At one time, it was one of the featured events on the schedule for the World Poker Tour. After several years off the roster of tournaments featured by the WPT, the Bay 101 Shooting Star is set to return to the fold. In October, the one that started the “bounty” tournament craze will once again be a featured WPT tournament, with a $5000 Main Event and special bounties offered.
Shooting Star Returns in October
The Bay 101 Casino has been the only host of the Shooting Star, and they will once again be the base of operations from October 17-31 this fall. Alongside the plethora of preliminary events (which are currently being finalized), there will be an officially sanctioned WPT Main Event for players with a $5000 buy-in ($300 juice) and multiple Day Ones for players to take their shot. As in the past, the Shooting Star will once again feature $2500 bounties on select players who will be chosen closer to the start date.
“Bay 101 Casino has long been a staple of the World Poker Tour’s rich history,” said World Poker Tour Chief Executive Officer Adam Pliska during the announcement of the Shooting Star’s return. “The players, the fans, and the incredible team at Bay 101 create an amazing environment. We look forward to returning to this iconic venue once again.”
“The news of the Shooting Star returning to the World Poker Tour has been on everyone’s wish list for a long time,” Bay 101 Casino Manager Samuel Quinto said about the tournament’s renewal. “We look forward to recapturing the excitement of one of poker’s most talked about events.”
Long History and Long Absence
The Bay 101 Shooting Star was the creation of then-owner Marko Trapani, who came up with the concept of each table having one player (at least) who would have a bounty on their head. If a player were to knock out that bounty player, then they would take the bounty that was offered (in the past, it was as much as $5000). Since its creation in 1997, the tournament proved to be extraordinarily successful and, once tournament director Matt Savage joined the staff in the early Aughts, moves were made to put it on the WPT roster of tournaments.
The Bay 101 Shooting Star was one of the early success stories on the second season of the fledgling WPT in 2004, along with another prominent California poker event, the L.A. Poker Classic. What separated the Bay 101 Shooting Star from other events, however, was the uniqueness of the bounty format. In that inaugural event in 2004, 360 players would come to the line. The tournament was won by ‘Tiltboy’ Phil Gordon over the then-World Champion Chris Moneymaker.
Throughout their history together, the WPT and the Bay 101 Shooting Star made some magic. Gus Hansen had a stirring run in 2005 before coming up just short against Jay Martens and eventual champion Danny Nguyen. Nam Le, Ted Forrest, Brandon Cantu, Steve Brecher, WeiKai Chang, James Carroll, Taylor Paur, and Stefan Schillhabel are just a few of the notable names that have won the Shooting Star championship, with other notables like Jennifer Harman and Kathy Liebert making the final table.
For Season XVI (2017), the roster of events did not feature a stop at the Bay 101 for the Shooting Star. As is the case with tournaments on the WPT schedule, each event individually negotiates for its place on the WPT rolls, and for the 2017 year, the two parties were not able to agree on when to hold the tournament (resulting in its dropping from the schedule). Since 2017, the WPT and Bay 101 have been at loggerheads – until now, with the inclusion of the Shooting Star’s place on the WPT schedule once again assured.
The addition of the Bay 101 Shooting Star seems to be reversing a trend that has been occurring during the current season of the WPT. Before the announcement of the Shooting Star’s return, three of the upcoming eight events were on U.S. soil (the only other U.S. events are the Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley, CA; the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL; and the WPT Choctaw in Oklahoma).
The Main Event for the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star will take place from October 25-29, with the final table delayed until a later date for play in Las Vegas (filming for television purposes). Currently, there does not appear to be a structure sheet for the Shooting Star put together, but that should come in the future at WPT.com.
