In a show of respect for all-time poker great Doyle Brunson, hundreds of players made an appointment with the World Poker Tour and its new tournament honoring the man who memorialized the 10-2 poker hand.

The inaugural event started on Tuesday at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

One of the most venerable names in poker, Brunson captured his first of nine World Championship bracelets in 1976 and his first World Poker Tour win less than two months ago.

The Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship attracted 312 players, driving the total prize pool to $3,026,400 on the sixth stop of the acclaimed WPT.

The WPT is the highest rated series in the history of the Travel Channel, airing Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT. 
 
The winner of this year's $10,000 buy-in event will take home $1 million and join Brunson at the WPT Championship when the Tour returns to the Bellagio in April 2005.

The WPT continues to average a "poker millionaire a month" in its 16-tournament season and in Season Three the total prize money has already reached $18,220,970, a $6,613,240 increase over Season Two stops to date.

The high stakes action is attracting increasing numbers of players vying for the prize money and fans eager to witness the minting of a millionaire at the WPT Final Table.

Projected to reach a total of $70 million, Season Three's prize pool is rising with every stop on the tour.

The public is invited to be part of the WPT Final Table television audience, when the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship concludes on Friday, October 22nd.

Admission is free and seating for the filming begins at 6:30 pm in the Bellagio Sports Book.

Fans are already turning out in record numbers to watch the tournament that has attracted amateur and professional players alike.

Some of the most recognizable faces playing at Tuesday's tables included Gus Hansen, Phil Laak, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, and the star of his namesake tournament - Doyle Brunson.

The seventh stop of the WPT 16-tournament season is the World Poker Finals from November 13-17 at Foxwoods Resort Casino in CT, where the Professional Poker Tour will also debut.