The World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star event kicks off on Monday from sunny San Jose, California. The unique high-stakes bounty tournament awards $5,000 for knocking a “shooting star” out of the event. The $10,000 buy-in contest’s winner will likely receive a seven-figure payday and a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship, which is held next month.
The tournament boasts two starting days, each with a maximum capacity of 200 players. At the time of writing, 106 poker hopefuls had already signed up for Day 1A, while 110 had thrown their hats into the ring for Day 1B. The tournament begins promptly at 10:45am local time on both days and registration opens at 8:30am. The Shooting Star is one of the few bounty events to hit television airwaves. Next week’s festivities will air as part of Season VII of the WPT on Fox Sports Net.
Tournament Director Matt Savage has announced who will don bounties for each of the two starting days. On Day 1A, you’ll find all-world names like Michael Binger, Andy Bloch, Todd Brunson, Hoyt Corkins, Allen Cunningham, Freddy Deeb, Poker News Daily columnist Annie Duke, Layne Flack, Jamie Gold, Dan Harrington, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Mike Matusow, Nenad Medic, David “The Dragon” Pham, Joe Sebok, Erik Seidel, David Singer, Gavin Smith, Marco Traniello, Paul Wasicka, Lee Watkinson, and Robert Williamson III. The group represents some of the most esteemed names in poker.
On Day 1B, players at the Bay 101 will square off against shooting stars Brandon Cantu, “Miami” John Cernuto, David Chiu, T.J. Cloutier, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Chau Giang, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Nam Le, Howard Lederer, Kathy Liebert, Jeff Madsen, Daniel Negreanu, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, John “The Razor” Phan, Jennifer Tilly, J.C. Tran, David Williams, and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Jerry Yang.
Savage told Poker News Daily how the “shooting stars” are determined in the marquee WPT tournament: “The owner of the casino started the tournament 11 years ago and invited his friends to play. As it progressed, we eventually upped in buy-in to $10,000. He still likes to invite his old friends. We’re talking about maybe having 80 stars next year.” A total of 25 bounties will take to the field on each of the first two starting days. They will be evenly distributed throughout the tournament’s tables and the survivors will be reseeded on Day 2, which takes place on Wednesday. The six-handed final table will play out on Friday.
Other players already signed up for the tournament include Bellagio Cup IV final table participant Gabe Thaler, WSOP bracelet winners Toto Leonidas and Kenny Tran, and top online poker pro Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron. Last year’s Bay 101 stop was won by Brandon Cantu, who pocketed $1 million for his first WPT victory. Cantu also holds a WSOP bracelet, which he captured in 2006 by virtue of winning a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event. Cantu defeated Asian Poker Tour ambassador Steve Sung heads-up. Others who appeared at the final table last year included Full Tilt Poker pro Jennifer Harman, Noah Jefferson, Mike Baker, and John “The Razor” Phan. A total of 376 players turned out in 2008.
In 2007, the Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event was won by Ted Forrest, who defeated J.J. Liu heads-up. Also reaching the Season VI televised final table were James Van Alstyne, Amir Shayesteh, Vincent Shaw, and Full Tilt Poker pro Bill Edler. Nam Le, who has made four WPT final tables during his illustrious poker career, grabbed victory in 2006. Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown and Bodog pro David Williams also reached the final six that year.
Here is the schedule for the 2009 Bay 101 Shooting Star event. All times are local:
Monday, March 16th at 10:45am: Day 1A
Tuesday, March 17th at 10:45am: Day 1B
Wednesday, March 18th at 10:45am: Day 2
Thursday, March 19th at Noon: Day 3
Friday, March 20th at 4:00pm: Final Table
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament.