United States Poker Championship starts today

The 2006 United States Poker Championship winner Alex Jacob.

It's that time of year again and the main event of the United States Poker Championship (USPC) is beginning today at the Trump Taj Mahal in scenic Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Last year Alex "Fro" Jacob outlasted 261 players to take home a first-place prize of $878,500. In the past the event has been broadcast by ESPN, but the TV sports network has dropped all non-WSOP poker programming, so it remains to be seen what effect that will have on turnout at this event.

The event has been running since Sept. 17 with a number of mostly smaller buy-in events already finished. The series wraps up on Oct. 5 and by then a total of 19 events will have been played.

The USPC has been held since 1996 with a number of big-name winners coming out of the tournament including Daniel Negreanu, Men Nguyen and Toto Leonidas.

Preliminary reports have Jeff Madsen, Gavin Smith, Cyndy Violette, Bill Edler, Bill Gazes and Steve Dannenmann all plunking down the $10,000 buy-in to try and win the big tourney in New Jersey. Defending champ Jacob is also set to play and hopefully defend his title.

PokerListings.com will be providing exceptional live coverage of the event courtesy of stellar tournament reporter Owen Laukkanen, who is on location. Check out our live tournament section by clicking here.