorescent lighting that conjures images of Blade Runner 2049.

The over $20 million investment to build Esports Arena Las Vegas reflects in the live action should do the same in the television episodes for Season XVII.

Pliska reflected this sentiment.

“The amazing blessing of this is it not only guarantees you’ll see this show for [up to] 15 more years, it looks better,” Pliska said. “There’s no question, it’s a sport. We’ve said it’s a sport and now we have the venue for it.”

Hael alluded comparing Esports Arena Las Vegas potentially being the iconic location for poker in a similar way to what Madison Square Garden is for basketball.

Break equals exposure

A goal of the World Poker Tour with their new playground is to boost the presence of their final tablists. During the break between tournament play at the host property and the final table, the projection is to give all six players a profile usually reserved for just the champion of the event.

World Poker Tour 2019 Final Table

“We are dedicated to promoting players going into this event because we know that their story needs to be told,” WPT Marketing Manager Donnie Peters said.

Season-long storylines for the major events are condensed into just a few weeks of poker. The Player of the Year race switches in a span of days instead of a yearlong grind to the finish line.

Revamped schedule for Season XVII

“Our entire schedule has changed,” WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage said. “Because of this change, we’ve had to rearrange our entire schedule. Not only is it going to be a big change for the poker players, it’s going to be a change for us.”

All WPT Main Tour events in Season XVII that are going to be televised, are on hold to start until at least the end of the year.

The Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City, NJ has long been a televised event on the WPT every September. The event is a candidate to be live streamed in Season XVII. This year’s Borgata Poker Open runs from September 16-21.

Season XVII opens at the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, CA in with the $5,000 buy-in WPT Gardens Poker Festival. The event runs July 21-26. The casino first hosted the WPT in 2017 when the WPT500 Los Angeles tournament played.

WPT Choctaw returns August 3-7 in Durant, OK. The Season XVI edition was the first North American stop of the campaign and drew 924 entrants.

The Bicycle Hotel and Casino is not a Main Tour stop for the 2018 portion of the schedule. Legends of Poker is, for now, WPT500 Los Angeles with a $1 million guarantee starting August 18 and concluding on August 27.

Other familiar tour stops back on the schedule for 2018 are WPT Maryland (September 21-25), WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble (October 19-23), and the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic (December 10-15).

World Poker Tour 2017 Final Tabletop

Season XVII WPT Schedule for 2018

Tournament	Location	Dates	Buy-in
WPT Gardens Poker Festival	Hawaiian Gardens, CA	July 21-26	$5,000
WPT Choctaw	Durant, OK	August 3-7	$3,700
WPT500 Los Angeles	Los Angeles, CA	August 18-27	$570
WPT Borgata Poker Open	Atlantic City, NJ	September 16-21	$3,500
WPT Maryland at Live! Casino	Arundel Mills, MD	September 21-25	$3,500
WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble	Jacksonville, FL	October 19-23	$5,000
WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open	Hollywood, FL	November 23-28	$3,500
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic	Las Vegas, NV	December 10-15	$10,400

Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour/Flickr