WPT family affair

The World Poker Tour has announced that it will produce a new special entitled, Fathers and Sons, involving father and son teams, playing for a seat in the WPT World Championship.

Filming on the WPT set at the Foxwoods Casino Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut, the unique special will feature poker’s most prominent personalities and players competing for family pride and the $25,000 package.

The exciting and first-ever "tag-team" father-son poker match features "Texas Dolly" Doyle Brunson and his son, high-stakes cash game stalwart, Todd Brunson, who will headline the table of famous last names along with Barry Greenstein and son Joe Sebok.

Also joining the table is CardPlayer Magazine publisher and media mogul Barry Shulman with son Jeff Shulman; firefighter Steve Stolzmann with son John Stolzmann (Season III WPT World Poker Open champion; and Romeo Simon with son Michael Simon who won the Season IV WPT World Poker Challenge.

Completing the table will be WPT host Vince Van Patten as he finally steps down from the host stand to take a seat at a WPT table with famous father, Dick Van Patten, at his side.

Professional Poker Tour host Matt Corboy will fill Vince’s usual seat beside Mike Sexton to provide commentary.

Changing the rules of the usual WPT final table, the six father-son duos will each act as one player. Starting with $250,000 in tournament chips, the sons will kick-off the six-handed Texas Hold ’em game while their fathers look on.

At any time during the game, the fathers can "tag" their sons out to let them know how the game should be played — even if they are in the middle of a hand. The twist in this tournament comes at the end when the last remaining father and son square off against each other for the $25,000 seat in the WPT World Championship, which will be held in April 2007 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

"We wanted to create a unique special that would bring a fun and emotional perspective to poker playing families," said Robyn Moder, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of the WPT.

"Millions of Americans engage in weekly family poker matches and pride is often the biggest stake in the prize pool. What better way to show our viewers how the pros handle the pressure."

WPT Fathers and Sons will air in the US on the Travel Channel on June 17 2007, on Father’s Day.