Poker players have arrived from all over the world to play in the 2024 WPT World Championship festival in Sin City. The Wynn Las Vegas is once again hosting the World Poker Tour’s marquee live event, with more than a dozen winners already making their mark on this year’s preliminary tournaments.
As the $10K WPT World Championship event itself is now underway, we’ll be taking a look back at and recapping all of the “first half” poker action so far.
2024 WPT World Championship: First Half Recap
As Wynn Poker Room Las Vegas regulars began making the transition to the venue’s biggest poker festival of the year, Jonathan Breneman picked up a victory in the $600 buy-in Fixed Limit Omaha 8 event.
Jonathan took home $21,264 for the win after outlasting a competitive field of 161 participants.
Jonathan Breneman captured the title of the opening event of the 2024 @WPT World Championship with his win in the $600 Limit Omaha 8 event. Jonathan defeated a field of 161 players, earning $21, 264! Congratulations on the victory! pic.twitter.com/TjUdvpnvia
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 4, 2024
Two days later on December 5th, New York Jason Staalesen captured a win in the $600 buy-in HORSE event for $20,338. Jason was able to best more than 150 players to take home a coveted Wynn Poker Room Las Vegas trophy.
Congratulations Jason Staalesen on your victory in the @WPT $600 HORSE Event on December 4th. Jason defeated 154 players, winning $20,338! pic.twitter.com/6nIVcI3WR3
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 5, 2024
By Saturday, December 7th, the festival’s attention moved to No Limit Texas Hold’em. Floridian Barry Hutter took another step towards earning a Top 200 spot on the live tournament all-time money list after claiming the $1,000 NLHE Turbo event title.
The $49,342 cash award put Barry’s overall winnings to over the $7.7 million career mark.
Barry Hutter won $49,342 for his win in the @WPT $1,100 NLH Turbo. Well done Barry and congratulations! pic.twitter.com/NVhSwUlNEN
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 7, 2024
Tournament prize pools for the popular NLHE format continued to increase, with Mexican poker pro Sergio Barrios Soto adding $318,623 to his poker bankroll by winning the $800 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed tournament.
More than 3,000 players entered the field, but it was Barrios Soto who came out on top Saturday evening.
Sergio Barrios Soto is the winner of the @WPT $800 $1M guarantee! Congratulations Sergio on defeating a field of 3,006 players, good for $318,623! pic.twitter.com/hMedVx82Nk
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 8, 2024
Israeli Ran Koller made the most of playing in the $1,600 No Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty event at the 2024 WPT World Championship. By early Monday morning, he had amassed $9,000 in total bounties to go along with his $158,027 first place prize.
Congratulations Ran Koller, winner of the $1,600 @WPT Mystery Bounty. On his way to his $158,027 victory, Ran picked up $9K in bounties for total event earnings of $167,027! pic.twitter.com/PtbHrESNFH
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 9, 2024
California’s Bradley Miller was the next poker ace to be awarded a Wynn Poker Room trophy.
His win in the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha event represented his largest-ever live poker tournament score. The $117,780 victory prize places Bradley just shy of $500,000 career live tournament winnings.
Bradley Miller claimed $117,780 for his victory in the $3K @WPT PLO event on December 8th. Congratulations Mr. Miller! pic.twitter.com/m2OYw5519x
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 9, 2024
Chun Kit Kwan on Ontario, Canada continued his rise in the poker world on Monday as well, by winning the $1,100 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Turbo event for $41,213.
A native of Hong Kong, Kwan has now won nearly a quarter million dollars from live poker tournaments.
Congratulations Chun Kwan on your win in the @WPT $1,100 NLH Turbo. Chun topped 164 players, taking home $41,213 ! pic.twitter.com/tv1MCnMnOj
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 9, 2024
Long time poker pro and veteran online player Matt Vengrin of New York was awarded $39,553 upon winning the $1,100 Fixed Limit Omaha 8 or better event.
Matt has been on the poker scene for approximately two decades and has received more than $1.7 million from live tournament winnings to go along with his impressive online poker career.
Matthew Vengrin is the winner of the @WPT $1,100 Limit Omaha 8 Tournament. Congratulations Matt on your win for $39,553! pic.twitter.com/wMRpBVKFMM
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 10, 2024
The 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Joe McKeehen once again proved the value of longevity in the professional poker world.
Joe’s $120,943 haul for a victory in the NLHE 6-max event at the 2024 WPT World Championship festival moved him even closer to the Top 50 list of all-time live poker tournament cash prize winners at over $20.4 million.
Congratulations Joseph McKeehen on your win in the @WPT $3K NLH 6-Max. Joe earned $120,943 for the win over the 211 player field. Well done! pic.twitter.com/qOwQ0vLi68
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 10, 2024
Poker pro Caleb Furth will celebrate the holiday season $55,791 richer.
Caleb’s victory in the $1,100 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha tournament could also mean more doggie biscuits for his beloved support animal.
Santa baby, come leave a present under the tree…for me.
And not the kind Piper leaves. 🐩💩
GRATS! pic.twitter.com/y67IEnsdjl
— Table 1 Vegas (@Table1Vegas) December 11, 2024
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Frederic Moss beat a field of 200+ competitors and won $24,360 in the $600 buy-in Mix Triple Draw tournament.
Frederic Moss won the 202 player @WPT $600 Mix Triple Draw Event on December 10th for $24,360. Congratulations Mr. Moss on the victory! pic.twitter.com/1AbnfU4oVq
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 11, 2024
Two-time WSOP Circuit Ring winner Thomas Alex Taylor captured a Wynn Las Vegas trophy in the $600 buy-in NLHE Turbo tournament held on Wednesday. The win added more than $30,000 to Taylor’s live poker bankroll.
Thomas Taylor won the $600 @WPT NLH Turbo for $30,667. Congratulations Thomas on defeating the 292 player field! pic.twitter.com/pQQPtwYzCw
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 11, 2024
Record Breaking WPT Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
The 2024 WPT Prime Championship has attracted at huge field this year. By nearly doubling its guarantee, the $9.37 million prize pool means that the eventual winner will take home for than $1.16 million! At press time, the final table is currently being played out. Players who’ve made the final table include (in order from biggest to smallest chip stack): Kevin Calenzo, James Casement, Colin Hong, Joseph Ozimok, Malik Zaman, Zak Van Keuren, Justin Young, Ryan Stiner, and Ralph Marquez.
1D of the @WPTPrime Championship broke the record for the largest Day 1 in @WPT history @WynnLasVegas @WynnPoker! 💥
Here are the final numbers:
Buy-in: $1,100
Guarantee: $5,000,0001A: 1,264
1B: 1,738
1C: 2,802
1D: 3,866
Total entries: 9,670
Prize Pool: $9,379,900
1st Place:… pic.twitter.com/kUPdTOBVfZ— WPT Live Updates (@WPTlive) December 12, 2024
As we head to the second half of the 2024 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, there is still plenty of money being won in preliminary events. For instance, GGPoker pro Akshat Bakaj claimed $46,929 for his win in today’s $600 buy-in NLHE Turbo tournament.
Akshat Bakaj won the @WPT $600 NLH Turbo for $46,929. Congratulations Akshat on your victory! pic.twitter.com/GdZC24xA0g
— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 14, 2024
Plus, our founder Robbie Strazynski will be hopping into the $600 TORSE event tomorrow — it’s one of the top five things he was looking forward to on this trip — in search of his first ever recorded tournament cash. So, join us in wishing him good luck and rungood!
2024 WPT World Championship Prepares for Exciting Conclusion
We now shift into high gear for the remainder of the 2024 WPT Championship festival. Over the next 8+ days, we’ll see winners crowned in the ClubWPT Gold $5 million Freeroll Invitational, the $1,100 Ladies Championship — which attracted 485 entrants, and a new winner from the $10,400 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Championship Event, who will follow in the footsteps of Eliot Hudon and Dan Sepiol, winners from the previous two years.
Of course, we invite you to come back to Cardplayer Lifestyle for a full “second half” recap once the action has concluded. In the meantime, we wish all the poker players who are competing at Wynn Las Vegas the best of luck in fulfilling their live poker tournament dreams!
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