On its way to Biloxi, Mississippi for the WPT's inaugural Gulf Coast Poker Championship, the semi was involved in a serious crash with another truck. Both truck drivers were injured, but a driving trainee, who was reportedly taking a nap in the back of the WPT truck at the time of the accident, was ejected upon impact and died.
The WPT semi, which typically arrives several days before a scheduled WPT final table, is decorated with the WPT logo and graphics from the television show. It hauls all of the contents of the set - everything seen on the television show that is part of the production, from the materials needed to construct the audience seating areas to the massive set that surrounds the final table and towers over it to hold cameras and lighting. According to a source at WPT Enterprises, the contents of the truck were "trashed." The production set was a complicated and expensive one, and only a portion of it was said to have been somewhat restored by the time the final table took place in Biloxi.
WPT stated that it is currently working to rebuild and restore the set to its original design. "We hope to have it back on the road for the North American Poker Championship at the Fallsview Casino in Canada next month," said Lyndsay LaGree, the Senior Manager of Public Relations at WPT Enterprises.
Most importantly, some of the staff of WPTE is said to be distraught over the accident and the fatality that resulted. LaGree's statement noted this: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in the accident and the family of the driver who lost his life."