The World Poker Tour may no longer partner the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event, but the iconic tournament went ahead, all the same, handing Sandeep Pulusani a rare win in San Jose. 

The opportunity to compete alongside some of poker’s most famous faces is one of the reasons people turned up in their droves to compete at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event, but it also seems the World Poker Tour (WPT) brand had an important role to play.

The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event had become poker’s favourite puppet show, making annual headlines after Phil Gordon beat Chris Moneymaker, heads-up, to capture the inaugural crown back in 2004.

Then, in 2018, a single season after Sam Panzica had defeated a record field of 806-entrants to bank $1,373,000, the WPT dropped the iconic event from the roster.