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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Players invade Reno for World Poker Challenge

By Jason Kirk

The World Poker Tour's sixth season returns to action today with the World Poker Challenge at Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nev.

The buy-in for the World Poker Challenge has gone up this year for the first time since the WPC joined the World Poker Tour in 2003. The $7,500 buy-in represents a 50% increase from previous years.

Despite the move to a higher buy-in, it appears that this year's edition of the WPC will be the last to air on the WPT. When the WPT recently announced its schedule for Season 7, the Reno event was missing from its customary slot at the end of March.

Last year's WPC final table represented a major breakthrough for J.C. Tran. After reaching the WPT television table but falling short four times previously, including a second-place finish the month before at Commerce, Tran finally ascended from consistent performer to WPT champion.

In a battle of players nicknamed "J.C.," Tran defeated PokerListings.com blogger Juan Carlos Alvarado to claim the title after entering heads-up play with a prohibitive chip lead.

The results of last year's final table were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	J.C. Tran	$683,473
2nd	Juan Carlos Alvarado	$366,798
3rd	David "The Dragon" Pham	$182,260
4th	Mark Seif	$182,260
5th	John Hom	$136,695
6th	Danny Wong	$113,913

The list of well-known and accomplished players who have made the final table at the WPC over the years is a fairly distinguished one. Besides last year's marquee finishers, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Blair Rodman, Young Phan, Greg "FBT" Mueller, Paul "Eskimo" Clark, T.J. Cloutier, and 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider have all taken their shot at the big prize in Reno.

The WPC is the next-to-last regular stop of the season for the WPT. After next week's event at Foxwoods, the season concludes with the $25,000 WPT Championship.

For those of you who prefer not to get too far ahead of yourselves, you can focus on the now with superstar reporter Matthew Showell in our Live Tournaments section.