The World Poker Tour announced today that they would be canceling their stop at The Borgata in January 2009, for the Borgata Poker Open would no longer be a stop on Season VII schedule.

This possible change to the season 7 schedule has been rumored to happen for the last few weeks, but only became official today. One has to believe this decision will have something to do with the limited number of main stay pro’s that will attend, this due to the Auzzie Millions taking place during that time in Melbourne, Australia at the Crown Hotel and Casino. The Borgata Hotel & Casino has announced in the wake of the cancellation that they will have the Borgata Winter Poker Open in the time period that was supposed to be the WPT event. At present there is no announcement of a schedule. It is believed that the “Main Event” will be a $3,000 + $200 4-day event beginning on January 25, 2009 and that it will carry a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Currently, the World Poker Tour finds its self in trouble; they are facing a delisting on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in New York. As well they have seen constant declines in the number of participants in their events. This is due to many new tours being created such as the European Poker Tour (Pokerstars.com), The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (Pokerstars.com), World Series of Poker Circuit Events as well as an ever expanding World Series of Poker.

The World Poker Tour just doesn’t have the clout that they once held as the coverage of their events dwindles, and the coverage of the World Series of Poker is ever growing. However, with Full Tilt Poker getting behind them one has to believe that they will see a large increase in the number of entries due to the support of Online Poker Satellites, which can generate a single entry from a tournament for as little as a few dollars. It is these types of Satellites that is helping to grow both the EPT and APPT for PokerStars.com.

The World Poker Tour also announced some other revisions to their remaining Season VII schedule; the following are the remaining events:

December 13th – 19th, 2008 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic
The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

January 14th – 17th, 2009 Southern Poker Championship
Beau Rivage, Biloxi, Mississippi

February 21st -26th, 2009 LA Poker Classic
The Commerce Casino, Commerce(Los Angeles), California

February 28th – March 2nd, 2009 WPT Celebrity Invitational
The Commerce Casino, Commerce(Los Angeles), California

March 16th – 20th, 2009 Bay 101 Shooting Star
Bay 101, San Jose, California

April 4th – 9th, 2009 Foxwoods Poker Classic
Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut

April 18th – 25th, 2009 WPT World Championship
The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

One has to wonder if the WPT can make the turn around and make a return to stature. The WPT joined the poker world at a pivotal point in time on the heels of Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 Main Event. At the time there was only ESPN coverage of the WSOP and it was for all of a couple episodes. This meant that the WPT showing weekly on the Travel Channel (at the time) helped feed the T.V. Poker market. That same market is way over saturated today with shows like Poker After Dark (NBC/FullTiltPoker.com), EPT (The Score (in Canada)/PokerStars.com), APPT The Score (in Canada)/PokerStars.com), World Series of Poker (ESPN (TSN in Canada)/Everest.com), World Series of Poker Europe (ESPN/Betfair.com), High Stakes Poker (Game Show Network), Auzzie Millions (The Score in Canada), Auzzie Millions Cash Game (The Score in Canada), and that is just a sample of the events available on T.V.