US East Coast giant Foxwoods Resort Casino has opened the first ever World Poker Tour branded poker room at their complex in Connecticut.

The room opened on the evening of Thursday March 23, with ex-Baywatch eye candy Carmen Electra dealing the ceremonial first hand.

The casino, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation now houses a newly expanded poker room featuring the famous red, white and blue livery, providing customers with all the thrills and spills associated with the world famous poker organisation.

State-of-the-art technological advances include LED table components, automatic card shufflers and a hi-tech seating system. The poker room is smoke free and offers a 100+ seat restaurant, adjacent to the poker area.

Foxwoods is a charter member of the WPT and were the first casino to sign up to host Tour events. As such they have penned this deal which sees a 40% increase in capacity for their poker offering, boosting the number of tables from 76 to 144.

Kathy Raymond, Director of Poker Operations at Foxwoods said: “This is a significant step for pokerand proof that the WPT and Foxwoods are a formidable team.” She continued: “We continually strive to lead the way when it comes to poker, and this new expanded state-of-the-art room will give our players a truly memorable experience.”

The licensing deal brings the WPT into the casino in a major way, and indications are that this partnership will not be the only deal done. Founder and CEO of WPT Enterprises Steve Lipscomb hinted at further developments: “We look for a select number of very well-appointed poker rooms run by the top casino managers in the business to bear our name in future. We will be very careful in selecting our licensees to ensure the highest quality. We hope that in the future, a vacationing poker player will be able to play his way across the country in WPT Poker Rooms,“

Lipscomb continued: “Poker Poker players will experience the WPT excitement first hand in an environment that evokes the cool, classy, charismatic character of our show. We applaud our partners at Foxwoods for continuing to expand the benefits of our mutual relationship.”

The World Poker Tour continues to be a cornerstone of the world poker industry after bringing tournament poker to the masses when it first aired in the US on the Travel Channel in March 2003.