Fallsview Poker Classic Begins at 12pm ET

The World Poker Tour is back in picturesque Niagara Falls for the latest installment of the Fallsview Poker Classic.

This year’s tournament is a $5,000 buy-in event with a single re-entry option. Players begin with 30,000 chips and play begins with 40-minute levels before extending to hour-long levels after Level 9.

Fallsview Casino began appearing on the WPT Main Tour calendar back in Season VI when Scott Clements punched his ticket to the WPT Champions Club. Other big-name American players have come close to titles on this property, like Gavin Smith in Season VII and Dylan Wilkerson in Season XII when the tour returned to the casino after a few years away. The only other American to take home the title though was Anthony Zinno, who defeated a field of 419 entries in Season XII to win his second career title.

Zinno and Clements aside though, Canadians have tended to prevail on the home turf, starting with Glen Witmer in Season VII and continuing with David Ormsby (pictured) last year.

Plenty of Candian pros have been at Fallsview all week enjoying the preliminary events, like Xuan Liu, Sam Chartier, Kristen Bicknell, and Mike Leah, who won the CAD $1,100 prelim event for the third consecutive year last night, taking home over CAD $244,000.

When we last spoke to partypoker.net WPT Montreal winner Ema Zajmovic, she was not sure if she was going to make the trip for this event. The latest addition to the WPT Champions Club is now fourth in the Hublot Player of the Year race and could challenge current frontrunner Bejnamin Zamani with another deep run.

Action gets underway at 12pm ET. Check back in throughout the day for updates on all the action.